Oh god, I know it immediately.
Head lake to Cache Lake by way of the Madawaska river in May.  It was super fun heading downstream from Head, with lots of pretty features and waterfalls. 

But turning west upstream just KILLED us.  Was only supposed to take maybe 3hrs, instead took 7.5 and we were completely unprepared.  Every single inch forward took strong paddling and a fast cadence.  Never again.


We did Source -> Iris last summer and it wasn't too bad when it was dry.  We were just happy to be out I think.  But I remember that put-in at Linda.  Big steep rock, not a lot in the way of easy access.

@IanTendy, one of my first canoe trips when I was much younger and less experienced, I was with 3 other guys and we decided to take that route from Cache to Head instead of the 1.6km. It was a blazing hot summer day. We spent the full day going in circles, back and forth across beaver dams. Avenza would have saved us instantly with the GPS overlay, but using just maps and compass we were completely lost. We finally saw an opening to land the canoe and found we had connected with the bike trail. But that didn't really help much. Eventually, at around 6:00 PM, after probably 8hrs on the water, we found the portage marking... to the portage back to Cache Lake! We literally ended up where we started. We portaged back to Cache, then down towards the 1.6km into Head Lake and finished the portage as the sky was getting dark. Somehow, we still ended up with the beautiful waterfall campsite. But we called that day the Marsh of Madness. I'm sure my current-day self could navigate it with no issue, but I think I'll always have a fear of attempting it again because of that experience.

Last day of a trip when in scouts.  Woke up early, as planned, to beat the wind on Opeongo.  Didn't matter.  Waves were crashing on the shore in the northeast arm.  Worst paddling condition I have ever faced.  Fully loaded aluminum canoe with three teenagers, I had stern.  Stiff, strong wind bearing down on us, brutal water, big waves, big whitecaps.  The waves would roll past higher than the gunwales.  Our progress was immeasurably slow and it was an incredibly dangerous situation.  I was only able to control the boat if I paddled on my left side.  Stopped at a campsite near the center of the "Y" for a breather, then off once again into it.  In that area the wind was now coming from our right (the west), and we were taking swells laterally.  Waves were so large that once in a while you'd go to paddle, make a stroke, and your paddle would only catch air.  It took ages before we were able to go hide behind islands in the southern part of the lake. 

We should have waited a day.  We were clearly windbound, but I guess parents had to get to work the next day or something, I don't know, but I have never, and WILL never paddle in conditions worse than that.  It was August - the kid in the bow got out of the boat shivering, because he'd faced the wind every step of the way for hours and hours and hours.  I think we had six boats in the water that day, and by some miracle nobody dumped.

I vowed not to return the following year if our troop used Opeongo again as an access point.  Opeongo was selected as the access point, I eventually relented, broke my vow and went because I knew it would be my last opportunity to go with scouts, but that horrible day is the reason I have not gone back to Opeongo for 40 years, and I won't.  I don't care if it is basically the gateway to a lot of beautiful lakes, I don't care if there are water taxis, I'm not going there.  If I never lay eyes on Opeongo again it'll be too soon.   

Last edited by MooseWhizzer Dave (2/22/2023 1:51 pm)

A few springs ago we thought we could travel from Birchcliffe Ranger cabin to maybe Manitou in a long but doable day. We typically travel way too much on our trips, so we are used to it.
We were on Birchcliffe Creek from 0930 to 1900... emerging on Biggar very cold / wet / and nearly insane from the monotony. We paddled by GPS and headlamp until around 2300 and made it as far as the narrows entering N. Tea. We were scheduled to be out the next day from Kiosk... two long days. 
We realized that Alder in high water is worse than Alder in low water... less cutting in low water.

Lesson partially learned, we always seem to find lots of ALDER!

EDIT: We also spent WAY TOO LONG lost in the woods trying to take the 3,160M  "bushwacker" portage into East Galipo Lake last May. It should have been a shorter day. I guess we assumed the route was along the road more, and maybe a little more obvious.... the correct GPS file would have assisted greatly. My bad... fun memory looking back.



 

Last edited by Evan Briden (2/23/2023 3:08 pm)

For me it's probably Maple Cr west of Skuce. Me/dad/brother had done a ton of trips through the park by that point, many of them quite long, and many of them through Low Maintainence portages. But that creek was something else.

Birchcliffe Cr is in second place, but we actually turned around and went back to Biggar since it was taking so much longer than expected and we realized it'd likely be well past dark when we'd get there.

Evan Briden wrote:

EDIT: We did also spent WAY TOO LONG lost in the woods trying to take the 3,160M  "bushwacker" portage into East Galipo Lake last May. It should have been a shorter day. I guess we assumed the route was along the road more, and maybe a little more obvious.... the correct GPS file would have assisted greatly. My bad... fun memory looking back. 

That's a fun one. I remember the sense of relief me and GFromKitch felt when we finally saw East Galipo through the trees!

Last edited by jeffreym (2/22/2023 5:39 pm)

Mine were all weather-related.

- Crossing Dickson towards Lavieille in May as a kid in the 1970's with brutal headwinds and cold rain.  Tough week of bad weather that trip...we all lost a lot of weight.
- Portage from Redrock to Opeongo to catch the taxi in the morning...3" of snowfall from the night before made the portage slippery and treacherous.
- Wind in May across Big Trout held us up for a few hours...we bided our time on an island by eating our steak dinner at 2pm then the winds died down and we made Red Pine Bay by 7pm
- Dickson to Bonfield portage with an 85 pound aluminum canoe.  We knew it would be tough but that boat taught me a lesson on how to portage through the pain.  I now own two kevlar canoes and zero aluminum!

I agree about the wind on Rock Lake - plus the wake from motor boats - can make it relatively tricky to paddle. Lake Louisa is another one that can be unnerving with a strong cross wind.

Going back to the 80's here, and not too proud of this one....

I was a member of our high school's Outers Club and a 3-day trip in October was planned. I believe we started at North Tea lake but can't say for sure. I didn't have great outdoor clothing at the time, plus I packed very light. Based on the reasonable weather forecast for our town, I thought it would be okay.
The first two days went well, but on the final day we got hit with a howling blizzard. I was both cold and wet, and near the end I began to shiver uncontrollably as evidenced by my shaking paddle. Mild hypothermia was setting in. Several others in our group were similarly affected, albeit to a lesser extent. When we got to our pick up point, I was pretty much incapacitated. I was whisked to a teachers' vehicle and hovered over the heat vents, still shivering, for quite some time. Everyone else in the vehicle had the displeasure of roasting on the trip home on my account.

A tough lesson that I will never forget.
 

Last edited by hiker72 (2/23/2023 9:46 pm)