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Published: October 14th 2020
Wilderness travel has become very popular in the time of Covid and we had expectations that we would see lots of people on our 2 canoe trips this summer. However it seems the routes we chose were a bit off the beaten track and there weren't many people.
Our first trip with 2 solo kayaking friends was to Dryberry Lake in the Sioux Narrows area. The constraint for this trip was reputed to be the access road which apparently needed a Hummer for safe access. (or a Dodge Ram 4wd) The road was pretty good as long as you kept the speed down and we probably could have taken the Subaru. (There was a low clearance Honda Civic sedan at the landing when we arrived) The ground clearance stats are interesting - Civic 6 inches, Outback 8.7 inches and Dodge Ram 10.3 inches.
Getting the canoe on the truck necessitated the acquisition of a roof rack and the choices were a $900 Thule or a $150 Princess Auto set of racks-easy decision. This was a no portage trip so we decided to use our 18.5 ft Grumman canoe. This meant we could go fairly luxurious on the gear selection
Dryberry Lake
spectacular cliffs including 2 Eureka bug tents. We also took the gear overflow from the kayaks.
Our entourage left West Hawk Lake at about 9.00 on July 20th and arrived at the landing at 10.40. The turn off of highway 71 on to the infamous 7 kilometre access road is just opposite Graphic Lake. This road has been recently upgraded with loads of chunky granite but the trip still took about 40 minutes. After a quick unload and pack up, we headed out down the channel. There were a few fishing parties in motor boats but we generally had this part of the trip to ourselves. This is a great entry point to the main lake as the channel is fairly narrow for most of the way. Our paddle time to the main lake and our campsite on an island was about 2.5 hours.
Our camp site could easily be classified as one of the best canoe sites ever as it had a fireplace, primitive toilet (not too disgusting) small table, good tent sites and a view down the lake. There was also fire wood, easy access to the water and minimal numbers of bugs. It was noted that having
2 bug tents probably meant there would be no insects to worry about.
After setting up camp, we relaxed and enjoyed a libation with ice. Supper was pre-made stew AND blueberry crumble. I took 3 small cans of wine on the trip and enjoyed one with the meal. The joys of a no-portage trip...
As noted from last years trip, canoeing is now much better thanks to the Helinox chair (and those wonderful people at Thermarest) After dinner people occupied themselves with various pursuits - I am reading a Wilbur Smith book. It was early to bed for all of us.
The next day was meal 2 for Jan and I (mostly Jan) We had excellent omelettes cooked in bags as well as scones. Before breakfast I did a circumnavigation of the next island in an attempt to catch a fish. This lake has bass, jackfish, muskies and trout (no walleyes) but nothing appeared to like what I was offering.Roy got 2 small bass on his short tour.
It was supposed to be a wet day but just clouds and very little wind. Our original plan had been to camp in various spots but leaving this
Great dinner
Bass and wild rice campsite was not met with enthusiasm. It was decided to do a long cruise of this end of the lake which is known as Northwest Bay. We left camp at about 10.30 and basically paddled for 5 hours around the shoreline with infrequent stops to land fish. My rate of harvest was about slightly better than 1 fish per hour using a yellow/orange twister tail on a spinner wire.Roy was using a Mepps spinner.
Our late lunch stop was at a nice beach where we cleaned the fish. Then it was a fast paddle back to camp just before the wind got up and gave us a brief rain event. There are no other people in our end of the lake.
Roy was the meal person tonight and did an excellent job with the fish. Our happy hour is a bit constrained due to the inadequacy in size of our liquor container but I did have another can of Bodaceous Red. Roy is doing brandy with orange Tang- was not that bad....
It appears that my mattress has a slow leak which requires middle of the night air replenishments. However I still had a good sleep. I
plan to see if MEC will give me warranty.
Another great night around the fire but none of us were up very late.
The next day we had bannock for breakfast- our plan was to head south down to the big part of the lake and search for petroglyphs. The forecast called for a breeze but once again we were spared from both wind and rain. We left camp at 08.30 trolling our bass lures behind the canoe and headed south past the Camp Stevens group site. Apparently both Ryan and Aron (our two sons) camped here on their Y Camp canoe trips. On the way we passed some impressive high cliffs along the east shore. When we arrived today, there were 5 people on site and it turned we knew one of them. They had camped there the day before and were set up with a telescope to watch the comet. They had found a big musky lure which they give us-another artifact for the boathouse museum.
We kept on going down the channel and went through a narrow opening out into the the main lake where we had lunch on a nice point. After lunch
Helinox Chair
Major camping break through we decided against the petroglyph hunt and turned back to return to camp. We met the campers from the Stevens site again who were on their way to the main lake.-nice people.
