Drowning River
by user0317
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
09/21/2018
Entry & Exit Point:
Other
Number of Days:
8
Group Size:
1
Trip Introduction:
Nakina is a small town about an hour north of Ontario’s Hwy11, near several tributaries to the Albany river and dozens of lakes. Many of the canoe routes near Nakina offer fly-in remoteness and privacy, with drive-up or shuttle accessibility.
Lately I have shown more interest in paddling river routes, and Nakina’s Drowning River seemed to offer a good opportunity to travel a remote Albany River tributary without having to splurge on a bush plane. I was never able to find more than a couple of older trip reports on travelling the river, but the Greenstone area’s tourism department has a good brochure on the river here: https://www.myccr.com/sites/default/files/drowning_river_canoe_route_brochure_r.pdf
Although the route is advertised as a loop, with upstream travel up the Waba River, the 2nd half of the loop is universally advised against. Apparently the upstream section of the Waba can be challenging, and there is a 2km portage through a swamp that no longer exist. My travel would be exclusively on the Drowning River portion of this trip, starting near Lower Twin Lake and ending near Supawn Lake.
Discuss Trip:
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Day 1 of 8
Friday, September 21, 2018
I woke up early and departed my SE MN home at about 7:30am, for the long drive to Geraldton Ontario. I made a brief lunch stop in Grand Marais at the Gunflint Tavern, and gassed up before crossing the border. I arrived at the Crown Anchor motel in Geraldton at about 7:00pm (eastern) and checked into my room. It was cold and rainy, and I noted the large puddles in the motel’s parking lot. The clerk mentioned that they had been getting a lot of rain lately, so I began to wonder a bit about water levels on the Drowning.
I woke up early and departed my SE MN home at about 7:30am, for the long drive to Geraldton Ontario. I made a brief lunch stop in Grand Marais at the Gunflint Tavern, and gassed up before crossing the border. I arrived at the Crown Anchor motel in Geraldton at about 7:00pm (eastern) and checked into my room. It was cold and rainy, and I noted the large puddles in the motel’s parking lot. The clerk mentioned that they had been getting a lot of rain lately, so I began to wonder a bit about water levels on the Drowning.