I am interested in doing a week-long trip with my brother down the Turtle River north of Atikokan. He did this many years ago and has never stopped talking about it.

I haven't been able to find much information online. I emailed Canoe Canada in Atikokan, who I have used for Q trips before, requesting info on the route, maps, outfitting and shuttle service, but they haven't responded. Bernie from Quetico North arranged the original trip back in the 1980s, but then he started a new fly-in business farther north and I don't remember the name of it.

One reason for my interest in this route is that I have a friend whose feet were seriously injured in a car accident and he can't walk well over rough ground, although he can paddle and fish with the best of them, and I have heard there aren't many portages to deal with. Anyone have any thoughts?

Did you ever learn anything here? I was curious about the same area. There's not much info online.

ayudell: "Did you ever learn anything here? I was curious about the same area. There's not much info online."

Haven't had any luck so far. I sent inquiries to a couple Atikokan outfitters before the pandemic hit and they didn't even respond. Maybe they don't want gringos invading their private space.

If/when I get more info I will post it, but it doesn't look like I'll be going to Canada this summer.

Browns Clearwater Lake Resort is a good place to start the trip. They can shuttle you down Clearwater Lk or you can paddle it to the portage to the next lake and then visit Jimmy McQuat’s castle, a very interesting place which has been restored. From there you paddle to the river. My group stopped at the Quetico PP office in Atikokan on our way to Browns. They had little to no info on the Turtle Rv PP and asked us to make note of the portages and campsites beyond Hwy 622, which could also be a start point for a trip. One of my trip mates was going to report back to the park staff regarding the info they were seeking on portage and campsite locations.

I suggest you find Kevin Callan’s 1998 trip report on this trip. It is in one of his earlier books on Ontario canoe routes. We found it to be very accurate, and it will tell you everything you need to know. We stayed at Brown’s resort the night before the trip and had them shuttle us to the first portage. Later in the week they shuttled our cars to the take out at Mine Center (as I recall). As Kevin Callan references in his trip report, the last day requires a 17 mile paddle since there are no campsites in that part of the river. We started that day paddling at about 630am and completed the trip about 1230pm at the public boat landing where our cars had been moved to.

A very nice 1 week trip with good fishing on the river and no other people encountered behind Hwy 622 (a number of fishing boats cached there). We did this trip the first week of June 2019.

Lots of great info Deerfoot---thanks!

Obviously this looks more like a 2021 trip than a 2020 one....

I have not tripped the river but have paddled lakes in this area a couple of times. Under-rated for sure...lots to like. See the Castle if you have time.

I called (or emailed - don't remember) the Parks office and was sent a free map that shows portages from the north (up by Ignace) down to Little Turtle Lake (by Mine Centre).

The map is a simple one and does not show many of the campsites (some but less than half of the ones I saw were on the map). It does show access points; there are also no topo lines.

Here's a couple photos of the map so you can see what I'm talking about.

I remember seeing the map sns posted, probably a trip mate had one. If you can find Kevin Callan’s report on the trip it will tell you what you need to know. I highly recommend the trip. No navigation difficulties, portages/campsites easily located. And unlike most other Canadian trips I have taken the portages were all open, we didn’t have to clear anything. Yet we had almost all of the route to ourselves and encountered no one on the river itself.

When I stopped into the Atikokan park office to pick up my Quetico permit last month, I asked if they had any information on the Turtle River area. I was presented with the map that Sns posted as well as the printout below. The park staff seemed to think this was available online as well, but I couldn't find it. Not too helpful as it only shows one campsite....and I got a kick out of the "You are Here" marked on the map. Regardless, I think it depicts a nice little overview of the area.













deerfoot, it sounds like your trip mate had taken down some information on the campsites and portage locations. Any chance he has some GPS coordinates to share?

I will try to track him down. I only paddled with him on the Turtle Rv trip but a long time paddle buddy should have his contact info. Let me say again that this was an easy trip to navigate with campsites/portages easily found. And although we met no one on the trip, the portages were all clear so it has to be travelled regularly.

My paddle partner on the trip is a physicist at the U of Minnesota and developed a GPS track for the entire trip which was not necessary but I guess he really likes to play with the technology. While on the trip I couldn't understand why we always paddled directly down the middle of the river never cutting any corners/turns. Then it dawned on me he was exactly following his track down the middle of the river. The Turtle Rv is not big or wide. In fact, it reminded me a lot of many Wisconsin rivers.

arnesr: " When I stopped into the Atikokan park office to pick up my Quetico permit last month, I asked if they had any information on the Turtle River area. I was presented with the map that Sns posted as well as the printout below. The park staff seemed to think this was available online as well, but I couldn't find it. Not too helpful as it only shows one campsite....and I got a kick out of the "You are Here" marked on the map. Regardless, I think it depicts a nice little overview of the area.














deerfoot, it sounds like your trip mate had taken down some information on the campsites and portage locations. Any chance he has some GPS coordinates to share? "

My trip mate on the Turtle Rv trip got back to me and I asked if he would like to contact you directly. Sounds like has some gps info. And I would not be the guy to try to get very involved with that (poor computer skills and interest.)

More to follow.

I have paddled this route beginning from the bridge drop off point and exited in Clearwater West. I can share info with you, including locations of all the campsites I know of. This is a simple route and not particularly difficult (with one or two exceptions). One of the best resources I can point you to, is the Maukinak Trail map. It's available online.

Deerfoot, Thanks for contacting your trip mate for me, he did share some info with me on the area, including the Maukinak trail map golbu79 referenced.

That Maukinak Map link goblu79 posted is a bit confusing. Originally when I clicked on the link I saw the maps at the bottom that they are selling. If you scroll to the middle of the page under Trail Conditions and click on View Trail Conditions, it takes you to a new page. On that page you will find links to pdf maps that show the campsites along the route....super helpful.

arnesr: "Deerfoot, Thanks for contacting your trip mate for me, he did share some info with me on the area, including the Maukinak trail map golbu79 referenced.


That Maukinak Map link goblu79 posted is a bit confusing. Originally when I clicked on the link I saw the maps at the bottom that they are selling. If you scroll to the middle of the page under Trail Conditions and click on View Trail Conditions, it takes you to a new page. On that page you will find links to pdf maps that show the campsites along the route....super helpful."

I am glad Mark could help. He and another trip mate did a lot computerized map work for this trip. For almost 50 years of tripping I have always kind of enjoyed just going and finding my way, campsites, portages, etc as the trip progressed. That and I don’t have nor are much interested in developing the computer skills to do what those guys do.