Once again we had virtually no wind. Our fish program yielded a few more so we decided to retain them for appetizers to supplement Andy's tuna noodle casserole.
J an and I have been discussing canoes and we have decided to sell our Wenonah Kevlar which we left at home this time opting for the larger capacity of the Grumman.It is a very stable craft and will not likely ever be sold.
Everyone was up early on Thursday July 23d for a quick breakfast and pack up. We had a bit of wind from the southeast but nothing of any consequence so it only took us about 3 hours to get to the landing.(our total 3 day distance paddled was probably about 80 km)
We stopped for treats and cold water at the Rushing River Store and then ran the bridge construction gauntlets(4) to get to the Nite Hawk-excellent draft beer and monster burgers.
Canoe trip 2 (a return to Drewry Lake)
Wenonah Spirit
Last trip before we sold it After we got home I let it be known that I had a used Kevlar Wenonah canoe for sale-LOTS of interest and it sold quickly. We were able to try a couple of Souris River models and settled on the Quetico 17 -not available until May 2021. A condition of the sale was that would do one last trip with the Wenonah before turning it over to the new owners.
Our last trip with the Wenonah canoe took place from Aug 11-13th and we chose to do the Drewry Lake route again.
We left at 10.00 AM and were in the water at 12.00 at the landing on Jones Road. It is only 74 Km but the ongoing bridge construction slowed things a bit. There was a boon docker with a trailer setup at the landing-he said it was nice and quiet but he may need to visit a NexGen store as it seemed pretty noisy to us given the adjacent Bailey Bridge.The first portage at the waterfall had a large tree on it so we had a minor detour...
Now that we have sold the canoe it doesn't seem to be as tippy....
The second
lake in this chain is Morgan Lake and there were a large number of eagles and ravens flying around. There were no other people.
This trip has 3 portages and they are not very hard. The first one is short and steep, the second one is long and overgrown and the third one has a poor east side landing area. Right after the final portage there is a campsite (we stayed there last time) at the beginning of Balne Lake. Our plan this time was to paddle to the east end of the lake and camp at the waterfall. The river in and out of Balne is the Little Black Sturgeon and it seems quite low at this time of year.
The canoe gods were with us today as we quite a breeze from behind all the way. It may not be as much fun going back?
The waterfall site was quite noisy last year due to the amount of water flow in the river-not so this year. It is a bit of a climb to get up to the campsite but well worth it for the view down the lake. We set up quickly and enjoyed
Sunset
Balne Lake campsite a scotch -dinner was stir fried chicken with rice plus Backpackers Pantry chocolate cheesecake AKA chocolate soup...After a dip in the lake we retired for the night at 830. We didn't have a fire as things seemed pretty dry.
I am still having mattress problems and suspect it might be the valve-Jan doesn't agree and is convinced there is a leak somewhere.
The next day we were up fairly early - I tried fishing by the waterfall outlet and had a large bass on for a few seconds. That was the only fish action of the trip. After breakfast I went over the portage to see what an onward trip might look like-pretty shallow now but might be good to go on and do a circle route at some time in the future...
Our plan today was to pack up and fish our way back down the route to an island on Morgan Lake where hopefully we could have a camp fire. After a leisurely breakfast and pack-up, the trip back started AND with the wind at our backs (it had changed overnight to an east wind which usually means rain is coming) The first portage didn't
Camping at the waterfll
Not much flow at this time of year take long and seemed easier going west than it did coming in... The next portage was OK but is a bit overgrown.
On Morgan we decided to camp on an island- not a bad campsite but lots of ants and flies... We are starting to hear train noise. This is a great lake for large birds - lots of ravens, eagles and vultures. We watched an eagle fishing fairly close to the island and it was more successful than we had been.
There are a few new gear strategies which are becoming apparent on this 4th canoe trip. The big one is that compression sacks do not provide a space advantage- it seems better to fold things flat and layer them in the Scully bag. We also have decided that bringing a yeti thermos full of ice is not worth the extra weight given that it only lasts a day.
Wind conditions and the dryness of the forest precluded a camp fire and the flies drove us into the tent early. During the night entertainment was provided by a chorus of wolves which seemed fairly close.
The next day packing was accomplished in record time. On
Last Portage
Morgan Lake into Drewry Lake at the waterfall the way to the waterfall portage the resident birds were circling a big hill adjacent to the lake and it may have been the site of a deer kill (as announced in the night by the wolf chorus)
It took us about an hour to get to the truck and then it was off to Kenora to drop off the canoe. We did another beer/burger meal at the Nite Hawk-great final trip of the 2020 season. (we have ordered a new Souris River Quetico 17 which will not be available until May 2021)
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