Alternative Chiniguichi Route

• Posted on July 29, 2008 at 2:21 PM
• Previous
• Next

How many days before I watch TV again! (Kyla's daily question - but only until day 4 of the 9 days we were out)

 zoom  zoom out

Check Out This Alternative Chiniguichi Route

As promised I'm sending our route my wife and I took our three-year old daughter (and 12-year old dog) in northern Ontario's Chiniguichi area - or what's called my some as Temagami South. I've received quite a few emails, so it seems there's definitely interest in this area. I'll write up a more detailed dairy when I get back from my 2 week Quetico trip (I leave this Saturday to help film a documentary for the Friends of Quetico's since the park becomes 100 next year)

Our chosen access was not the regular Matagamasi. This public launch is small and has created a few conflicts with local use and visitors (especially from Southern Ontario). So we made use of Sportsman Lodge on the nearby Kukagami Lake http://www.sportsmanslodge.net/. It was perfect. The owners (George and Jody Robbins) will even shuttle you to the Matagamsi launch if you like ($25). But we decided on a hassle-free loop route directly from thier lodge. Besides, we knew are vehicle was safe and we were helping out the local economy (not to mention paddling a route that gets little use).

Again, I'll be posting detailed info on the route and how the trip was but here's a breakdown:

Access to the lodge is to take the Kukagami Lake Road, not far east from the city of Sudbury on hwy 17. Drive up Kukagami rd. for 21km and then yield right (Matagamasi Lake access is to the left). The lodge entrance is 6 more kilometers.

The route was a counter-clockwise loop.

First day - north on Kukagami and then just before the narrows that enter the far northern bay, we followed Outlet Bay to Carafel Creek. Three portages and a bit of wading/lining brought us to Carafel Lake, where we camped on a bush site around the bend to the left of the creek.

Day 2-3 - continued on down the creek (over two beaver dams and down one small swift) to Makinonge Lake (camped for two nights on a cigar-shaped island half-way north.

Day 4-5 - paddled north through to Lower Matagamasi, Edna and Karl Lake (camped two nights on a small island on Upper Matagamasi Lake's elongated northeastern bay.

Day 6 - paddled and portaged through Gold Lake, Colin Scott Lake and then to Donald Lake (camped on a fantstic site on the ne corner of Donald.

Day 7 - continued south on Donald and camped again

Day 8 - tooked the 1000 meter portage (easy and flat) to the north end of Kukagami and camped our last night on a large island.

Day 9 - paddled back to lodge and had a beer.

• average hours spent paddling was only half days except for day 4 - which was 3/4 of a day on the water.

Fantastic route that could be extended to make a great figure-eight route through Eveyln Lake/Chiniguichi/Wolf and Matagamasi.