Cache Lake Loop - June 2022
by Winnipeg2Quetico
Day 1 - Baptism Creek to Trouser Lake
The creek was very swollen. So much so that it was difficult to navigate because, instead of a narrow windy creek, so much of the shore was underwater. There were times where there appeared to be a fork, with one leading to nowhere and another going in the right direction. We relied on my GPS to make sure we went in the right direction (most of the time at least).
There is a walking bridge that goes over the creek which, in normal times, can easily be paddled under. The water was right to the bottom of the bridge and there was a logjam on the other side, so we had to portage around it. Given that this is normally easily paddled underneath, there is not a great landing, so we actually had to get out on one side of the shore, walk across the bridge and get back in on the other. I fell in waist-deep trying to load the canoe.
Although we had to portage the bridge due to high-water, we actually got to skip the first "actual" portage for the same reason. The water was high enough around the rapids that we were able to line them.
The next portage was pretty tough. After a relatively dry trail for about 150m, it basically ended at a muddy pond. We weren't sure exactly which way to go, but after searching for a good 5-10 minutes, found the trail on the far side of the pond.
The 3rd portage has a pretty serious incline at the beginning, but all-in-all, portages 3&4 weren't affected by the high waters. We were on the water a little later than planned, so we got to the campsite on Trouser equally late (around 7:30). A beautiful campsite, although we basically ate dinner and crashed, getting ready to tackle the Cache Lake portages.
Day 2 - Trouser to Cache Lake
Anyone who has done the Cache Lake portages knows they are no walk in the park. It's a 3.5 KM portage into Cache Lake, and a 3.1 KM out of Cache Lake on the other side. These portages are rarely used. Portage maintenance crews also hadn't been through since May 2021 I believe, and I doubt there were many people in general who used them last year. We definitely appeared to be the first to use them this year. For context, we had 3 bags (a main Seal line, a canoe barrel with our food, a slightly smaller sealine that we used as a day pack) and the canoe. For that reason, we were double tripping the portage.
Because of the late evening then night before, and the time it took to get organized, we didn't make it on the first portage until about 9:30 am. Portage 1 had quite a bit of deadfall. We were expecting this, so we both had our saws readily available, although you can imagine how time-consuming it is on an already long portage, to continuously be sawing logs to be able to get through. The Cache River, which goes through the portage, was very high, and as a result, we had to paddle our gear across it. Mud was a plenty and we eventually gave up trying to hop on the few logs that litter the muddy sections. They were no help, almost just a tease. The weather started off nice and cool in the morning, but it got hotter and hotter as the day went on. We kept putting one foot in front of the other, only stopping to cut trees (or try to go around them). It took us about 5 hours to do the entire trail. We finished at 2:30, absolutely exhausted and famished. We got to an Island on Cache lake after 3 pm to eat lunch and decided it would be in our best interest to just crash on Cache. By the time we would have eaten, rested and paddled to the next portage, we would be setting us up to potentially be portaging late into the evening on another challenging portage. Not something we were prepared to do. We set up camp on Cache and got things much more organized, in order to be able to hit the portage bright and early the next day.
Day 3 - Cache Lake to Kawnipi Lake
We were up at 5 and had eaten, packed and were on the water by 6:30. We were starting the portage by 7:00. A good thing as this portage would prove to be even more formidable than the last. There were again countless trees blocking out paths that required sawing, and many mud paths that we just walked through. About one third of the way into the portage and we hit a swamp. The trail just ends and there is basically a field of pussy willows growing which we waded across, water up to our knees, to the other side. We brought both loads across before each of us going in opposite directions to find where the trail picks back up. When you cross the swamp, GO LEFT for about 50m or so, and you'll find the trail again. We continued on, we would make good time whenever the trail was dry, but inevitably, our momentum would be stalled by a down tree, a massive include that required climbing. At one point, I was walking and hit more mud, I went to walk across it and sank up to my waist in mud. We were in this bog that required immense energy just to get your foot out, only to take another step and sink back down to your waist. We tried to stay on the edges where the ground would be a bit more solid, but even there, you would sink at least to your knees if you were lucky. This 100m stretch probably took us close to 45 minutes to navigate. Partly because we were also cutting down some alders to try to get around the bog through a section that looked like it may have been used as a trail years ago to avoid the bog.
Things seemed, for the most part to eventually dry up slightly after an incline that followed the bog. There were still obstacles, including one MASSIVE White Spruce that had fallen which was a challenge to get around...or over.
This portage, which is 400 meters shorter than the first, took us an hour longer...6 hours all told. When we finally finished, although equally exhausted, we knew the toughest work was done. We filled up our water in Lindsay, portaged into McKenzie, and had lunch (sausage and cheese) in the boat. We were greeted in McKenzie by the absolute calmest waters we have seen. The lake was glass (at 2 pm). We floated, ate, drank and had a well-needed rest before continuing on to try to make time. We took out time enjoying McKenzie Lake and the calm waters, eventually making the portage into Kawnipi. There were about 3-4 trees blocking this portage that required cutting, but with the dry trail, this portage was a walk in the park compared to what we had just been through. We found a beautiful campsite on a point in McKenzie Bay on Kawnipi, although it was more like an island as the back half of the point was submerged in the high water. We had a delicious dinner of dehydrated spaghetti and retired to the tent. It wasn't more that 5 minutes that we got into out tent that it began to rain. It rained all night.
