FALL CANOEING 2007: Paul Fischer and George Maserkevitch

Months before, I was tweeked by George Maserkavitch with a casual comment that he was looking forward to a sabbatical and a chance to do some fall canoeing when the leaves were showing their colors and the bugs were not around. Would I be interested? About the end of August, after he had returned from a trip to Tibet and China in connection with his passion for martial arts I found out it was no casual remark. He actually meant it.

I hadn’t done this kind of canoe camping for about five years and I’me no spring chicken. Could I handle it and carry my weight? But this did’nt phase George in the least. Also when you can go with a guy like George how could I refuse? So I said yes with some trepidation.

The next question was where to go. George suggested Quetico where the fishing is good and there are bald eagles to eat the leftovers. I mentioned the Rideau Canal or Obabica Lake in the Temagami area. He came back with “lets do both the Rideau and the Obabika”. We agreed. All we needed was a starting date which became Monday Sept. 17th.

THE REWARDING RIDEAU

The Rideau Canal caught my attention when we were visiting son Steve and family for a few days at a cottage they had rented on Wolff Island on the July 1st weekend. The Whig Standard had an interesting supplement about the canal on the occasion of its 175th anniversary and its being declared a world heritage site, which I shared with George. We really did’nt know what to expect. However it did mention the fishing was good, which perked George’s interest.

Leaving early Monday morning we arrived at Kingston mid morning, took the hwy 401 exit at hwy 15, and very quickly pulled in at the locks at Kingston Mills. It was exciting to see the beauty and historic atmosphere of the place. There are lovely sweeping lawns to enhance the four locks here as well as the solid stone buildings and a very busy railroad bridge overhead on the busy Montreal Toronto line. Of course George engaged the lock master in a conversation about the fishing prospects and the best kind of lures to use. This was followed by asking to no avail for what we could do to get my car up to Newboro, our destination. Undaunted George managed to persuade an elderly gentleman who happened to be walking by to do us the favour (for a price), but not till after lunch with the result that we did’nt get our paddles into the water until 2PM.

We passed through Colonel By lake and on through the river Styx which is more like a lake and arrived at the Lower Brewer lock about 5PM closing time. Although the wind had been at our back as it was to be during most of the trip as the prevailing wind is to the NW (a good reason to start at the Kingston end) and we had planned to go on to Upper Brewers locks, this was such a delightful spot we decided to camp there on the lawn beside the dock on the upper end. There was an interesting little one lane swing bridge manually operated over top of the lock, as well as a lockmaster’s house and dam. The thick planks on the bridge tended to rattle like thunder when cars passed over it during the night. After the portage, I made a meal of saurkraut and sausage, while George did some fishing. I mistakenly brought along an extra supply of kraut which Gretel wanted to keep back, but which came in handy raw during the balance of the trip.

Our first campsite with the evening sunlight was stunningly beautiful and we shared it with a young couple from Germany on their honeymoon and their rented camper. I persuaded them to go for a paddle in the sunset, took a picture and sent it to them later on, a very nice happenstance meeting.


Next morning after a breakfast of bacon and eggs we continued on to Upper Brewers . There are two locks and George graciously gave me a pole to try fishing while he did most of the portaging. Much to my surprise I latched on to a good sized bass that jumped and dove. However I lost him when he went under the dock for which I take full responsibility due to lack of experience. It was quite warm so George went snorkeling to cool off and have a look at the fish.


We continued on a long paddle through Cranberry lake to the interesting Brass Point Bridge, the only swing bridge with a bridgemaster and his house on the canal. I should also mention that this whole slack water canal system was built by backbreaking manual labour by Colonel By and his Royal engineers in only six years from 1826-1832. Most of the army of labourers were either French Canadians or recent immigrants from Ireland and stone masons from Scotland. It is estimated there were about a thousand deaths due to disease and workplace accidents, and about 500 of those were from malaria, although they did’nt know it at the time. It had likely been brought in by officers who had served in India and spread by hordes of mosquitoes in the swampy land. They tried to remedy it by denuding the countryside to allow the wind to blow the stench from the swamps away thinking it was to blame. The whole enterprise, which was one of the biggest for its time was for the purpose of defending Canada from the Americans by providing an alternate route between Ottawa and Kingston instead of the St. Lawrence. Although never used for the purpose for which it was built, it did open up the area to development, served for a while as a commercial transportation route until the railway put it out of business and now as a world class recreational waterway.


