Day 4 - Woman River to Rush Lake (22 KM)

Maps provided courtesy of Toporama which contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. I have marked my route in blue and portages in red. 

We awoke to sunny skies again. It was a late start. I got up in the night and had trouble falling back asleep for a while. I eventually did, but it was after 8 AM before I hauled my carcass out of my hammock. Dad, for his part, will usually sleep in until I bug him to get up. I envy his ability to sleep in. My internal alarm usually wakes me up sometime between 5:30 and 6:00. 

We made some bacon and egg wraps before breaking camp and getting on the water. I snapped one last shot of the Woman River from our site. The pool below the falls appeared particularly frothy that morning. 

We finally got down to the water and ready to put in at about 11 AM --  a very late start on a canoe trip. 

On the way down to the put in, we noticed a pipe coming out of the hill to the pool. There was no water coming out of it, but we supposed there was a spring that once flowed there. It made me wonder about the history of that place. It was quite a remote location with no access roads nearby that we knew of, but obviously had been frequented enough to warrant someone installing a pipe to access the waters of a spring. Who spent so much time here and for what reason? I'm guessing a logging camp was once in the area. 

On the water, in the pool below the falls, I snapped a photo of our ridgetop campsite. One wouldn't even suspect a campsite would be on that cliff without climbing up to take a look. 

On the water below the falls, we could get a better look at them. From our campsite, the angle to see them wasn't great, but below the falls we could see the substantial drop through the narrow canyon better. They were dramatic and it made us regret not bushwhacking through the forest from the portage to get a better glimpse of them. Normally, we would have done that, but we had arrived at the portage late in the day, tired and hungry, and it was damn buggy! 

The Woman River was unremarkable for the next half hour or so. There were no major drops, rapids, or dramatic scenery as it meandered north through a relatively flat area with banks covered in alder and reeds. Approximately four kilometers north of our campsite, we reached the confluence with the Opeepeesway River. 

From that point, for the next two days, I would be retracing part of a route I had done two years earlier. To read my report of that trip, go to Opeespeesway Sakatawi Loop. 

I caught my second look at a lovely little A-frame cabin on the right. It was new or newly refurbished with off-grid solar power and all. My first time through there, I wondered how the owner accessed this little gem. This time, however, I spotted a clearing just north of the confluence on the left where a logging road met the river. My curiosity was assuaged. 

We continued paddling north down the Woman River. The banks began to get a little rockier and the forest was dense and thick along this stretch. It was scenic and made for an interesting paddle. 

About a half-hour past the Opeepeesway confluence, we arrived at a small chute that required us to get out of the boat. There was a short 40-meter portage on the left past the drop. The take-out was close to the drop and with the high water levels, it was tricky business getting the boat and gear ashore. We thought about lining down a little channel on the left, but the push was too great to do it safely. It could be lined at lower water levels. It was a short and easy carry, little more than a lift over, so the safe option was a no-brainer. 

The chutes could be run in a kayak or canoe with a spraydeck, just watch for the hole in the center at the bottom of the drop. The safer choice would be on river-right, I believe.

An interesting thing about this portage was that there were Tiger Lillies growing on it. Tiger Lillies are an invasive species from Korea, China and Japan, introduced to Ontario in the 19th century as an ornamental plant. They can take over people's gardens and prevent native species from growing. They were pretty on a portage, though.  This portage had a few of them growing. We noticed more on other portages later in the day. 

Just north of that portage, the river turned east. On the left, before the bend, a rocky ridge dominated the landscape. It was nice to see some rocky elevation after two days of meandering lowlands. 

Fifteen minutes past that, we were taking out again on the right past a pushy Class 3 drop into a hole. It was not safe to run in the raging high water. The portage was about 60 meters in length. 

Immediately following that portage, we ran a swift for about 100 meters and made our way to the left of the river to a portage at the top of a technical C2 rapid through a narrow drop. This rapid could be run in low water by starting on the left to avoid the large boulders on the right and center, but would require a very quick side slip to the right immediately after to avoid careening into another large boulder blocking the final drop on the left. In the high water push that we had, it looked to be nearly impossible to do that safely, at least at our skill level. Here is a shot of the top of the run. 

The portage on the left had a steep incline up to a rocky knob and then a more gradual descent to the pool below the rapids. The last time that I was through there two years prior, I spent some time with my saw clearing this portage. Unfortunately, some large blowdowns had occurred at the top in the interim. It now requires the portager to climb over some large trees. 

