View topic - Kingsmere Lake flows into the Churchill River?

As best I can see from Toporama, Kingsmere Lake flows into the Churchill River, via Waskesiu River, Montreal Lake, Montreal River, Lac La Ronge and Rapid River.

Do I have it right?

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A literal mind is a little mind. If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all. Good enough isn't.  None are so blind as those who choose not to see. (AJ)

Yes, that would be correct Allan. Downhill all the way.

Have some ideas for a trip fermenting?

Cheers,
Bryan

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ColdspringPaddling.com

Thanks Bryan.

No, sad to say.

I'm in the process of switching from a fully alphabetical list of SK Routes to alphabetical lists within 5 regions, based on drainage basins:
North
Upper Churchill
Lower Churchill
Saskatchewan
South

The five regions are defined at the bottom of the following page
viewtopic.php?f=111&t=27618

Now I know to place the Kingsmere Lake entries in the Lower Churchill folder, strange as that seems.

I might have to combine the Saskatchewan and South folders, for lack of entries in the latter.

And I might have to rethink some of what I've done.
For example, maybe I should not use drainage basins for Routes south of the Churchill.
For example, I could split the Sturgeon-weir system off from the Saskatchewan folder, which would receive the Kingsmere entries .
But for sure the fully alphabetical list has to go.

Suggestions would be welcomed.

_________________

A literal mind is a little mind. If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all. Good enough isn't.  None are so blind as those who choose not to see. (AJ)

Sorry for doing dirty laundry in public but I need advice from people familiar with SK Routes.

Here's the filing scheme that I'm using now (not implemented in public yet):

North.
Basins of Lake Athabasca (excluding Wollaston Lake), Tazin River and Kasba Lake.
Rivers:
Carswell, Chipman, Clearwater, Cree, Fond du Lac, Geikie, MacFarlane, Porcupine, Waterfound, William, etc.

Upper Churchill.
The Churchill River and its basin west of Otter Lake (short for Otter Lake or Devil Lake or Missinipe).
Routes on the Churchill extending both well above Otter Lake and well below Otter Lake will be listed under both Upper Churchill and Lower Churchill.
Rivers:
Beaver, Waterhen, Churchill, Mudjatik, Haultain, Montreal, Rapid, Foster, Paull, etc.

Lower Churchill.
The Churchill River and its basin east of Otter Lake (short for Otter Lake or Devil Lake or Missinipe).
Routes on the Churchill extending both well above Otter Lake and well below Otter Lake will be listed under both Upper Churchill and Lower Churchill.
Waters:
Churchill River, Reindeer River, Reindeer Lake, Williams (not William) River, Nemei River, Cochrane River (cross-listed in MB), Wollaston Lake, Swan River, Waddy River, Wapiskau River, Wathaman River, Wekusko River, etc.

Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan River and its basin.
Rivers:
North Saskatchewan, South Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Torch, Sturgeon-weir, Goose, etc.

South.
The seven basins south of the Saskatchewan River watershed.
Souris River,
Missouri River,
Cypress Hills (North Slope),
Old Wives Lake,
Qu'Appelle River,
Assiniboine River,
Lake Winnipegosis.
Rivers:
Assiniboine, Qu'Appelle, Souris, etc.


Now that I've sorted the Routes using the above scheme, I've realised that it has serious shortcomings.

Possible new scheme:
1. Leave the North, Upper Churchill and Lower Churchill regions as they stand.
2. Split the Sturgeon-weir system from the Saskatchewan folder and give it a folder on its own.
3. Join the remainder of the present Saskatchewan folder with the present South folder (which has three entries at the moment) to form a new folder, perhaps called South.
4. Move the Kingsmere Lake entries from the Lower Churchill folder to the new South folder.

Reactions?

_________________

A literal mind is a little mind. If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all. Good enough isn't.  None are so blind as those who choose not to see. (AJ)

That's a bit tricky, eh? The distinctions made based on modern infrastructure, population and perceptions don't necessarily match the distinctions based on historical travel routes or water flow. And to further complicate things, those basins have some rather non-linear borders and pesky things like the Sturgeon-Weir which although a tributary of the Saskatchewan River, is more closely associated in many ways with the Churchill River.

Your suggestion of joining the Saskatchewan River system with the "South" category is a reasonable approach since the number of waterways in the southern half of the province is limited and much of the Sask River system could certainly be considered "South". The problem then lies with the aforementioned Sturgeon-Weir, as well as the Torch River, Garden River, and others. These rivers would not normally be considered "South" so one wouldn't think to look for them in that folder. (Keep in mind that most people in this province have never been north of Waskesiu, a location which is considered by many to be "way up North", something that get's put into perspective when I drive 4 hours North of here before passing a sign along the highway that announces I'm approaching the geographic center of Saskatchewan.)

Perhaps then a more artificial separation is warranted? This could describe "regions" more than watersheds. Categories such as:
* South - Sask River proper, and everything South of it
* Central which might include rivers between the Sask River and the Churchill, including the Waterhen, Beaver, Torch, Sturgeon-Weir, Waskesiu, etc.
* Upper Churchill
* Lower Churchill
* North

I'm not certain that that is an improvement over the system you already suggested; I'm merely discussing the options.

Cheers,
Bryan

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ColdspringPaddling.com

Looks like a great idea.
I am not at all wedded to the idea of basins.
The first consideration has to be to serve the paddling community.
I'll prepare 6 (not 5) regions, sort the entries and post the results, so we can see how things look before deciding.
Those six regions (perhaps to be reduced to five, after we see how things look) would be

North:
As is.

Upper Churchill:
As is but minus the Beaver, Cold, Waterhen, etc.
Including those 3 in the Upper Churchill is technically correct (in that they belong to the Churchill basin) but misleading in that they have very different character from the bulk of the Churchill.
Let's ignore the fact that a good stretch of the Churchill below Patuanak also has different character from the bulk of the Churchill.

Lower Churchill:
As is.

Sturgeon-weir:
Anything on the Sturgeon-weir system, from Frog Portage to Cumberland House.
But maybe move Amisk Lake and everything downstream of it to the Central folder?

Central:
Beaver, Cold, Waterhen, Waskesiu, Torch, Montreal Lake, Saskatchewan River below Tobin Lake, Goose (no entry at present).
BTW, the links to the Garden entry and many other good entries are broken.

South:
N Saskatchewan, S Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan as far as Tobin Lake, Little Manitou Lake, Red Deer.
Plus the Assiniboine, Qu'Appelle and Souris, none with an entry at present.

_________________

A literal mind is a little mind. If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all. Good enough isn't.  None are so blind as those who choose not to see. (AJ)

I take it then the Deschambault River would be part of the Sturgeon-Weir category. That's a river I never really knew of until hearing of James Raffan and his party paddling last September from Lac La Ronge into Wappawekka Lake and travelling the Deschambault River into Ballentyne Bay. They eventually made their way upriver on the Churchill to Missinipe, having been helped considerably by the East winds that I was cursing when I was paddling downriver to Missinipe at about the same time. (This is hint to suggest that perhaps Raffan would contribute a report on that route.)
Cheers,
Bryan

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ColdspringPaddling.com

SK Parks has several write-ups on Routes starting, ending and passing through Deschambault Lake, which lies in the Sturgeon-weir system.

I'll set up the 6 regions, sort existing Routes, then post them as tests.

But I want to make them presentable first.

_________________

A literal mind is a little mind. If it's not worth doing to excess, it's not worth doing at all. Good enough isn't.  None are so blind as those who choose not to see. (AJ)