Planning

This is a trip I had wanted to do for a couple years, after reminiscing over my previous trips on this route with camp as a teenager. Back then at camp the route was notoriously known as The Loop. This trip is listed as a three night trip on MyCCR, with overnight stays in McCrae Lake, Hungry Creek, and Gibson River. When planning a trip I usually use a range between 6min/500m and 8min/500m as a conservative estimate of how long a paddle will take, to give some leeway for breaks and unforeseen circumstances. Given the experience level of the group (myself and one other), we figured that we could complete the route in three days, skipping the stay in Hungry Creek, and braving a 25km paddle on the second day.

Preparation

The next step once we had established when and where we were going was to start preparing for the trip. Given that it was only a two person trip, we wouldn't both require all of our gear as most of it would be shared. With this in mind I used the first prototype of my app to divvy up our required gear and create a packing list. Once the gear was sorted out, we decided on a meal plan to replace the energy we were going to burn (and maybe then some). With the packing lists sent out, everyone was clear on what they needed to bring, and meals planned, plans were made to meet at our launch point the night before and we were ready for our first trip of the year.

Day #1

The area from our launch point to McCrae Lake was quite scenic, with mostly open water and low winds. Since we left early in the morning the boat chop was minimal and we made fantastic time getting to McCrae Lake. One concern that we had going into the trip was that given the proximity to a car access point, McCrae Lake is a popular destination for campers on the weekends. With this in mind we wanted to get there early and secure our site for the night.

In Transit

This trip was also the first one I got to use my Garmin 5x on. Using the GPS, topographical mapping, and rowing function on the watch I was able to easily keep track of our course and be sure that we were making pace for the day. With this piece of mapping technology on my wrist we had a little fun of making my bowman navigate with his paper map and compass to pass the time.

Just west of McCrae lake we ran into a kayaker who upon noticing our gear commented that we must be going to McCrae. This brief encounter momentarily raised our concerns about finding a site on the Friday of one of the first weekends that Ontario was open for camping during Covid-19, and served to hurry our pace.

At the entrance to McCrae Lake we were greeted by a site that was familiar to me from my days going there with camp. There is a shrine on the southern shore embedded into the cliffs that greets campers entering the lake from Georgian Bay. To me it has been a reminder of staying safe during a trip.

Making Camp

After portaging over some moving water that would have been navigable if we were going the other way given the high waters on the bay, our concern of not finding a site grew a little bit as we noticed canoes scattered on the shores were people were already camped. These were eased once we passed a few sites that looked like they would offer all-day sun. We had planned on staying closer to the east end of the lake to shorten our paddle the next day, but after seeing that all the sites we marked beforehand were taken we hurried back to one of the ones we had already passed.

Landing at the site we disembarked from the canoe to scope out the site before taking out our gear. Taking care to notice the poison ivy close to the landing area we scoped out the site, noticing that it had unfortunately been left a mess by the previous inhabitants. With our extra garbage bag and a leave-no-trace mindset this was not an issue for us, and we cleaned up after the people before us.

Finding a tent site was easy in our spacious site. However after noticing a large limb dangling by a small piece of bark swaying in the wind we decided to claim the sites furthest from it to avoid being woken up during the nite.

Setting up my new Nemo Dagger 2p tent was simple and before I knew it we were set up for the day.

Passing Time

Once camp was established it was time to treat ourselves to lunch. We had packed some smoked trout and cajun crab spread from Johnny's Fresh Fish in Barrie on the way up which was a fantastic reward on our bagels for lunch after a morning of paddling. After lunch we cooled off in the lake taking care to avoid zebra mussels and other unforeseen hazards in the water before paddling around the lake to take in the sites.

With our aggressive pace in the morning we found ourselves with lots of spare time on site. For this purpose I always make sure to find space in my bag for a small game to pass the time. On this trip we packed a frisbee and our large site was great for that. During this game we noticed a fox had started checking out our site. After he was scared off by seeing us we noticed that what he was interested in were some stray hotdogs surely enough left behind from the group before us, haphazardly thrown into the forest. This is why it's so important to teach leave-no-trace camping; the animals don't need hotdogs and we don't need creatures becoming too friendly around common campgrounds.

Making Dinner

With the stray hotdogs properly disposed of, it was time to make our own dinner. On trip I always like to make a new challenge meal for my BioLite CampStove 2. On my previous trip I had made Filet Mignon for eight hungry campers, on this one I would be making kebabs for my small group. The CampStove easily held its weight for this dinner and earned its place in my pack for the next trip. As an accompaniment to the kebabs, a crowd pleaser of dehydrated potato and broccoli to round out our meal. If I was cooking at home I wouldn't have been eating any better than we did that night.

