Day Trip into Canada

Now that my children are older and I don’t have to be watching them 24-7 I have a little bit of free time. Combine that with the fact we have an amazing Voyageur Crew led by Tony and Hannah and I have found a considerable amount of time to take a few day trips. Last week one day I grew restless around noon and started to daydream about a day trip. I asked Tony what the schedule was, determined someone could take me out and pick me up and also determined I wasn’t really needed at Voyageur for the rest of the day.

With a solo Prism canoe, fishing rod and tennis shoes the towboat departed from the Voyageur dock. Tony dropped me off at the Northern Light Falls that spills from Wantello Lake into Saganaga. I portaged my gear and canoe into Wantello Lake and began my adventure. There’s a section of fast moving water beneath a bridge that I tried my hardest to make it up and through the rapids. Unfortunately I couldn’t get that last little bit of oomph to make it over the final ripple and as soon as I slowed due to exhaustion my canoe slipped back down the rapids.  I decided to wade and pull my canoe through the rapids because it required alot less effort on my part.

I paddled around the lake trolling a spoon and catching plenty of northern pike. There are walleye in the lake too but I didn’t seek them out and they didn’t jump into my canoe.  There’s a beautiful waterfall from Northern Light into Wantello but unfortunately there was a group hanging out there so I didn’t explore as much as I would have liked to. I did paddle the perimeter of the lake before making my way back to the bridge.

Paddling down the rapids would have been much easier than it was going up them but me being the ever cautious paddler I decided to walk the canoe down the rapids as well.  Then I pulled the canoe out of the water, changed my shoes and went for a run on the snowmobile trail/logging road. I had been on the trail in the winter and thought it would be a great place for a run. I had visions of lynx, bear and moose but the only thing I saw was a couple of grouse and a couple on a 4-wheeler who were just as surprised to see me as I was to see them.

After the run I got back into my canoe, paddled to the portage, portaged my canoe and gear and then paddled to a campsite on Saganaga to await my pick up. I took a swim and had time to relax before I was picked up shortly after 7pm.  It was a glorious adventure and one I hope to take again real soon.