We'll be a party of 8 starting at Attwood lake, going down the Attwood River to Gowie Bay, then onto the Albany River. We'll paddle downstream past Frenchman's Rapids to Abazotakitchuan Lake, then into Opichuan Lake and then up the Opichuan River. Through Kellow Lake and ending up in Kagianigami Lake. Looking at 10 days. Mid August onwards. If you're in the area wave at us. If you have cold beer, wave harder.

Sounds like a great trip, I wish I were participating. If I were along, I would use the method of obtaining cold beer which Barry and I perfected on our 2017 Brightsand/Kashishibog/Kopka Rv trip. By the end of that trip we had Canadians paying tribute to us in beer.

That all sounds like a great trip. I need to get my white-water canoeing skills before I attempt any of those routes though :)

We returned from our trip Tuesday past. We lasted 9 days (the weather was closing in for day 10, so we left a day early.)
Our plans called for 100 miles over 10 days. We managed 44 miles over 9 days (really 7 days, we stayed a couple nights on our 3rd and 6th campsites. We started with 8 people but ended up with 6... a couple flew out for a family emergency on day 5).
We had a few days of rain and a few thunderstorms, but all in all the weather was okay.
Fishing was great, 4 big walleye dinners and a birthday party in the middle of it all.
Our initial plans were very ambitious, but aging knees and joints, overgrown portages and the inherent slowness of 5 seniors combined with some sketchy weather. We were not disappointed, it was a great trip.
We covered Atwood Lake, Hurst Lake, Austin Lake, Guerin Lake and Peninsular Lake, all on the Attwood River. Several sets of rapids were run, no spills, some close calls, up on rocks a few times on the Attwood River... a few scary moments.
On the last day a 40 knots breeze was blowing up Peninsular Lake towards our beach campsite. The first Beaver landed and drifted 200 yards while the first two paddled out to it in 2 foot high chop. It took off without incident. Then the second landed as the wind picked up a little. We headed out to the rendezvous point, slamming over big waves, straight into the wind. We managed to unload the canoe, but the pilot asked us to paddle about 100+ yards ahead in the empty canoe. The Souris River Quetico 17 handled like a charm even when empty. As we got way out ahead of the plane a gust caught the bow and swung us 6 feet to the left. Knowing I'd never get it headed straight into the wind again, I called for about 8 draw strokes as I turned her 180 back towards the plane. We got back to the Beaver and hopped in. The pilot struggled with the canoe as the forward thwart was on the ladder and he couldn't secure it. We drifted about 400 yards with the wind. We just got to the rocky shore when he managed to tie the canoe with a rope to the pontoon (unfortunately snapping the mount on the left pontoon rudder) and we started up the Beaver and headed into the wind slowly for about 500 yards. Then the pilot hopped out and flipped the canoe 180 degrees and then managed to tie it down. He started us up an got us out of there.
While we watched the pilot struggle with the canoe, the first Beaver returned for the last two of us. We watched out the windows as the guys made it about 60 yards into the breeze and flipped. Their stuff was lashed to the canoe, so they drifted back to the point near the beach, dumped the water out then tried it again. Their pilot drifted back towards them, they got aboard and got the heck out of there. Both pilots deserve a medal for working in those conditions. An hour later we were all back in Armstrong.

Goatroti and crew, congratulations upon having a great time. Thanks, for the report as many of us were wondering how it went! We all knew that your 100 miles was going to be a hard goal to accomplish in just 10 days. Sorry, that two of your crew had to depart early. The important things are that you are all safe and had a great time. Your photos were fun to see and brought back many memories of times spent in the Wabakimi area!

Goatroti gives an excellent 1 minute crash course in bow paddling through rapids. Very helpful.

Thanks! Crash is the operative word. We ended up on rocks twice on the Attwood. My partner thought it was the end, but I managed to get us off in both instances, took on a bit of water and off we went. The water was up a bit on the Attwood compared to the last time through in 2013 so the rapids came at us a bit faster. Plus, what we ran with three eddy outs last time we did in one continuous run this time. The whole thing was over in minutes. Terrifying minutes for one of us, but much faster than the last time.

Great trip report, Ken! If that was really to 40 knots, it was no breeze!

Mark and I followed goatroti through the same rapids...scraped good once; loads of fun! and avoided the long gnarly portage!

The float plane rides to Attwood Lake and back from Penninsula Lake were really long. We could see the results of logging around the Ogoki Road ..the road looked very passable; but believe it's blocked from general use. Also, striking is the panorama of Big Lake with its plethora of islands, although the logging and Big Lake Road is evident.

Amazing the spread of the intact boreal forest that we could see. A world class treasure in one of the continent's largest wilderness canoe areas.

Wow! Another great trip that I wished I was on :)....glad you all made it back safely!

Good read, Ken, and great pics! You should post this trip summary to Trip Reports forum, here, as it it cogent and will catch a bigger readership! Ray