The put-in was a lot trickier this time through, as well. The grassy put-in was underwater this time and we were forced to load our boat off a steep, bushy bank. Dad stumbled upon a leg bone of some sort as we were loading the boat. It was odd because we couldn't see any other bones, so either an animal or person dropped it there, or the bone walked itself there. I could be telling the truth, or I might be telling a little fib-u-la. What can I say? I'm just bone to be wild. Unfortunately for that poor creature, in meeting its demise, it missed a marrow escape. 

In the pool below, we paddled over to the right at a logjam to get a better look at the rapids and take the following photos. To the right of the grassy knoll on river-left was where we put in. No shots were fired. 

At that pool, the Woman River continues north to Horwood Lake through a series of drops with the final one into Horwood being quite formidable. That path would have to be on another trip, however; we were working our way east to Gogama and our journey would now have us head up the Rush River into Rush Lake. 

This would prove to be a challenge, travelling upstream against the flow in high water. Moreover, the wind was picking up and there were some strong gusts from the southwest which was in our faces. It took some elbow grease to get up the Rush River that day.

It took about 20 minutes or so to reach our first obstacle on the Rush, a clogged double falls around an island where we would have to portage 125 meters on river-left, our right. 

We had to wade up against a strong current just to get to the steep take-out. This portage took us some time. I had cleared this portage two years earlier, but it is amazing how many more blowdowns occured in a couple of years. The forest there had a lot of small trees and the portage was on a slope, so it was blowdown-prone for sure. Dad and I walked the trail first with our saw and we took turns using it to clear the blowdowns. We spent over 30 minutes on this short 125-meter portage. 

Continuing against the current and crazy wind gusts, it took us much longer than we normally would have to arrive at our next portage over a series of drops and falls. Again, the portage was on river-left. In the photo below, you can see the take-out to the right of the falls where a red canoe was cached. 

That same canoe was there two years earlier, as well, only this time it was underneath a freshly fallen tree. Luckily for its owner, it narrowly escaped much damage. 

It was nearly 4 PM by that time and we were famished. We had only eaten some granola bars and trail mix since breakfast, so we inhaled some wraps of meat and cheese next to the red canoe. 

After eating and filtering some more water, we completed the portage which had an incredibly steep initial climb up to a rocky high point dangerously teetering over the raging falls. The remainder of the carry was fine until we got to the put-in. There were some blowdowns there that made access to the river difficult. That was exacerbated by the high water which required us to walk out on a log and load the boat in knee-deep muck.

There was a C1 rapid just a two-minute paddle upstream from that put-in. Two years earlier, at late August water levels, I was able to wade and line up these rapids. This time at considerably higher levels, the push was far too great to do so. All day, I had been a little concerned about this because there was no portage around this set of rapids that I was aware of.  

Upon arriving at the base of the rapids, I could see a clearing of some sort on river-left, our right. We alighted there and I walked the woods to see if we could get our gear through. I found that we could get our canoe and gear through the relatively sparse forest. Although there was no clear trail, it looked as if someone had bushwhacked through there not too long before; I could see broken branches and a beaten-down path in spots. In fact, it wasn't too bad at all and would be fairly easy to get our gear through until the end. The only way back to the river was down a 15-foot cliff face at what was probably close to a 60-degree incline. At the bottom of that was a tiny rock ledge next to the current that was driving toward the rapids. It would be a challenge, indeed! 

We brought our canoe and gear through the forest for a little over 100 meters to the top of the cliff. There, I scramble down to the bottom using trees and roots to hang onto. Dad lowered the gear down to me which I precariously stashed near the rock ledge. Finally, he dropped the canoe down to me.  I guided it to the water in position off the ledge and tied it tightly to a tree to stop it from being swept down the rapids. Dad came down and passed the gear to me which I loaded into the boat off the ledge. Dad got into the canoe first, held onto the shore while I untied the boat and got into it. He let go of the shore and we both paddled hard against the current to get up and out into the river. Whew! 

Just as we were feeling pleased with ourselves for negotiating that difficult situation and paddling away from the rapids, I looked back at the rapids and saw what was an obvious put-in landing on the other side of the river! Doh! I could see a trail leading away from the landing. Of course, we did look on that side of the river below the rapids but didn't see any obvious take-out or portage there. The forest looked dense and thick. How did we miss it?!?  

So...for those trying this route, for heaven's sake, take a closer look at river-right to see if you can spot a take-out below the rapids. 

The Rush River got very wide as we approached Rush Lake. We were still facing a stiff headwind which was now blowing in some dark clouds. We would be in for some weather, it seemed. On the east bank of the river were some tall cliffs and striking rock faces.   

We arrived at our goal for the day upon entering Rice Lake at around 6 PM. It was a campsite on a point on the west side of the lake that had great views looking east from its lofty, sloping rock face. I had ridden out a rainstorm there one night two years earlier.