With our dinners starting to digest, its time to clean up our cooking area to avoid any lingering odors to draw in any hungry critters and get ready for the rest of your evening.

After sunset we managed to check the weather forecast for the weekend and made a decision that we would continue our trip. In the previous days the forecast had shown the possibility of a storm on Sunday, and we wanted to minimize our risk of being stuck in the middle of nowhere. Had the forecast shown a high risk of a storm, we would have had to cut our trip short and return to our launch the next day.

Day Two

After being woken up by a disappointed fox trying to find any leftovers that were left around in our site (there weren't any but it's unfortunate that these animals have become accustomed to people leaving food around), it was time to get on with our longest day of the trip. Upon leaving the site and exiting McCrae lake, we briefly chatted with our neighbour who informed us that the parking lot was overflowing. Feeling thankful for our site the previous day, we mused about how more people should leave sites cleaner for the next people, and we were on our way.

Portage Adjustments

We quickly ran into our first portage when exiting McCrae Lake to the east. Our plan for portages was to make one trip, given that one of us could carry the food barrel and heavy pack, while the other took the canoe and light pack. The first portage was a relatively easy 250m carry with modest incline. Despite the difficulty of the portage we quickly learned that our canoe was not well balanced, and proved a considerable challenge to the one carrying due to weight being primarily at the back. A quick adjustment to the control rope and an extra day pack in the front remedied this for the rest of our portages, on which we alternated carry duties to keep things interesting.

Passing the 400

This route involves crossing the 400 Highway twice. From my memory of doing this trip with camp, i remembered the culvert to cross underneath, but with rising water in the bay I did have some concern about how much space there would be underneath. After approaching the 400 I was met with relieve to see that we would easily be able to fit underneath, and paddle against the moving water. A few moments of rigorous paddling against the current and we were out of the pull and able to take a picture of our crossing. All the while hoping that the coworkers we had joked about meeting us at the 400 crossings would show up with a cold beverage.

Staying entertained on the long paddle

Since this day was going to be our longest one on the water for the trip, we had to find ways to pass time while staying motivated to paddle. Initially we used my Garmin Fenix 5x to beat our previous 500m times. After capping out at 3:47/500m 13km into our day we realized this was not maintainable, and took a water lunch of chocolate protein bars to recover. After lunch our entertainment fell to commenting on the cottages all over Six Mile Lake, debating about shortcuts down roads, and reciting whatever song was stuck in our heads. Passing by open campsites in Hungry Creek was a somewhat rude reminder that we were half way done our day, but we had set the challenge for ourselves and were up for it. Knowing now that on a Saturday afternoon the few sites at Hungry would be available, I might be more inclined to play on staying the extra night there. After portaging over a cottage road into Gibson Lake, you are on the home stretch to Gibson River. Meeting the 400 Highway going west into the river is a nice pace going with the moving water instead of against it. After the brief reminder of civilization on the busy road, you are back into the wilderness of the Gibson River.

Seeing that we had our choice of site at the river was also a welcome site, as the alternative was to continue our long paddling day downstream until we found a site. After reciting our ritual of checking out the sites, picking one, inspecting the site, it was time to set up camp. We were pleased that if we had to guess we were the first people on the site for the season, and we hope that the next people to the site will think the same.

Day Three

After a meal of hotdogs and beans the night before, capped off by a proper night swim in the river, it was time to get an early start on heading back to the launch down the Gibson River. The forecast had changed slightly for the day and thunderstorms were expected around 2pm. Knowing the pace we had achieved on the previous days, we knew that if we got a reasonably early start we would make it back with plenty of time.

Getting on the water early

In order to get out on the water as early as possible, we took turns preparing our breakfast of coffee, oatmeal, chocolate brownie protein, and bananas, and packing up our respective gear. This method got us packed, fed, cleaned up, and on the water before 8am.

The path down the Gibson River to Georgian Bay is comparable to a moving sidewalk at an airport at times. It feels like you're paddling casually until you look at the land and notice the speed you're moving at. This comes at the cost of having whitewater sections that should not be taken lightly. All of the whitewater segments on the Gibson River offer portages around them, and it is always best to stop and survey the rapids before deciding to blindly go down them, as some are quite dangerous. We opted to navigate a couple of sections of whitewater, but took the safe portage around most precarious sections. Exiting the last section of moving water into the mouth of Longuissa Bay, passing by a cottager in search of dock toys taken by the wind, we knew we were back in the home stretch.

Given the clear blue sky and hot sun of the day it was hard to believe that a storm was in the forecast, and leaving early in the morning seemed like a silly precaution. However, as forecasted, a severe thunderstorm did roll through the area after 2pm that day, a reminder of how quickly things can change in the wilderness.