We just returned from our trip., which included Pashkokogan, Greenbush, Metig, Davies, Takeoff, Shoe, Mcrae, and back to Pashkokogan. Quite an adventure. As a poster commented last year we also saw no other people for 9 days. Unfortunately strong winds and some rainy weather prevented us from doing any fishing. And to make matters worse the yoke snapped in half on the third portage of the trip. Luckily, other than a pretty good wound on the top of my head, I was alright.
I couldn't believe it when I found a knife on one of the Shoe Creek portages. The odds of finding it in the mud on these lightly used portages must be a million to one.

Pete

Nice area. Did a 2 week trip starting on Davies and ending on the Ogoki Reservoir. What I remember most is very long and rough portage from Timon Lk (south of Davies) east to Muskiga Lake. One of the most grueling carries in the Wabakimi area.

Pete,
How did you like that portage out of Greenbush?

Majikat: "We just returned from our trip., which included Pashkokogan, Greenbush, Metig, Davies, Takeoff, Shoe, Mcrae, and back to Pashkokogan...."

A loop route I'm considering.

Did you leave your car at the North Albany Lodge? I'm wondering is they would let canoeists stay there the night before a trip? Todd's YouTube showed some pretty gnarly portages with blowdown. Look's like some work is needed on those, as it's been a long time since the Wabakimi Project folks went through.

Also, can you get gas in Savant Lake or further up the road? Can't find any info regarding that; or much of any info about Savant Lake; lodging etc.

OregonDave: "

Majikat: "We just returned from our trip., which included Pashkokogan, Greenbush, Metig, Davies, Takeoff, Shoe, Mcrae, and back to Pashkokogan...."

A loop route I'm considering.


Did you leave your car at the North Albany Lodge? I'm wondering is they would let canoeists stay there the night before a trip? Todd's YouTube showed some pretty gnarly portages with blowdown. Look's like some work is needed on those, as it's been a long time since the Wabakimi Project folks went through.


Also, can you get gas in Savant Lake or further up the road? Can't find any info regarding that; or much of any info about Savant Lake; lodging etc. "

'Andy's Graystone Lake' is a convenience store with a single gas pump available. There is a motel there as well. I've been looking at Pashkokogan to access Rockcliff and the Misekhow river..

Wabawho…...yup, that had the most blowdown of all the ports for sure. Made worse by missing the takeout at first. We bushwacked to the other end, then walked back on the trail to discover we had paddled to far. That's also where the yoke broke. Lotsa fun!

We couldn't follow the 660 m port from Little Metig to Metig. Ended up lining all 4 rapids/swifts. Tedious and time consuming. Did you do the same?
Had a helluva time finding the port from the unnamed lake to Shoe. The entrance was completely grown in with alder.

We parked at North Albany Lodge. You'd have to call them about lodging.
Don't know about gas or lodging in Savant. We always do that in Ignace.

Nobody claiming that knife eh! Maybe one of Uncle Phil's crew.

Cheers.....Pete

Majikat: "Wabawho…...yup, that had the most blowdown of all the ports for sure. Made worse by missing the takeout at first. We bushwacked to the other end, then walked back on the trail to discover we had paddled to far. That's also where the yoke broke. Lotsa fun!


We couldn't follow the 660 m port from Little Metig to Metig. Ended up lining all 4 rapids/swifts. Tedious and time consuming. Did you do the same?
Had a helluva time finding the port from the unnamed lake to Shoe. The entrance was completely grown in with alder.


We parked at North Albany Lodge. You'd have to call them about lodging.
Don't know about gas or lodging in Savant. We always do that in Ignace.


Nobody claiming that knife eh! Maybe one of Uncle Phil's crew.


Cheers.....Pete"

If you were headed to Rockcliff, which route would you recommend taking from Pashkokogan?

That's a tough question to answer. In my opinion one way is not clearly better than the other. If you don't mind doing some lining then the Greenbush way wins, less ports than the other way. Ya, I would say through Greenbush. I wonder what Wabawho would say.

Not sure if North Albany lodge would let you spend the night. They do have cabins, but its pretty apparent that the lodge was meant more for the power boat fishing crowd (likely more weekly rentals) than canoeists. That being said it was nice to have a safe place to park a car while out and take a shower on return. I stealth camped a few miles south of Savant Lake next to a couple radio towers the night before entry.

There was a single pump gas station, small general store and hotel in Savant lake.

I did the "bushwacking to the other side and following the portage back" (see portage to Colehouse below) on quite a few of those portages. I actually did follow the Little Metig to Metig portage, but I remember the starting point was quite difficult to find.

Definitely not my knife, but if someone does go into Rockcliff, I forgot a nice pair of Native sunglasses somewhere on the portage to Colehouse. I took them off and hung them on a branch so that I could see the screen on my GPS clearly and didn't realize it until several portages later. Finders Keepers.

I'm with Pete on the loop direction. I don't think there is a clear winner, but I think I'd go through Greenbush again if I was heading back. My memory may not be the greatest, but I liked the scenery on the first half of the trip rather than the back end, but its all good.