June 4, 2013: Mazinaw Dam to Kashwakamak Dam

Travel Time: 4 hours

In at the Mazinaw Dam (P.1: 40m South side – easy)I idled down lovely Little Marble Lake and back into the river where I ran 95% of the rapids of Marble Narrows on the north side (possible only in high water) (P.2: 80m, Rt Side –not visible) through into Marble Lake’s deep blue water and just a few inhabitants. At Marble Lake Outlet (P.3: 120m. South side– easy) into George Lake at Highway 506, while the portage looked good, I lined and ran it…great fun. Though the first part of lining took ingenuity to get around the trees on the river bank. I lined/ran (mistake) the exit out of Georgia Lake Rapids (P.4: 20 to 40m, South side was good).

I had trouble wending my way through the islands into Kashwakamak Lake but enjoyed a -wind at my back ride- skirting islands trying to keep an easterly course. Arriving at the dam too late to continue and portage (P.5: 290m) I luckily found a fishing camp and one of the boys drove me (with kayak) in his pickup back to my car in Ardoch. (It would have been a six hour walk). Other than those fellows there were just a few empty cottages nearby and the back roads were deserted.

Read all Bob Kelly’s posts from his paddle of the Mississippi River Canoe Route in the spring of 2013.