Because it was off season we pretty well had this beautiful waterway to ourselves, and because it is operated and maintained by Parks Canada, everything was in tip top shape. Think camping on manicured lawns with picnic tables, washrooms, picturesque landscaping for only 5.95 per person per night. We were also both wonderfully impressed that the whole route retains a natural beauty and ruggedness that pleasantly surprised us. We seemed to be almost the only canoeists, but we would highly recommend it.


After Brass Point Bridge there is a long stretch of paddling through Whitefish lake so we enjoyed pulling in at a marina for a coffee and were encouraged to take a side trip and visit Morton’s Bay on the way to Jones Falls where we tried some fishing along a beautiful rocky cliff without any luck.


We had heard that the four locks at Jones Falls are the show piece. of the Rideau and we soon had to agree. There is a lengthy portage up hill along beautifully groomed lawns and well-kept paths. Here I must admit that George made three trips while I only did one with my aching body and he didn’t seem to mind it at all. The camping beside the fourth lock was especially picturesque including a perfect dock for the canoe. After a 20 + KM paddle and a delicious meal of pork and beans, it was great to get my aching body into the sack early for a good night’s sleep.



After breakfast a sturdy, energetic and cheerful man showed up with a fishing pole in his hand. He turned out to be the lockmaster. George immediately got into quite a technical conversation about fishing, but eventually we were told we had to pay a fee for camping, which was news to us. However we were happy to pay the 4.95 fee, and then to top it off he offered and we accepted a very nice sized bass which he had on a chain hanging from the dock. We were also very happy to accept an invitation to a private tour of the blacksmith shop that was the main one used during the construction of the canal. It had only two windows opposite each other so that long pieces of steel could stick out the windows while they worked on them. Also they did’nt want much light in the shop so they could see the color of the hot metal for bending and shaping. He also opened up the “defensible” lockmaster’s house up on the top of the hill overlooking the route of the canal. . .


Just around the corner to the right from the locks we pulled in to look at the amazing dam at Jones falls. It is a sixty-foot high arch dam and is something like 300 feet wide and one of the largest for its time. The stones were cut in such a way that when the water was let in behind it the stones automatically tightened up from the pressure. A couple of penstocks have been added in order to generate hydro electricity.


We then proceeded into the large Sand Lake, and on towards Davis Lock. At this point we seemed to have lost sight of the channel markers and so we managed to hail a fisherman who was passing by. In response to our question about the whereabouts of Davis Lock he pointed way across the lake at a white boat house and told us in his Yankee accent that we would find it a little to the left. Unbelievably when we got there and pulled in at the dock we found that there was no Davis Lock, but instead the name on the cottage was David Lock. Go Figure. We continued to the left and eventually got to the lock station. It is a very isolated but beautiful spot to stop and fry up the bass that George had expertly filleted for lunch. Sitting on comfortable lawn chairs we watched our first boat going through the locks amazed at the perfectly working crank our friendly lockmaster used to do it.


A couple of things we couldn’t help noticing along the way was the predominance of Americans. They apparently own at least half the properties along the Rideau. Also very noticeable was the abundance of Zebra muscles everywhere we went. They are changing the ecology by probably eliminating some of the feed chain on which the fish and other species depend.


From Davis lock we entered the good sized Opinicon Lake. As we approached Chaffey’s lock we tried some fishing but without any luck. This also is a very attractive place with spacious lawns for camping, Chaffey’s Mill which was confiscated by Colonel By for the Canal, the lockmaster’s house museum, and another swing bridge. We decided to take a break from cooking supper and have dinner at the Opinicon Lodge, run by an octogenarian woman from Ohio whose family has operated it for several generations, and therefore is well known and has a reputation as being rather quaint as for example only cash or cheque can be used for payment. No alcoholic beverages are served, but we noticed that there were wine bottles on the tables for a contingent of Priests from the diocese of Kingston who apparently come there annually


Chaffey’s is an interesting community with a number of stores and places to stay, a liquor store, a marina, and a small tour boat business that looked inviting for possible future visits. And very important, a world class bass fishing hole. George got me doing some Chi after breakfast the next morning before taking off into Indian Lake on the last day of our trip on the Rideau.


