CASKA: Chicago Area Sea Kayakers Association: Georgian Bay 2007 Trip Report

Search

Photo Albums

« Study Looks at Health Effects of Contact with Area Waters | Main | Trip Report: Saguenay Fjord and Marine Park »

September 15, 2007

Georgian Bay 2007 Trip Report

GEORGIAN BAY 2007 TRIP REPORT
Byng Inlet to West Fox Island
Tom Bamonte

Pat Lutsch and I recently spent 8 days paddling in northern Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. This trip from Byng Inlet to West Fox Island and back stretched our paddling skills and was a great adventure. This report describes the Georgian Bay paddling environment, summarizes our trip and outlines some lessons learned. Links are at the end.

Georgian Bay Paddling Environment

We left Chicago on the morning of Thursday, August 30 and drove for about 12 hours through Toronto and then north to Parry Sound, the largest community on the eastern shore of Georgian Bay. The next morning we stopped at White Squall, one of the two well-known kayak outfitters on this stretch of Georgian Bay, for some last minute gear shopping. We also stopped at Rob's Smoked Fish and were very glad we did (ask locals for directions).

Our put in was in the small town of Britt, on the north side of Byng Inlet about 30 miles north of Parry Sound. Georgian Bay Cottages, an exceedingly modest resort and campground, offers a nice beach and a place to park for about $35 a week.

Britt is the last road access to Georgian Bay for about 60 miles. The Bay extends north from Britt for about 10 miles to Key Harbor. The north side of the Bay then extends westward for another 50 miles to Killarney at its tip. There is a smattering of cottages, but for the most part this is wild territory.

The area is full of old, heavily glaciated and sculpted rock. There are literally thousands of islands and hundreds of inlets to explore. The islands tend to be low-lying. The larger ones have pine trees, but many are just rock and lichens.

The 15 mile wide delta of the French River dominates the east half of the north shore of the Bay. This area is full of channels, marshes, rapids and dead ends. The La Cloche Mountains overlook the west half of the north shore and can be seen for many miles. They appear to be snow covered because they are composed of striking white quartzite.

The water is shallow and full of reefs. Breaking waves are common and all over the place when the weather picks up. In some areas you must be more a half mile offshore in order to be in reliably deep water. There are almost no beaches. The shoreline is rock, which makes landing and launching challenging. The underwater rock is covered with extremely slippery moss. In some areas it was almost impossible to walk on this rock without falling. Indeed, while inching down to a natural rock bathtub at the edge of the water one day I slipped and almost squirted out into deep water. Had I not been able to pull myself back up with my fingertips on dry rock I might have had to have swum around the island to a rare cobble beach in order to get back to dry land.

We were told and certainly noticed that the weather and waves can kick up quickly. Marine radio coverage is somewhat spotty. Boat traffic is light. Several days we saw not a single person or boat. Water temperatures matched those in Lake Michigan.

While complicating navigation, the many islands can provide back routes that allow one to escape the worst of bad wind/wave conditions. On frequent occasions we were able to paddle in calm waters a few hundred feet from churning, windswept water. You learn quickly how rock can be your friend and foe in these waters.

Camping sites are plentiful, although in some stretches finding a landing or a flat spot for a tent can be a challenge. Camping on rock is great: No sand grit or lumpy cobble. Just make sure that you have a good sleeping pad. Mosquitoes are plentiful, so camping in windy areas is advised, except when gales are predicted.

Trip To West Fox Island

We put in on Friday afternoon, August 31st, and paddled out of Byng Inlet north into the open Bay. It was sunny and temperatures were moderate. Given a favorable long-range weather forecast we decided to proceed along the outer line of islands, saving the more protected inner route for our return. We paddled to the west side of Champlain Island and made camp in time to catch the sunset over of the Bay.

The next day conditions were equally favorable. We continued paddling north to the Churchill Islands and stopped for a break in a protected bay formed by several islands. Here we saw evidence of the fishing industry that thrived in the Bay until the collapse of the fishery in the 1950s.

We had planned to continue paddling due north, but the Bustard Islands several miles to the northwest beckoned. We headed northwest across open water miles from shore and passed behind this heavily wooded and slightly spooky group of islands to the Bustard lighthouses before we landed for lunch. This was one of several significant crossings that we did on the trip. From the Bustard lighthouses we continued northwest to the mainland and found a campsite in the Bottle Islands.

We woke to stiff winds from the southwest, our direction of travel. We managed to find a course through the backwaters to the Western Channel of the French River. We went up the river on the east side of Green Island and then turned west on the Voyagers Channel. The French River was a key route for Voyager canoe trade and was the interstate of its day. Now, the channel has weed-filled stretches and is as quiet as can be. We paddled out of the river into the headwind and slogged across several miles of open water to our campsite near Point Grondine.

