I just received mine in the mail. These are great publications for my next trip into the park. Thanks FOW.

I found the canoe route books to be wonderful for navigation on my first trip last year. I also found it very helpful to have those books open while I watched YouTube’s or read trip report as I took a lot of notes that were later helpful on my trip.

Just ordered the book from FOW. Actually starting to plan for a 2023 trip. Wabakimi is so big that figuring out the right first trip route is going to be a challenge. You can’t do it all and I’m not a whitewater tripper. At least yet!

Ryan

Having been a WP participant on parts of a number of the trips in the route book, I would say you can’t go wrong on any of the trips. I know what I am talking about since Ken B. and I are on the cover.

Going to be interesting. Doing a 14 day Quetico trip this year and will be in Quetico in 2023 as well as doing Wabakimi that year. Bruce Hyer just told me I’ll like Wabakimi better. I’m sure I’ll love both. Not sure how significantly different they will be though and I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos of both. Obviously having the chance and hopefully seeing a Woodland Caribou is a major difference! I also have never flown in for a trip so that will be different.

I’ve got 2 BWCA trips and one Quetico trip to enjoy this year before I get busy with trip planning for 2023’s trips. I definitely plan ahead though and enjoy the planning and prepping process.

Ryan

Wabakimi has way fewer visitor nights than Quetico so you will see far fewer to no people while there and thus the terrain is more challenging - fewer campsites, obstructed portages, etc. But the solitude makes it all worth it.

deerfoot: "Having been a WP participant on parts of a number of the trips in the route book, I would say you can’t go wrong on any of the trips. I know what I am talking about since Ken B. and I are on the cover. "

I'm the guy in the bow, Deerfoot in the stern without the life preserver ;) . We spent a week in 2015 in the Caribou forest east of the park exploring the Big River from Upper Pashowconk Lake to the portage into Moonshine Lake from Reef Lake. One of several routes from Caribou Lake that will take you to spectacular Cliff Lake with its cliff paintings and Phil Cotton's final resting place.

I'm curious - - you two are in the same thread, same canoe, same book cover - did you choose "deer foot" and "goat trot" (cloven-hooved species, albeit one a cervid and one a bovid) at the same time?
;)

jillpine: "I'm curious - - you two are in the same thread, same canoe, same book cover - did you choose "deer foot" and "goat trot" (cloven-hooved species, albeit one a cervid and one a bovid) at the same time? ;) "

Ya sure, the Cheesehead and the Canuck, hands… er I mean hooves across the border.

So....routes into Wabakimi....Little Caribou, Caribou to Smoothrock and back. Lots of folks like going up the Flindt river system from the landing into Smoothrock if I'm orienting correctly. It requires a train out of Armstrong to Flindt Landing (am i correct on that? Not looking at my maps at the moment). I like the west side to get into Brennan but you could access that area via Allanwater from the south (train would be useful...). Just a few thoughts to add to the discussion.

I’m hearing the train right now isn’t exactly a sure thing. You could lose a day waiting and stuff so that is definitely not something I’d plan on doing unless it’s a sure thing again at some point. So my trip would be fly in and then either fly out or paddle out to get picked up by a vehicle not a train.

Thinking I’m going to make it a family trip with 4 of us. We don’t mind some challenges but not massively grueling mud bogs or vertical portages. Probably 8 to 10 days 60 to 80 miles. Would be portaging around whitewater and not running it.

Definitely looking forward to getting the planner since at this point I don’t have a foundation of Wabakimi knowledge.

If I’m flying in I’d question why I’d want to be dropped off in a busy area where an outpost is and the train goes through. Wouldn’t it make more sense when you fly in to get dropped western middle of the park or Northern sections?

Ryan

I think that in response to your question, once you have the planning guide and maps, you'll see that your options are limitless if you fly in. Personally, I'd fly into Whitewater (north-central area of the park - to see the Beckwith cabin) and then paddle out through Smoothrock and Caribou to L. Caribou. Then, I'd have a shuttle meet me to bring me back to Armstrong. However, that is just one of many areas. There is an outpost on Whitewater, if I remember correctly, but others such as deerfoot and goatroti can respond better to your route-questions than me.

You nailed the lower end of the distance on that suggestion. I used PP from the farther end of Whitewater and then through what you suggested and it was 60 miles with double portaging. Portaging distance even double portaging only 4.1 miles so pretty easy trip from that perspective.

Will be a fun trip to plan no matter what.

Ryan

In August 2008 on a WP (Wabakimi Project) trip we crossed the park from west to east (Davies Lk to west end of the Ogoki Reservoir.) The entire trip was about 130 miles and was completed in 13 days and could have been covered in a few days less but we took several easy days with limited travel. The route of this trip is covered in WP Map Book 1.

Whitewater Lk is very large and has a multi-cabin outpost on the far west end where the Ogoki Rv empties into the lake. Don Elliot (Mattice Lake Outfitters in Armstrong) has a multi-cabin outpost on the south shore of the eastern end of Whitewater, which is just a few miles south of Best Island (Wendell Beckwith’s place.) And just west of Best Island is a First Nations Reserve. So you will likely see fly-in fisherman on Whitewater but the lake is so big they will likely be at a distance.

So if you flew into Whitewater Lk and were dropped off in the east end you could see the Beckwith cabins and continue eastward on the Ogoki Rv to Whiteclay Lk (where there is another outpost with multiple cabins) and then on to the Ogoki Reservoir where Don Elliot has a multi-cabin outpost. So this trip would have a combination of lake and river travel with floatplane access at each end.

With a group of four assuming you have two canoes you would have to use a big plane (Elliot and other outfitters in the Armstrong area have Turbo Otters which can carry two canoes and Beavers can carry only 1 canoe.) But Don Elliot has the outpost camps on Whitwater and the Ogoki Reservoir and you may be able coordinate your flyin/flyout with fisherman going out/in which could reduce your flight costs.

This would be a nice trip that could have expensive flight costs. Any flyin trip would likely require the big plane but if you did a flyin and paddle out to a road pickup you would get the bush plane experience and have a nice trip with the much less costly road pickup. Don Elliot - Mattice Lake Outfitters or Bryce Hyer - Wabakimi Outfitters (I think his business is called) could advise you on trip possibilities. A good guy for road shuttles is Clem Quenville of Armstrong. He is a native of the area and seems to have access to road pickups on roads that are closed to public use. Although I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. Contact info for these guys is on the Friends of Wabakimi website.