Hey guys,

I had a great trip last august into Islet based on the advice here, thought I'd throw out some questions I'm pondering for a spring trip.

I usually do a yearly may trip with my Dad, and it's always been into Biggar lake. I'm in charge of the planning this year, and thought I'd change it up. One option is a loop through Dickson/Lavieielle. Early May. We're looking at 6 or 7 days. Water taxi both ways up Opeongo. Which direction is best (if either)? Is North Arm to Lavieille doable in one day, or do people typically stop on Big Crow? I'm thinking a couple days on Dickson, and a couple on Lavieille.

From the trip logs, it seems most go clockwise, and spend the first night on Big Crow. But I just wanted to ask and get some more feedback.

Thanks,

~Chris

North arm to Lavielle is doable in one long arduous day if weather conditions and wind are favorable. I only did that way once as the group I spoke of in my last post on carts refused to go back via the cart trail or Dickson Bonfield since all their carts broke and we had to take them out as well as the gear. Having done that route once, I'd opt for either the cart trail or the Dickson Bonfield as with an early start, you can be paddling on Dickson by noon,

Yea... arduous isn't a word I'd like to start the first day of the trip with. For right now... I think I'm feeling night 1 on big crow, 2-3 on lavieille, and 4-5 on dickson. Unless there's a compelling reason to change my mind.

But I'm not even settled on that. There's lots of lakes to explore in the park...

I still would recommend this trip (vintage AP territory). And at the end of an arduous day, there's that flask of whisky that makes it all seem like a great accomplishment.

Hi Chris,

It would be a pretty simple matter of reaching Big Crow your first day, especially if you've taken the water taxi. If you're not taking the taxi, I would definitely recommend Big Crow Lake as your first night's stop. If you're taking the taxi and you get an early start you can make the single campsite on the Crow River between Big Crow and Crow Bay by mid-afternoon.

We've done the early taxi and all the way to Lavieille in one day but it was long and hard. If the weather would cooperate it would make it closer to tolerable but you know you can't count on the weather to do anything in your favor in May. I would not recommend skipping any portages on a public forum but I can tell you that we clipped some time and portage distance off of our trip along the Crow River. The first portage, the P240, we saw a trail that turned it into a P50 and went right down to the river after the dam. We put the canoe in there and ran the small rapid with a few bumps and scratches from the rocky bottom. The P155 we skipped entirely with similar results...a couple bumps in the shallows but that was about it. We portaged the P1220 and the P385 but then skipped the remaining three little portages at the end.

Keep in mind this was in mid-May so water levels were high. Also, I would strongly recommend doing a little scouting as there were several spots on the river where I could easily see a strainer getting caught up right over where the lion's share of the current goes and being strong enough to dump a canoe. I'm no expert but I would say these are class I or class II rapids at worst.

We stayed a couple nights at one of the sites on the second narrows out of Crow Bay, just as you're about to enter Lavieille proper. The site has a large bedrock face visible from Crow Bay as you're approaching it, plenty of tenting area and a comfortable fire area as well as good stargazing spots. What makes it appealing for a May fishing trip is that if the weather is nasty and the lake is too rough to get out on you can always make it out onto the Crow Bay side and enjoy some pretty good fishing there. I would not recommend the island site approaching Hardy Bay...they were pretty crappy. Feel free to drop me an email if you'd like additional information.

Chris, we have been coming to the park for a lot of years and you should try and plan for as soon as the ice goes out if it fits into your schedule, we are headed in this year for April 28th, personally I think Mid-May you run the risk of Black Flies, not sure how others feel about this but our trip is planned to avoid them, I can dress for cold..just thought I would pass that along, you say you are planning the trip this year and you will be remembered if the BF's are bad....

Thanks for the feedback guys.

We tent to be pretty cautious when considering a portage skippable or not, no worries there. It's not the time of year for an unexpected swim.

There isn't much I can do about the timing, I have to work around my work schedule. As of right now I'm hoping for the 5th, but it might even get bumped later unfortunately. However, we've eaten dinner in the canoe on a windy lake to escape blackflies... and frozen in the snow going in earlier. We'll make due with whatever get's throw out way.

~Chris