Does anyone have a rough estimate of the length of time it would take two people to paddle from Clay to Mack?

Half a day. Watch carefully as the mouth of Mack Creek on the south side of the Wawiag River is not as big and obvious as expected. I would have paddled right by if my son had not noticed it.

did you spend any time on Mack? i've heard the southern part is better fishing than the northern part.
this will be a fly-in/fly-out trip with 5 nights of camping/fishing between Mach and probably Kawa bay/Kawnipi/Mckenzie areas

Five years ago I did the fly-in to Clay Lake. During the planning phase I spent quite a bit of time with Google Earth mapping distances. I found that paddling from Clay Lake to the Wawiag River on the Greenwood Creek is about 4 miles, with lots and lots of switchbacks. It's about 5 miles on the Wawiag to Mack Creek, and then around 2 miles to the first campsite on Mack Lake. About 10-11 miles total.

The condition of the Greenwood Creek can really slow things down, especially if the water levels are low.

And Eyedocron is correct about spotting the Mack Creek entrance from the Wawiag. It's easy to miss it, and that's speaking from experience... my paddle partners were not happy :-)

Unfortunately I'm not much of a fisherman so I can't tell you much about fishing on Mack. Though many years ago I did have a great time one afternoon catching smallmouth bass near the portage from Mack Lake to the little lake that connects to Mack Creek.

If these people are looking for some adventure they could do a loop by initially going northeast on the Wawiag, portaging to Belaire Lake and then MacKenzie Lake (tough portages, continuing to MacKenzie Bay, Kawnipi, up through Kawa Bay, and back to the Wawiag River.

I very much enjoy that part of the park, no matter what they do I expect they'll enjoy it immensely.

In conclusion: I really need to retire so I can spend my time actually doing all of these routes rather than dreaming while looking at maps!

We went one lake more to Munro Lake for the night. Stayed on an island toward the east end. What a storm! Tent was flat onto us with the wind. Next day went through the remote creek and portages to Kenny Lake. Never saw another soul from Mack Creek all the way to Kenny.

quote Eyedocron: "We went one lake more to Munro Lake for the night. Stayed on an island toward the east end. What a storm! Tent was flat onto us with the wind. Next day went through the remote creek and portages to Kenny Lake. Never saw another soul from Mack Creek all the way to Kenny."

The creek from Munro to Kenny? You're the only other person I've seen who did that route. We loved it too, clearly used only rarely. Creek very navigable and very pretty, and a little different than the usual QPP lakes stuff.

A beautiful area and clearly not on the main route to anywhere.

I don't know how the fishing is on the Wawiag from the Greenwood Creek to Mack Lake, but below the portage on the way to Kawnipi it was lights out. Both times I have had a Clay lake entry permit water was low on the Greenwood, so we got to land in Mack. And both times, the Mack Creek wasn't much better... It was SLOW, TOUGH, going in low water between Mack and the Wawiag heading the other way.

i've heard the log jam let go and the river is more open now. i'd also heard the better fishing on Mack was the "southern lobe".
cool that you got to be dropped on Mack and able to fly over that eastern part of the park. which flight service did you use?

thanks to everyone for your insights, very helpful. this trip is the last week of May.

There were no log jams between Mack and Kawa Bay a couple years ago...

quote Mocha: "i've heard the log jam let go and the river is more open now. i'd also heard the better fishing on Mack was the "southern lobe".
cool that you got to be dropped on Mack and able to fly over that eastern part of the park. which flight service did you use?

thanks to everyone for your insights, very helpful. this trip is the last week of May."

I think the logjams went away too after very heavy snowfall a few years back. the melt cleared them out. But, looking at google maps recently, there may be a couple that have returned. Not sure.

For Mocha, I believe the flight service that took us both times was La Croix Outfitters, contracted through an Ely outfitter.

Does anyone have recent info (last couple years) on the condition of the Greenwood River from Clay Lake to the Wawiag River?

FTLOSBW: "Does anyone have recent info (last couple years) on the condition of the Greenwood River from Clay Lake to the Wawiag River? "

Can’t help you there but be sure to research the camping restrictions in place at the mouth of the Wawiag river and Kawa Bay.

Tom

Just a couple of photos from this area, since this old discussion is alive. The mouth of the Wawiag (where I understand you cannot camp as it is a historical Indian village site) , and a young moose on the river shore. No log jams on the river when we were there and then walked our canoes up shallow Mack Creek.