Getting a bit nervous about my trip in August with the fires they have burning. Two of them Just getting bigger and bigger!

Thoughts?

Ryan

I see 3 active fires inside park boundaries.
Ontario Fire Map
Play it by ear and change your route as needed.
We did that in 2011 and skirted a couple fires but completed our trip.

Only two of those fires are burning I’d been watching that map. Hopefully the rain hits up in Wabakimi as well. I’m up at Lake of the Woods and we got a lot of rain today! Looks like it’s heading that way.

Ryan

Came out of the park June 21th. Spent 30 days out there. I could witness as the bush was getting drier and drier. I was lucky since fires didn't affect my trip.
On some days there was a haze to see. One day the haze was pretty thick and I could smell the smoke.
Two of the fires are big and keep on burning. Rain is needed on 3-5 consecutive days at least. Without rain I fear that the two big fires within the park will continue to burn.
Trips are still possible. Some routes and zones in the park are closed. I strongly recommend to respect and follow those closures.
If I were planning a trip this next weeks I'd contact the park office and the local outfitters. They know the current conditions.

Trust me I don’t want to be near the fires! With as big as the fire to the west is I just don’t see being able to do the Allenwater river. Unless like you said we get some serious rain up in Wabakimi.

Thinking maybe Kopka this year instead of the Allenwater. Southern areas seem less affected.

Ryan

Gaidin53: "Trust me I don’t want to be near the fires! With as big as the fire to the west is I just don’t see being able to do the Allenwater river. Unless like you said we get some serious rain up in Wabakimi.


Thinking maybe Kopka this year instead of the Allenwater. Southern areas seem less affected.


Ryan"

Wise decisions. I wouldn't do the Allanwater River at the moment either, although the route is not closed (yet).

I did the "lower" part of the Kopka. The section with the falls also known as the "Seven Sisters" is just breathtaking!
If you're interested in up to date infos about that part of the Kopka send me a message.

Crap - I had not looked at the maps is a couple weeks and things have moved fast. Rain, please!

Can you send me an email regarding the Kopka. You are not set up to allow me to send you one. I’ve got the Wabakimi maps route guides already. Was reading through an older report from Rambling boy. His was nice since he even had a gpx gps download for the Kopka with a lot of detail. We’ll be tripping with Bruce so I’ll eventually get his maps as well.

Ryan

A nice 1 wk trip on the Kopka would be train-in to the Aldridge Lake route down to the Kopka. The trip south from the railroad takes a day and a half with some portaging between lakes. A somewhat longer (by several days) trip would be flying into Uneven Lake. Almost all trips down the Kopka end at the south end of Bukemiga Lake which has a drive in First Nations campground off Hwy 527 south of Armstrong. Bruce has put many clients on the Kopka on these routes.

Also, you will probably want to use a stronger boat (Royalex or T-Formex) since the river is very rocky. When I did the Kopka in 2017 my buddy's Royalex Wenonah Aurora banged off a lot of rocks. The river was getting progressively lower as our trip progressed due to almost no rain. Might be the same now.

Aslowhand, what was your route?

Last summer as part of a solo, I paddled up the Brightsand river and down the Kopka. I believe it took me twelve days from Allanwater bridge. Water was high last summer, even into August.

I’ve got a new this year. No longer scratch free after my son and his buddy did a 16 day Quetico trip and covered 158 miles. Northstar B17 in IXP. It’s the whitewater version they make made to be tough and for whitewater tripping!

Bruce had no issues with me starting to plan for doing the Kopka this year and is going to send me the maps. We’ll just do the Allenwater or vice versa next year with him.

Ryan

tomo: "Aslowhand, what was your route?


Last summer as part of a solo, I paddled up the Brightsand river and down the Kopka. I believe it took me twelve days from Allanwater bridge. Water was high last summer, even into August.




"

I started at the Railroad at Redhead Lake followed the Nemo River to Brennan Lake, bypassed Brennan Falls like you did last year but in the opposite direction, Granite Lake, McWade Lake, Wabakimi Lake, Kenoji Lake, up the Palisade River to Burntrock Lake, crossed a watershed into Webster Creek, went back south and west into Scrag Lake, Arril Lake, Grayson Lake, Whitewater Lake, up the Ogoki and Berg Rivers (not recommended in spring high water!!) to Outlet Bay of Smoothrock Lake, from the southernmost part of Smoothrock Lake to Spring Lake, up the Lookout River, Onamakawash Lake, Shawanabis Lake, Boulder Lake, reached the Kopka River above Kenakskaniss Lake, Wigwasan Lake, Bukemiga Lake

My niece's trip just rerouted to Brightsands and Kopka combo to avoid the fires.

We’re pretty much planning on routing to the Brightsand and Kopka now. Hopefully the northern fires get under control and people can spread out in the park more. I’m concerned everyone tripping in Wabakimi will get jammed into the south together making things more crowded in those areas.

I talked to someone today who was on Smoothrock Lake last week at the outfitter fishing. They had good wind most of the week but on Thursday a wall of smoke like fog came in on them due to wind direction. I think he said they had about a 100 yards of visibility. Couldn’t get away from the smoke even inside since none of the cabins had AC or are insulated well enough to hold out the smoke and clean up the air inside. They were concerned about getting out on Friday due to visibility but wind direction changed and they got out fine on Friday.

Ryan