Steel River

Map provided courtesy of Toporama which contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. I have made additional markings to show route information.

Do you believe in Fate? Destiny? Kismet? Do you believe that a certain canoe route can be "cursed" for a particular person? 

I suppose if one did believe in a predetermined sequence of events that has been laid out for oneself, then the implication would be that one's lot in life has already been preordained by some sort of "higher power". Whatever happens to a person is either "meant to be" or "not meant to be." 

Now, why pretell, is your humble author waxing philosophically from the outset of a canoeing trip report? I mean...what gives Canoe Daddy?!? 

Normally, I do not abide by notions such as fate, destiny, or kismet. I'm about as concrete as a person can get in terms of thinking that a person has a large degree of control over what occurs in his/her life. Some may even say I am a little cynical. Sure, readers of my trip reports may have found me joking about the "canoe tripping gods" in past reports. I have even given this "deity" a name in a few (Lord Paddlesworth to be precise). I hope readers have been able to detect a large note of jest in those sentiments,  but what I'm really referring to by the"canoe-tripping gods" or Lord Paddlesworth is whatever the weather, and that on-again, off-again matriarch, Mother Nature, has in store for me while I'm out there in the wilds. Anyone who has experienced a severe storm while on a canoe trip immediately understands that many things out there are beyond a person's control.

Well, my history of trying to do the Steel River Loop and, more recently, my June 2025 attempt to finally complete it, has made me change my tune to some degree about a route being cursed. After what occurred on Day 4 of the trip, I was beginning to think I was simply not "meant" to complete the Steel River Loop. Lord Paddlesworth...is this your doing? Do you not want me to finish the Steel River Loop?

Kindly allow me to explain. 

I have had this trip on my radar for about 6 years, and something has come up every time I intended to go. Forest fires, global pandemics, knee injuries, car troubles, simple timing issues, etc., have all come between The Steel River and me. Since I first learned of the route, I really wanted to paddle it! For many canoe trippers, including the venerable Cliff Jacobson, the Steel River Loop is among their favourites, despite the degree of difficulty on the infamous Diablo Portage. 

Two years ago, in early July of 2023, my father and I came so close! We had our canoe, food, and gear loaded on my vehicle, ready for the Steel, when I decided to do a last-minute check on the Ontario Forest Fire Map at 11 PM the night before our departure. I discovered that a small forest fire had emerged on the banks of the Steel River that same day! I called the Steel River Provincial Park office from my cell phone the next morning while driving north. The park warden confirmed that the fire was there and advised me to hold off and not attempt the trip until the fire was under control. As a result, I pointed the direction of my vehicle toward the Sturgeon River Loop in Temagami, instead. Don't get me wrong, the Sturgeon was a great trip, but our first choice that year was to do the Steel. 

Last year, Dad and I had planned to run it in August, but I injured my knee in Quetico earlier in the summer. I decided to once again postpone a visit to the Steel; the difficult portages of the Steel were a little daunting for me while the knee was in recovery and I was attending physical therapy. 

But by the start of the 2025 canoe-tripping season, I was bound and determined to do it. My knee was a lot better, and I was ready for it. No. Matter. What! 

In the last week of June, I set off alone in my vehicle and headed for  Highway 11. Dad was unable to join me due to renovations going on at his house, so I decided to do it solo. Hell or high water, I was doing the Steel! (I actually did have amazing high water!) 

I was having one of the best trips of my life when I ran into some plain ol' rotten, horrible luck on Day 4 of the trip. The following day, I found myself on the island campsite on Diablo Lake, injured, and waiting for a floatplane to pick me up. Simple bad luck, or was it Lord Paddlesworth? 

Is the Steel River Loop a cursed route for me? Does Lord Paddlesworth not want me to paddle it? Maybe. Maybe not. I do know that I was having a wonderful trip until...