7 Days of Portage Clearing and Campsite Maintenance with the Friends of Temagami

[@dwrivers47]

Thank you for your generous donation of time and energy to keep our backcountry beautiful and accessible 😊

[@WindWaterandPine]

It was my first time doing it and it was an amazing experience. There's a lot of people who have put in a lot more time than me and it definitely gives you a new appreciation. Thanks for the continued support, my man.

[@lesteph101]

Bravo et merci a toutes l équipe de rendre nos voyages plus facile….

[@WindWaterandPine]

Merci d'avoir regardé 👍

[@markoda2120]

Thank you and the entire crew for your time and efforts to improve trails and campsites for the future users.

[@WindWaterandPine]

Thanks! This was my first time out but a lot of the people from F.O.T. have been going out for years, so my part has been pretty small in comparison.

[@Megan-mm5oz]

I love 🎣 beautiful ❤

[@WindWaterandPine]

Thank you, Megan. I'm happy you enjoyed it!

[@beautyofthebackcountry]

Beautifully captured once again, WW&P! We love your appreciation and reverence for the natural world, and taking the extra step to get out there to help PJ and the crew clearing trails for a week is fabulous. We so appreciate all of the work that FOT do to keep such an important place in wild, but easily accessible shape. Glad you also got to experience the magic of May in northern Ontario - snow one morning, then 15deg and sunny all afternoon...this is spring! Cheers!

[@WindWaterandPine]

Thank you! My first time out with them, great people all around. Just gave me so much more appreciation for the work they and other volunteer groups like them do. And that "spring" weather, haha.

[@swbaker8]

amazing trip, thank you for sharing

[@WindWaterandPine]

And thank you for watching :)

[@CanadianSledDog]

Hey that's my Silky 650! I would absolutely love to go out with a crew like this next time I'm in Ontario!

[@WindWaterandPine]

If you join the super elite, highly secretive club known as the "Friends of Temagami", they might just let you in if you express interest....

[@ruettigerschnapps4716]

Just got back from Temagami Wednesday evening and getting caught up with your videos Chris. Another excellent one. Did the Diamond-Wakimika-Obabika loop with my daughters (14 & 9)- all said around 85-90 kms - they were troopers! And it wouldn’t have been possible without volunteers like you and the Friends of Temagami group putting in long hours of maintenance. So thank you very much! Keep up with the gratitude expressed toward your surroundings/experiences, the humility, and humour! Cheers, Craig

[@WindWaterandPine]

I'm glad you had a great trip out. It's a classic and beautiful loop and a great introduction to Temagami, which I'm sure your daughters must have loved. And yes, will keep on keeping on, it's always good to be getting out there. 🙏

[@DBogey]

I knew that waterfall, in the beginning, looked familiar. I was fishing right below that last year and was catching Smallies on every cast. Little did I know, there was a massive black bear in the water downstream from me fishing also :) As soon as he caught wind of me he was outta there!! Beautiful area and I'm hoping I'll be back up there in a few weeks.

[@WindWaterandPine]

Haha, oh wow! Sounds like a great day in Temagami to me :) And yes... I've heard the fishing under that waterfall is something else!

[@44sergeys]

Hi Chris, thank you for posting this report, I very much enjoyed following you through this loop (even more than I'd enjoyed your Skooztawgan bath in the previous video)! I can't believe you guys installed thunderboxes on all these campsites, even on the 2nd unnamed lake?! One of my favorite parts of Temagami, especially a leg from Pinetorch to Twinkle - especially Dead Beaver falls trail😅. The first time I took it, some 12 years ago, the bog in the middle (I think your footage shows you crossing it) - it was flooded by beavers sufficiently to paddle around and I even camped on its shore. And the last time I took this port there was no established south landing (on unnamed lake above Twinkle) - did you find (or clear) this landing on your trip? I remember just crashing to the water from the ATV trail through the bush.

[@WindWaterandPine]

I'm happy you enjoyed it and found it useful! I hope you enjoy those thunderboxes next time you pass through there! I definitely crossed that bog and I definitely couldn't have paddled it, haha. As for the landing, hmmm... I can't quite recall but I think there was a bit of a landing that you could access from the ATV trail, just a little further down the road from the edge of the lake (after crossing the creek). I think we put signs on all those portage so it should be a little more clear now... if no less difficult a route 😅

[@WildKateWildCat]

beautiful nature. Where is it? I love solo camping too 😍😄😄🥰

[@WindWaterandPine]

It's in Temagami, Ontario. A beautiful place to be out exploring and enjoying the wild. I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

[@tercet]

This was in May I presume? Snow then 30 degress the next day? Crazy

[@WindWaterandPine]

Yes, just after the May long weekend! Come prepared for all types of climate, haha.

[@DBogey]

The route from Pinetorch back down to Twinkle - can you send me the route you cleared. I know there's a ton of flagging tape up around Dead Beaver that people have been putting up. I spoke with one of the FOT members who actually created that route years ago and told me how it got its name - a dead beaver in the falls :) If you have gpx I'd appreciate it. Going to do the Twinkle Lake route in mid-September clockwise.

[@WindWaterandPine]

I do not have GPX, unfortunately. We also went clockwise. The route we did was Twinkle > Linger > Seagram > Asabi > Long > Talking Falls > paddling east through the small lakes that go to Pine and Pinetorch > south from Pinetorch back to Twinkle via Dead Beaver Falls (great name for a terrible portage). The route through Dead Beaver is signed and easy enough to follow, when you get through the really crappy up and down part of the portage which ends at an old road/ ATV trail you turn right and follow it a couple hundred meters, crossing a creek, until you get to the put-in. There is now also a new (rough) campsite on Twinkle on a point just south of the portage out of Dead Beaver should you find it is late in the day and need to camp out. The only other thing I would caution is that when you first start heading east off the Yorston River after you've passed Talking Falls, there is no portage that we could find (supposed to be about 900 meters) so you will be paddling along a very narrow twisty section of creek that was slow going for us (not sure what the water levels are mid September). Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.