Wilderness Canoeing in Canada

South end of Bompass Portage - North end of Bompass Lake

Distance travelled 15.5 km [78.5 km]
Portages 3 [10] – [Total carry/walk 8.225 + 46.520 = 54.745 km]

The morning was cool and cloudy with a strong south wind.

As we had camped at the south end of the first of three portages around Bompas Lake, we started by surveying it thinking it would be necessary to portage a little more than 80 metres to clear the rapids however, after some investigation, we discovered a better entry which would require us to carry only 40 metres. We then had a short paddle before reaching the second portage which was a true bastard. After today we have a renewed appreciation of the good job, despite the rubbish they leave behind, that the winter hunters on their snow mobiles do to keep the portages open and in reasonable condition. Apparently they use a different route up Bompas Lake so all three portages are in poor condition, overgrown, covered in dead fall, and with difficult entrances and exits.

Portage two started with a steep climb and continued over rough terrain with a lot of dead fall, fortunately it was mostly no more than knee height, it ended in spongy muskeg and many underwater boulders. John commented that it was possibly the worst of all the canoe carries he has done over the past five years. Another short paddle and we reached the third awful portage; mercifully it was only short. We lunched, and were back paddling up Bompas Lake by 3pm.

Bompas is yet another long lake with multiple arms and rugged sides, however we were aided by cooler conditions with an occasional light shower and a strong following wind. As with Chipman Lake there were a number of very narrow spots requiring us to paddle hard against a strong current. We were blessed with a great camp site, a beach backing onto open jack pine parkland. Our arrival was well timed as not long after we set up the wind increased greatly and there were white caps on the lake.