I've read that it is helpful to have whitewater canoeing skills when planning on paddling in Wabakimi. Can anyone confirm this? I am comfortable with Class I and II, but am wondering if it would be helpful to take a course.

Paging OneMatch to the white courtesy phone...

What?!

many of the portages on the more remote and even some of the fairly well traveled rivers are difficult if not impossible to locate. i assume that most are overgrown due to lack of use. (fur trapping is not the industry it used to be.) the most difficult rapids and falls will have portages but we hit long stretches of the class 2+ rapids on the ogoki with no portages. portages generally begin right, within feet, at the top of the rapids and or waterfalls. many of the rapids can be lined with ropes, but that skill takes quite a bit of time to master. (you can really screw up easy lining a canoe) i would hope that any person canoing with me in the canadian bush be capable of handling the rapids on the kettle river in banning state park.
some of this section had portage, some no

found no portage for this section of rapids.

j- So, did you have some idea ahead of time that you would be hitting stretches of rapids like you show in your photo? Were you able to scout them out?

it is fairly obvious when you are approaching heavy whitewater. lots of times in remote areas the rapids won't be marked correctly on the maps. so if you see the river disappear in a straight line on the horizon and mist rising from beyond it is best to start making plans. most of the time you can tell from the canoe how runnable a rapids will be. if you are not sure get out and scout from shore, however, some rapids are too long to be scouted from shore, it's best to have a solid eddy turn and know when and how to use it. lash your gear in secure and tighten your life jacket. and have fun. i used to tie my glasses on with shoelaces, i am wiser now, if i am that unsure it's best to use plan B.

The issue with maps is becoming easier. Check out the Wabakimi Project website. They now have 3 volumes of pretty detailed maps for Wabakimi, with more to follow in upcoming years.

I was ready to go with them this June, but I got sandbagged here and had to drop out. Well, maybe in the next few years I'll be able to get back in.

every single rapid on those rivers in and around the park has a portage. some are hard to find, and some are not in good shape, but they are there. there are portages for swifts that you might paddle through without a thought, but a portage is required for a different water level, high or low. likewise, portages may have multiple landings on each end for different water levels.

bring a good saw and axe, it ain't the BW.

they may be there, i know most were back in the seventies, but in several instances we could not locate a portage. and i will grant you that i was not traveling with current, up to date information.

jd- Did you find that you could paddle some of the rapids? How did you find out that there were portages at every rapids? Only ask because I've gotten conflicting answers.

Thanks for the gear recommendation, we figured we'd need good axe and saw. Guessing we'll be doing our own trail maintenance.

jw- What season/year did you travel?

drocks sounds confident that there are portages at all of the rapids. i have no reason to doubt his claim. i love running rapids and wabakimi has some nice whitewater rivers. it could be we didn't look hard enough, for me it is always more enjoyable to run whitewater than portage. so finding no portage could have a handy excuse for running rapids that probably should have been portaged. we were last there in late july, it's good time to travel as the bugs aren't too bad. we did no research of our intended route, just used the 1:250000 canadian govt quad maps. i would recommend speaking with local outfitters or drocks for accurate portage info and any other concerns that you may have. we like to find stuff out for ourselves as we go, it adds to the adventure. with up to date accurate information i assume that you could probably have a safe and enjoyable trip without any whitewater skills, however i think you would have a more enjoyable trip if you felt confident in your river skills. wabakimi is as nice of a place to canoe as i have ever been in. it is worth preparing for. have your group spend as much time prior to your trip working on whitewater skills. i am not sure where you are located but here in the twin cities the Kinnickinnic river below river falls has tons of very easy whitewater, it shallow and safe, a perfect place to practice those paddling skills. just bring a beater canoe, you will hit a lot of rocks.

quote jwartman59: "drocks sounds confident that there are portages at all of the rapids. i have no reason to doubt his claim. i love running rapids and wabakimi has some nice whitewater rivers. it could be we didn't look hard enough, for me it is always more enjoyable to run whitewater than portage. so finding no portage could have a handy excuse for running rapids that probably should have been portaged. we were last there in late july, it's good time to travel as the bugs aren't too bad. we did no research of our intended route, just used the 1:250000 canadian govt quad maps. i would recommend speaking with local outfitters or drocks for accurate portage info and any other concerns that you may have. we like to find stuff out for ourselves as we go, it adds to the adventure. with up to date accurate information i assume that you could probably have a safe and enjoyable trip without any whitewater skills, however i think you would have a more enjoyable trip if you felt confident in your river skills. wabakimi is as nice of a place to canoe as i have ever been in. it is worth preparing for. have your group spend as much time prior to your trip working on whitewater skills. i am not sure where you are located but here in the twin cities the Kinnickinnic river below river falls has tons of very easy whitewater, it shallow and safe, a perfect place to practice those paddling skills. just bring a beater canoe, you will hit a lot of rocks."

