The Nation Lakes Chain

[BigandSmall]

The Nation Lakes Chain. This is approximately a 120km long chain of lakes North of Fort St. James in British Columbia. It consists of 4 lakes, Tsayta, Indata, Tchentlo and Chuchie. The river sections are all class 1 but all have sweepers and other hazards. There are 3 log jams on the first river section you have to portage around. There’s no cell service out there and even better there aren’t many people either.

Last year while day paddling up the bottom of the Nation river I ran into a couple in a loaded prospector canoe coming down. They were just finishing the length of the Nation River. We chatted a bit and they told me about the Nation chain and how much more they enjoyed it over the Bowron. That planted the seed and after some reading I thought it sounded like the perfect first trip for my canoe. I was hoping to make it a family trip with both our kids just graduating from University but sadly our son wasn’t able to join us. So with my wife, daughter and I as willing participants we contacted Chuchie Lake Lodge to book a cabin and line up some last minute transport. We booked a cabin for the night and the shuttle service they offer for the following morning. Google maps took us right to the lodge even though there’s no cell service out there. Maps still works offline just don’t close the app. The office is in the last cabin on the left just before the steep hill (right where Google said it was but I didn’t see a sign anywhere).

I don’t know how we’d have done this trip without the shuttle service they offer. Provided you have E rated tires on your vehicle (which I do) they will guide you to the start and then drive your truck back to the finish. If you don’t have E rated tires they will shuttle you in their vehicle instead at a higher cost. It’s quite a long drive and we lucked out on good road conditions due to active hauling and steady grading. We topped up in Fort St. James but I brought and added a 20L jerry can at the lodge so there would be enough fuel for the owner Daniel to make it back to the Lodge after dropping us off. I ended up buying some more gas from him to take a different route home. Fuel range is a consideration so plan for it.

We had a cute little off grid cabin that night with an amazing view out over the lake. There were 2 cabins side by side as well as a shower/cook house up on the top of the hill with a very fancy outhouse.

 

[BigandSmall]

Day 1:

We made the long drive out to Tsayta Lake with Daniel guiding the way. He’s a very nice guy and provided us with lots of good information on the way. We saw a moose and some black bear on the drive out. We got to Tsayta just after 12 but because of the bugs we packed in a hurry on the beach. We should have put on the bug nets and spray then taken our time organizing everything better. I ended up bringing a few things along I’d meant to leave in the truck. We got on the water around 1:00 and had a gentle tail wind for the paddle. We had a short day and camped at Big Island campsite as suggested by Daniel. It was a nice site with a fair bit of tree fall. Campsites in the North aren’t kept up like they are in the South. BC Parks spends their budgets where the people are and the North doesn’t have the people to see much budget. Bring a shovel, an axe, bug nets and a positive attitude to deal with the ever changing weather. To be honest the changing weather applies to all of BC. The outhouse was mostly intact, there was a fire ring, a picnic table and we found a suitable tree branch to hang our food from. We even had some swans come land in the morning.

 

[BigandSmall]

Day 2:

We padded the rest of Tsayta lake into a head wind. It was very beautiful lake with lots of interesting rock formations. We headed into the river section expecting a couple of portages but not knowing for sure. Daniel had heard of a couple of people going through this year but hadn’t heard any solid details. This is the narrowest of the 3 river river sections. Narrow often means faster but my concern is more how far a sweeper can reach across the water. It took a bit to reach the first log jam and the river was beautiful. I was able to scout the log jam from a sand bar then drop in backwards to land on shore. I unloaded my canoe, tossed it in the willows then caught the rest of the family as they came down. This was a simple up and over and in hindsight we probably could have lined the boats along the edge of this one. The second log jam was a fair bit bigger. The shore was a bit muddy and there were a lot of willows. Walking through the willows releases hordes of mosquitoes so be prepared. There was a rough trail cut through the brush and a tunnel cut through the tall stuff. So with lots of “Hey Bears”, spray and bangers in hand we moved our gear through the brush for the 60 or so yards of this portage. With a few falls, torn up pants and scratched up boats we finished moving everything through just in time for some major weather to roll in. We had hoped that would be the last of the portages but just before Indata lake there was another log jam. It also had a soft shore line and we only had to pack everything 50 yards or so through the brush. This one was tough as we thought we were clear seeing the trees opening up just prior as we were getting to the lake. We were so glad to get onto the open water of Indata to get away from the bugs. Indata was very calm as we headed down to the beautiful Indata campsite Daniel suggested. This site had a beautiful sandy beach, picnic table and a nice fire ring that we had a camp fire in to relax in front of after a tough day. The outhouse was mostly there but it looked like a porcupine had eaten a good chunk of the floor. One of my favourite parts of paddling trips is sitting by the water having a morning coffee. The bugs are also less as you get away from the trees.

