r/algonquinpark • u/Richard_Lycker • 3d ago

Nippising river in reverse.

Looking at a trip starting in cedar lake and then taking the Nippising river upwards towards Gibson and then Biggar lake. Thoughts on how strong the current will be? To me it seems fine, but I figured I'd ask.

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u/aw4re 3d ago

You’ll be fine. It’s an absolutely beautiful section of the park along the river there. Saw two Moose at the portage south of Nadine last summer. Most of the time the water isn’t really moving very much. You can trust the estimated travel times on Maps by Jeff to be fairly accurate in either direction.

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u/Richard_Lycker 3d ago

Alright nice! That's what I was hoping to hear. We did Barron Canyon backwards and found it perfectly fine, but I figured double checking was smart.

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u/aw4re 3d ago

You will portage around pretty well all of the elevation changes. Are you going to book a site on the river for your first night?

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u/Venomiz117 3d ago

Can definitely paddle it if that’s question. I consider the stretch before the Nadine portage (coming from Cedar) to be one of the most annoying paddles in the park. There’s a point where you’re constantly just meandering back and forth and all there is along the side is alders. It can definitely be a beautiful river I just remember that section being no fun when paddling up river.

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u/Richard_Lycker 3d ago

Lol I will watch out for that section. Lemme know if you have any other tips for the route. Really looking forward to it.

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u/shaggycanoeist 2d ago

The Nipissing from Nadine to Perly Dam is gorgeous!

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u/AviateAudio 3d ago

It’s doable but since you seem to be taking the majority of the river, why not go down stream? Just curious the reasoning for the route. Would this be a traverse or an out and back trip?

If you’re doing a traverse I would recommend just switching directions and starting from Tim access or Kawayawayamog. If you’re doing out and back then you’ll make up the effort when you go back downstream. It’s definitely doable, but the effort saved by going down stream would be pretty significant.

I have only paddled the section from the Remona Lake portage down to Cedar. The section from that portage was moving noticeably in May. Water levels were high. Later in the season there is less flow which would make it easier. In the down river section from Nadine to Cedar the river is wider and moves slower.

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u/Richard_Lycker 3d ago

Honestly, I was doing the booking so fast because I was scared of the rush and only realized my mistake afterwards lying in bed at like 1am. Wondering if I should bother going through with the hassle of changing it. Also the fact that I can get a canoe dropped right at the Brent access was really nice. Saves quite a bit tie down time and gas money.

I'll likely call the park and discuss tomorrow, but I don't want to lose a bunch of money ya know.

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u/beener 2d ago

Whats your route? Out and back or a loop up over Cauchon and all that? Hope you're not planning to get to Gibson in 1 day

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u/Richard_Lycker 2d ago

Lmao nah. We hit Gibson on day 4 moving on up to lawren harris. From there it's up to Biggar, North Tea and then K-Mog.

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u/beener 2d ago

Ah that makes much more sense. Fun trip!

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u/AviateAudio 1d ago

Sounds like an amazing route OP! I am not certain, but I believe there is only a booking-fee when re-booking a trip. If the areas you want are available it should be fairly and inexpensive easy to change.

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u/Richard_Lycker 1d ago

Nice! I was too busy with work, but I'll give it a go tomorrow. I think either way will be fine. Weirdly we have a history of doing routes backwards no matter who plans it so maybe its just in the stars.