First, some bits of information about Wabakimi Provincial Park. It is over 4 million acres in size. That is twice the size of the BWCAW and Quetico combined. The park employs only 2 portage maintenance crews (2 men on each crew) to clear these trails. Considering the fact that we're not sure where most of those trails are, that is a daunting task for 4 men to accomplish. Wabakimi has no management plan in place (there is one scheduled to be publicized by September 2012). As a result, there are no can, bottle, motor or any other restrictions in place. There are many "fishing outpost" cabins spread throughout the park that outfitters have built for fisherman getaways and such, but no one person knows where they all are. In fact, our fly out pilot wasn’t aware of the one on the lake we took out on.

When Phil first started the project 7 years ago he had the blessings of the existing park superintendent. The new superintendent and Phil have not seen eye to eye, however, and this relationship has been the subject of some controversy. But I digress.

Phil Cotton has an amazing and efficient system for meeting his goals. He begins every season with his first crew (a crew of four - he and 3 others) taking the train (with gear and canoes in a special boxcar) out of Armstrong to Savant Lake and working his way to the first area that needs investigation. Every Wednesday of every week, Phil gets on his satellite phone (Iridium - very reliable, I found) and calls into his daughter and next door neighbor in Thunder Bay for a list of needed supplies to cover the next week. On Friday he first calls the float plane staff (Mattice Lake Outfitters) to find out their schedule for the next day and to also inform them of his location. He then calls Thunder Bay at 5:30pm to check to see if the new crew has arrived, tell them their flight departure time and any last minute details that may need to be covered. The new crew gets an orientation in Thunder Bay and loads up. Saturday they drive to the float plane dock (3 hrs from Thunder Bay), load their gear and supplies in the plane and take off to Phil’s location. When they land, they get off, the old crew gets in and a new week with a new crew is under way. It all seems to go very smoothly.

With that info in mind, me and a delightful couple from Strathroy, Ontario - Tetcy ( a Dutch name) and Ray - met for our orientation in Thunder Bay, had a get acquainted dinner there and took off for Wabakimi the next morning.

Here we are loading our float plane (a De Haviland Beaver) at the outfitters:

Tetcy and Ray had the back two seats, I sat next to the pilot:

We take off promptly and see Wabakimi first from the air:

about 20 minutes later we land (very smoothly!) on Elf Lake – in the center of the park - and Phil and crew were paddling up to us before you know it:

Phil gives us another orientation – how the Sat phone works (I got to call my wife - got a voicemail!), camp layout and such.

Here are some pics from our first site on Elf Lake:

Our tents were Eureka! 4 person tents so there was lots of space. Tetcy and Ray, of course had a tent and I shared with Phil:

After a short lunch, Phil wasted no time putting us to work. A nearby trail had some blow down that needed clearing, so off we went:

The trail before cleaing:

and after clearing:

We then headed back to camp for dinner, libations and set the plan for the next day. It seems there was a 650 meter trail that the previous crew had found and flagged and it was very much over blown with trees and shrubs and virtually impassable. Our job was to clear it and measure it.

The way Phil organizes the portage clearing side of things is, once again, a picture of efficiency.

Phil begins each morning pouring over maps to determine the days operations:

After his morning coffee and contemplation, he shows us what we’re in for:

The task is first to find (using the old maps - in one case, Phil was using a map from the 1750s) the old trails by diligently looking for old blazes made on the jackpine by the trappers and such. These blazes could be as old as 300 years. Here is an example of one:

They were usually made with 2 down strokes of a hatchet and then one or 2 upstrokes. Sometimes they were easy to find, other times it was very difficult. Some trees with blazes were blown down and created a challenge for us as well.

Once the blazes were found, a temporary "flag" of plastic tape around that tree and then the crew looked for the next blaze:

Once the entire trail was flagged (usually an all day operation), then it was time to clear it.

Here is another section of blowdown before the clearing:

and then after:

This is done section by section and we gradually work our way to the other end. Each entry and take- out point as well as each blaze is way pointed on the GPS. We then take a metric tape measure and walk back adding up the meters as we go:

It turns out this trail was 645 meters long. It took us all day to get it cleared and measured. We were one tired crew at the end of the day and were ready for a nice meal, libations and some rest.

