Red Planet Café: Kopka River Canoe Trip

DAY ONE

By the time the fully-loaded truck reaches our drop-off spot, 30km down a remote dirt track deep in the boreal forests of Northern Ontario, a hot-cold mix of gut feelings are vying for my attention:

1 - We're finally here! This is it! Oh boy!
2 - What on earth do we think we're doing? Is there a chance we might be injured or not survive? I think there is!

We booked a six-night canoe expedition down a turbulent stretch of the Kopka River, about 230 km north of our home in Thunder Bay. And it cost some money and took a lot of preparation. Plus we've been looking forward to it for many weeks. So - no backing down now!

We know there are rapids on the river, and bears and wolves in the forest. So we tell ourselves we'll be careful and that the good Creator God will look after us as we journey through his kingdom.

This was the view from the drop-off point. This way to adventure!

So we are dropped off at 6pm and the truck rolls away, leaving us in the beautiful silence of the forest.

Our chosen outfitters, Wabakimi Wilderness Adventures, have rented us two lightweight 16' Kevlar canoes. I will be glad of the lightness later on.

We are soon snacked up, the canoes loaded up, and on the water. We paddle a few kilometers north to a campsite marked as a small 'x' on our trip map. The water level is low due to little recent rain, and the insect population is booming. The first evening and morning are re punctuated with the sound of hands slapping skin and mutters of frustration. The night becomes cool and then cold as the mist forms and creeps into our tent. We start imagining bears when we hear rustlings in the bush outside, but it's just squirrels and birds so far.

The view out of the tent flap early the next morning. Mist was teeming off the warm, shallow, mosquito-infested waters.

DAY TWO

We get on our way as soon as possible, clad in every layer of clothing we could lay our hands on, and paddle out of the fog into brilliant sunshine.

Reaching the end of Maggotte River with many lame jokes about how the lake was named, we scout out a route through narrow streams, wading around boulders, pulling the canoes through shallow rushing waters. At the other end where we join the Kopka River, Daniel catches a feisty 14" pike!

But we don't want to stop and cook it, so we release it. We're hoping for some walleye, which are tastier.

It's onward down the Kopka River, which at this point resembles a long lake about 1000 metres wide. There's such a sense of freedom as we paddle with the wind behind us. We're exploring the wilderness! We've escaped from Maggotte River!

Our next big challenge of the day is to traverse another shallow section. It's calm and shallow enough for us to wade again, and nobody slips or gets hurt. This photo doesn't show how tricky it is.

While we are surveying this obstacle, a man and a woman appear at the downstream side with a bright red canoe, paddle upstream along the bank past us, and off onto the lake where we have been. We don't have a chance to ask them where they're going or what the next part is like.

The afternoon is slipping away, and we already need to get through our first major portage. It's shown on our maps as being about 600m long. We explore the route together, carrying a couple of bags each. It's not steep, but there are some sections of large boulders, and finding the right trail is not easy. Somehow there are no photos of this section - we are too busy panting and wheezing! Carrying the canoes across is the hardest part, and we have no thoughts but to get it done. We all make several trips.

While we're going to and fro the first time, the canoeing couple stride past us. The man has the red canoe balanced easily on his shoulders. Robin thinks they're Swiss from their accents, but again they don't slow down to chat. They're not carrying much, so they're probably on a day trip from a campsite further downstream.

At the other end, after a long rest and lots of snacking, we reload the canoes and paddle a short distance to find our campsite. There's just enough daylight left to pitch a tent and cook our dinner. Robin's excellent menu planning ensures that all of us are satisfied.

This was the rice, ham and pineapple meal. Yum!

DAY THREE

This day promises to be hard work. There are a further four portages ahead of us, so we aim to take on three of them and not push it too hard. How hard is too hard? We're already aching and stiff from yesterday and from sleeping on thin mats on uneven but mainly mossy ground.

We could get grumpy with each other, but for myself I realise that I need each of my family crew - we need each other. We help each other out and crack jokes. Gradually we get ready for the first portage, straight from the campsite. The boys are good at scouting out the route.

The view from our campsite. These are the sorts of rapids we are not canoeing down!

We take our time. Robin helps me get one canoe up so that the two pads are set right on my shoulders, and off I go. At the end of the path we need to edge the canoes down a steep rocky drop. The family is working as a team! Nobody's complaining! This is great. Then we put the canoes into a smaller in-between lake and paddle about 200m to the next portage.

This portage is the shortest of all - just a few seconds really, and we're on the flat rocks of another lake.

Reloading the canoes, paddling, snacking... we get into a relaxed rhythm with plenty of time for exploring the rocks and the river. I'm not too tired yet.

The third and last portage for the day is the most daunting, as we scout it out with our first load of bags. There's a section of up and down rocks, through a short bog where thankfully previous portaging people have laid logs to walk on, then up a sudden rocky bank and across some flat, familiar Canadian Shield granite. Robin and I get lost with the first canoe and end up high above where the boys are sitting on the shore. We retrace our steps and get it right.

On the way to the shore, up above the racing river, we find that someone's made themselves a double bed out of moss! It would be an amazing place to spend a moonlit night, as long as there's no sleepwalking involved!

The waterfall you can see in the distance is about 200 feet below where Daniel's laying. The edge of the precipice is about two steps beyond his feet!

At long last we settle on a campsite on the near shore, after paddling around the next lake in search of the various 'x' marks on our map. Several campsites don't seem to exist anymore, covered in fallen trees.