paddling the rabbit river in manitoba

Canada day weekend, time to head back to manitoba and put the paddle in the water.  i landed on thursday afternoon, and mark, dad, jeff and i were at the put in to the rabbit river in nopiming park less then 12 hours later.

the rabbit river is 15km long and ends at cole lake.  the plan was 2 nights at cole, then back the way we came.

and off we go

the river is pretty narrow and lot that deep.  everything we read said go when the water is high.  not sure if it was high, but it was high enough.  

 

It was typical canadian shield paddling.. shallow winding lakes through marsh.  if there was any less water, it could have been a 10km portage.

 

there was also the typical huge pieces of rocks.  there may not be mountains, but it's my favourite place to paddle.   

beavers everywhere.

mark knows everything about everything... especially plants.  so by the end of the trip, i knew more about plants too. 

mark told me this thing is called a "flower"

 word on the street was there are no permanent portages.  that is wrong.  there are 3 formal but short portages.  we chose to not unload the canoes and instead, push them up the rapids.  it may not have saved us much time, but it was a refreshing alternative to unpacking and carrying everything up a trail full of bugs.

portaging

this how you portage now.  offically

i think it's stuck.

 after 15 km and about 5 hours, we got to cole lake.  the rocks outcrops make for sweet camping spots.  this was ours.

4 people = 4 tents.  that is now also an official rule.

 The bugs were crazy insane once the sun went down, so about 930 we were all in tents smeared with dead bugs and blood.  

the next morning, rude and i did some fishing and caught us some breakfast.  2 pickerel, 1 pike and 1 small mouth bass?  not sure what that last one was, but it tasted good.

breakfast

 That day we left our camp and headed around cole lake.  the map showed a river that fed the lake and we scouted it as a possible side trip.  it was not.  waaaay too shallow.  the day was warm and sunny and awesome.

 We got back, had a swim and dinner, and then went to sleep.  before we did, dad scored these sweet shots of the sunset.

and since we were out for canada day, a little celebration seemed prudent.  fireworks courtesy of jeff.

happy canada d-eh

Then it was morning.  more sweet photos and a causal packing up and we were off back down the river.  

morning misty

 

fisher wanted to solo some rapids.

What a sweet trip.  thanks to the doods and rudes for accommodating my need for manitoba canoe adventure. and to dad for the sweet photos.

its only july and still time for lots more adventure.  stay tuned, or better yet, be part of one.