Amazed you did no research and just went for it! How many were in your group? We just have two.

We live near the Kinni and paddle it quite frequently. :) Thanks for the canoe recommendation. I was concerned about bringing our new kevlar. Will do a beater instead.

just my brother and i. between the two of us we have done ten or more trips in wabakimi and probably twenty or more river trips much further north. who's counting? if you are used to the kinni you can handle your boat just fine (assuming you stayed upright). by beater boat i meant the kinni. on our last wabakimi trip we used a wenonah escape, a nice canoe but it handles poorly in waves pushing the stern, also tough to control in fast water. i would have preferred my beat up 17' pensobscot but since my brother drove he got to choose the canoe. planning too much takes the adventure out of the adventure.

quote jwartman59: "just my brother and i. between the two of us we have done ten or more trips in wabakimi and probably twenty or more river trips much further north. who's counting? if you are used to the kinni you can handle your boat just fine (assuming you stayed upright). by beater boat i meant the kinni. on our last wabakimi trip we used a wenonah escape, a nice canoe but it handles poorly in waves pushing the stern, also tough to control in fast water. i would have preferred my beat up 17' pensobscot but since my brother drove he got to choose the canoe. planning too much takes the adventure out of the adventure."

We have a Wenonah Boundary Waters 16'. You think that would be alright in W?

Do you have any route recommendations in Wabakimi? All we really know is that we'll likely head out of Armstrong via fly-in/paddle. Other details: 8 days. Average 10 mile days, with one or two lay-over days.

Thanks for your help!

paddlefamily, I think it's important to understand that Wabakimi isn't all the same. If you are traveling along the major routes (Allanwater, Flindt, Ogoki, Caribou Lake area, some areas just off the tracks, etc.) or in an area recently cleared by the Wabakimi Project, you are likely to find the portage trails without too much problem. If you are traveling in the more remote areas of the park, finding the trails could be very challenging. And if you are on a river system, the water levels could complicate things (but this true of all rivers, to an extent). It really depends on where you go.

I did the Allanwater Bridge to Little Caribou route last year. This is probably the most common of all Wabakimi routes (we saw 3 canoe groups in 7 days in mid July). While this certainly isn't the BW and there were plenty of deadfalls, I think we spotted every portage trail on this route without any problems.

I think you should probably let the route dictate your daily mileage expectations too. If your traveling a major river with good current and some expectation of decent portages, you can easily get 10 miles before lunch. If your in a remote part of the park, and need to first clean some portages, 10 miles might be 2 or 3 days. The route we did was a fairly easy 100 miles in 7 days (no layovers or wind problems).

HBB- Appreciate the advice. Feeling like I'm getting a better picture of things. I wondered if it was a mixed bag (with various portage/river/lake conditions). Thank you for the clarification.

whitewater paddler or not, i see little benefit in adding risk to a trip in an area where adventure will surely find you anyway.

you plan the trip at length, get in there, then chance a costly abort. lose the boat, lose the gear, or get injured...you're done, period. there is no resupply, and help is a long ways off.

additionally, your trip is planned well in advance and you can never account for water levels. what was anticipated as a mere C1 swift is now an unrunable C3+ in your fully loaded tripping boat. can't safely line it either. you better damn well know where that portage is, or maybe find yourself on the wrong side of the river when you finally decide that it's the only way to move forward.

in 2007, i found half a Grumman 17 in a RR eddy at the bottom of a long C2 set on the Ogoki. maybe that was their "beater" boat, but they should have portaged. when i was in Armstrong in 2009, i heard a canoe camp had just lost two boats on the same stretch of river. the portages are there, they've always been there, and research on your route will pinpoint where to look for the landings. in many cases, you sure as heck do not want to overshoot the landings.

bring your kevlar boat, and portage. even if you portage, you're in plenty of fast water anyway.

quote jcavenagh: "The issue with maps is becoming easier. Check out the Wabakimi Project website. They now have 3 volumes of pretty detailed maps for Wabakimi, with more to follow in upcoming years.

I was ready to go with them this June, but I got sandbagged here and had to drop out. Well, maybe in the next few years I'll be able to get back in."

Dang, that stinks. Hope it's in your near future - hard to let go of something you'd looked forward to for so long.