Chiniguichi - the final chapter

• Posted on November 3, 2008 at 3:52 PM
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The Chiniguichi was a perfect family canoe trip.

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We had such a perfect campsite on Donald, something that became more apparent during our tour of the lake on the second last day of the trip. The lake itself was gorgeous every where we went but the campsites were only moderate throughout, except maybe one site near the entrance to the southeast inlet and a bush site we discovered while checking out Kettyle Lake – an out-of-the-way oasis reached by a hard-to-find 200 meter portage from Donald’s Jack’s Bay.

A 1000 meter portage exited Donald Lake to the southeast and we were somewhat concerned over the length, especially with three-year old Kyla tagging along. And our anxiety grew while we searched and searched for the darn take-out. Problem was our map indicated the portage started on the left side of the small inlet and it actually started on the far right shore. Once we found the starting point, however, we discovered the trail was pretty easy. The path was relatively level and mid-way a massive crop of blueberries were ripe for picking. The only downfall was the abundance of bear poop mixed in with the blueberry patch and a strong wind on Kukagami that kept us windbound at the put-in for over an hour.

The wind was bringing rain, so we made the decision to quickly head across to the opposite shore and make camp at a designated site. And we made it just in time. The moment the tarp was set up a heavy downpour began, and didn’t end until around midnight.

It wasn’t until morning, when I searched the backwoods for wood to start a fire, that we had camped at an old logging site and homestead. In fact, the tent site was directly beside the foundation of the main building. Scattered through the backwoods were all kinds of treasures (or junk, depending on your view point).

It was a cold and damp morning and Kyla and Bailey slept most of the time while Alana and I paddled Kukagami’s northern bay - a place so scenic and full of possible campsites that we considered coming back to the following year.

A couple hours of paddling brought us to the familiar section of Kukagami, and the beginning of where cottages lined the shoreline. And by noon we found ourselves back at our starting point at Sportsman’s Lodge http://www.sportsmanslodge.net/ where we celebrated our trip by having a beer (and milk for Kyla) on the porch of the dinning hall.

What a fantastic trip. The only problem is to better it next season. I’ve paddled a lot of placed in Ontario and it would be difficult to find a more perfect place for a family paddling trip. But that’s the thing about northern Ontario. There’s definitely more places that would match out time had in Chiniquichi – and half the fun is finding them.

http://www.ontariooutdoor.com/en/