Lenny,

Interesting route and do-able. Here are some comments:

1. Long Raps. Very very basic site, about 40ft away from the river, no real view. Just a tent pad and pit. If that suits your needs then go for it. If not, I'd either camp at Blueberry falls (the lower, unofficial site) or push on and camp at the forks. The site right at the forks is wild and remote, feels like a different park of Algonquin. To be fair though, the sites at the forks aren't that great either - but the above two choices are better than the one at long raps. Just my opinion. In fact, most sites along the entire crow river aren't that good - but the river is beautiful so it's worth it.

2. Lavieille is a beautiful lake. You may regret spending only one night there. Some great sites in the clusters of islands just west and below hayes point.

3. This will be a long day, but if you have a rest day (before or after) you'll be fine.

4. White Partridge is a pretty non-descript lake - Lavieille would be a better spot for a rest day, however that may mess with your logistics.

5. White Partridge Creek - oh she's not so bad! A buddy and I paddled the entire creek back in July 2014. Took about 4 hours from WP to The Forks. We continued to Wagtail Raps as you intend do to - it's doable, just leave early in case the creek is messed up.

6. Wagtail raps - shoot for the island campsite. Awesome, awesome campsite.

Curious - what makes you think white partridge creek sounds like hell?  We we're weary at the time as well, but more due to the very limited information on it.

You'll have an awesome trip. And you can skip 4 or 5 of the portages between the Pet and Lavieille if you don't mind river walking.. (which if I remember our run-in on Carcajou Creek a few years back - you are all about the creek walking!! )

I've looked at similar loops and usually landed on two distinct different options:

1. Start at Opeongo, water taxi to Wright Lake and spend the day traveling to Little Dickson.  Day 2 on White Partridge.  Day 3 on Forks, Lavaque or Mallic.  Day 4 and 5 on Lavieille.  Day 6 on Dickson or Wright.

2. Start at A52 and go to Eustache - fish the lake and scout for an overland bushwhack route to the forks.  Day 2 bushwhack to the forks and stay at Lavaque or Mallic.  The remainder of your trip as you describe looping through Lavieille, Dickson and White Partridge.

I like the first one because when fishing is the objective I don't like doing long travel days.  In spite of fishing on virtually every step of the route, we never seem to find enough time to hit areas good and hard since we are breaking/making camp every darned day which just eats time.  The shorter distances traveled each day allow for a lot of fishing time and experience without the pressure to go-go-go.

We actually do more base camping because of that - kill ourselves to get somewhere like Lavieille in one day and then do long day trips where we cook our big meal around noon on some distant campsite that took 5 or 6 hours to get to (fishing all the way there) and then fish our way back to our base site.  This way you lose no time to making/breaking camp but get to do an exceptional amount of exploring and fishing - especially at the best time of day for trout - in very early morning and late evening.

We also try to incorporate river/stream fishing in each trip - it helps make you feel better because you almost always catch trout (although smaller ones) compared to some challenging lake fishing.  Depth maps help tremendously to find the right underwater topography and drop-offs to troll over or fish on top of.

Cool I've always wanted to go to Wagtail. Might be a good winter camping spot.

Thanks! Good to know.

there is road access into w.p. 
     the fish`n may not be a good as you think? also motors are allowed on the lake.
   good luck 

It is my understanding that the road is now clear, but of course it would be best to confirm with Algonquin HQ for the final word.

Last edited by Peek (12/06/2016 1:25 pm)

Hi Lenny,

We haven't run into any substantial bug problems through nearly all of the May trips we have done.  That being said, we usually go the second or third week of May and we occasionally have run into some pesky black flies but not hoards of them that I've heard of later in May or early June.  Obviously you can get a warm snap and have a good hatch but we always bring along DEET and have only had isolated times where it was truly needed - and those were generally short-lived.

We were more bothered by mosquitoes at dusk in August than anything we've hit in May.  I like the fact that many folks are deeply concerned with bugs in May...it keeps some folks away and leaves more fish for us!

Also, while it is not my position to impart my beliefs on others (but that never stopped me before!!) I will politely ask that you practice catch-and-release with the speckled trout you come across.  The occasional shore lunch is fine (and most long-distance trippers such as yourself don't take any more than that) but it just helps to maintain a healthy fishery to limit the harvest.  We also pinch the barbs on all of our hooks to reduce trauma and speed the release process.  Thanks for considering!

Somewhat off topic, but on our way out of Travers this fall we filed in behind 3 trucks pulling a hay wagon, horse trailer, and boats/canoes, that just turned on from the W.P. access road, so I'm pretty sure it's fully open for business.