Month: September 2020

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Haliburton Highlands Water Trails Trip Report – June 2020

My Friend and I did the Nunikani Lake Loop last weekend. I don’t have many pictures, but I picked a few just so this post is worth looking at, if not worth reading 🙂

We did the loop counter-clockwise starting at Big Hawk Marina. We headed North East to Clear Lake, which is named that for a good reason. Then into Red Pine Lake which is beautiful except there are a lot of cottages on it. The water was nice and high, so the portage at the damn into Nunikani was barely 40m. There is a tree down in the river but we could pass over it on the right (west) side without getting out of the canoe. We paddled to site 28 near the east end of the lake and stayed for two nights. This site is not level, and most of the places level enough for tents we in low spots with soft damp ground. The key feature of this site is the rock peer into the lake. Perfect for swimming. It’s also easy to fetch water. The paddle home was grueling. We had a head wind the whole distance. I could barely stop to drink water without having the canoe stop and change direction. The paddle from site 28 to the marina is only 7km, and it took 4 hours.

I was testing out of bunch of new gear this trip.

1. New Canoe! Souris River Canoes Quetico 16. I paddled it solo with my pack up front. The canoe is an absolute joy to paddle, even in a head wind. I’m not an experienced solo paddler (although I’m much better after this weekend) so the wind was a challenge for me, but I can’t fault the canoe for that. On Saturday we paddled tandem while fishing, the canoe was fast, stable and tracked well.

2. Kelty Coyote 80 Backpack. I got this pack on clearance, it was a fraction of the cost of my Osprey Aether 85AG, but it was comfortable and I had no problem doing single carries.

3. River Country Products Trekker 1A. I don’t carry trekking poles, so I used a ridge line to put the tent up. I like the awning and the ability to flip it open giving me a gorgeous view while lying down. I did not get to test the water resistance of the tent (which is a known weak point for River Country) but with the ridge line, I could have put a tarp over in seconds. It’s 7.5′ long, so my head and feet were far from the tent walls, which is nice because I normally have issues with that. The tent is a little short, so sitting up was an issue, but I made due. The other thing I like is because the door is on a angle, I can stand up out the door, with my feet still in the tent, and then walk into my shoes. Over all, I’m happy with the tent especially for $40USD and weighing in at a touch over 2lbs.

4. Merrell Choprock Water Shoes. I got these right from the Canadian Merrell site for $144 incl. tax and shipping. They grip slippery rocks, and are comfortable during portages.

5. Katadyn BeFree 1L. Super lightweight, and compact. This is a life saver on long paddles. No need to transport water, or stop to use the gravity filter. Just scoop and drink.

6. Kayadyn Basecamp 6L. While at camp this was great! It runs at about 2L a minute and it filtered 18L over the weekend with no noticeable slow down in rate of flow.

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Water Filtration

I’d like to share some experiences on water filtration from my last trip. I’ve often recommended the Katadyn Basecamp and have some new information. I’ve also seen some posts on this, so I figured I’d put it in an actual post instead of the all the comments I’ve left.My tripping partner and I have 3 main tools for filtering water. (The backups are Aquatabs, and in freezing temps a Steripen)

  1. Katadyn Basecamp. This is a great filter and comes with a huge bag that is easy to fill. When the water is clear is filters fast by just gravity. This is our main filter while at camp. We recently learned that if the water is not clear it slows to a drip and is very hard to clean. I also suspect the filter is prone to hydro-lock… I think air can get stuck in the filter and it’s difficult to get going again. I do need to do more testing.
  2. Sawyer Squeeze/Mini. This is usually the backup because the bag is hard to fill if the water isn’t flowing or is shallow. It’s much easier to fill in deep water, so we usually fill it with a quick canoe ride. When the Basecamp stopped working we switched, and the Sawyer handled the dark dirty water very well. It back-washes quickly and easily. If the water has any color in it, the Sawyer is our primary filter now.
  3. Katadyn BeFree: This is great for drinking on the go. Especially in a canoe, just open, scoop, close and drink. This filter is also prone to hydro-lock. I was filtering rain water and the flow was terrible, I was squeezing the bag hard, and one liter took more than 2 minutes. When I got home I was cleaning it, and let the filter soak first, and the flow was back to normal. I would caution against filtering dirty water with this filter. The exposed filter strands concern me too, so I take very good care of it.

For future trips I’m seriously considering bringing 2 Sawyers, one for the gravity bag, and one on a Smart Water bottle. It’s the only filter that has never failed me. When low temperatures are a threat, I keep the filter(s) in a pocket close to my body, and sleep with it in my sleeping bag to prevent freezing.Disclaimer: I’m not sponsored by Sawyer or Katadyn, and I purchased all my filters.