We ate lunch at an unoccupied island where George found a nice fishing lure and a bobber that he presented to me as a trophy for the fish that got away. At Newboro we were again impressed with the facilities and another great campsite. The weather was an unbelievable 28 C and we asked ourselves, “What did we do to deserve this?” The energetic George did a lot of snorkeling around the docks. He then asked me to get some rice ready because he was sure he could catch enough blue gill catfish for supper. Which is what happened. What a great way to end our summer on the Rideau on the 21st of September.


There was a perfect example of a blockhouse on the hill at Newboro, another community with stores, restaurants, gift shops and interesting buildings. Blockhouses were constructed to a definite pattern, 24 ft by 24. From up here the water flows south to the St Lawrence, and north to the Ottawa. It was an important position of defense since if attacked it could severely damage the whole system if destroyed. The upper story of the Blockhouse overhung so the twenty soldiers housed there could fire their rifles through slits at the invaders below. There are only four blockhouses in the system although Colonel By wanted about twenty of them. And by the way he got in trouble with the British Parliament for going over budget by about 500 percent However it was very difficult for his engineers to make any kind of accurate estimate of the cost of such an enterprise.


George has been a great conversationalist and shared a treasure trove of fishing lore along the way. His kind consideration and positive outlook was very much appreciated by me.


We picked up the car from the parking lot and headed for Waterloo on Friday getting home in good time and very thankful for a great experience on the rewarding Rideau.




TEMAGAMI/OBABIKA


After a brief stopover back at Waterloo, George and I left for Temagami early Monday morning eating breakfast in Barrie at 7 and arriving at Temagami about noon. Both of us had canoed in the area before and were keen to get on the water. But first let me share a bit of background on the area.


Temagami is a descriptive Indian name that means “deep water by the shore”. It is an extensive area of natural rugged scenery and numerous lakes and rivers covering about 10000sq mi. It is the largest and most extensive network of trails and canoe routes in Canada. It is a watershed bounded by three rivers, the Montreal, the Sturgeon and the Ottawa. It is home to the Temagami Indians for at least 6000 years, a band of the Algonguin tribe composed of 12 family groups, who for the most part have been treated as squatters on their own land. They believed strongly in magic, myth, and the manitous of good and evil spirits. Their social life was based on the principles of equality and conservation and they practiced democracy by electing their chief.


There was no white settlement in the area until the 1850’s and the establishment of a HB Co. post. Travel into the area was solely by canoe via the Ottawa and Matabitchuan rivers. The RR arrived in 1902 opening up the clay belt around New Liskeard to agriculture. It was designated a forest preserve and so it wasn’t until the twenties when that was changed to allow vast stands of old growth pines to be cut down. There are still a few scattered small stands of 300-year-old pines on Temagami Island and in the Lady Evelyn area to the north. Mining also took place since the late 1800’s for gold, silver and iron ore. Ive seen the remains of a very rich abandoned copper mine on the south end of Temagami Island accessible from the mining road canoe access point south of Temagami.


The Temagami and Gowganda area was also the main stamping ground for the famous Archie Belaney also known as Grey Owl. He legitimately married a native woman who was considered the belle of Temagami. Her name was Angele and she was the one who taught him the ways of the Indians, their values, customs, and hunting, fishing and trapping skills that enabled him to transform himself as a credible Indian inspite of his English upbringing. So she was the one who made him what he was, and though he eventually abandoned her and their children, she never spoke of him judgmentally nor revealed his true identity even though he had several other illegitimate wives in the area. As our native woman guide told us at the Grey Owl display in Temagami, there has never been “anyone else who could do what he did.”


Because of the astonishing beauty, excellent fishing and hunting and myriad of canoe routes that go back thousands of years, Temagami soon became a mecca for the outdoor adventurer. Many well-known camps devoted to the art of canoeing and wilderness camping were established, such as the Camp Wanapitie and the Keewaydin Camp of which more will be said later.


The traditional canoe routes of the Teme augama Anishinabay Bear Island band were called Nastawaganama. The name for the portage trails was called Onigum. And Bob-ka-nah is the name for the winter trails for snowshoeing and sleds. This is the kind of thing that for me gives Temagami some of its mystique and romance for canoeing. The trails and portages and magnificent campsites remain as they have been for many centuries and command one’s deepest respect. They maintained the onigum and marked them with blazes on the trees. Break up and freeze up were dangerous times for these people. Bob-ka-nah often followed the geological fault lines. We are indebted to the native peoples of Temagami for the largest concentrated and interconnected system of canoe routes in Canada. The Lady Evelyn smooth water-canoeing park drains into the Montreal River and thence into the Ottawa Obabika and environs; Temagami and Anima Nipissing take the Sturgeon River route to Lake Nippissing and down the French River to Georgian Bay. There are many beautiful sandy beaches on the large lakes and although there is a predominance of evergreens, there is a sprinkling of hardwoods, aspen and birches to add some color in the fall. Rugged cliffs and shorelines and prominent rock knob uplands such as Maple and Devil mountains add to the beauty of the area.


