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. 

Day 1 - Lake Temagami (2 km)

Knowing that our 5-day allotment to complete our intended route would be plenty of time, we didn't need to leave the house extremely early. After some bacon n' eggs and a couple of coffees, we finished loading everything into (and onto) my Volkswagen and hit the road around 8:30 AM. 

With four dudes, two canoes, two food barrels, and everyone's packs and gear, it was a full vehicle, indeed! Poor Jason! His canoe pack happened to be the last one loaded into the car, and we simply had no room for it anywhere inside the vehicle. We strapped it under one of the canoes on the roof, hoping we wouldn't lose it en route. 

When Jason complained, I reminded him of Aunt Edna...

It wasn't quite as bad as the following examples of vehicular overloading in Vietnam, but it was close...

I'm happy to report that Jason's bag survived the ordeal. 

After a lunch stop at the Boston Pizza in North Bay, we arrived at the Lake Temagami Central Access point mid-afternoon. Cars were parked way up on the road leading up to the boat launch, and we became a little concerned about the parking situation. We quickly discovered that we were launching on the same day of the 2025 Temagami First Nations Pow Wow. Immediately to the south of the launch were signs indicating that it was parking for residents of Temagami First Nations only, and we weren't sure where we were allowed to park. The last thing we wanted was to emerge from our trip only to find that our vehicle had been towed. After unloading the car at the launch, I found a spot in the parking lot to the north of the launch, which we discovered from a local boater was the free parking area. We were lucky because there were not many spots available.

As we were unloading the car, a few of our phones began making noises. Well, wouldn't you know it? Lo and behold, we had the possibility of a tornado to deal with!  Yep, 100 km/h winds, hail, and tornadoes were a possibility in the Temagami region between 5 PM and midnight. Yikes! 

We decided we would head to the closest available campsite, set up, and batten down the hatches before any inclement weather reared its ugly head. If the proverbial poop hit the fan in a bad way, we would be very close to our vehicle and in a busy area where we could access assistance, if needed. It would be a short day on the water, indeed.

We paddled less than 2km away from the launch to the northeast point of Temagami Island and found a lovely campsite on the south side of the point, just up the shore from Camp Adanac. The fire pit was protected between a rock face and a grove of trees. The site was well-used and certainly not very private with the endless procession of watercraft zooming past, but it was clean and nice. The rocky point jutting out into the bay offered excellent swimming. 

After erecting our tents and hammock, we placed a tarp over the fire pit, low to keep it down from potential gale-force winds, pulled the guy lines tight, and collected some firewood beneath it to stay dry in the expected downpour. 

In the end, the weather ended up being fine. It only rained for half an hour or so, and not even that much. It did get a little gusty, but our site was well-protected. We enjoyed steak and mashed potatoes over the fire, downed a couple of cold beers, and had a lovely swim in Lake Temagami off the point. The joking and banter of old friends quickly ensued.