Fish River - Tangier - "Loop"

[Tristan Glen]

Spend this past Easter long weekend paddling the Tangier and Ship Harbour Long Lake Wilderness Areas.  

April 15 - 18, 2022. (70 kms, 24 Portages, 5400 metres of portaging)

Jan and I put in at Ship Harbour and made our way up the lakes and portages cleaning up the two rough portages from Boot Lake to Squirrel Lake (P16 and P15 on the old Canoe NS Eastern Shore Lakes System map). We chose to take the alternate route up to Tangier Grand Lake as I had taken that route before, making camp at the north end of Blue Woods Lake (A4).  There's a nice campsite there on the west side of the lift-over.  

The following day we continued up the "Alternate" Portages to Tangier Grand, then up to Scraggy Lake through horrible clear-cut portages.  These portages do not seem to have changed since I was last here in 2018.  After all the portaging, Scraggy Lake was a pleasure to paddle.  The south western arm of Scraggy Lake was particularly beautiful and rugged.  We made camp about 1 kilometre past the Old Dam on the Fish River on the west bank.  Trout for dinner.

We spent our third day paddling the entire length of the Fish River, ending on Lake Charlotte.  Water levels were pretty good, and we were able to run just about everything with the exception of 2 short portages, and a few sections of lining.  It is an absolute gorgeous river in a gorgeous Wilderness Area. We saw deer, ducks, and plenty of fish! The river grew to be more and more powerful, and our casual scouting style of earlier was no longer sufficient.  We The final 3.5 kilometres from Murchyville bridge to Lake Charlotte were quite exciting, and the final kilometre into Lake Charlotte is just completely insane (we lined a few sections, and portaged around a drop).  We arrived just before sunset at the campsite at the outflow of the river. Trout for Dinner

Our prayers for a north wind on our forth day were answered. We cruised down Lake Charlotte, through the swifts (named Third Falls) into Second Lake, and again through the swifts (Second Falls) into Weeks Lake.  Second Lake was surprisingly wild and beautiful (it appears to be completely surrounded by Provincial Park and Crown Land). The run (First Falls) down to the ocean was a fun Class II rapid.  We paddled around the point on the ocean, then up the culvert to where our car was parked feeling very satisfied with such a fun and varied canoe loop.  

[soudekd]

Tristan,

   thanks for your extensive report on a great canoe trip! You made it sound so easy and even had time to catch trout for your dinner!

    I was a bit surprised by your description of running Fish River. The only time I paddled it from Scraggy Lake to Lake Charlotte we encountered a number of overgrown portages.  Especially the long one just before Lake Charlotte. Perhaps I did it at a lower water level.. Or perhaps your canoeing skills are better than mine.

     This circular canoe route definitely needs more publicity!

      Dusan Soudek

Sent from my Bell Samsung device over Canada's largest network.

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