The next day started with moderate winds, although the water was still stirred up from the previous day's blow. We passed Point Grondine and then headed out about a half mile from shore in order to avoid the reefs and a maze of small islands called the Chickens. We traveled about 3 miles to Beaverstone Bay and continued on across the mouth of the Bay to a well-deserved break on Hamilton Island. This was great open water paddling, with the La Cloche Mountains as a backdrop.

The winds began to pick up at mid-day, which is typical on the Bay. East and West Des Jardin Bays offered limited shelter so we just gritted our teeth and paddled into a headwind. You would think that CASKA's own Jim Des Jardins’ relatives would have been more thoughtful of the needs of kayakers!

Our goal was a group of islands 1-3 miles offshore. We finally settled on a wonderful campsite on West Fox Island, about 8 miles east of Killarney. The Island gave us 360-degree views of the mountains and the sweep of the Bay. It was full of kettles, depressions created when rocks swirl around in a confined area. These kettles were up to 50 feet above the water level. Little clumps of moss, flowers and rocks, which looked as carefully put together as Japanese Zen gardens, filled many of them. We stayed two nights on West Fox Island. While Killarney with its "world famous" fish and chips was a temptation, we opted to use the second day as a rest day. We explored every nook and cranny of the island and relaxed, knowing that the paddle back to Britt might be demanding. Turns out we were right.

Trip Back To Britt

The winds had shifted to the southeast when we launched Wednesday morning for our return trip to Britt. Kayakers luck at work! We decided to do a 3 mile crossing while we were fresh and because of the limited opportunities for shelter in the nearby bays. After a break behind Hamilton Island we started looking for back channels that would shield us from the wind and waves. At several points, we had no choice but to proceed through the churning water in exposed stretches. Due to the stiff wind, which the weather service said was rising to gale force by evening, we camped on a point of land at the head of Sugar John Bay. We were shielded from the coast by a stretch of land a half mile wide, but could hear the crashing waves all night.

The next morning we faced brisk winds and choppy 2-4 foot waves. We exited Beaverstone Bay, rounded Popham Point and ducked into the Chickens to get some shelter. We got nearly lost in the tangle of islands and scraped bottom repeatedly in the shallow water. When we reached the end of the Chickens we were faced with navigating our way through a mile and a half of shallow, open water that was full of unpredictable breaking waves in order to get around Point Grondine.

This turned out to be the pivotal moment of the trip. When we were 25 yards beyond the rocky shore break a wave that broke suddenly over a shallow rock shelf knocked Pat over. In fine CASKA fashion she speared the rock shelf with her paddle like she was harpooning a whale, successfully pushed herself upright and paddled out of immediate danger. Pat's prompt and effective response spared us a very tricky rescue in breaking waves just yards from a hostile shore.

That afternoon we took advantage of a wind shift to the southwest to paddle across most of the French River delta to a protected campsite near Claw Island, just south of French River Island. It was tough finding a campsite in this area because the islands were high and rounded.

The next day, the wind had shifted to the south and picked up. We followed a well-marked channel through the back islands, but finally had to paddle straight into the wind in order to access Dead Island Channel. When we got to Dead Island (named because it was a burial ground) we were about 5 miles due west of Key Harbor where we would turn south into the home stretch back to Britt.

As we did another crossing, this time to Bigby Island, we noticed that the wind was picking up. When we stopped for a break on the north end of that island we checked the marine radio and found out that a gale was on its way. We considered paddling another couple of miles into a stiffening head wind, but correctly concluded that it made more sense to set up camp and get prepared for the blow.

Blow it did. I was in the more exposed tent and spent most of the night with my clothes on watching the howling wind pummel my tent, cutting the living space in half. I thought that at any minute the wind would rip the fabric or snap a tent pole and I would be facing a long, cold and wet night chasing the dry bags stored in the tent around the island.

Of course, it might not have been such a bad thing to wander around the campsite all night providing some security. During the gale we had an ursine visitor who broke into my back hatch and swiped the sealed drybag containing our breakfast food. The bear also broke into Pat's kitchen bag, slurping up all of the oils. Amazingly, the bear took a rock off of a pot lid, removed the lid, ate the left over tortellini in the pot--and then put the lid and the rock back on.

Pat got a good night sleep in her sheltered tent. This meant that she was able to wake me up bright and early, just as I had fallen into a slumber after a rough night. By the time we hit the water the gale had disappeared. The sun was out and there was a breeze from the north. We got a nice and in our opinion well deserved push south to the Byng Inlet and then up to Britt. We unloaded our boats, had a late lunch, and hit the road by 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 8 (unfortunately missing the Chicago Shoreline Marathon). We were back in Chicago within 24 hours, after stopping for the night in St. Ignace, Michigan.