 

[BigandSmall]

Day 3:

We finished paddling Indata and got onto the 2nd river section. It was a bit wider as more tributaries had joined in. It wasn’t too fast and there we lots of twists and turns to keep it interesting. We went under a bridge on this section. Daniel had mentioned that if we ran into trouble we could walk out to the right on this bridge then to the Lodge on Tchentlo in an emergency. There were lots of sweepers on this section but fortunately no log jams. After the beautiful river section it opened up onto Tchentlo. We followed the right hand shore heading for the “warm springs” we’d read about. We saw a grizzly and cubs in a little bay off a larger bay along the right hand shore. She was staring at me for a bit before profiling to show me how big she was. It was hard to say if there was one or two cubs from the distance but I think there were two. We decided to leave them alone and skipped heading in for a closer look. We continued on looking for the warm springs but were confused as the map shows the Hot Springs rec site but the actual hot springs is across from the rec site. It’s the grassy area on the left as you’re paddling in towards the Lodge. There was an eagle down there warming his feet as we came in but I didn’t get a picture unfortunately. The warm spring consists of a man made pool on the water and a couple of small pools above with tufa. The water from the spings above flows down into the man made pool. It was pretty nice to dip your feet in but it wasn’t very warm. If you got in it would be lovely but you wouldn’t want to get out into the drizzly 14 degree weather. We stayed at a non official site down on the right from here. It was quite nice but a little buggy being so well sheltered from any wind.

 

[BigandSmall]

Day 4:

Not long after departing we came across a family of 4 black bears on the shore in the woods. Mom and a yearling took off pretty quick but the two young cubs were very interested in what was on the water. They were grunting up a storm excitedly peeking out at us. I’m sure their mother was not impressed. Lots of beautiful scenery working our way down Tchentlo. We stayed at a campsite that had a bunch of core samples stored in the woods behind it. It was a very nice site. I imagine the swimming would be great along the chain further into summer.

 

[BigandSmall]

Day 5:

We finished the last of Tchentlo heading into the final river section. It was log jam free like the last one and also very scenic. When we arrived on Chuchie Lake we saw our first people. There was a boat out fishing. I imagine the fishing is excellent if you know what bait to use. There were fish jumping all along the chain. Daniel had suggested Jean Marie island campsite and it was our favourite of the trip. It had a shelter, outhouse, fire ring and a nice picnic table. We had another camp fire and watched boats fishing in the distance.

 

[BigandSmall]

Day 6:

Daniel had mentioned that Jean Marie island to Indian Point campsite would be an easy paddle and line us up to get off the water early on the final day. Chuchie was quiet, not as scenic as the other lakes but still quite pretty. We had taken our time getting under way and still arrived early enough to set up camp and sit around the camp fire. There was a shelter here, a couple of sites and picnic tables as well as an outhouse and piece of sheet metal set up to act as a wind break. There was also a nice cable set up to cache your food.

 

[BigandSmall]

Day 7:

We set an alarm but were up before it anyway. We packed up for the final time and were on the water before 10:00. That had us reaching Chuchie Lake Lodge by noon. It was nice knowing my truck was safely waiting for us. There was a truck off the side of the road up at Tsayta all shot up. I don’t think it happens often but I’ve seen it enough that I don’t like leaving my truck anywhere if I can avoid it. Daniel came down to see us as we were loading and asked us in for coffee and muffins. Unfortunately our travel day was just beginning so we had to pass. Too bad because a real coffee sounded delicious at that point.

In conclusion I really recommend this trip if you’re comfortable with a little river paddling and short portages. I imagine it will get busier as the water gets warmer and lower but it was sure nice to have the whole place to ourselves. A big thanks to Chuchie Lake Fishing Lodge for offering their shuttle service. I have no affiliation with them but they have a good website for others interested in this trip.

 

[Gamma1214]

Looks like some nice country. Thanks for taking the time to post the TR.

 

[Tryin']

Great report, great pictures. Thank you!!!