There are recently several park areas designated, and so you should check at the information center or one of the outfitters to register and pay the fee. The fishing is good and they are fine and healthy specimens but you should check the regulations for the area. The prevailing winds are from the SW. The mean temperature from May to September is 60F, and the mean rainfall is 3 inches per month. October can bring very uncertain weather, and November some nasty storms. I think it is essential to have a topo map. You need to hang up your food out of reach of bears. Although there is very little visible evidence, there was a major fire in the Obabika area in 1977. Usually there is an abundance of blue berries in the area, but none this year because of the extreme dryness.


TO CONTINUE


We used the old Red Squirrel road off Highway 11 10km north of Temagami planning to access Ferguson Bay of the N Arm of Lake Tegamani from Camp Wanapitie where we had arranged to park the car. At KM26 there is a very inconspicuous sign that directs you to turn left towards the camp. After awhile you arrive at the end of the road and are required to do a 1km hike to the camp. Although it seemed to be deserted, we eventually found the owner Bruce Hodgins, his wife and a young woman employee in the kitchen attached to the dining room. It so happens that I had attended Waterloo college with Bruce in the early 50’s and had an authors signing for him at WLU bookstore when his very thorough text called the Temagami Experience came out. It seems that whoever took my message didn’t pass it on, and so our presence was a complete surprise and it took a while for Bruce to connect. We wandered over to an impressive wooden building, which was called the great hall and had a brief visit and used their services to register and pay a fee of $30 dollars to make use of the park. We then decided to go back to the car and continue to a marked access to Temagami Lake, which required taking a very rough off road that could be a problem in wet weather. From the parking lot at the end of the road it was portage of about 300 or so M to a lovely beach for the beginning of our Temagami trip on Ferguson Bay.


We Finally got on the lake at about 3PM and had a hard paddle against a stiff wind for a couple of hours heading for the portage into the N Arm of Lake Temagami. We tried fishing without luck and had a difficult time finding a campsite until we pulled in to the south end of an island at what seemed to be an unmarked site but which turned out to be very adequate. We had a lovely evening and sunset.


Very soon after breakfast we came to the portage, a very steep one and rocky path for 825 M during which I encountered a proud male roughed grouse and a couple of mink chasing each other. My duck headed walking stick, which I brought along, came in very handy as it did many times throughout the trip. As usual George did the heavy work and we made our way through to the North Arm of Lake Temagami and a scenic trip to Sharp Rock Inlet where we had another portage, but an easy 100M or so. It was along side a jack ladder, a remnant of the logging era and brought us to Diamond Lake.


It has been said that every park seems to have its jewel and possibly that is why they called it Diamond Lake. We continued paddling against a head wind, saw an eagle (a good sign) and stopped at an island for lunch, explored and enjoyed the scenery, and also did some fishing without luck. By about 5.30 or so we pulled in at a beautiful site, and while George persisted in doing some more fishing I got a meal ready with the last can of pork and beans. We built a campfire and enjoyed a very quiet and beautiful evening.


After breakfast we made our way through some islands trolling for fish and marveling at the rugged landscape, the islands and bays until we arrived at the group of seven-type rocky end of Diamond Lake and weaved our way to the rough landing at the next portage. It was over some rough terrain for about 450M until we arrived at an old logging road and a tiny lake if my memory is correct and another 450 M when we arrived at the narrow arm of Wakimika Lake. Again my good friend George did the lifting and I was feeling guilty, but not because he complained. “It’s all training for the next step in my martial arts program,” he says.


When we got into Wakimika we began trolling for fish and to my amazement I soon had something big on my line. When it surfaced near the canoe we recognized a healthy good sized Pike, and I was able to reel it in for George to net. I honestly felt grateful to the fish for letting me catch it. My past experience at fishing has not been very successful. It was near noon so we stopped at a picturesque island; George filleted it and cooked it for a superb fish shore dinner. Somehow he does it such a way that there isn’t a bone in it. The remains were placed on a rock for some lucky seagulls.


