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PostPosted: February 24th, 2018, 3:13 pm 
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Location: Warren, Manitoba
Christy and I are talking about going up in the Spring and walk the trail to see what is what. Get some more definitive information. Likely the May long weekend.


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PostPosted: February 28th, 2018, 9:02 pm 
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One last question for those that have traversed the portage. Although I will be taking the portage in August, I am wondering about the various mud pits encountered on the portages. Would it be worth it to use footwear like these Mudder boots in the link below? They seem small and lightweight, but are insanely expensive for what they are. I will likely be carrying an insanely heavy canoe (Old Town Tripper XL). I have portaged it over a mile on other portages, but never through thigh deep mud.

https://www.mudderboots.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTeEw_CayRQ


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PostPosted: February 28th, 2018, 10:46 pm 
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Save your money! Lugging those monster rubber batwings around for the duration of the trip is unnecessary. For $144 you could buy 2 or 3 bottles of whiskey , 2 or 3 pairs of excellent wool socks, and 1 or 2 extra pairs of thrift store running shoes, all items that can be very useful on canoe trips. Like you, we were worried about the 3 Mothers. For sure they have their challenges, but if you're not carrying too much stuff and not in too big a hurry, are in good physical shape OR have some solid canoe tripping experience, you should be fine. Up until the last minute I'd hesitated between using a 54-lb. kevlar Novacraft Tripper which I'd bought years previously and never really paddled and my trusty, Old Town Penobscot 16 in royalex at 62 lbs. bare naked (and boats are rarely carried "bare naked", but get weighted down with painter lines, lashed-in paddles, etc.) The Penobscot has been on many epic trips, etc. and has long been a go-to tripping boat for us. ) At the last minute , we opted to take the NC Tripper( whose hull design is nothing like an OT Tripper's and doesn't claim to be!) I sure appreciated the lighter boat on the carries, but once the Mothers were out of the way, would have preferred the Penobscot. The NC boat paddles the flats wonderfully and is fast, but is wet in all but the lightest class 1 runs. Our route down the Gammon and Bloodvein Rivers, though, certainly did not require a "whitewater" boat. The NC Tripper was fine. Speaking about boat choice may be irrelevant in your case. If you only have access to that one boat, don't waste time and money looking for another for this trip. An OT Tripper will be great once you've gotten through the Mothers. Remember that countless others have made it through before you. They weren't all experts and Olympic athletes. We're certainly not, though my son reminds me that he's a pretty good skier... :)


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PostPosted: March 1st, 2018, 6:52 am 
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How they are in August will depend on what type of season we have. If it is a wet Spring and early Summer then expect much water and mud. When we went in July it had been a dry season and the mud was minimal and the water levels around the mid beaver pond on the first leg were ankle deep on the way in and totally dry 6 days later on the way out.

On the far end of the second port, we found it best to go to the left of the main trail at the floating bog going out to the lake. Basically we hopped or stepped from log to log and stayed out of the muck. The main drag would have you to your armpits in mud. There is some mud in other stretches of this leg which are difficult to avoid but others had cut trails to sides of the main due to the mud sections.

The last 1km leg has some nasty mud right at the end and be careful at the put in on Obukowin. The shoreline there is bottomless mud and will suck you right down. We tried laying logs down either side of the boat to load and launch.


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PostPosted: March 1st, 2018, 9:28 am 
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Thanks again for the replies everyone. I will skip the "batwings," especially for an August trip. I usually don't prepare so obsessively for a few portages, but I will have my kid(s) along, so I want to prepare as much as possible. Since the portages are at the start of the route, I am trying to avoid a boondoggle on day one or two. The general route will likely run over the Obukowin portages, down the Gammon, over the Tea Pail portages, down the Bloodvein, back up the Gammon, then depending on water levels, back across the Three Mothers or down the Broadleaf to Wallace. That's the plan at least. We might find a few choice campsites and not travel as far and spend time fishing and swimming. I am planning on being flexible and keeping distance expectations in check, with 1-2 kids along and doing a loop trip prevents the finality of a typical one-way river trip.


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PostPosted: March 27th, 2018, 9:16 pm 
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All good information from everyone. I'm still considering doing this entry/route to Aiken eventually. It looks like one should expect a challenge, two or three getting up the Obukowins to the lake. Now its time to research the maps again including those helpful arcgis and Here navigation site maps. Thanks folks -- really helpful.

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PostPosted: March 28th, 2018, 6:23 am 
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It should be noted that due to Obukowin being so shallow it has a tendency to blow up on any given day. Usually from the NW.


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