Day 1 - Little Steel River to Steel River - (8 km)

Distance: 8 km

Number of Portages: 1 portage for a total of 200 meters

In the last week of June in 2025, I was finally heading to the Steel River. I had decided that I would start the loop trip from its northern end. This is uncommon; the vast majority of people attempting the loop seem to start it from Santoy Lake in the south off of Highway 17. I assume the reason for this is accessibility. The launch at Santoy Lake is just a short drive from the Trans Canada Highway. On the other hand, the northern access requires the canoeist to travel 57 km down the gravelly Catlonite Road from the town of Longlac, Ontario, on Highway 11. Catlonite Road may or may not be in good shape, depending on how much logging has taken place in the region.

So why did I decide to use the more difficult access from the north? Well, as a 54-year-old fellow travelling solo with a recovering knee, I wanted to lighten my food barrel a little bit before I had to carry it from Santoy Lake up to Diablo Lake. The elevation difference between the two lakes is approximately 100 meters. That is just shy of 330 feet. That is the equivalent of carrying your canoe and gear up 33 floors in an apartment building, only replacing the nice, even steps of a stairwell with very difficult and rocky terrain. If I had started from Santoy, I would have had to do that on Day 1 with my food barrel at its heaviest. Starting from the north would allow me to lighten my load by at least 3 or 4 days of food by the time I reached Santoy. I'll talk more about the difficulty of the Santoy-Diablo link on Day 4.

Likewise, when planning for the trip earlier, I contacted Rob Haslam, a resident of Geraldton, whose maps have been the "go-to" reference guide for the loop. After some inquiries, Rob got back to me and said that Catlonite Road should be a go, even though it hadn't officially been maintained yet in the year. Canoe trippers of the Steel owe Rob a big thanks for his maps and work on the route with his canoe club over the years.

I wasn't able to leave my hometown of Peterborough, Ontario, until just before noon. My plan was to get as close as possible to the town of Longlac, Ontario, by the end of the day. Unfortunately, I didn't make great time on the road. A 30-minute construction detour and busy traffic on single-lane highways heading into a weekend made sure of that.

At 7:45 PM, I was turning left at Cochrane, ON, where Highway 11 turned to the west. Some nasty clouds had blown in some rain cells from the west.

Maps provided courtesy of Toporama which contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. I have marked my route in blue and portages in red.

I thought about pawsing in Cochrane, but that polar bear scared me.

I made it as far as Kapuskasing that evening, where I checked into a motel. I was informed by the hotel clerk that I was lucky to get one of the last rooms available in town. Over 2000 residents of Sandy Lake First Nation, far to the northwest, nearer to the Manitoba border, had been evacuated from their lands due to the Red Lake 12 forest fire, the largest in Ontario's history. They were being temporarily housed in hotels and motels in Kapuskasing, among a few other places across Ontario. The fire began on May 28th, and at the time of writing this trip report in October, the fire was still burning. I sincerely hope the damage to the nearby communities was minimal.

I did not get a good night's sleep. I will be honest; I was a little nervous. I always get a little nervous before a big solo trip. I think that I was a little on edge about this particular one because after so many attempts to make it to the Steel River, researching it thoroughly, and watching the plethora of YouTube videos of people doing the loop, I think I had built this route up in my mind somewhat.

I got an early start on the road in the morning, and after heading through a drive-thru in Hearst, I was nearing the town of Longlac just before 10 AM. I had noticed the drive-thru experience was a little different in the north in June. After placing my order, the attendant asked, "Do you want flies with that?"

As I was approaching Longlac, my excitement was building. Yes! I was finally going to run the Steel River. In my exuberance, I wasn't watching my speed. The next thing I knew, I saw flashing lights in my rearview mirror; I was being pulled over by the OPP!

Upon arriving at my vehicle, the young officer asked me where I was going in such a hurry. Apparently, he clocked me at 119 km/hr in a 90 km/hr zone. Yikes! I was rocking on to music and simply didn't realize I was cruising so fast. I apologized profusely and told him that I was heading for the Catlonite Road to access my put-in to complete an 8 to 10-day canoe trip.

