Hello,
Doing a Wabakimi trip for the first time in Mid May. Looking for route ideas.
One option is The Kopka river, flying in to Redsand lake and exiting in Lake Bukemiga.
Another is train in to Allanwater bridge, allanwater river, granite lake, wabakimi lake, smooth rock lake to little caribou.
We would like to stay away from the burned areas.

We have 10 days, we want to do a bit of whitewater.
Mayb 2 down days, we average 10 to 15 miles a day.

thanks

I have not paddled either route, but two sources that could be helpful are:
1. Friends of Wabakimi
2. Wabakimi Outfitters

The west end of Wabakimi Lake burned last year. I dont think that will mess with your Allenwater route. The water was so low last year that folks were taking Mcwade Lake to Lower Wabakimi rather than dealing with Allenwater River to Wabakimi lake.

The Allenwater is doable in that time frame. I will say lakes are bigger than they look. If you run into weather at the end of the trip could be an issue on Wabakimi, Smoothrock, and Caribou lakes. I was surprised last year by distance that Little Caribou was. We’d crossed Caribou that day as well so that probably played into it. Had some bad weather days when we hit Smoothrock. Had to get up at 3 a.m. and paddle in the dark to get across Smoothrock to the end of Caribou bay on Smoothrock lake. Smoky day so we didn’t even get to see the sunrise!

Water was fine in August of last year on the Allenwater when we went through. Hopefully we and they do up north get some rain this spring to help with water levels and fire issues.

Brennan was only area on that route with new burns last year. We just paddled through that area and wasn’t an issue.

Ryan

I am familiar with Friends of Wabakimi ( i have all their maps) and I will be using Bruce from Wabakimi outfitters.
Thanks, I appreciate all the info.

If you are using Bruce you are golden. He has all the information on routes and the best maps. We did the Kopka River route you are describing in 2021 with Bruce's support. It is easily done in 10 days. We did a big self outfitting loop in 2022 but a lot of that route has now burned. Bruce will have all the information. His team is awesome.

Great to know, thanks.
Which route did you like most? and why?

They were both great in different ways. We saw few other people on either route. The Kopka River was our introduction to that area so it holds a special place in our heart. The Seven Sisters section is stunning. We were there at lower water levels so we had to line a lot of rapids that would likely be runnable at higher levels. We had better fishing on our Southwest Loop and saw lots of wildlife-moose, caribou, black bear, otters, and even a lynx. We loved the Flindt River section to Wabakimi lake and sadly it is my understanding that much of that area burned last year. I'm sure Bruce will have information about where the fires did the most damage. If you want more info about our southwest loop it is described in our trip report. Southwest Loop

Our Kopka River photos can be seen on Wabakimi Outfitters facebook Page. Posted October 17, 2021.

Gaidin53: ".... I will say lakes are bigger than they look. If you run into weather at the end of the trip could be an issue on Wabakimi, Smoothrock, and Caribou lakes. I was surprised last year by distance that Little Caribou was. ...."

I sure agree with this. I was constantly being caught off guard by how much bigger the lakes were than I expected. The scale of the maps is just so different. Below I superimposed two sections of the BWCA with "big lakes" on Wabakimi at the same scale. I didn't even get all of Smoothrock in the image! Enjoy your trip which ever way you go. I'd love to do both the routes you are thinking of.

When you put those maps into scale it definitely puts it into perspective. Here is our paddle which we had to start in the dark to avoid getting windbound for a 2nd day. Went from North arm bay of Smoothrock east to the end of Smoothrock Caribou bay. Miles covered in that track says it all.

Ryan

Great trip report with resources. Even has gpx files and kml files of route. I’ve found his reports to be awesome as I follow along and prepare for trips he’s done extensive reports on.

Ryan
Brightsand Kopka report from Albinger

I really appreciate the info. Thank you.
We are leaning more towards the Kopka route. We
were also thinking about starting in Allentown bridge (train) , heading south to Redsand Lake and joining the Kopka. But we only have 10 to 11 days and it might be a bit much.

Ahh yes. Our wabakimi trip last summer took a little longer than expected because of how vast the area is. We could also only take 2 layover days instead of our normal 3 on our 10 night trip. Next time we go we will plan a shorter route which are not too easy to find.