I am headed to the Missinaibi River in June, the portion flowing from the town of Missinaibi to Lake Missinaibi itself. I have contacted MANY people and am coming up empty on area maps.
Any ideas/help from the forum would be greatly appreciated!
Jamie
Missinabie route
I live not far from Missinabie. I can help you if you tell me what info you are looking for.
Gord
have you tried the Canadian Canoe
Routes forum?
myccr.com
Look under the Ontario Forums and also the Ontario Routes
That trip is covered in detail in Hap Wilsons book on the Missinaibi.
Ernie’s
Hello Jamie, I did that trip last year with a group. I got my maps at the Canadian Carver,(tourist trap) expensive. It’s on the way there north of the Soo. You will probably start off from Ernie,s Ernie is Missanabi. He sells cheeseburgers and runs the campground. The wind on Missanabi was horrific. Never the less a great place to go. You probably won’t see anyone.
Tom
Maps
are easy to come by…and you can customize your own on this site.
http://www.digital-topo-maps.com/
You will have to visit the Carver for something else like ice cream, or gas (doesn’t everybody?)
Hap’s Book
I recommend it also - has lots of background info and campsites. From the town of Misinabi on Dog Lake to Missinaibi Lake is all lake travel - you aren’t on the river till you exit Missinaibi Lake
More info on Missinaibi
Jamie, we did the trip last summer from Hawk Junction to Matice (13 days). It took us four days to make it to the river. We had a very strong south west wind most of the time it was great a first but it also made our lake travel difficult and dangerous. The first portage from Dog Lake into Crooked Lake is very muddy. Crooked lake has a few good camp sites and provided us some relief from the wind. The portage into lake Missinaibi also has muddy start. Once we came into Lake Missinabi we were blessed with supper calm water and were able to spend a lot of time at Ferry Point. Ferry Point is a true Mystical place. We spend the night near White Fish Falls where the little Missinaibi run into the lake. The camp site was not very big (two tents). It was a very nice place to camp we caught lots of fish in that area unfortunately most of them were on the small size and had to be released.
I used my GPS maps and Chrismar maps “ Missinaibi I “ It cover the lakes area and an early release of their second map “Missibaibi II” this one is for river to Matice. These maps are water proof have a ton of info on it for around $15. I highly recommend their maps. http://www.chrismar.com.
Fell free to contact me if you like any other info.
research this
Not much help, BUT some heads up warning for you.
I remember reading a story years ago about the topo maps of that route. The portage around one of the main falls was marked on the map on the WRONG side and thus resulted in the deaths of some paddlers being swept over the river. Make sure you know this ahead of time etc. Also those topo maps most of the data is from the 1920’s and not recent so most likely its still wrong on the maps.
Get ahold of the myccr forum there is many people on there that can help with that route.
Keep the hollow side up!
n
Hap Wilson
Get his book, Journey To The Northern Sky, it has detailed maps of the complete route.
Yes, there were deaths from people using outdated maps, but none since Hap first published his book.
BTW, that portage on RR that lead to the last deaths was actually used many, many years ago. That particular portage is at Thunderhouse Falls, aptly named. If you have the time it is a great place to spend a few days.
Paul
Its really hard to miss the takeout
Due to that map booboo there are almost as many warning signs approaching Thunderhouse as there are on the New Jersey Turnpike.
There are several takeouts river left. Due to my paranoia we took the farthest upstream. It added some to the walk…not too bad.
You have to be right on and nail your eddy if you catch the one right at the falls… for me the penalty was too high.