Saganaga-Mack-Kawnipi-Falls Chain and Deep Thoughts
by pcallies
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
06/20/2023
Entry & Exit Point:
Quetico
Number of Days:
8
Group Size:
2
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (12 messages)
Day 6 of 8
Sunday, June 25, 2023
* Up at 6:00. Solid overcast and light rain.
* On the water just after 9:00.
* Fished for about an hour on our way up Kawnipi toward the Falls Chain and I FINALLY caught dinner for us: 15” and 17” walleyes.
* Made one short unintended detour into a bay because we didn’t have our maps organized. GPS and Gaia got us straightened out.
* We both slipped and fell on the Canyon Falls portage where it crosses the stream bed. My wife has a fat lip as a result.
* Koko Falls portage was long. I discovered that I have no strength in my right shoulder to hoist the canoe. It’s hard to believe I haven’t tried to get the canoe up from that side some other time. Maybe I have and that’s when I’ve struggled to hoist it. Unrelated, I had to shove the canoe onto the big step up early in the portage.
* Arrived at our campsite about 3:30. It is listed as a four-star campsite on PP, but that was many years ago. It doesn’t get much use and the one nice tent pad is surrounded by trees and mosquitoes so we set up on a little bit of a slope out in the open to be away from the major swarms of mosquitoes. I'm wondering if the reviews of this site are a PP inside joke.
* Saw a tandem and a solo traveling together before we left Kawnipi. Saw three people in a tandem as we approached our campsite. Saw three people in a tandem and two in a tandem while we were sitting in camp - more people than we’ve seen the entire trip.
* The falls are beautiful, but the portages are especially difficult in the wet conditions we had today.
* Up at 6:00. Solid overcast and light rain.
* On the water just after 9:00.
* Fished for about an hour on our way up Kawnipi toward the Falls Chain and I FINALLY caught dinner for us: 15” and 17” walleyes.
* Made one short unintended detour into a bay because we didn’t have our maps organized. GPS and Gaia got us straightened out.
* We both slipped and fell on the Canyon Falls portage where it crosses the stream bed. My wife has a fat lip as a result.
* Koko Falls portage was long. I discovered that I have no strength in my right shoulder to hoist the canoe. It’s hard to believe I haven’t tried to get the canoe up from that side some other time. Maybe I have and that’s when I’ve struggled to hoist it. Unrelated, I had to shove the canoe onto the big step up early in the portage.
* Arrived at our campsite about 3:30. It is listed as a four-star campsite on PP, but that was many years ago. It doesn’t get much use and the one nice tent pad is surrounded by trees and mosquitoes so we set up on a little bit of a slope out in the open to be away from the major swarms of mosquitoes. I'm wondering if the reviews of this site are a PP inside joke.
* Saw a tandem and a solo traveling together before we left Kawnipi. Saw three people in a tandem as we approached our campsite. Saw three people in a tandem and two in a tandem while we were sitting in camp - more people than we’ve seen the entire trip.
* The falls are beautiful, but the portages are especially difficult in the wet conditions we had today.
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