It was a glorious, challenging trip.

Lessons Learned

This trip pushed expanded our limits as paddlers. Here are some things that that we learned:

Rough Water: It is essential to get comfortable in choppy, unpredictable water. Practicing in the surf is a good way to start. Paddling in unsettled conditions near piers and seawalls is also good practice. We both remarked that when you relax and work with your kayak it really does want to stay upright.

Navigation: I used a large chart case on my deck and was glad to have a wide expanse of chart available. Every evening I plotted likely courses for the next day and penciled in the compass readings on my charts. These directions were handy, supplementing real-time tracking of our course by use of visual references (e.g., points and high islands).

Pat used a GPS unit. This gave us precise location information, which was useful when we got tangled up in bunches of small and identical looking islands. The GPS unit provided guidance as to whether the immediate course we were following would lead to a dead end. The downside of the GPS is that its display lacks the wealth and breadth of visual information contained on a chart. Until the displays on GPS units match what the eye can see on a chart, having both charts and a GPS unit is the way to go.

Organization: We traveled 7 of our 8 days on the water. Each traveling day requires a substantial investment of time and energy in breaking and setting up camp. In many paddling environments, including the Great Lakes, winds pick up in the afternoon. Thus, we found it made good sense to get up at dawn and get out on the water by no later than 8 a.m. We tried to find a campsite by about 4 p.m. This allowed us to set up camp, clean our clothes (and ourselves) and cook dinner while there was still sunlight.

This regimen is not for everyone. Groups planning a trip need to have a very clear shared understanding before they depart whether they are going to follow our somewhat puritanical early bird approach or a different approach. Throwing together early risers impatient to get on the water with late risers content with lollygagging is a recipe for incessant group conflict.

Nutrition: Keeping oneself adequately fed and watered while traveling by kayak is both challenging and essential. Dehydration and hunger cause performance to plummet, especially later in the day, when conditions are often their most challenging. You help prevent a nutrition deficit by eating at least three hearty meals each day. What's an example of a hardy meal? For breakfast I would start with a couple servings of dried fruit. I would then fill a large bowl with at least a cup of instant oatmeal and 4 to 5 tablespoons of dried milk. After dousing these in hot water, I would add plenty of granola and 1-2 tablespoons of Nutella (a hazelnut/chocolate spread). I would supplement this breakfast with a handful or two of gorp when putting in for the morning. Extrapolate from this breakfast to the other meals. And then be sure to have seconds.

Snacks are essential. Pat and I were eating two energy/nutrition bars apiece daily. We also munched on gorp and had a candy bar and a shot of hooch before turning in. After 8 days of eating like horses we were still ravenous for several days after getting off of the water.

On these trips you often develop a craving for oils and other fats. This trip we took ghee, which is clarified butter that you can find at Indian grocery stores. It is compact, does not need refrigeration and tastes great. We added ghee to sauces and spread it on crackers. Ghee and Nutella liven up your field pantry and add needed fat to your diet.

Gear: This trip only reinforced that good gear is worth the investment. When a 50 mph wind was pummeling my tent I was very thankful that it stayed in one piece. Fast drying paddling clothes and socks are very helpful. Without a functioning radio we never would have known that our windy day was turning into a gale. Good footwear is essential because slippery rock at landings and around camp pose a major risk of injury. If you keep yourself and your gear relatively clean (see below) you need less gear and this frees up storage space for other things.

Cleanliness: Maybe it is just the folks I'm been privileged to kayak/camp with over the past two years, but I'm impressed at the level of cleanliness we've maintained. Daily washings of gear and self are standard, as is changing from paddling clothes to dry camp clothes when setting up camp. These rituals of bathing and washing provide a big psychological boost each day. They also help stave off skin irritations and infections.

Final Note

By true expedition standards this was a modest trip. We averaged 15 miles per paddling day and for all of its challenges Georgian Bay certainly is not as tough a paddling environment as say the south coast of Iceland. Yet, it is very possible to have an enjoyable kayaking camping adventure at a far more moderate pace than our trip. Base camping is a great option because it eliminates several of hours of camping and packing work each day.

Use this winter to get prepared to go on your own "expedition" next summer. I’m already thinking ahead to my next trip and Pat has her eyes on an adventure next summer in Lake Nipigon. Pat is a kayak camper extraordinaire. Any of you interested in venturing out on a kayak camping adventure for the first time should to contact her and learn from her. CASKA has many other experienced travelers who will be happy to take you under their wing if you just ask.

Trip Photos:

Tom Bamonte's photos:
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=172731056/a=106455686_106455686/t_=106455686