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Through 15 years of trips in NE Ontario, Wabakimi and Crown Lands, we have come across numerous destroyed and abandoned aluminum boats and canoes. Some of this debris was pretty dramatic, like the 3 ft bow piece of a Grumman canoe which looked like it had been blown off in an explosion. There...

When I first started going to Canada for trips in 2007, I learned the outfitter who flew us in had his office staff collect our car keys, wallets and passports which were bagged and locked in their safe. Great idea, considering the other things that various trip mates lost while traveling in the...

I have a Wenonah Wilderness solo (15’6”) in T-formex that weighs 54#. A great river boat and very tough. I bought it very lightly used intending to use it in the rocky streams of the UP. But I have only been up there a couple times and probably won’t be doing much of that kind of padding...

Over the years: a plastic Casio watch (found in early spring just after ice out, so it had spent the winter under the fallen leaves; numerous tent pegs; a few pieces of line left in trees; and a well used but still functional lock blade knife. On a Wabakimi trip in 2008 I found a nice military...

I recently returned from a trip to the Wabakimi area. We had to cut the trip short after one of our party suffered cardiac problems. We were able to get him out to a logging road where he was picked up by an ambulance from Armstrong ON. Accompanying the ambulance was an Ontario Provincial Police...

As I recall a paddling buddy told me that on older Subies when you changed the coolant a special additive had to be used to avoid leaking head gaskets.

For the last 12 years I have been maintaining a fleet of about 15-16 canoes and about 30 kayaks at the local nature center where I am a volunteer. The place gets regular donations of mostly canoes and some kayaks. A fair number of the canoes are junk so I salvage whatever parts I may be able to...

I am on my 4th Forester - 2001, 2005, 2015 and now 2021. The 2021 is a test. I experienced what I consider to be major mechanical failures with Foresters #2 and #3. Number 2 had a valve stick open while I was on my way to the UP of Michigan. It was towed to a Subie dealer who dx'ed the problem...

My mug obtained from my alma mater. The no beer rule was easily circumvented, get your beer at the Union in the plastic cup and pour it into the mug. It made some classes easier to tolerate.

Gamma, looking forward to your trip report. I buddy and I are looking for some new areas in Ontario and this one sounds interesting. And make sure to watch your speedometer, kph does not equal mph😉.

We in far SE Wisconsin (60 miles north of Chicago) even caught the very weak tail end of this storm with some rain.

Both.

Great topic. I remember giving my 10 yo nephew a Swiss Army knife on a trip and then spending some time showing him how to use it safety. Not more than an hour or so later he cut himself. Then I demonstrated some basic first aid.

I have used cheap poly tarps for footprints and sure they may not hold up long term but they are easily replaced. I actually prefer 6mil plastic sheeting which holds up well and is easily patched with tape when needed. My brother gifted me a large roll of this left over from a construction...

I was almost 60 when I made my first Wabakimi trip in 2007 after maybe 15 trips over 30+ years in the BW. I remember a July 1999 BW trip where we had to start looking for campsites shortly after lunch. On our last day of that trip we came into Seagull Lake later in the afternoon after having...

Nice. I would take it but I am too far away. My canoe bookcase is made from a discarded summer camp poly OT Disco - yours would make a bookcase with much more character. And as you might guess it’s kept in the basement, the missus won’t allow it upstairs.

My group used an InReach to have a paddling partner evacuated from the bush in Wabakimi last week due to cardiac issues. We won’t go on trips in the future without one.

A bit off topic but my son-in-law when in the navy stationed in Guam fished with a friend who was a native of the island. The local always carried a .22 pistol to dispatch either sailfish or swordfish before bringing them into the boat (I don’t remember which fish it was), because they were too...

I remember reading an article that stated something to the effect that if an area had a healthy fox population that controlled the rodent population, there tended to be less Lyme disease in humans.

I just came back from Canada last week - no special requirements to enter, just the usual questions about money, guns, purpose of visit, for how long and where. Over the years I have found it seems to help when you mention you will be using an outfitter, renting something, in other words...