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The Petawawa or the Nipissing River to Luckless Lake from Cedar? Travel will be in a 15 foot solo canoe. A double blade/kayak paddle can be used. Expect to single carry the portages. I'll be travelling alone.
Up the Petawawa River, walk the 2345m unicorn hill portage, which I 've done a few times before, or, go up the Nipissing River to the 2960m portage into Luckless? The total portage distances are almost the same to Luckless no matter which river is taken.
I wonder if the current on the Nipissing will be strong going upstream? I've only come down this section of the river... never went up the Nipissing from Cedar lake. Been up the Petawawa from Cedar to Catfish a few times.
Any suggestions, advice?
Thanks in advance, Dwight
Last edited by Dwight (6/23/2022 12:52 pm)
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Personally I would go up the Nipissing, I have only ever been down stream on that section but if I had the choice I would go that direction. Up the Petawawa can be a pretty long day with tough portages. The Nip I feel like you would spend most of your day paddling with a big portage at the end. I have never done the portage from the Nip to Luckless though. Just my personal preference.
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I'd take the Nipissing too. Water is much higher than normal everywhere this year which will make it a much more pleasant paddle. Good fishing, lots of moose and a nice pleasant paddle up a secluded meandering river. I haven't been to Luckless from either direction so I can't speak on the portage.
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On the Luckless to Nipissing portage - it's been a few years since I did it, but other than the length I don't remember anything difficult about it. A fair chunk of the portage follows an old logging road.
Last edited by Thamesman (6/24/2022 1:31 pm)
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The Luckless portage from the Nip is a wide trail with a long steady climb. No particularly steep parts but up hill for the whole 3k. It can get tedious. I would go up the Pet and down the Nip. Get the climb over on your first morning. After Unicorn hill it's all relaxing downhill and downstream. But there is no wrong choice.
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I agree with Martin.
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Up the Pet and down the Nip. If single carrying it takes the same amount of time either way from the access point to Catfish Lake (approx 3.5 hours). I have been into catfish over 20 times in the last few years by going up the Pet.
The Luckless portage into the Nip is crazy easy. Most of it is an old logging road without any hills.
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X3 with Martin. Pet to Luckless, then down Nip. I solo'd that Luckless portage in one carry, no stopping. That's how nice it is. However, the paddle up the Nip is relatively easy too. The portage itself is mostly a beautiful walk through hardwoods that is easy peasy due to the old logging road it follows for most of the length, as mentioned above.
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Thank you all for your suggestions. I took the Nipissing up to Luckless. Luckless portage is very nice and easy as mentioned! Next day took Catfish then the Pet to Burntroot for a night on Robinson. After a night at Robinson went to Whisky Jack, Remona then down the Nip to Cedar. I got to Luckless via the Nipissing faster then I usually get to Catfish from the Pet. Thanks again for your advice and for many of you, thank you for your great video work!
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Happy to hear about your successful trip!
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Thant sounds like a nice route. I may have to try a variation of that some day!
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