The Magnetawan River Loop - South Branch: Part 2

• Posted on October 4, 2009 at 8:31 AM
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DAY 2: Trout Lake to Lone Pine Lake

After a restful night and breakfast of fresh pickerel and oatmeal we broke camp and hit the water. Finding our way out of Trout Lake to continue the trip was not as straight- forward as we had hoped. The map we had was not accurate enough to show us the way and so we went around some islands and ran into some dead-ends before finally seeing a small boat with four gentlemen out fishing for pike who were kind enough to point us in the correct direction (which happened to be about the only spot we didn't check before!).

After going through an "S" on the North-West end of Trout Lake we were back on track. We set our sites to where the Magnetawan splits, at the split you can either go South towards Big Deep Bay or continue west and follow the old logging route that empties into Georgian Bay at Byng Inlet. There were a number of campsites before the Southern Branch that looked as well accoutered as ours at Trout Lake had been. At one point, along the north shore we observed a Black Bear coming down to the waters edge. The bear was on an area of shore that was only about 15 degrees from vertical and it was walking around as easily as on flat ground! Neither Sara nor I voiced it but I think we were both glad that we did not see this bear in our campsite the day before. I had a trusty can of pepper spray with me at all times for just such an encounter. We continued down the Southern Branch until it turned west again at "The Cobblestones" as the locals call it, was about 200 meters over rocks that looked as if they would normally be covered in water (watch your ankles walking here!). The paddle between The Cobblestones and the power line north of Big Deep Bay was a windy one with a few wide areas. We stopped a couple of times to fuel up with GORP. At the power line we stopped for lunch and were visited by a relatively tame chipmunk who was looking for a bite to eat as well, big surprise there (-;.

Speaking of chipmunks. I have observed that you can get a good idea of the frequency of campers in a wilderness area by noting how tame the chipmunks are.
The average lifespan of a chipmunk is 1 to 2 years, with a <50% annual survival rate so, if you come across a very tame chipmunk along the trail you can estimate that at least a couple of wilderness travellers have been through in the past while, or, as they are territorial (1/4 to 1/2 acre or 0.1-0.2 ha) there may be a cottage or popular stop nearby. Similarly, if you find a campsite that has a very tame chipmunk on it, you may want to consider that this site could be at higher risk of visitation by larger mammals.

There was a moderate length portage to Big Deep Bay where we met a family who were picnicking at the north end of the lake. After chatting briefly with them they warned us of the heavy winds in the middle of the lake and offered to pull us to the south end of the lake where we were headed. We politely declined, wished them a good day and went on our way. About 1/3 of the way down the lake we realized that we should have taken them up on their kind offer, it was very windy in the open water, to the point of being dangerous if not only very taxing on our paddling efforts. Luckily they had finished their picnic and were on their way past us back to their cottage, we flagged them down and they graciously offered to tow us behind their Sea-doo to the south end of the lake.

The people that offered to help us went well out of their way to do so, we didn’t get their names but their help was very much appreciated.

Timber-Wolf Lake was next, it was a quiet lake connected to the south end of Big Deep Bay via a marshy pass, too shallow for anything other than a canoe. The portage out of Timber-Wolf was hard to find initially, I did some wandering about in the woods on another trail at the far end of the lake that started on the north shore and headed east (I was tempted to see the end of this trail but we had a schedule to follow!), perhaps made by hunters, before finding the correct portage. The portage out of Timber-Wolf was a steep scramble up a nearly vertical rocky slope followed by a short, marshy, uphill jaunt to Clear Lake. It appears as though there was a wheel barrow of sorts, in times past, at this portage, to assist in bringing gear up the steep ascent to the portage to Clear Lake. Clear Lake is a very small body of water, the portage to the next lake is basically straight across and to the right. The portage from Clear Lake to the next lake (which was un-named) turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip due to an encounter along the way. Sara and I were loaded up with our gear and just starting along the trail when we encountered a Massassauga Rattler lying across the trail. This was the first Massassauga I had ever encountered in the wild and I am thankful that it gave us fair warning with its rattler. At first I thought the rattle was a Cicada but the pitch was a little lower which gave me pause, that pause saved us from walking right over it. The problem with this rattler was that it seemed quite comfortable sunning itself on the trail while Sara and I were heavily loaded down with gear, very hot, tired from our long day, and looking forward to getting to our next campsite in reasonable time. I ended up having to chuck some sticks at the thing to get it moving. Finally we got all our gear across and were in the canoe again looking forward to a nice paddle on the un-named lake.

This lake turned out to be one of the nicest paddles on the trip, it was a very small lake and had some high cliffs covered with an orange coloured lichen and thick stands of healthy white pine along the shore. I imagine this lake would look wonderful in an autumn sunset/sunrise. It was also very quiet as it was protected from the wind. At the entrance to the next portage was a well utilized clearing with a large fire pit, sturdy table, and a large stainless steel pot which seemed like something you would prepare a batch of crawfish in.
Behind this campsite there was a steep drop off down to Lone Pine Lake, this was a short but treacherous portage and we were fortunate that the rocks were not too wet. Once on Lone Pine Lake we realized that the relative calm we had experienced on the last lake was only a short respite. The wind was up on Lone Pine and our campsite was at the far end. Reaching our campsite without incident at twilight we had a refreshing swim, a hearty dinner of Lipton Sidekicks with Tuna, tea/coffee, then campfire and bed.

To Be Continued