At the south end of Wakimika you have to look pretty sharply to find the entrance to the winding picturesque Wakimika River. We hit it right away to the right of some lightly colored reeds. We had to push a bit over some sand bars and do a couple of lift over of some beaver dams, one of which was about 4ft high constructed by these clever animals between the abutments of an old abandoned bridge. It was a somewhat lengthy paddle through marshlands until we came through grasses and shallow waters to get into the big Obabika Lake.


Here for the first time we did see some other canoeists over on the other shore as we traveled down the right side of the lake trolling and fishing along the way. We passed many long and inviting sandy beaches. Late afternoon we pulled in at a great campsite at a point on the far side of a bay. We had dinner and were grateful for another fine day.


Next morning we took off to explore some of the south end of Obabika before tackling the portage to Obabika inlet. George wanted to do some fishing around some of the rugged interesting islands. There was one outcropping that was whitewashed with seagull poop and is apparently a noisy rookery in the summer time. Before long we had a nice black bass, which we kept for lunch, then another dandy big one that jumped and dove until landed in the net. It was too big for just the two of us so we let it go. A couple more were caught and released.


By noon we arrived back at the portage to Obabika Inlet and once again enjoyed a delicious shore lunch of very fresh fish. While George took the first load over the 625m portage I was to get some rice ready and was dumbfounded when he was back in 20 minutes before I even got started. The end of this portage was a very muddy launch and it was hot and humid as we paddled through a marshy area.


From here we made our way toward Devil’s Bay which involved another portage of 825m followed by another long paddle as we made our way to Seal Rock Point and an excellent camp site recommended to us by Mark at Bent’s cameras of Waterloo. We were blessed with a warm beautiful evening with a full moon to boot and a great view towards Devil’s mountain


Friday, day five started out with a light rain as we paddled across to a large island by the name of Keewaydin where there is a camp by the same name. As we approached we decided to investigate. I became quite excited as I recalled stories by my friend Doug Shaw of Walkerton about a Temagami camp that he attended for a number of years. He spoke about the rigorous routine and tough discipline and about the use of tumplines to portage their heavy loads. Shortly after docking and a brief walk around the impressive buildings and facilities we were met by a young man by the name of Jason Piqueau who made us feel welcome and who just happened to be the full time caretaker. When I told him about Doug’s stories he said this must be the place. They run a very traditional camp using nothing but cedar strip canoes, tumplines for portaging them and the wanigans and they have been in the business since 1893, the longest of any camp in North America. Although most of the clientele are from the USA, Canadians are also welcome. Jason also spoke about his Algonkian heritage through his grandmother and as we enjoyed some gorp and coffee on one of the cabin porches he articulated some of his thoughts on the difference between Indian and white cultures. As I recall it seemed basically to boil down to money for which they have no appreciation in their tradition while for whites it is the be all and end all He prefers to work for his own sustenance and for the common good without being enslaved to anyone else. (My son Joel is inclined to agree him being self-employed.) That is at least partly what I thought he was saying. Jason lives there on this beautiful island year around with his wife and two small children. The children go to school in New Liskeard two days a week in addition to being home schooled. I gather he is a follower of the Roman Catholic tradition. We talked a bit about our men’s group and our study of Markus Borg. Both of us enjoyed our happenchance meeting with Jason very much.


Of course George got some information on where we might be able to catch some Walleye and we set off for some islands near by. It was just off Devil’s point and we tried but without luck. We then went down the wrong bay thinking it was Ferguson bay, backtracked and got back on course. Along the way we caught another bass, which we enjoyed with our supper later on. After a good paddle we pulled in at another beautiful campsite with a difficult landing on the south side of Pickerel bay. Both of us slipped on the rocks and got wet feet. From here we could see Franklin Island and Camp Wanapitie .


Next morning after a good brisk paddle of about an hour we arrived back at the lovely sand beach from which we had started. We made the treck back to the car, loaded up and headed out the rough road to the Red Squirrel and back to Temagami about noon where we spent a little time at a Gey Owl display in two rail cars at the Temagami station. I picked up a decal for the canoe and we headed for home. We both agreed it had been a great trip and how fortunate we are for this kind of wilderness experience.