The next day we left Elf to make our way across some (now-cleared) trails and lakes to Granite Lake where we would visit Granite Falls (pictures later) and look for potential campsites along the way. Each site was explored and if determined to be "campable", it was waypointed on the GPS. No campsites were cleared or prepared unless we were camping there ourselves. Here is one old fire ring we found along the way:

and another:

Who knows how long it had been since another human here looked out over a crackling fire onto a beautiful lake?

We found this old hatchet scarred log on another site:

Here is our 2nd site (one night only) on upper Granite Lake:

I found this rock with a ring of crystal in its center at the site to be very interesting. I dubbed it the "Saturn Rock".

Here is another view from our 2nd campsite:

So we mostly paddled and inventoried campsites with a stop at the falls. It was a welcome day of leisure compared to the clearing the day before.

And as you will see in the next section, it wasn’t all work and no play.

Phil wants to make sure his crews enjoy the magic that is Wabakimi and he sets time aside for every crew to have some leisure time and enjoy the scenery. Here are some pics from those times – and they were many.

As stated earlier, we visited Granite Falls which is in two sections. Here is Upper Granite Falls:

And lower Granite Falls

We also visited Brennan Falls on our way to our third (and final campsite) on the south end of Granite Lake:

Blueberries were very, very abundant:

and we made good use of them:

botanically we found a lot of "British Soldiers":

Pixie cups:

Pitcher plants in the bogs (I call them “lumps and clumps)

AND much to my delight we found sundews:

I had never seen them before in the wild (thought they were Venus fly-traps at first)!

A partridge was entertaining us on one trail:

as well as this old 25 gallon fuel drum. It had a 1964 date on it:

This survey marker by Granite Falls was dated 1925:

I took this crescent moon sunset pic on my birthday. What a great present!

We base camped on the South end of Granite for 4 days, flagging and measuring a 1700 meter trail (needed so little clearing, we let it go. Phil doesn’t want to cut everything around, keeping in mind many paddlers would want it that way), searching out and finding blazes (and flagging) 2 200 meter trails into the next lake - Otter Bluff.

Saturday morning came sooner than we thought it would. We posed for our final crew picture:

We then paddled out to wait for our float plane to arrive. We soon heared the Beaver’s drone and saw it coming:

It landed soon after and we paddled out to it. The new crew got off:

and paddled away as we waved goodbye:

As in our first look at Wabakimi, our last look was also from the air:

We arrived shortly back at Mattice Lake Outfitters, went into Armstrong for some Snickers bars and "pop" and headed back into Thunder Bay. There I said goodbye to my new friends and headed back to Grand Marais for yet another adventure.

By week’s end, our schedule wound up as: Saturday, Day 1 - fly in to Elf Lake Campsite, lunch and an afternoon clearing Sunday, Day 2 - Clear and measure a previously flagged trail Monday, Day 3 - Paddle to Granite Falls doing small clearing work and         Campsite Inventory on the way. Camp on the northeast         Side of Grantie Lake Tuesday, Day 4 - Campsite Inventory of the east side of Granite Lake while on the way         To set up new camp on the south end of the lake. (We also found          -and waypointed-two fishing posts) Wednesday, Day 5 – Rainbound in camp. When the rain cleared in late afternoon, Ray          And I paddled to investigate some cliffs and look for the blazes for          A trail (we found it). Thursday, Day 6 - Walk, flag, waypoint and measure a 1700 meter portage trail. Friday, Day 7 - Search and flag two 200 meter trails Saturday – Exchange crews and fly out.

There is some controversy surrounding Phil and the Wabakimi Project. I can understand that considering his "full speed ahead" mission and the new superintendent's idea of what to accomplish there. However, after this experience I totally support what Phil is doing. I wouldn’t even think of paddling Wabakimi without having the information that he has meticulously accumulated the last 7 years and has done so without any profit and at times with some measurable hardships.

I am proud to be Volunteer # 117 and I foresee a day when someone will ask me what it was like to paddle with Phil Cotton.

Thanks for coming along. I have lots of other tidbits, stories and information about this trip and welcome your comments and questions!

Jerry