September Missinaibi River, Day 7

Things were getting more exciting. The flat water was behind us and the rapids ahead—with some unexpected twists.

Pond Falls Rapids looked like a Class IV from our vantage. Portaged.

A quarter mile down was Devil Cap Falls, which we scouted from the first rock island on the left. Even though Hap Wilson says it is a mandatory carry, Doug saw a route to line. We pulled out the lining ropes, ran them through the tugeyes and glided the boat down the second chute from the left standing on the dry rock island. Check it out! Look closely at the picture and you will see the lines on the canoe.

We ran the long Devil Shoepack Rapids, multiple Class IIs with waves. This is the kind of paddling you are rewarded with for slogging it through the flats.

But there was much more excitement to the day.

At Z-Drag Rapids we scouted from the rocks in the middle of the river. It is a Class II ledge and must be scouted to find the line. We decided to run the chute on river right. We were a little lazy on the approach and got into a sideways drift just above the drop. The best maneuver at that point was to run it backwards—with aplomb. What a hoot, Doug says. Trish was totally surprised. However, the outcome was the best— a dry boat. No time for long explanations until campfire time later.

Some more swifts kept it interesting but it seemed like miles to the end of Wilson’s Bend and camp. We planned on camping at the “rogue” campsite where the map indicated a road came down to river’s edge. It wasn’t really a discernable road but an overgrown trail.

Thanks to whoever tied blue plastic tape to a branch, Doug’s suspicion was confirmed that we had arrived at the site (which is uphill at bit from the river). Decent enough, better than some official sites but clear water was a hike. Evidence of bears, this time one who ate too many berries.

After a long day, the setup for camp was hampered by annoying and unrelenting black flies; surprising for late September but the day had been warm. We had not brought any bug repellant since we didn’t think we would have a bug population to deal with. So we improvised with mesh net stuff sacks, which were not adequate to keep the persistent, hungry buggers at bay.

Exciting day of just 11 miles paddled.