With raised eyebrows, he asked, "Are you doing this alone?" When I told him that I was, he responded with an interested grunt. I explained that I had been delayed on the highway the previous day and was trying to make up time to keep to my intended schedule. I told him I didn't realize I was going that fast, and apologized again. He took my license and registration and returned to his vehicle. After some time, he returned. He lectured me on the danger of speeding in that region due to the number of moose on the road, especially in the early morning hours. Of course, he was right! Moose are a legitimate threat to drivers on Highway 11. Then, he began asking some questions about canoe tripping, and we had a little chat about it for a minute or two. In the end, he let me off with a stern warning.

I don't know if it was because I have a pretty good driving record with only one minor speeding ticket in the past 30 years, or if the young officer was an avid canoeist himself, but I narrowly escaped an expensive ticket and points being taken off my driving record. Either way, I was extremely grateful, and I thanked him a number of times. I promised him I would keep the lead out of my accelerator foot.

Pulling into Longlac, I stopped at a local bait and tackle shop to inquire about the contact for a local garage in case I had any car trouble on the road while driving to my put-in. The owner gave me a good reference for a garage and let me know that the road was in good shape up to McKay Lake, but after that, there might be some issues.

(Images taken from Google Maps)

Catlonite Road ended up being fine for the 50 KM right up to my turn off at Sun Road South. There were a few potholes on the road, but they were marked and avoidable while travelling at a reasonable speed.

It was a different story on Sun Road, however. Here is a photo of the turn off to Sun Road from Catlonite Road; Sun Road had a washout right at the start.

Further down the road, there were a couple of steep hills that I had to negotiate on my way to the put-in. Large parts of the road were completely washed out. I was able to avoid the washed-out parts by slowly making my way along the north side of the road with my vehicle brushing against the forest. I'm sure I got a few new love marks on my Volkswagen while doing so. I definitely would not recommend heading down this road without AWD or a vehicle with low clearance.

I was happy that the journey on Sun Road South was only 3 km, and I smiled when I saw the bridge over the Little Steel River ahead. After two days of travelling, I finally arrived at my put-in.

South of the bridge, there was a large grassy area at the side of the river with a fire pit. I unloaded the car and got ready to launch from the gravel beach. Obviously, at a camping location, I parked my vehicle at the back of the site, out of the way and behind a bush, just in case anyone wanted to use the area while I was out on my trip. I wouldn't want to make any would-be campers angry by leaving a vehicle in the middle of their campsite.

I pushed off from shore, excited for what the next 8 days would have in store for me.

Getting to Eaglecrest Lake on the Little Steel River would end up being a little more challenging than I had expected. The water was very high. The guys at the bait shop told me that the last half of June had seen an enormous amount of rain in the area. This made me happy about running the rapids on the Steel; however, on the Little Steel, it made me concerned about trying to get back up the river to my vehicle at the end of the trip. In my trip research, I had read that there might be an access point to Sun Road at the northern tip of Eaglecrest Lake. Perhaps, at the end of my loop, I could investigate that and walk back to my car from there rather than heading upriver on the Little Steel. Alas, it would turn out to be unnecessary as I would end up paddling back to my vehicle from Evonymus Lake on Day 5. Sigh.

There were a number of sweepers across the Little Steel that were a little tricky with the high-water current pushing me into them. The current certainly wasn't strong enough to be dangerous by any means; it was just tricky and a little annoying to weave in and out of them. On one occasion, I had to get waist-deep in the water to lift over a sweeper that was blocking the river and too narrow to step on.

I was glad to see the open water of Eaglecrest Lake ahead and the rolling hills to the southeast in the distance.

As I paddled south and through the narrows halfway down the lake. I marvelled at the steep terrain and cliff faces on the eastern shore of Eaglecrest Lake. I mean...wow. I immediately understood how the lake got its name.

On one particular striking rock face, water was trickling down a terraced cliff into the lake below. It didn't really show up in the following photo, but if you look closely, it is there. What lovely sounds and ambience it made!

At the south end of Eaglecrest Lake, I found the unmarked portage easily to the right of the Little Steel River. It was a 200-meter trail that was easy to follow. There were a couple of small blowdowns across it, but nothing that required sawing or putting down my gear or canoe. After making the two trips across it, I put in and paddled to the base of the rocky, log-choked rapids to take a photo of the spot where the Little Steel dumped into the Steel.

