Saturday, June 7 2025 – Bentpine Lake to Sturgeon Lake (19km, 4 portages)

After a day of rest, we were up and at ‘er very early on Saturday June 7. By 05:30 we were paddling off our site on Bentpine Lake, hoping to beat forecast winds on the huge Sturgeon Lake, still a distant objective at this point. The morning was cool and relatively calm as we paddled past low murmurings from the large party camped out of sight at the SW end of the lake.

The forecast for the next few days was dubious at best. Wind, rain and cool temperatures were great for the wildfire situation but not for the fire ban situation. We paddled, fished and portaged through Bentpine Creek as it worked its way to Sturgeon Lake. All the portages were relatively easy to find and follow.

Our original plan was to paddle as far up Sturgeon as possible – hoping to make a 5-star site (“R9”) if conditions allowed. As we passed another delightful site about half way up the lake, 4-star rated “JJ”, I proposed a coffee break.

It was so darn nice in the warm sun on this expansive site that we both agreed, why not stop here for the rest of the day? We even talked about staying another rest day.

It was time to stop rushing from place to place. We had plenty of time to cover the rest of the trip and I knew that we were once again entering oft-travelled sections of the park. Our portages would only get easier to find and follow so why not relax a bit more?

I entertained myself with long stretches of casting offshore, catching intermittent bass and pike but not anywhere near what Jean and Bentpine had provided. The wind picked up considerably through the afternoon and the WX forecast more wind and rain the following day. Hann caught a massive fish offshore but after fighting it for a long time it broke her line before we could catch a glimpse. Whatever it was, it was HUGE judging by the fight. She was almost relieved that she lost it.

Sunday, June 8 2025 – Sturgeon Lake (8.5km, 0 portages)

We woke up early at our site on Sturgeon Lake after a night of rain and lightning and decided that we might make a dash for the north end while the weather held up. It was grey and cloudy and just as we started packing up camp it started to threaten rain again. By 08:00 I spotted dark clouds racing towards us and told Hann that we should likely just hunker down. Good decision, as a few minutes later it was pouring. Wave after wave of cold wind and rain bashed our site until finally letting up an hour or so later.

I managed to nab a walleye off camp and we were looking forward to having it for lunch when we made the decision to paddle ~8 kms further up the huge lake to a 5-star site at its northern end. Was this a sound decision? Yes and no. We don’t like sitting around in cool, rainy weather with no campfire and the clouds lifted enough to give us hope of no more rain for a while. The lake was calm enough to paddle, something that wasn’t guaranteed the following day. Getting to the north end would give us a better chance of making Russell Lake the following day – another planned rest day. We quickly packed camp and set off just as it started raining lightly again.

We were with the breeze and made good time to the north end of the lake where we got an unexpected surprise. Someone was sitting plum on “our” 5-star site (“R9”)! Dang it. It looked like a pretty sweet spot but there was nothing we could do but paddle on. The next site (“RW”) wasn’t very welcoming unfortunately. Thankfully site “S3” was decent (3-star) and we quickly set up camp before the next wave of moisture moved in over the lake.

We fished, lay in the tent and read our books for the rest of the day as the humidity ramped up and rain storms moved in and out.

I thought the fire ban must surely be lifted soon with all the rain and cool weather we’d had for a few days but alas, the update assured us another chilly evening without a fire. We were in the tent by 18:30 thanks to the conditions.

Monday, June 9 2025 – Sturgeon Lake to Russell Lake (10km, 1 portage)

Thanks to the extremely early bed time the evening before (18:30!), Hann and I were up early on Monday. Today was another short paddle day with only 10 kilometers and 1 portage to travel to our planned 5-star site on Russell Lake. The weather forecast wasn’t ideal with more clouds and wind so we didn’t linger long at camp, paddling east towards the Russell Lake portage as the sun rose between clouds.

The early morning paddle out of Sturgeon Lake was stunning. With swirling mists, glass smooth waters and the sun rising through clouds to the east it was a magical hour or so paddling to the rumored “mountain” portage that would take us into Russell Lake.

My brother warned me about the 460 meter carry between Sturgeon and Russell Lake. His group had checked it out and promptly decided to paddle around to the north and tackle Russell Rapids rather than do the portage.

I’m a mountain guy, so I decided it couldn’t be that bad. We’d try the portage into Russell Lake and take the rapids out a few days later. Honestly? The portage wasn’t that bad other than it hadn’t been maintained recently.

Even with all the rain, the worst part was a very steep carry from the Sturgeon Lake side – made much worse by two or three large trees across the steep track. I spent some time cutting the trees out of the way before making our 2nd carry which obviously improved things greatly.

After an initially calm stretch of water, we were surprised to encounter strong winds already early in the day on Russell, justifying our decision to paddle early. It’s very rare to regret getting an early start on canoe trips.

We were also surprised once again by someone else camped on the 4-star site we were planning on (“152”). Obviously we had entered a busier part of the park now and should not expect to grab any site we wanted like earlier in our trip.

In hindsight I wish I’d done a little more research or realized this earlier, but we should have paddled back and stayed at the 5-star site at “13J”. Even staying closer to the Chatterton Falls at site “15X” would have been better than where we ended up.

Based on my research beforehand, I chose site “15F” as our backup when we saw people on “152”. We were bucking a stiff wind at the time and didn’t feel like spending a lot of time looking around.

It’s not that the site is so bad – it’s very likely a 4-star site in pretty much any conditions EXCEPT the ones we had. At first it seemed perfect. A nice landing area on shallow rock with a trail leading up to an amazing view of the lake. A nice kitchen area and a flat tent site on grass. What more could we want?

It was only after setting up camp that we realized that with a cold, stiff west wind this site is not ideal. Once again, even just a small campfire would have improved things 100% but the ban was still on.

We made the best of things, hunkering down as best we could before deciding to go check out the Chatterton Falls despite less-than-ideal conditions. Thankfully, as we paddled the empty canoe to the falls the wind died down considerably and the sun even threatened to come out as we explored the area.

The scenery at the falls is wonderful, as one would expect. The power of the rapids can be felt from afar and I managed to get pretty close to the chaos for some neat photos and video. Fishing the downstream rapids as they enter Russell Lake was also pretty decent – we managed a few Walleye, Bass and Pike in the swirling eddies and strong currents from shore.

We enjoyed some coffee while we relaxed on rocks near campsite “15X” and wished we’d stayed there instead. Site “175” was even more protected from wind but didn’t impress me that much otherwise.

After a few pleasant hours we returned to camp to eat the walleye for a late lunch. We had plans to paddle more of the lake later that afternoon and evening, but alas, the winds picked up again and we were windbound at camp. At least it didn’t rain but we were in the tent early again, thanks to cool weather and no fire.

Going to bed at 19:00 was getting very old at this point. One of the best things about canoe trips is staying up late under a star studded sky next to a crackling fire. I’m not sure I’ll do another canoe trip during a complete fire ban.

Our original plan was to spend a rest day on Russell Lake but the less-than-ideal forecast and continued fire ban was wearing on us a bit. We decided that we’d paddle for Oliphant Lake instead of another grey day huddled under a tarp in the wind.