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8/10/2022 9:31 pm  #1


Wendigo-Hogan-Dickson loop June 24-Aug 2

General comments:
Water was pretty low. At several points you  could see the high water markings at least 2 ft above the current level.  The evening  mosquitoes were still pretty bad at many of the sites I was at.  The weather pretty much every day was the same, mostly cloudy with occasional hits of rain and fairly strong winds which kept the temperature in the reasonable range.  Still sweat through my clothes on the portages.

First time at Wendigo.  The access road is pretty narrow but getting there around 8:00AM presented no issues.  Left home around 1:30 AM and because of the long drive stayed on Allan the first night.

2nd day was to Radiant.  Found the opposite of Jeff's map.  Was able to line the portage to North Depot  without problem.  The 770 portage was being worked on by the rangers with their industrial weed wackers.   A bit  annoyed that they left their canoe sitting in the only good landing spot.  Looked at the sites on Clamshell and Shoal and would prefer Shoal.  Took the first site on the north shoal of Radiant.  And the site had an obnoxious chipmunk who would practically stand on my foot and beg for food.

Next day was the trip to Phillip.   The big portage was easier than I expected; long but much of it followed an old road, only the last 700m or so had up and down sections.  Took a quick look at the beach site on Phillip but stayed there before and wasn't impressed.  The middle site on the north was appealing with open red pine on a hill but was pretty inaccessible.  The south site looked interesting but was too tucked away for my tastes.  Settled on the western-most site.  Wouldn't plan a trip just to stay there but it did it's job.

Day 4 was expected to be a wind day.  Last time I was through Hogan, the winds were up, especially as they funneled into Parks Bay.  Wasn't as bad as I  expected but still made some work for what otherwise would be a shorter day.  Made it to the westernmost  site which was my goal.  Amazing how much  the site changed.  Last time I was there was not long after a fire ran through the site and basically the whole site was dirt covered.  This time the undergrowth was doing it's thing and the dirt area of the site was rather small.  The raspberry plates were starting to produce fruit but as the plants were right by the thunderbox, I gave them a pass.

Now what I expected would be the longest day, across to Big Crow then down to Crow Bay.  Started the day in good form by double carrying the paddle to the portage (when I got there, I realized I left the yoke at the campsite- Wasted an hour). Good thing I started early.  The portage to Big Crow was the longest of the trip.  The first section was the hardest with around 75m elevation increase in around 1km.  The middle section had a nice descent followed by the realization that I had to go up again.  Last section was fairly  easy except for a couple big threes to climb over.  The trip down the Crow was good; I love rivers/creeks over big lakes.  The last  three portages were at water levels that made them able to be lined but I don't trust my balance when tired so I went  through the hassle of loading  and unloading even knowing  I'd be doing it again in a couple minutes.  By the time I got to Crow Bay the wind was up and so were the waves but since they  were going my way... By halfway down the bay the swells were a bit over half a meter from crest to trough.  The third site along looked nice but  with the wind and waves, there was no way for me to  land there without wrecking my canoe so I went  to one of the open sites close to Lavieille. Was somewhat impressed with my aging body that I was able to make it from Hogan to Lavieille in 7.5 h.

The trip from Crow Bay to Dickson had some interesting winds.  The wind direction was such that it seemed to be constantly  changing  direction depending on what bays it  was blowing down or what hills it was bouncing off of.  The first hour had a decent tail wind then a hour of headwinds, especially  around the southern island with the two sites.  Hardy Bay was a mess.  Waves were bigger than the day before.  I had to angle into the waves for the first  500m  around the point  and then it was coming from the stern quarter.  If I was going  from Dickson to Lav, I'd have turned around and gone back to Dickson.  Made me worried about how Dickson would be but  thankfully the wind wasn't kicking up the same kind of waves.  Ended up at the southernmost site.  The wind stayed up all night and in to the next day which was a rest day.

Portages after  a rest day suck.  Despite doing some exercises the body wanted more rest.  The portage to Little Dickson wasn't too bad but the low maintenance to Sundrassa tired me out.  It was pretty manageable up to the beaver damn on Staple but then had to deal with blowdown, having to pass my boat over trees and then crawl under them a couple times.  Sundrassa was a pretty lake though.  On White Partridge, I stayed at the southern site on the east side and was my favourite site of the trip.  Had a large flat rock sticking out into the water which was great for sunning and drying clothes after a rinse.

The trip up to the Pet was a fun one.  The portage was relatively easy, following old road beds most of the way.  The creek was a different story.  The first  200m after the portage was too low to paddle and after 100m, the alders started.  So much fun paddling, wading, and pulling yourself through them.  If I had to describe how bad it was, I'd suggest that when Birchcliff Creek grows up, it wants to be like White Partridge.  Every so often it hinted at opening up and then there would be another beaver dam that lowering the water again and allowing the alders to close in. Made the 2475 along the Crow seem easy. At the bottom of the portage, the water level was low enough that I had to walk a bit before getting in the boat.  But  made it to my planned site on Kildeer.  And my immature excitement was being the first  to use that thunderbox there.

Next day was planned to Radiant and I slept in a bit, partly because my paddling clothes were still wet from the day before (and the overnight rain).  Got up to Radiant and was laughing to myself at how shallow the east side of the lake is.  Strange site was float planes flying in a group and their canoes.  It looked like some of them were wearing uniforms of some kind so hopefully it was some study or exercise and not  a new trend of rich people wanting to avoid portages.  The two sites I like were taken (as were a couple more) and as I turned around, a couple camp groups were paddling to the vacant sites.  That crowdedness and not having had real food in 10 days inspired me to keep on paddling and see if I could get to my car that day.  Chatted with a couple at a portage on the way and had the impression they were planning to stay on radiant despite not having a permit for it.  I hope the lake was full by the time they got there.

Made it to my car around 8. On the drive up Brent road saw a bear sprinting across the road and a bit later saw something else that my brain first processed as a panther-like cat but  was likely a wolf or a stray dog.  If it  was a wolf, it would be my first sighting in the wild but maybe it was a Wendigo shapeshifter ;)

10 days and if I had more food, I'd have been  happy to keep on going for a few more.
 

 

8/12/2022 2:41 pm  #2


Re: Wendigo-Hogan-Dickson loop June 24-Aug 2

sounds like a great trip, thanks for sharing.

 

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