Arcly and Alex do Donald Lake

Alex and Arcly after arriving back in Sudbury. 

In early July Alex and I went back to Ontario, Canada for a visit.  While there we set three days aside for a northern ON canoe trip in the Chiniguchi waterway. As you may recall, Elo and I were up there a few years ago. This trip was earlier in the summer and we did a smaller loop because we only had three days. However were were able to shave off some time by TAKING A FLOAT PLANE!!!

2019 route starting and ending in Donald lake. Two nights, three days.

DAY 1

We had planned on flying out of Sudbury Aviation at 9am Friday morning, but there was no visibility and we couldn't take off until closer to noon. That meant our first day on the water was rushed and long. The first day we paddled 7 lakes, which included 7 portages (120m, 150m, 230m, 60m, 340m, 170m, 180m).

The float plane dropped us off in Donald lake and we made our way clockwise to Rice lake. It took around 5-6 hours, and we did not stop for any breaks. I think this lag of the trip took Leo Elo and I twice as long. Canoeing with a proper portage pack and a big guy who survives the bombardment of mosquitoes by not talking and not stopping, makes you more efficient. Seriously, the mosquitoes were BAD!

Alex with the Langford enjoying the barrage of mosquitoes  

After passing through some nice rapids near Karl Lake (there is a really nice camp site here), we were pretty spent and just wanted to find camp. I knew the camp spot on Rice was really nice, Elo and I camped there three years ago. Luckily it was free and just as nice as I remember.  ahahahahah no one in their right mind would camp up north this early in the year. BUGS!!!!

Arcly hiding in a bug net on Rice Lake

At Rice lake we saw lots of poopy pellets. We thought it was bear poop, but after some googling we determined it was moose poop. .. which is maybe even more scary! 

Moose poop.

DAY 2

Breakfast, Day 2: leftover sausage from dinner, potatoes, garlic, spices and eggs!

After a lovely night on Rice Lake we had a big breakfast (sausage, eggs, potatoes), then made our way through Donald Creek. This part of the Chiniguchi Waterway was new to me and seemed to be a lot less traveled. The portages were tough to find and not well cleared at all (see Alex below). At one point the trail was flooded and we had to walk along a narrow ledge to access the lake. The ledge was so narrow we had to both one-hand carry the canoe.

Alex with the canoe somewhere along Donald creek. 

Just after Defile Lake we stopped at some rapids for a quick break and snack. There is a camp site here at the top of the rapids that I would highly recommend. It was a fairly bugless spot and the rapids were beautiful (see below).

Top of the rapids ("natural waterslide") Donald creek, Chiniguchi Waterway. 

Alex, Donald Creek rapids 

Once on Donald lake we went to a nearby campsite for some rock jumping. The water was really nice this time of year. I expected it to be colder. This first campsite was really nice, but overrun with ants. Otherwise we would have made camp. Instead we headed over to the campsite in the north west inlet. this spot was so hot! It faces the setting sun, which we thought would be nice, but it was unbearable. The days are LONG in Ontario in July and the sun sets really late. We didnt even make a fire (aka mosquito repellent) until around 7-8pm.  We killed time by swimming and fishing.... and eating.

Dinner: coconut rice with fried veg and tofu with coconut/peanut butter sauce. Soooo good!  

Day 3 

On day three we woke up early, made coffee, oatmeal and packed up. We wanted to make sure we were ready for the plane when it arrived. Sure enough it arrived exactly on time.