After spending a night at Cliff's campground, we were up early (5:15 am) , loaded our gear into one of Cliff's vans and by 6 am we were heading West, then North to International Fall. At International Falls we stopped for breakfast, then crossed into Canada and headed East to Atikocan. Atikocan is a town of about 4,000 friendly folks situated on the North side of the Quotico Provincial Park and BWCA. It is directly (by the map anyway, North of Ely).

We stopped in Atikocan to pay our Canadian camping fees and to buy some leaches. Then another hour or so drive to French Lake, our point of entry. It didn't take very long to unload the van and load the canoes. We had our canoes in the water around 12:30 and started looking for the portage into Pickeral Lake.

Our destination for the first day was about a 1/3 of the way across Pickeral Lake (about 9 miles). With a slight breeze over our right shoulders, we made some good time. We found a nice campsite with a sandy beach, elevated above the water about 15 feet, fairly flat, spacious, and a nice view to the South and West. Great for viewing sunsets.

It didn't take long to start gathering and cutting wood, creating a kitchen area, setting the tent and getting supper started. Ham steaks were on the menu for tonight. Cole and Landon were chief cooks. After supper, we started hanging the food pack in the tree when the clouds broke enough so we could see part of a sunset.

The morning of day 2 was a bit gray and overcast. After breakfast we packed carefully and headed South across the lower part of Pickeral Lake. It didn't take long for us to find our first portage of the trip. The portage is 72 rods around a dam into Bisk Lake. A short trip to the West and another 28 rod portage around a nice rapids into Beg Lake. Yet another short portage and into Bud Lake, around a deep rapids and into Fern lake and the Pickerel River. We did take a little time to wet the hooks a bit and Cole ended up with a nice sized smallie.

The Pickerel River portage is a big more challenging. It is listed as a 320 rod portage but locals say it can be broken into to parts. Well, you can break it up but the paddle is about 100 yards. Hardly worth reloading the canoes. However, if you're caring the packs you may question this thought.

We had a nice campsite. It set high off the lake, a bit breezy but spacious. Landon cut the wood while we set the tent and set up the kitchen. Chicken al a King was on the menu so Cole took over the cooking chores. Basically require you to stir the pot. The rest of the guys just stood by and drooled.

Olifaunt lake has an 80 rod portage into Sturgeon Lake. We met a fairly strong wind to paddle against and by the time we got to the Sturgeon Narrow, where the river becomes about 20 yards wide, the current made paddling a real challenge. The more experienced members of our group were able to paddle UP the little rapids into Russel Lake. However, members of the other canoe had to get out and pull the canoe up the rapids. (Note: they were able to watch a small group of junior high type students pull their canoes up the rapids).

Now Russell Lake was an experience. Once we moved out into open water, we discovered high winds and very large waves. Cole and Landon tried to play bumper cars with the shore and eventually found shelter along the North shoreline. Craig and I used the wind to our advantage and let it blow up across the lake. We hid behind the big island for a couple hours until it was safe for Cole and Landon to cross. Then we found a campsite for the night. The rains from yesterday plus water coming on board got some things damp so we used the wind to dry out some gear. I think it took about 10 minutes in that wind to dry the tent. We had a good site and managed to create windbreaks around the fire but the sudden rains made things a real pain. So we did what any good voyageur would do - grab the gorp, head for the tent.

Morning broken with partly cloudy skies. Good enough to dry out and have a big breakfast. We broke camp, paddled around the point to a 76 rod portage into Chatterton Lake. There was a good headwind as we paddled East across Chatterton to Splitrock Falls. The portage was steep and a bit rocky but I hopped the rocks like I had wings on my feet. It took a bit more if you had the canoe. It took some hard paddling to break free of the current at the top of the falls. Once into Keats Lake we headed East to "Have A Smoke Portage". This is a nice wide falls and Craig and I made a couple passes until we caught a nice Northern. The guys caught a few more fish, cleaned them at the base of the falls, packed them for supper later that night.

Navigating Shelley Lake can be a real challenge but Landon did a great job keeping us on course. The 180* turn that takes us back up into Kawnipi can be very easy to miss. Doing so would take us down into the Kahshahpiwi route.

Coming down Kawnipi along Kastle and Rose Island became interesting. Somehow we got on the East side of the two islands and out in the main body of water. The wind was definitely against us. We took a little time to look into the top part of Murdoch Lake and then headed back West to go down the West river into Keewatin Lake. The two or the three portages leading into Agnes Lake are all about 80 rods and steep and rocky and wet. The other one crossed a small meadow requiring walking around and over large rocks.

The wind on upper Agnes almost more than we can handle. We head for a couple islands that are supposed to have great campsites. They don't. So we paddle harder for another island. This is will do. We are dead tired. Beef stew for supper, and time to relax. There was enough of a breeze the guys stayed up talking around the fire. I think this is what all this work is about.

Morning plans are to get up and moving early to avoid the winds. It's a long ways down Agnes and we didn't want to have a day like yesterday again. Well, not everything goes as planned. We woke up to a light rain. A few more minutes of rest, then out and breakfast by the gas stove. Rain again. Back in the tent. Looks like is going to break so lets get moving.

It's nice to paddle a lake that is as smooth as glass. But by the time we got to the portage into Silence Lake, the wind was back up again. I expected the smaller lakes to shelter us more from the wind. They didn't. Still the wind really killed us crossing the lakes. At least the portages on the "S" chain are basically short and easy (the longest is about 40 rods). One of the portages wanders around a small meadow and over a couple very large rocks. By the time we came out of the river and into North Bay, everyone was ready to set up camp.

The campsite was well used but very spacious. We set the tent somewhat inland, the fireplace looked West. After supper we watched storm clouds form over the Western edge of the lake. It was really cool watching the storm build and move North.

Again, our goal was to get moving early to avoid the winds. We figured if the had wind, we would be into Moose landing around 6 or so. Fortunately, we got a good start and the winds didn't really come up. We took a nice break at Prairie Portage and then made the push to Moose Lake. It was about 12:30 when we made the landing. We had to hang around until 2 when Cliff picked us up.

Seems so simple now. Seven days earlier we were clean, eager and excited. Now, 85 or so miles, tired, dirty, sweaty, and still excited we had completed an awesome trip. Guess we have a right to smile. Thanks for a great trip guys.

Links below are to maps of the trip.

Map 1 Atikocan and Pickeral

Map 2 Olifaunt to Chatterton

Map 3 Keats to "S" Chain

Map 4 North Bay to Moose