Hundreds of Miles on a Gallon of Gas (And 2 Paddles) - Ontario/Manitoba

June 30- August 13, 1970

In 1970, my parents took us on our first canoe trip. This trip was the first of many for my parents, and for my family as well. The following article was printed in the Kenora Miner and News following our trip.


by John Paulson
(an error, it should have read by Johann Paulson).

The idea of making the trip had been in the back of my mind for years, but never really expressed verbally until this past winter when I mentioned it to my wife. When she seemed in favor, we began to investigate the scheme further, and to consider the feasibility of the venture, since we would have with us, two children aged seven and nine, and a fifty pound dog.

In early spring, we secured numerous maps of the route and attempted to estimate the total distance and the number of portages involved. After considering these aspects of the trip, and doing a rough calculation of the time required, we were still prepared to try the different type of vacation.

Our next problem was the requirement for cooking, clothing, shelter and transportation, keeping in mind that everything we put into the canoe would have to be portaged numerous times. We decided on a 17 foot "Y" stern canvas covered canoe, and a three and a half horse outboard for emergency purposes. The remainder of our selections then had to be such as to fit into this space.

The finished product for the trip included, life jackets, a tent with light aluminum outside frame, four bedrolls, a pack sack containing medical kit, change of clothing, rain clothing, and a pack sack carrying food which weighed upward of a hundred pounds when full; two axes, fishing gear and gasoline. When weighed at the end of the trip, we found that, when the grub bag had been full and gas supply complete, we had been portaging nearly 300 pounds of supplies, plus the canoe. This had taken 3 trips each for my wife and myself on each portage.

Prior to this summer, my wife had never slept in a tent nor had she ever cooked over an outdoor fire. Canoe experience for her or the children had been limited to little jaunts on the river in front of our home.


This was also their first time to travel on a large lake.

On June 30th, we left our home on the Winnipeg River and expected to reach Minaki that evening, but we were only an hour on our way when hit by a downpour, and due to inexperienced packing, had everything drenched. We sat for 3 hours and reviewed our methods of packing. Our first lesson was learned as we sat in wet clothing. From then on, all clothing was enclosed in waterproof plastic bags, and if rain threatened, haste was in order to erect the tent and have everything possible inside, especially bedrolls and loose clothing first.

On July 2nd, we made our first two portages, above White Dog Falls. The first we would probably shoot now after our experience this summer. The second one seemed so awesome that we landed about half a mile further upstream than necessary and had to cut brush and trees for four hours before being able to carry the canoe around the rapids. It was raining that evening when we reached the White Dog dam site and continued to rain most of the next day before we were able to portage around the dam.

The Centennial Canoe Brigade - which had left Kenora July 2nd, passed us on July 5th; but by paddling a few hours longer each day we were able to keep up with them. This was an aid for us for they helped us over the portages. On the last day's travel on the Winnipeg River, however, I resorted to use of the motor several times to catch up when we had fallen behind. On that day, 25 miles and five portages were covered. In all we had made thirteen portages since leaving home.

ON THE LAKE

Lake Winnipeg was a different story. It appeared to be an endless stretch of water in which we travelled in and out of bays hour after hour with little change in scenery. We stopped for four days at Hecla Island, leaving there on July 15th. In the next five days we lost two days to high winds, half a day at a time. On July 21st we paddled for an hour before being forced ashore by winds. Here we camped for three days on a bare rock with a swamp behind us and watched the waves roll onto the shore in front of us. It was during this first week on the Lake that we decided we would have to do a great deal of motoring if we were to get off the Lake before the August blows started. We reached Berens River, half way down Lake Winnipeg, on July 25th, six days behind our tentative schedule, with our food supplies down to flour, salt, tea, sugar and two soup meals. We replenished our larder and were prepared to continue on early the next morning except that some kind soul decided he needed our gas and fishing gear more than we did, and if our dog had not wakened us so that I got up to investigate, the motor, cameras, and all loose gear near the canoe might have been borrowed also, and all this at one o'clock in the morning - the midst of a thunder and rain storm, with our camp on an island about a mile from the village center. Fortunate for us the next morning, a Swede who had lived there for a number of years, came to the island and learning of our loss, of gas, offered to sell us some of his supply and gave us a gas can. The can alone was of greater value than his charge for the gas. We were able to continue our trip with the loss of about a day in the next five, but on July 30th when we awoke in the morning, we found it blowing again and we remained in that camp for four days.

On August 3, five miles from the north end Lake Winnipeg, we met a young man with his guide who were heading for the Gulf of Mexico. The fellow had left Repulse Bay in May. During part of the day, we were wind-bound together, and he related to us some of the experiences of his travel. We reached Norway House near the mouth of the Nelson River on the following day and again stocked up on food supplies. Here we also we sought information from conservation men and guides about locations of portages on the next stretch of the river, and in three days we were at Cross Lake. Here again, valuable information about the river ahead was supplied by the local fire ranger and again we were on our way.

The four portages between Norway House and Cross Lake were very good. They were short and well cleared, with the canoe being pulled out just before the edge of the falls or rapids, and going back in again immediately underneath. The five portages between Cross Lake and Sipiwesk Lake were a different story. In addition to the water being faster, the portage longer and higher, there was the factor that they were relatively unused and consequently filled with dead falls. Especially rough was the portage around White Mud Falls which was close to a mile long.

Fire had ravaged the area several years before and so the trail was a criss-crossed with fallen trees. At the bottom of the portage it was necessary to shove the canoe off shore fully loaded and all aboard into very fast water and shoot two rapids.

On the last section of the Nelson that we travelled, we missed the entrance to a side river and went ten miles too far before we could find a recognizable landmark. After backtracking, we did the only bit of upstream travel of the summer on a five mile river into Landing Lake. The river was fairly quiet but in two places, were small rapids; but because the river was so shallow at these points, rather than portage, my wife and I pulled the canoe upstream by wading in the water, which at its deepest, reached our waists. Children, luggage and dog rode in the canoe.

On August 13th, we reached out destination, Thicket Portage, a village on the Canadian National Railway Line. It was forty four days since we had left home, and we had covered seven hundred and fifty miles by canoe. We returned by train.

The trip was a new and pleasant experience for me. One of my wife's first comments after we had completed it was "Where do we go next year?" The children also enjoyed the experience and the dog spent most of the time asleep under the front seat.

I was disappointed that we saw little game along the way. In the line of larger, or unusual game, all that we spied were two deer, one otter, one bear and a few beaver. We found Winnipeg River rather disheartening to travel because of the numerous power dams which made canoe travel awkward. Lake Winnipeg is not my idea of a recommended canoe route either. The vastness of the lake and the seemingly endless number of bays made paddling discouraging. However, motoring on a more seaworthy craft presents a different picture, because we camped and lunched on our trip along beautiful sand beaches which stretched for miles. There were numerous times that we pulled into small horse shoe shaped coves where the children swam for an hour or so or played on the fine, smooth, sand beaches. Lake Winnipeg weather is a factor that must be treated with respect and caution. Breezes that barely cause a ripple on a river can stir up four foot waves in a very short time. Travel on the Nelson River, we would gladly try again if we got the opportunity. We can just cross our fingers until then, that power projects or commercial ventures do not spoil it.