Has anyone paddled Rock Creek between Fork and Rock Lake ?
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No. Can't count how many times I've thought about! Looks totally doable in a normal spring.
Spring yes, end of July it could be "Interesting" but it does offer an interesting little loop.
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I think it might be possible. Me and GFromKitch checked it out from both ends and it looks good. I have a historic map that shows it as a route with one short portage (I think there used to be a dam on it)
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Rock Creek between Fork Lake and the portage to Gordon Lake is a low maintenance route. The remainder of Rock Creek is not an official route. My recollection is that there were lots of beaver dams along the creek, each followed by a short section of moving water. I was coming down the creek early one October after doing a long day outing that had taken me from Rock Lake, through Whitefish, Kearney, Sunday, Sproule, Norway and fork Lakes. Rock Creek didn't seem so bad so I opted to continue down the creek beyond the portage to Gordon Lake. I figured if anything went wrong I was just a short hike from the Rock Lake Road. It was just more beaver dams followed by a short section of moving water until just below one beaver dam the creek took a sharp right turn. Stupid me didn't scout around the corner and surprise, surprise there was a drop off around the corner that was rough enough to dump me. fortunately, this was the last obstacle, and I quickly paddled back to the landing at Rock Lake where my car was parked and got some dry clothes on. An excellent example of "Good Judgement comes from Experience and Experience comes from Bad Judgement".
Yellowcanoe I assume you "turned right" at the beginning of the port to Gordon Lake and the drop you had a problem with was just past this?
@Jeff I am curios on the location of the historic portage.
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Rob H wrote:
Yellowcanoe I assume you "turned right" at the beginning of the port to Gordon Lake and the drop you had a problem with was just past this?
@Jeff I am curios on the location of the historic portage.
I just continued down the creek past the point where the portage to Gordon Lake starts. There were several more beaver dams to cross before I reached the point where I dumped. After dumping, I was effectively in Rock Lake as the water level was the same as rock lake. It was perhaps a 200m paddle from there to get to the road bridge over Rock Creek.
It's a mystery to me why the official route opts for 2100m of portaging through Gordon Lake to Rock Lake instead of just continuing down Rock Creek. It would only require a short portage to get around the spot where I dumped.
With construction on the bridge across Sunday Creek completed, I am hoping to get into the Norway Lake/Fork Lake area this summer.
Thanks for all the info, there is not much out there on the creek.
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Here is my trip report that includes this section of Rock Creek: