I did Remona to Nadine in August.  There were a few places where it got shallow and wading was required.  There were also sections of rocks and stumps that required a bit more careful navigation.  Going upstream you'll be paddling against a bit of a current, but nothing too bad.  It took me about 2 hours from Remona to Nadine, which is way slower than I'd normally travel.  I spent most of my time steering while the current carried me along.  I'd expect in the spring the water levels would be more favorable.

MartinG wrote:

The river between Nadine and the Remona portage is nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, stringing together 6 - 35km days in the spring, in Algonquin, without a layover will be tough to impossible. That many long days in a row is a challenge in good conditions. Odds are you won't get good conditions for a week. If anything holds you up in the first two days you can pretty much forget the route.

Little Cauchon to Nadine in a day is absolutely crazy! I haven't bothered to add it up but it looks to be about 100 km of portages Including one if the hardest in Algonquin.

Otherwise, awesome route for 8 or 9 days!

I agree with this... it looks overly ambitious. You're looking at 7-10hr days if you single carry, not including any breaks or set backs, for 6 days straight. Bad weather, strong headwinds, etc. can ruin the route pretty easily.

I would say either include 1-2 layovers in the middle, so if you need to split a couple days into two, it would at least be an option... or rethink the route to cover less distance.

Hi A.L.  That's a good route but I would consider doing it clockwise.  Coming into Cedar and heading up the lake to the Cauchon lake you're more than likely to face some strong headwinds.  The winds tend to blow down the lakes and Cedar can be really bad at times.  You'd also be going upstream on the Nipissing, but given it's a short distance it's not that bad.  You'd also be going uphill on the portage from the Nip to Remona.  That's also a good day from Canoe to Big Trout but can be done doing if portaging in one carry.
I did a route similar to yours a few years ago but instead of heading through Nadine to the Cauchon lakes I took the Nipissing all the way to Cedar.  If you want to check out the trip log it's on my blog, www.algonquinvoyageur.blogspot.ca under 30th Anniversary Trip.  It was an easy 7 day trip but could have easily been condensed into 6 by foregoing the night on Big Trout for White Trout and making that the last night.

Cheers.

Last edited by Tripper (1/31/2017 12:35 pm)

@algonquinlakes

I just re-read my post. Sometimes I shoot things off too fast without really thinking in depth. My post was not at all meant as a criticism. If you complete this route it will be an amazing trip and I would love to read the Trip Report!

The Couchon to Nadine day is 30km-ish and includes roughly 11km-ish in portaging. By anybody I know's standards that is a hugely challenging day at any time of year. It also includes some lesser travelled parts of the park and at least one truly brutal portage (955m, Heart Attack Hill). A typical day in the area would be Erables to Nadine. And most people would still call that a strenuous day (although not long). 

I think the more significant point is that it doesn't look like you are planning for early spring contingencies. There could very likely be blowdowns everywhere, soggy portages, dramatic changes in temperature, strong prevailing winds and typical spring storms. With the extremely cold water, you should also stay close to shore to which will add to your daily distances. 

With an early start Day 1 shouldn't be an issue for an aggressive paddler. Prevailing winds will likely be at your back or you can hide from them by traveling the north side of Burnt Island Lake. But what happens if you wake up on Day 2 to wind on Big Trout, Burntroot or Perley and your progress is stopped. Big Trout and Burntroot are notoriously affected by North Westerlies. Any attempt to hide in the wind shadows of the land and hug the west shore will add a lot of distance to your day. If the wind is coming from the east you are probably dealing with a weather system and Perley will be a real challenge. 

What then? It's either plan for 50km day on Day 3 while praying for good conditions. Or, give up and re-route on the second day of your trip. That would be very disappointing. Similar issues could crop up later in your trip. I think your days are very ambitious.

If you gave yourself 1 or 2 layover days. Or perhaps 1 layover day and shorter traveling distances you would be better able to manage setbacks. Heck, you could always get ahead of schedule. Just be careful not to put anybody else out if you do do this.
 

Last edited by MartinG (1/31/2017 12:33 pm)

MartinG wrote:

I think the more significant point is that it doesn't look like you are planning for early spring contingencies. There could very likely be blowdowns everywhere, soggy portages, dramatic changes in temperature, strong prevailing winds and typical spring storms. With the extremely cold water, you should also stay close to shore to which will add to your daily distances.
 

Some of the most memorable trips from my younger days consisted of insane amounts of paddling and portaging, usually in the spring or fall.   All the points you mention are a possibility though my trips always seemed to work out ok. Luck definitely played a role, especially on one five day trip where we happened to run into a couple of Rangers after reaching North Tea Lake.   We only had one day in our schedule to get back to our start point from Craig Lake via the South River.  After being informed that the South River portages had not been cleared in nine years we realized we were not going to be able to do that route.  One of the rangers was able to contact two of our wives in Huntsville and they shuttled our vehicle up to the Kawayamog access point.  If we had not encountered those rangers we would have needed at least one extra day to complete the trip.

I am kind of divided on this issue.   It does seem imprudent to have planned routes that required a large amount of travel and single trip portaging every day, especially in the early season.  However, given the limited amount of time we had for each trip, planning more conservatively would have meant we never would have seen some of the more remote places in the park that we visited.
 

So the Brent run with a minor detour to North Tea? Totally doable. Take along a book for all the free time you'll have.