Dish Lake Loop via Lake Joli (Tobeatic)

[Tristan Glen]

Another Tobeatic paddling trip in the books for me.  5 of us spent the long weekend paddling a new route. This was the route: 

Lake Joli - 9th Lake - 8th Lake - 7th Lake - 6th Lake - Sissiboo River - 5th Lake - Sporting Lake Stream - Rush Lake - Sporting Lake - Little Dish Lake - Dish Lake - Whitesand Stream - 5th Lake - Sissboo River - 6th Lake - 7th Lake - 8th Lake - 9th Lake - Lake Joli.

 62 kms in total, 14 Portages, 8700 metres portaged.

All portages from Lake Joli to the Sissiboo River are in good condition and easy to follow (the first portage to 9th Lake is a bit tricky where it crosses the forestry road, the portage continues behind a large fallen and bucked up pine tree).  The main Tobeatic portages were all in good condition as well.  The portage from Sporting Lake to Little Dish Lake (1.2 kms) needs a bit of work, but someone has flagged it!  There is then a short unmarked portage from Dish Lake to a Stillwater.  The 2 km portage from the stillwater to Whitesand Stream was very challenging; it crosses 2 streams, and many open eskers, but it has also been flagged the entire way.  

The Hemlock and Pine trees on the main Sporting Lake Island were magnificent as always and looked healthy, but the smaller untreated hemlocks on the island were completely infested and defoliated. 

A great trip with many breaks to swim.  We saw moose prints, and a handful of deer. 

-Tristan

[jonathan riley]

I believe the Belliveau’s were through the Dish Lake carries this spring and did a lot of work on them - or you’d have really found them rough ;)

Jonathan Riley

Trail and Open Spaces Coordinator

Municipality of the District of Digby

Phone: 902-245-2861

 

On Jul 7, 2022, at 8:54 PM, Tristan Glen <glen.t...@gmail.com> wrote:

[jan.za...@gmx.de]

What a great trip it was Tristan:)!!! Does anyone know the history of the trail that connects the Stillwater north of Dish Lake and Whitesand Stream? It looks like it has been "well" used at some point in time and you can tell that someone has put some thought into the alignment of the trail. Could it have been used by the wardens?

Jan

On 07.07.22 at 21:06, jonathan riley wrote:

[Darlene Ricker]

Yes, in days gone by the trail between Whitesands Stream and Dish Lake was used a lot by  a few local Bear River folks who hunted in that area since late 1940’s, and who had been  originally guided there by the local Mi’kmaq. 

Through the 1990’s and early 2000’s, I  was lucky enough to have travelled that area frequently, and always enjoyed that particular trail. Something very special about the landscape.  The area used to be much more open with mostly barrens, even 30 years ago. Over the years I  watched a few small bushes and trees on the barrens grow into dense woods. Many of the pine trees near Whitesands Stream were planted. I’m not sure if that was done by Natural Resources, or others. Directly across  the stream from where the trail ends, there used to be a leased cabin, which was built in the 1950’s ... fond memories of  many trips there. The cabin  and lease were reclaimed by the Province in the early 2000’s, along with several other cabin leases in the Tobeatic  held by individuals. About 2009, the Dept. of Natural Resources sent in a crew, and burned down the cabin. Probably not much evidence remaining, as we had to clear everything out of the cabin when the lease was given up. 

Darlene Ricker

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 7, 2022, at 9:43 PM, jan.za...@gmx.de wrote:



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[Tristan Glen]

Also, we found a clip-on canoe yoke on the portage between 9th Lake and 8th Lake.  My guess would be that it is from a solo canoe.  If anyone knows who it belongs to, please put them in touch with me so I can return it to them. 

Tristan

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[Alain B]

Yes, the Belliveaus (my dad and uncle) plus a family friend flagged the trail just a few weeks before your trip. They had a nice hike, uh, canoe trip as well. 

Apparently the old video that is available through county museums and probably the NS Archives in Halifax includes footage of people portaging " over the land" at Dish Lake on their way to the Shelburne River. I think it was shot in the 1930's or so. I think it documents a trip from Joli all the way through to either Jordan or Clyde rivers. As Darlene said, back then it was fairly easy just to walk over the land because it was so barren due to the frequent fires. I'm sure the folks that traveled over the land had trails and maybe that section of trail you mention was part of their trail as well. They definitely had a trail to Boundary Rock based on their photo with the rock which includes canoes in front of the rock. I think the Dish Lake area trail would've been used more by locals and guides (as Darlene says) versus wardens, since the wardens focused more on the Tobeatic Sanctuary, which had its northern border along most of the Shelburne River. But the wardens, in my opinion, undoubtedly knew this route and would occasionally use it too. I wonder if they used the older cabin on Whitesand (coming from Cofan Cabin), then made their way to Buckshot Lake Cabin on day 2. That would be doable without having to tent. Staying in a cabin on Oakland Lake was also possible for them (that cabin is no longer there). One person once told me that they would sometimes use a camp somewhere around House/Junction/Pines to go through that part of the sanctuary. It might have been an old lumber camp that is not known to anyone today. So offshoots from their well-known sanctuary patrol route are possible/likely even in places we might not necessarily expect today based on the knowledge we have. That's my take on it at least! 

cheers