It looked like an excellent place to fish, but my rod was still packed away, and I was excited to get down into the Steel properly, so I gave it a miss. I knew that I would have ample and amazing fishing spots on the trip.

I am confused about the naming of that widening of the Steel River that I found myself on. On some maps, I have seen it referred to as Aster Lake. Other maps show that Aster Lake is slightly to the east of where I was. Whatever the lake is called, it is the place where the Little Steel flows in from the north, and the Steel River flows in from the southwest from Steel Lake.

The huge ridge of cliffs on the eastern shore was even larger on that lake! The topography exceeded my expectations in terms of rugged beauty. It felt as if I had been transported into the interior of British Columbia.

Paddling south and heading into a narrows to get to the south of the lake, I spotted something unnaturally white, gleaming in the sun in the middle of the narrows. I couldn't make out what it was until I got closer, but I thought it might be a boat of some sort.

Indeed, it was a canoe that had washed away downriver and got hung up on logs in the narrows. I guessed that it was cached at the last portage, perhaps a little too close to the water, and was a victim of the spring flood.

Through those narrows and into the south of the lake, I heard the rapids of the Steel River flowing into the lake. When I paddled up to the base of them, I smiled, thinking that I would be running down them in about a week's time. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

It was nearly 2 PM at that time, and I was hungry. There was a large campsite on the south shore at the base of those rapids, and I thought that I would pop up to it to make some lunch.

The site was well-established and on a large, grassy clearing. It had several items left there from campers, including a tarp, an axe, a rake, a pair of binoculars, and a newish-looking picnic table. The campsite even had a name, "Camp Chugabrewski".

I sat down at the picnic table for a second and looked around. It was a nice spot on a sunny day, next to a pretty set of rapids, and it was already 2 PM. I was exhausted from the long drive and had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before. I quickly decided to make the site my home for the night, even though I had originally intended to get further down the Steel River that day. I would relax, read my novel, do a little fishing, and chill out for the day. I needed to rest.

I made a couple of lunch wraps to get an energy boost and set up my hammock and bug shelter. I was in northern Ontario at the end of June, and I had already noticed both black flies and mosquitoes on the site, even in the height of the afternoon sun.

I lay in the hammock for a bit and started reading a novel that I brought along for the trip. With the lulling sound of the rapids just next to the campsite, I was asleep before I knew it. I'm not normally a napper, but I must say that hour-long nap was glorious.

At around 5 PM, I thought I would check if the fishing on the Steel River was as good as everyone reported it to be.

I armed my fishing rod with a jig hook and a twisty tail, took it down to the river with my fishing net, and got in my canoe. A few paddle strokes later, I was in a back eddy at the side of the rapids and threw my line in. I immediately caught a 3lb blue pickerel. Wow. First cast! That fish alone was enough for a meal for just little ol' me, so I kept it. I made a few more casts, catching another that I threw back. I normally only fish if I'm looking for a meal, so I called it quits having immediately achieved my goal.

Having only fished for a couple of minutes, I laughed to myself as I paddled to a spot on the other side of the rapids from my site to clean the fish. I don't like to clean fish at my site. Why tempt fate by inviting a bear to your site with fish smells?

Back at my site, I fried the fish up in batter at the fire pit and cracked a beer. I mean, I had to! I was at Camp Chugabrewski. I felt that not having a beer at such an aptly-named place would invite bad karma. I only had one with me. Maybe, if I had more, I wouldn't have had the rotten luck that I did on Day 4, but I digress.

The fish was incredibly tasty, and I had nearly devoured it all before I remembered to take a photo of my tasty meal.

The rest of the evening was very nice. About an hour after the fish meal, I completed the surf n' turf combo of grilling a steak over the fire. It was starting to get a little buggy, so I chose to eat it comfortably within the confines of the bug shelter. I felt a lot more relaxed having reached the Steel River, away from the stress of the highway and the long journey to get there. I was on a lovely campsite on a pristine Northern Ontario river without a soul in sight. I was in my element.

I slept very, very well that night.

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