Chukuni River - Artery - Johnson

Submitted by admin on Sat, 11/14/2009 - 19:25
Canada›Ontario›Northwest
Submitter & Author Information
Route submitted by: 
Admin
Trip Date : 
Route Author: 
Unknown
Additional Route Information
Distance: 
246 km
Duration: 
13 days
Loop Trip: 
No
Portage Information
No. of portages: 
53
Total Portage Distance: 
13 m
Longest Portage: 
900 m
Difficulty Ratings
River Travel: 
Intermediate
Lake Travel: 
Intermediate
Portaging: 
Moderate
Remoteness: 
Advanced
Background Trip Info
Water Levels: 
Route Description
Access to Put-In Information: 

From Red Lake on 105 to 125. Take 125 north past Balmerstown to Nungesser Road. Take Nungesser Road north 16km to Pine Ridge Road. Turn left on Pine Ridge Road and drive 11.5km to the Chukuni River Bridge. The first portage of 250m begins just past the bridge and goes north on the west side of the river. (The Pine Ridge Road was fairly decent in July of 2000.) Take-out is at the Johnson Lake parking lot, 33km from Red Lake on the Suffel Lake Road. (The Suffel Lake Road was (in August 2000) pretty rotten with lots of big rocks, holes, ridges, etc..

Technical Guide: 

P450 to Little Vermillion Lake
Up the Chukuni River to Rathouse Lake [Camp 1]
Chukuni River
P350 to Chukuni River
P100 to Chukuni River
P550 to Chukuni River
Chukuni River - pond - Unnamed lake
P350 to unnamed lake
P125 to pond
Chukuni River to Valhalla Lake [Camp 2]
unnamed lake
P150 to Trough Lake
P150 to pond
P600 to pond (go from Chukuni River watershed to Sabourin River watershed)
P600 to Olive Lake [Camp 3]
Sabourin River to unnamed lake
P775 to Sabourin River
P200 to Sabourin River
P125 to Sabourin River
P200 to Sabourin River
P150 to Sabourin River
P80 to Sabourin River
P375 to Sabourin River
P225 to Sabourin River
Bigshell Lake [Camp 4]
P50 to unnamed lake - Sabourin River
P125 to Sabourin River unnamed lake - Sabourin River
P125 to Sabourin River - pond
P125 to Sabourin River - unnamed lake -Sabourin River unnamed lake
Rapids - Sabourin River - unnamed lake
Rapids - Sabourin River - pond - Sabourin River
Thicketwood Lake - Sabourin River
P250 to Sabourin River
Sabourin Lake [Camp 5]
Bloodvein River - Barclay Lake [Camp 6]
Bloodvein River - Mary's Lake - Bloodvein River
P70 to Bloodvein River - Artery Lake [Camp 7]
Artery Lake - Bloodvein River
P70 to Bloodvein River - Mary's Lake - Bloodvein River
Barclay Lake - Bloodvein River [Camp 8]
Bloodvein River - Simeon Lake
P125 to Simeon Creek
P20 to South Simeon Lake - pond
P150 to pond - Simeon Creek
Simeon Creek (with low water, boulders make this creek unforgettable)
P60 to Dunstan Lake [Camp 9] (The table rock campsite is unforgettable but in a positive sense.)
P750 to Blue Damsel Fly Lake (This P750 is the Enchanted Portage & the divide between the Bloodvein & Gammon River watersheds. The winding path through a forest floor affluent with moss and lichen makes for a fairy tale sort of experience.)
Creek, turn east and upstream (downstream goes to Wanda Lake)
P60 to Broken Lance Lake
P40 to unnamed lake
P125 to pond
P900 to Royd Lake [Camp 10]
P150 to Gammon Lake
P550 to pond
P650 to Rostoul Lake [Camp 11]
P275 to Hansen Lake
P350 to Rostoul River
P60 to Glenn Lake
P275 to Rostoul River
P275 to Rostoul River - Optic Lake
P70 to Edgar Lake - Rostoul River
P100 to Stuart Lake - Rostoul River
P100 to Telescope Lake [Camp 12]
Telescope Lake - creek upstream to north
P200 to Lake Lamont - Embryo Lake
P400 to Upper Hatchet Lake
P450 to Hatchet Lake
P125 to Douglas Lake
Douglas Creek upstream and take first left junction into pond
P150 to Stan Lake
P400 to Johnson Lake
P25 to parking lot on Suffel Lake Road

Maps Required
Topo Maps (1:50,000): 
52N/4, 52N/5, 52M/8, 52M/7, 52M/6, 52M/2, 52L/15, 52L/16
Other Maps: 
WCP canoe route map
Other
Special Comments: 

This route has a nice mix of travel on small rivers, swamps, big lakes, beautiful campsites and enough rough portages to yield a sense of achievement. After Kelly and Reese Rogalinski of Goldseekers dropped us off at the bridge on Pine Ridge Road, we didn't see anyone until Thicketwood Lake where we met some flown-in fishers who were nice enough to give us a couple of Walleyes to supplement our meagre catch. At times we had to saw our way on the Sabourin River and many portages needed saw work as well.

We deadheaded to Artery just to see the lake and the pictographs. This added two worthwhile days to the trip.

The Table Rock campsite on Dunstan is a welcome reward after Simeon Creek, which really is unique. The boulders are too close together to pull a canoe between but are spread too widely to walk on. High grass mounds and mud on the shore discourage portaging.

We didn't see anyone between the Bloodvein River and Optic Lake and and after that not again until Telescope. Many lakes have fish camps but you do not necessarily see them or the fishers. In this park, one is almost glad when the rare canoe party comes by. On the Bearskin Airways flight back to Winnepeg we were able to track part of our route. A memorable trip.

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Comments

Post date: Wed, 05/07/2008 - 13:31

Email: 
Bernlaw96@yahoo.com
Comments: 

Did the bloodvein in 2001 and the Berens in 2003 and 2005, water was extremely high in 2005 (went in June) how do find out about water levels?

Post date: Sat, 01/01/2000 - 07:00

Email: 
jacobs@physics.utoronto.ca
Comments: 

My trip report from 2001 is available for the section from the put-in on the Chukuni River to Artery Lake. From Artery, we continued down the Bloodvein to Lake Winnipeg rather than go back and head for Simeon.