Day 4 - Kawnipi to Keats Lake The alarm went off at 5:30, but it's a lot easier to stay in your warm sleeping bag when it's pouring outside. The rain seemed to let up around 6:15 and we got out and packed up. We wanted to finally make some distance, so we packed up and got in the canoe and were going to have some breakfast bars in the canoe when it began to rain again...hard. We had our rain gear on and there was no lightning, we just accepted our soaking wet fate, ate our bars and began paddling, hoping the rain would stop. After about 45 minutes of hard rain, it let up. We probably had another hour of cloudy cool breeze with the sun desperately trying to poke out, and then, she finally did. The warm sun dried us up as we paddled.
Shortly before entering Kawnipi creek, nature called and we pulled over so I could go. Just before I did, my partner spotted something swimming in the water, not far from us. We watched as a moose swam across the creek to the far shore, got up, scaled a rock face and took off. The area we were in had been badly affected by the fires last summer, so even as the moose ducked into the trees, we could watch it go for quite some time. What an amazing sight to see. As we continued on, the two swifts that exist on Kawnipi creek were flowing really fast. In normal waters, these are just that, a swift, but these were probably now a Class I. Still fairly easily runnable though with a very clear line, we we took the time to enjoy them. Unfortunately, we weren't as lucky with the rapids into Shelly.
Typically, the rapids into Shelly have a portage on the left. With the water as high as it was, there was no accessing the landing. We checked the rapids on both sides of the island, but we weren't comfortable running either of them with all our gear. We stopped for lunch on the island, and then portaged across the island (to the right of the rapids). Though there wasn't a trail, because there was a massive burn last summer, there was no bushwhacking. We saw a snake on the island as we were portaging. Quite big for a snake in the Canadian wilderness.
On the other side of the island, the only place to put in, that wasn't below a cliff, was still quite close to the rapids. It was most definitely still in the fast-moving current. We were careful to load and get going without flipping. All in all, what would normally be a short portage around small rapids took us close to an hour.
We navigated Shelley Lake and planned to do the two portages around snake falls. We began the first portage but with the high waters, there was absolutely nowhere to safely put-in at the base of the falls, so we decided to go around and try "have a smoke portage" which was much safer to put in. As we did, you could tell how swollen Keats lake looked. The shoreline was incredibly flooded. Our initial plan was to push on a little bit more, but with the lake so flooded, we were worried some of the campsites ahead would be underwater, given that the map showed them on points. There was a nice island overlooking snake falls which was quite high, so we felt it was prudent to stop for the day there, rather than push on and have to search for another dry campsite. It was a beautiful island with fresh moose tracks. Looked like a moose had been by very recently.
Day 5 - Keats lake to Dore Lake Given that we were still a little behind schedule, we woke up at 5 to get a good start on the water. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and the early morning cup of coffee overlooking the falls ranks as one of the nicest coffees I've had in my life. We packed up and were on the water before 7. The water was absolute glass, and the portage around Split Rock Falls was very pleasant in the brisk morning weather. There were still a few fallen logs (maintenance crews still had not been to this area yet) but we were able to cut through them fairly quickly. On the other side of Split Rock Falls, we saw the first humans we had seen since leaving the campground. They were fishing at the bottom of the falls, and we waved. Chatterton lake was calm and quiet. We enjoyed the morning paddle and took advantage of the lack of wind as we made it to the portage around Chatterton Falls. We opted for the portage that is about 600m South of the actual falls. The ranger at the campground warned that the portage that goes around the falls could be washed out and difficult to get to, and we didn't want to risk it to find out. This portage was the first one all trip that had seen people other than ourselves this year, and as a result, it was a very welcome walk. For the first time, we could just enjoy the trail! We made it into Russel and canoed over to the falls to check them out. They were definitely raging. Our canoe to the rapids between Russel and Sturgeon was just as calm as when we launched in the morning. We were truly getting lucky as far as wind was concerned. We stopped for lunch just before the rapids that flow into Sturgeon lake. With the water so high, it was no more than fast moving water. If there are rocks in these rapids, we wouldn't have known. We were able to shoot them with ease and make our way into Sturgeon. We trolled all of Sturgeon, but didn't catch anything. The winds picked up slightly, but nothing to be worried about. We pushed on up the Deux Riviere and into Twin, there were no beaver dams on Deux Rivieres (well, there were, but with the water so high, we paddled right over them). We enjoyed another heavily used portage and camped on the island in Dore Lake, shortly past the portage.
Day 6 - Dore lake - Home Not much to right about here. We were up early, did the Pine Portage and spent the rest of the day canoeing across Pickerel Lake. What a huge lake! Once again we were blessed by the wind gods. Pickerel Lake was glass from the moment we got on it (9ish) until well after 1. We would stop in the very middle of the lake to snack and our canoe wouldn't move. I can only assume that on a lake of that size, it can get mighty tricky when the winds pick up. We were very thankful for our good fortune. We canoed back to the campsite, showered and prepared for our long drive back to Winnipeg.
When factoring in the Cache Lake portages, this trip was the hardest thing I have done (mentally and physically) in my life. I don't regret it one iota. This trip is not for the faint of heart, or for those who are looking to relax, but if you are looking to push yourself, and want a challenge, I highly recommend giving it a shot. The feeling of fulfillment and achievement that you will feel is unrivaled.
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