Temagami wilderness

Temagami wilderness a window into history and environmental protection FIVE-DAY FAMILY PADDLE A CHALLENGE AND A JOY

By Peter McKinnon

The world’s oldest red and white pine forest and an array of other natural treasures help make the Temagami region one of Canada’s top canoe-trip destinations. Temagami also boasts a rich history – Aboriginal Peoples have paddled here for more than six millennia. And in our own time, a logging blockade by activists in 1989 helped save old-growth forest. Last year in July, I got a taste of it during a five-night family canoe trip and hike through that same forest.

Although less than a six-hour drive from Ottawa, some canoe trippers consider Temagami too remote and rugged. Adventurous campers and paddlers are drawn by the isolation, spectacular trails, and challenging portages. By comparison, Algonquin Park is genteel and civilized.

My brother and I have completed many family canoe trips over the years. This one would include four parents and two grown children. We met at Smoothwater Lodge in Temagami for one night to enjoy a swim and dinner before setting out the following morning. Francis Boyes and Johanna Kilbridge are ideal hosts, offering great food and rooms, seasoned advice, top-quality gear (three canoes, paddles and vests) and reliable shuttle service to the put-in. Smoothwater also provided the permits from Ontario Parks ($10 per person per night). At the last minute, I hefted our old four-kilogram tent, thought about the arduous portages in our near future, and rented one of Smoothwater’s lightweight versions.

Francis drove us and our gear to the portage leading to Sandy Inlet on Lake Temagami. Ever the gentleman, he even schlepped a couple of loads to the put-in. We loaded the canoes and headed out into a steady breeze.

That breeze turned into quite a challenge on the first day and a half of paddling. Getting across Lake Temagami required careful zigzagging and hard digging to avoid getting broadsided by sizeable waves. The thought of capsizing on the first morning out, fully loaded and hundreds of metres from shore, kept us all focused and energized.

When headwinds continued on that second day, I wondered about altering our route (this was supposed to be a holiday, after all). But our efforts were rewarded on day four, when we lashed a tarp to two paddles and harnessed the steady breeze for a quick and effortless seven-kilometre sail across Lake Temagami. Paddles on either side served as rudders, maximizing both speed and laughter.

Francis had laid out a four-night route through lakes Temagami, Diamond and Wakimika, along a stretch of the narrow, beaverdammed Wakimika River into Obabika Lake, then back to Lake Temagami and Sandy Inlet. Portages ranged from 100 to 800 metres over everything from relatively flat trails to uneven ground strewn with ankle-twister rocks. Many put-ins and take-outs were steep and awkward and we saw few other canoeists until we re-entered Lake Temagami.

A highlight for all of us was a three-hour hike into the largest continuous stand of oldgrowth red and white pine forest in the world at the north end of Obabika Lake. Known as the Wakimika Triangle, the area is laced with trails and accessible only by water. We followed one that leads past the much-photographed Three Sisters to Cheeskon-abikong Lake. There we stopped to marvel at spectacular cliffs and appreciate why Aboriginal Peoples consider the

Looking out over Chee-skon-abikong Lake during the old-growth forest hike. (Photo: Peter McKinnon)

region sacred and why people took action to protect it.

In 1989, a long-simmering dispute over the rights of loggers, First Nations and environmentalists boiled over and protestors blockaded a key access road. Police arrested 11 protestors, including Bob Rae, who became Ontario premier the following year. Among the protest leaders was Hap Wilson, the original owner of Smoothwater Outfitters, and the author of the definitive book of the re- gion’s canoe routes. The province eventually revoked the original logging permit, effec- tively conserving the forest for the foreseeable future.

After our hike, we had a swim and packed up for the paddle to that night’s campsite. We reflected thankfully on those who had stood up for what they felt was right, and in the process enabled us to enjoy such a wonderful vacation.

Temagami remains in the centre of disputes over land ownership and use. Francis and Johanna are passionate advocates: he is a founding member of Friends of Temagami and advised the province on forestry management as a member of the local citizens’ committee; she participated in the blockade as a toddler. And as business owners, they are eager to share the region’s natural wonders with visitors.

Logging, of course, creates both short-term economic benefits and long-term environmental impacts. As we headed home, we took comfort in knowing that a little bit of the old-growth forest that once covered most of eastern Canada still stands proud. 