I'm tentatively planning a hybrid canoe-hiking trip. Here's our idea. We'll drive up to the Mcfarland entry point, and stash our canoe well back in the woods. Then we'll drive back to the start of the Border Route Trail, park in the hiking trail parking lot, and hike to our canoe, and then paddle back to the truck on the Pigeon river. We want to eventually do the whole BRT, but for starters we are going to knock off this small chunk. I've never paddled the Pigeon, and have always wanted to.

A couple of questions. One thing I'm not sure about is getting from the Pigeon to the SHT/BRT parking lot. Anyone know anything about the Swamp River? From the sat photos it looks like rapids before it enters the Pigeon. Is there maybe a portage? Just a bit east of there, the topo maps show a road, but it looks pretty grown over on the sat photos. And it doesn't seem to get to the river.

And for camping, it looks like there are a few sites on South Fowl, outside of the BW so we wouldn't have to worry about a permit. Anyone know if there are campsites on the Pigeon on the US side?

Anyway, if anyone can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it!

Brian

I believe BeaV has taken the Swamp to the Pigeon before.

Only thing I can add is I do not know of any sites on the Pigeon between S.Fowl and where the Swamp enters. Been on this stretch 3 times. I know some groups on past Voyageur / Kruger Challenges have rested in the brush along the side of the Pigeon , but no "sites" that I'am aware of.

WhiteWolf: "I believe BeaV has taken the Swamp to the Pigeon before.


Only thing I can add is I do not know of any sites on the Pigeon between S.Fowl and where the Swamp enters. Been on this stretch 3 times. I know some groups on past Voyageur / Kruger Challenges have rested in the brush along the side of the Pigeon , but no "sites" that I'am aware of. "

Thanks Whitewolf. That helps.

I don't think you're getting upstream on the Swamp River unless you're a pretty skilled poler. It's usually fairly swift water from Otter Lake Road on down to the Pigeon, with 52 feet of elevation drop in 1.1 river miles. No portage that I'm aware of. It is at least fully surrounded by public land at that point, so you're welcome to attempt a tough bushwhack - just don't stray too far to the east of the river. The "road" in question is an old logging road, and yes, it is pretty overgrown currently, but with grasses you could walk through at the risk of ankle-twisting rather than blocking brush, and no, it does not go all the way down to the Pigeon. It does get pretty close to the Swamp, so if you managed to stagger upstream a little ways you could hop on it for a bit until the point where it crosses the BRT and then follow that to the parking lot. You would need to make it upstream about a third of a mile to pull that off, which is about 14-16 of those vertical feet. I don't have a good sense of whether that's possible/sane. I'm guessing possible yes, sane maybe.

All of that said, you *can* reasonably get from the Pigeon to the BRT along the stretch between South Fowl Lake and the *Stump* River. The portage around the dam is on the Canadian side, and I'm not sure exactly where it puts back in, so you may need to scramble upstream slightly in this case too, but it would be easier. There's an ATV trail in the vicinity that crosses the BRT and would take you to a parking area at the end of South Fowl Road. As for campsites, not on the Pigeon, but there is a BRT site where the trail crosses the Stump.

I'm not sure where you are parking your vehicle at? Is it at the Swamp River intersecting Otter Lake Rd (as it is called on google earth)?

A friend and I paddled the Swamp 2 years ago. The stretch from the intersection I mention above is fast water as it descends quickly to the Pigeon River. Little room to maneuver...it is more like a chute with lots of tangled tree/log jams and boulders. I take responsibility for almost wrecking my friends new royalex canoe here...oops! We went down the Swamp and it was a challenge. Climbing, log balancing, pulling boat over/through tangles, and adlib portages to get around stuff where that's the only option. Going up would be safer but more work still. Slower and probably no paddling. Guessing your best bet would be to pull up river in addition to what we did going down river. NOT EASY! With the right mindset, it's doable.

The Swamp River enters the Pigeon about half way thru the English Rapids. You can easily miss the mouth of the Swamp when you're paddling downstream on the Pigeon as the river splits around an island. Make sure you stay river right. And don't look for the Voyageur-era English Rapids Portage to avoid the class 1 rocky rapids. That portage ended with the Voyageurs, I reckon.

Sounds like a fun trip!

Thanks. That's good intel. We plan to park in the Superior hiking trail/BRT trail lot. I hiked the SHT and we spent some time exploring that area (that's when we first cooked up the idea of using a canoe for a hiking shuttle). After having my memory jogged by tony's post, I now recall the hiking trail crossing that four wheeler/logging trail. I was hoping it went to the Pigeon, but I guess not. Caltopo shows a trail from that "road" to the Pigeon, but of course that could be decades old and long overgrown.

Our plan at this point is to reconnoiter the river/logging road situation before we start hiking back to our canoe. Worst case we could change our minds and use the South Fowl road. l'm no stranger to bushwhacking or canoeing places without portages.

If you listen to the "Tumblehome" podcast one of the episodes from the last couple of weeks (Grand Portage) is about their trip down the Pigeon to the Grand Portage. They review campsites and such. Also some YouTube videos of the same episode with campsite footage (I believe).

djwillco: "If you listen to the "Tumblehome" podcast one of the episodes from the last couple of weeks (Grand Portage) is about their trip down the Pigeon to the Grand Portage. They review campsites and such. Also some YouTube videos of the same episode with campsite footage (I believe). "

This ^^^^