In the heart of the Canadian wilderness, where the whispers of ancient forests blend with the symphony of flowing waters, a journey of unparalleled beauty awaits. Welcome to a realm of untamed grandeur, where time stands still, and nature's poetry is written in every ripple, every whisper of the wind.
This is the Missinaibi River, a liquid tapestry of epic landscapes, a canvas painted by the hand of Mother Nature herself.
Join me and four new friends for Part 2 of this epic 10-day, 200km backcountry canoe trip on a historic northern Ontario river. Our adventure down the Missinaibi is not without its unique features and challenges; as we paddle through its pristine wilderness, we'll face the exhilarating test of covering long distances, our arms becoming our compass in the untamed landscape. The river, with its playful twists and turns, challenges us with exhilarating whitewater rapids that demand our utmost focus and teamwork (and for me, this would be only my third time ever running whitewater in a canoe!) Add to this the historic wildfire season across much of the country and a province-wide fire ban, and you're starting to get a sense of what this backcountry canoe trip is all about!
Part 2 begins on Day 4 of the adventure, where we depart Swamp Rapids, past Deadwood Rapids, and around Allan Island, where we chose river right to avoid the long Allan Falls portage in favour of the much shorter portage around what is known as The Logjam. Unbeknownst to us at the time, but there was a pre-Logjam logjam, which would see us scamper dangerously over a floating island of logs, branches and debris before finally arriving at the true Logjam. After scoping out Allan Falls from downriver, we continued on to Wavy Rapids, where spent the day playing in the epic whitewater – and ultimately, where I would dump or sink repeatedly in the rapids' big wavetrain!
Day 5 saw us leave Wavy Rapids and make our way to the 3km-long Greenhill Rapids. These rapids had some CIII sections that we chose to line, while other sections were quite runnable (but loooong!) Calf Rapids proved to be equally as interesting (and long) until we made it to our lunchtime destination at St. Peter Rapids. Next were two of the Upper Missinaibi River's greatest features: Split Rock Falls, where the water compresses into a narrow channel created by two angled parallel granite walls, and Thunder Falls, where the water meets a two-storey high logjam and redirects over the expansive falls. Both of these natural features were epic in their own right! We camped directly below Thunder Falls, where the soothing sound of its rushing waters lulled us to sleep after a grueling 31km day in 30'C temperatures.
Day 6 was much calmer, with mostly flat water paddling and little whitewater, as we made our way from Thunder Falls, past the Brunswick Lake portage and onward to First Lake Rapids, where we camped on the fantastic island site. We went for a refreshing swim before topping it all off with naan pizza for dinner, then hit the sac, exhausted from the 24km day in sweltering temperatures.
I hope you enjoy Part 2 of my series, the Missinaibi, and please don't forget to LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, and HIT THAT BELL for future updates, including Parts 2 and 3 of the series!
Eric @GreybeardAdventures
------- Video Contents -------
00:00 - Welcome to the Mighty Missinaibi
00:49 - Day 4 - Swamp Rapids to Wavy Rapids
13:31 - Day 5 - Wavy Rapids to Thunder Falls
27:00 - Day 6 - Thunder Falls to First Lake Rapids
30:35 - Thunder Falls Bonus Footage
------- Video Soundtrack -------
Music in this video can be found on
- artlist.io
- YouTube Music Archive
- chosic.com
Keywords: #canoetrip #backcountry #backcountrycamping #greybeardadventures #whitewater #Missinaibi #canoecamping
Greybeard Adventures, Missinaibi River, northern Ontario, canoe trip, backcountry camping, canoe camping, backcountry canoe trip, whitewater canoe, whitewater paddling, Wavy Rapids, Thunder Falls