A few days in Quetico

[Sturgeon]

End of August I had a week off, and was visiting family in Thunder Bay, so I fit in a trip to Quetico. This was my first trip to Quetico since 1995, when I did a jaunt through the B-chain (Pickerel, Doré, Oliphaunt, Fern, Bud, Beg, Bisk, back to Pickerel). I had hoped to do part of that loop this time, as an act of nostalgia, at least visiting Oliphaunt before heading south to see more of Sturgeon, but starting at Nym Lake access. But fire near the route and practicality changed my plans. I rented a canoe from an outfitter near French Lake, got them to deliver to avoid scratching my rental car, and headed due south from Nym toward Sturgeon.

Here are a few photos.



Smoke creates an eerie mood on Batchewaung Lake

The route

Bivy and Tarp at Walter Lake

Souris River Tranquility canoe...the arched thwarts would’ve scratched my rental car, so I got it delivered to the access point. I enjoyed paddling this canoe

Island on Sturgeon Lake near Jean Creek

Barely moving on Jean Creek

Camp on Jean Lake

Put-in onto Quetico Lake from Conk Lake

Between Quetico and Oriana

Back to Jesse Lake

the full report and more photos at https://neelands.smugmug.com/Canoe-t...2018-Aug-26-31

 

[GRS Riverrider]

Funny giving credit to those bittersweet beaver dams, but some trips you have to. Looks like a very nice trip. Thanks for all the photo's too.

 

[Guest]

Souris River Tranquility canoe...the arched thwarts would’ve scratched my rental car, so I got it delivered to the access point. I enjoyed paddling this canoe

I get that it would be easier to slide packs or barrels under arched thwarts, and the arch would be awesome with a spray cover, but that arrangement of thwarts curved above the top of the sheerline would not work for me.

If the thwarts would actually contact the roof with Yakima or Thule towers WFT then? Use a trailer, or somehow raise the crossbar height? Nope.

But, even if the arched thwarts cleared the roofline, I slide my canoes on and off the storage racks, and usually on and off the roof racks, especially on vehicles with a tall roof line (the Quick & Easy crossbars on the full sized van are a long dang ways up), or when parked side-by-side with another vehicle (which is often while loading in my own driveway). Nope.

I have one canoe on which the top of high backed bucket seat sticks up above the sheerline and it is a constant PITA when loading and unloading.

I can’t just lift the stern higher so the seat clears the crossbar, or the bow of the canoe would be digging into the cab roof. So I have to turn the hull \ sideways on one gunwale while sliding past the obstruction. Awkward, especially if it is windy.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Would these arched thwarts make canoe-over-canoe rescues (especially) on moving water more difficult? Perhaps this boat is not intended for moving water? Sometimes canoe-over-canoe is desirable on lake water too, though.

 

[Quinn]

I think the photos might make the thwarts look a bit more arched than the are, unless the tranquility has a more pronounced arch than the Quetico and Wilderness models. You'd have to have almost zero clearance between your roof and racks for it to be a problem. They're no where near as high as a set of portage pads. When we slide our souris rivers into our winter storage racks it just takes a little wiggle to get the thwarts over.

Seth Wotten had a custom tranquility on his trip with really arched thwarts. With a cover it was a pretty cool set up.
http://wffg.ca/photos.php?album_month=4&album_year=2006

 

[Sturgeon]

Yeah, the pictures make them look more arched than they are. If you have proper racks on your vehicle with a bit of clearance, they wouldn't pose any problems. But if you were going to use foam blocks, (as i was going to, for the short jaunt from the outfitter's to the access point) then the risk of scratching exists. It was a rental car, so i didn't want to take a chance.
I have heard that the Tranquility thwarts can be easily removed and turned around to arch inward for transport, but I wasn't prepared or interested in doing that at that point.
It sure was easy to push and pull packs under those arches, though.

PaddlingPitt, it is definitely a flatwater boat. The canoe-over-canoe issue is an interesting wrinkle; maybe the sheer lightness of the boat would make it easy for the rescuer to pop the arched thwart over the gunnel of the rescue boat? hard to say without trying it.

I imagine the arch must add a lot of strength to the canoe vs. a flat thwart.

 

[MagicPaddler]

Loved your pictures. I did almost the same route 2 years ago. By the way you do not need to do the portage between Jean and Conk. Less than 200 yards to the west along that shore is a canal/log chute. I walked my canoe through some of the shallow places but I think I could have just paddled through. You can see it on good satellite photos. Go to https://www.bing.com/maps/ switch it to aerial view and enter this ( 48.53548 -91.77763 ) in the search. It is easier to see on the Conk side on satellite but easier to find on the Jean side.

 

[snapper]

Just curious...what's the reason behind having arched thwarts anyway? Is there some advantage that I'm unaware of? I'd never seen this before so it got me to wondering why it's done. I'd love to know if anyone is aware of the reason behind them.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

 

[Dagger]

Curved thwarts make for an interesting look for sure, but I noticed Seth had the canoe on the car rack, with the opening facing up!
I wonder how much water one could gather that way while driving through a rainstorm. Not very aerodynamic either I'd think.
I never saw a Souris River canoe up-close. Do the cross ribs (bumps) get in the way of kneeling? I had an old style tuff-weave Wenonah SPII once, and I intensely disliked the cross ribs because they were a pain (quite literally) when trying to paddle in a kneeling position.

Great photos, Sturgeon! You did the sort of trip a west coaster can only dream about. Thank you for posting it!

 

[memaquay]

Sturgeon, if you were in T Bay, you could have come up my way. Three hour drive east of T Bay. All the trees, rocks and lakes any sane person could want.

Souris River canoes are unique, produced in Atikokan in Northwestern Ontario. I've had a couple in my day, in fact, still have the 17 foot quetico. It was involved in a car/moose accident and was written off. Once I popped the aluminium gunwales off, the hull sprang back to life.

They are very tough and very light to carry. They claim to have a secret way of putting the resin into the cloth, but I always thought they were still using hand layups. They've all got those weird thwarts, I find them visually uncomfortable. If you are looking for a comfortable and large tripping canoe, the Quetico 17 is a pretty nice place to start. Think it weighs some ridiculous weight, like 42 pounds or something.

 

[Sturgeon]

thanks everyone for commenting.

snapper I think arches are stronger than perpendicular thwarts.

MagicPaddler Funny you should mention that Jean-Conk is runnable. I missed the Jean to Conk portage and was getting sucked into that chute. I stepped out of the canoe to stop that happening and pulled it back to flat water. Went back and noticed the portage i had missed. Guess I could have shot the chute!

Dagger I can't really comment on the cross ribs, because i only kneeled once or twice for a few minutes. No obvious discomfort.

memaquay One of these days I'll get up to Geraldton. Interesting country. We used to drive past there on our way to our camp each summer when I was a kid/teenager. For family reasons, though we lived in Thunder Bay, we drove to Kirkland Lake 10 hours to Sesekinika Lake each summer two or three times. Craziness. BTW i loved the Souris River solo boat. Thinking of buying one if i can find a place to store it.