Algonquin Adventures / Craig lake water level extremely low

**Posted by Gormy** 10/06/2025 9:14 am

I just came back from Craig Lake and was amazed at the low water level. I would guess at least a 7' drop.

It made for a fantastic beach front on the eastern "island" sites (it is no longer an island; the is no longer a passage on the north). But a brutal muddy portage entrance from Nahma.

The dam had many of the timber barriers removed making me wonder if this was a temporary or permanent situation. There were sand bag barriers around the dam which made me think the summer deluges may have led to high water issues which needed to be relieved????

Does anyone have any insight?

**Posted by geologicaldust** 10/10/2025 9:54 am

Hi Gormy! I was always on Craig Lake with my family on Sept 26/27th. We had the island site on the west part of the lake.

That portage from Nahma was super nasty! Kids sank up in the mud and nearly had soakers. But it made for easy wood foraging on our island because a lot of the beached cedars/etc were harvestable because of how low the water was.

I believe that the cause is not high water but the drought conditions up in the area so the dam has been 'opened' the entire summer. The sand bag barriers are probably there to limit erosion on the sides of the dam because if the water level is that depressed; the banks will have higher erodibility and they're trying to limit the downstream sedimentation during any storm events.

I also noticed the 'cabin' or work-site to the east of the dam structure. Looks like they've been having very recent helicopter drops in the area. It COULD (I have no internal knowledge other than my own industry experience with similar dam projects) be that they're looking to remove the structure or do additional work on it in the future.

**Posted by Gormy** 10/10/2025 2:20 pm

Yes, that was quite the mud fest!
LOL great beach combing everywhere.

It was very interesting to see so many stumps emerge from the depths. It made me imagine what the lake could have looked like before the dam.

What you mention makes perfect sense.

Thank you for your insights.