Hi, I am looking for a good remote wilderness canoe/kayak experience in Ontario. I have heard of trips where one can access a river by rail, canoe down the a river and jump back on the train at a different site. My primary ideal is to find a remote area to canoe that has a nice mix of quiet water, whitewater, some fishing but most of all remoteness. Any and all thoughts/experiences will be warmly and thankfully received. Thank you. Lance
Spanish River??
Being from Wisconsin I am certainly not an expert on Ontario Rivers. We did however do a trip last summer on the Spanish River and really enjoy it. We took the train at Sudbury to place on the river called the Forks we then preceded five days down river to Lake Agnew. There are other possibilities if one choice more WW you can go all the way up to Bisco… and take out sooner. This route apparently is more challenging and can unpredictable for water levels. The river is not super secluded such as the Missinaibi yet in the five days we only saw two groups the first day and no one after that. The river has several nice rapids some of them need to be portaged but most of them can be run without to many difficulties. There are many campsites some of them very nice. If you want more info on this river send me a message, also there also Paul “hooligan” he is the expert on this river. He is from Ontario and often visits this site. Hope this helps
site for info
post your query on myccr.com under the forum Ontario Canoe Routes .
You will get the most concise suggestions if you will tell what class of whitewater you want to navigate,the length of the trip, whether you have a fly in budget or not and what your idea of remoteness is. Often in the north there are occasional people(occasional enough to me to be welcome and not an annoyance as I dont have a sat phone). They live there and rely on floatplanes and outfitting/guiding as one means of making a living in the summer.
Missinaibi River is often travelled by shuttle involving a train. the full trip can take 3 weeks (its possible to shorten to about ten days by doing a segment). Wabakimi is train accessible(and float plane, but not car) also. There are others accessible by VIA rail or Algoma that others can better tell you about.
Woodland Caribou is a remote park with rivers and lakes and no train. Fly in or bump your way in over logging roads.
There are dozens of others… Albany, Winisk Ogoki Kopka. Most involve flights.
The Spanish is your guy
Nice introductory river to Canadian wilderness canoeing. The train shuttle can let you off at several different locations so you can tailor your to time and needs. Good CII-V water, depends on levels. Good campsites and portage trails. Lots of logging history on this river.
Purchase a copy of the Christmar Spanish River map, it’s all you need.
Sundog Outfitters has excellent prices on shuttles.
http://www.sundogoutfitters.com/ (no affilation)
If you like
drop me an e mail and ill hooh you up with a buddy who lives on the edge of a remote canoeing area north of Toronto