Triplogs / Triplog#73 / Day 2
September 18 - Day 2 - Paddling the "Mighty" Tim River
At 5:00 am we were awoken to the sound of rain and more moose calling, the calls sounding closer this time. The area seemed to be active with moose. By 8:30 am the rain stopped and we finally got out of the tent and began packing up. We had a very quick breakfast of village sausage(Double smoked) with cheese and breakfast pitas with jam and coffee. We were on the river by 9:15 am. I had no Idea how long it would take us to get to Shippagew Lake, but I knew it would be a very long day.
Arrival at the 275m portage
By 10:47 am we passed the portage to Shah Lake, and at just under an hour later at 11:40 am we reached the first portage of the day, the 275m carry-over. Right away one can see that at one time there had been a logging camp from the old days, a rather large meadow was there, with second growth pines flanking the northern end of the clearing. Upon landing we each had a banana and some water, we then headed down the trail fro our first pass. The trail crossed the meadow for about 100m where it entered the forest. The trail then passed an illegal (or perhaps a grandfathered) campsite, and continued east along a fairly hard packed narrow trail. The portage then passes right next to the remains of an old log cabin, it even had mortar in-between the foundation logs. Unfortunately, there was also graffiti on the exterior logs. It was a nice structure, but it could certainly have done without the scrawl of fellow campers.
The trail then descends and passes by the lone campsite on the trail. The grandfathered campsite was actually nicer than the official one, although someone had removed beams from the cabin remains and used them to make a decaying bench at the campsite, not very nice. During the carry-over it had begun to rain a little bit, thus the trail became slick and near the end of the trail, I slipped and nearly fell with the canoe on my shoulders, I recovered as the rear of the canoe stopped my fall by banging on a rock, I inspected for damage and found none luckily, and completed the the carry. By 12:20 pm we were ready to launch back onto the river, the portage had been a simple trail, one down two to go.
What's left of a log cabin along the 275m portage in the Tim River
An older (Unoffical) campsite along the 275m portage,
complete with a beam used from the log cabin
By 1:35 pm we had completed the 460m portage, the trail itself was a bit of a surprise, rising some 50m above the creek, and following a goat path for a distance, before descending rapidly back to the river. I broke into a heavy sweat along the goat path as the sun came out and I was still wearing my raincoat, by the time I reached the end it might as well have rained as I was soaked through!
We launched again and began paddling. We encountered a few beaver dams along this section and another fallen tree, and the river once again start to meander. It was starting to get on my nerves, for as sonn as we left our campsite that morning, the river had been nothing but switchback after switchback, and to see more of this, I was starting to get annoyed with the river. After about nine or ten more switchbacks the river started to open up, widening to the largest width yet, and our hopes rose. Joan had concerns about reaching Shippagew before dark and I remarked that we would see at what time we arrived on the last campsite on the river before the lake, to gauge how much light we would have left. I had quietly decided that if we had arrived after 3pm, we would have less than 4 hours of sunlight left, with an additional 45 minutes of twilight. So we would have that long, 4 hours to reach camp and have it set-up before dark.
At the end of the 460m portage
By 2:15 pm we arrived the last campsite on the river. I got out and walked around, it we nicer than the campsite we had stayed at, but it was too early to camp, could we make it in time? The weather had improved immensely, lots of sun with clouds dissipating. I figured with winds, and the switchbacks yet to come, we could reach the lake in 3.5 hours…reaching the lake a full hour before sundown, enough time to reach camp and setup. Joan was for the plan, she didn't like the campsite too much and didn't like the idea of only spending one on Shippagew when we had booked it for two. Decision made, I got back in the canoe and we pushed on.
The last campsite on the Tim River after the 460m portage
The Tim River just after passing the 2860m portage to Stag Lake
Within fifteen minutes of leaving the campsites, the river really started to open up and it changed direction, now flowing in a more Northerly direction instead of an East one. As we paddled north, the winds woke up, bearing down on us, and thus began the long slow exhausting paddle down the river. By 4:01 pm we passed by the heavily forested take-out to Stag Lake(A low maintenance 2,860m portage), a good sign for we had covered a lot of distance in under two hours (about two-thirds the distance from the last campsite to the lake). Around the next bend from the portage, we came upon a young immature bull moose feeding in a small bay, it was hard to see with the sun in our faces. We paused for a few photographs of the moose and paddled on, the moose resumed it's feeding.
A immature bull moose feeds in the Tim River
5:15 pm and we had completed the 125m trail along the last leg of the Tim River into Shippagew Lake. Just prior to the portage, there appeared to be a split in the river, and I decided to go right. There was a rather large beaver dam there, we crossed it and found the portage only one minute's paddle further downstream. By this time the shadows were starting to get long, and time was getting short. A sense of urgency struck us, we were getting close, we hoped there would be more no more dams or other obstructions along the river to slow us up.
By 5:35 pm Joan let out a cheer as Shippagew Lake came into view! We had made it, with at least a full hour of sunlight remaining. It had taken us just under three and a half hours to get to the lake from the last campsite on the river. Ten minutes quicker than I had estimated, not bad. I had pushed us hard paddling, we had paddled hard against the wind non-stop for 30 minutes at time with very short breaks in between, but it was worth it. We paddled out onto a deserted and beautiful looking Shippagew Lake at 5:37 pm. We had broken camp at our campsite at 9:15 am and arrived at Shippagew camp at 5:50 pm. We ignored the West shore campsite, paddling to the East shore campsite, having learned previously that this was the campsite to camp on. It had taken us almost nine hours to reach our destinatio. In the fall that is a long day, but a long good day!
Good riddence Tim River!
Joan lets out a cheer as we arrive at Shippagew Lake
In just over an hour, the sun had set shortly after 7:00 pm. Camp had been set-up and by twilight we had chicken breasts (and leftover Tandoori wings) with rice and carrots cooked over the fire, it was delicious. A small supply of wood had been left behind as well as some gathered wood for me to cut up. We had a great sunset and again that night we heard moose calling. We had a few drinks by the fire retiring sometime before 10:00 pm to a well deserved sleep.
