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Donald Lake

Information for planning a trip through Donald Lake in Chiniguchi Waterway Provincial Park, Temagami.

Author: Bill Wilkie @thunderboxdiaries

Donald Lake is located within Chiniguchi Waterway Provincial Park, a non-operating park in the southern region of Temagami. Starting at either Kukagami or Maskinonge Lakes, there are several ways to access this beautiful backcountry oasis, each of which provide their own unique obstacles (none are easy!). When you arrive, you will find beautiful campsites, rocky cliffs, islands in the northern arm of the lake and complete solitude! If you’re new to Temagami, be warned, this is not Algonquin. Portages are often poorly maintained and unmarked, making navigation difficult at times. It is recommended to do these routes in spring, during high water, as many spots become impassable in summer months.

It is also important to note that Kukagami, Maskinonge and Donald are big lakes. Although travel between them is quite sheltered, when the wind picks up, these lakes can be treacherous. Plan your route accordingly and be prepared to change your plans entirely if needed!

Planning information

Nights

Depending on the route you choose and the distance you’re willing to cover in a day, 2-5 nights is manageable. Distances can be deceiving though, given the nature of the route and the number of portages. For example, travelling from Donald back into Maskinonge via Kukagami is only 17km, but it took us 8 hours of continuous travel (double carrying portages and running a few small rapids) to complete that stretch.

Booking

• At the time of writing this article, Chiniguchi Waterway Provincial park is classified as a non-operating park and does not require permits.

• Kukagami Lake and the Carafel Creek section fall outside the park boundary and are classified as Crown Land. Permits are not required.

Put in: Sportsman’s Lodge on Kukagami Lake or Jona’s Camp on Maskinonge Lake

• Expect to pay a $10-15/day parking fee for each vehicle in your party.

Take out: Same as put-in.

• The route could be completed as a point to point one-way trip, but most people choose to paddle it as a loop.

Portages

• Depending how you plan to complete the route, expect between 9 and 16 portages (1km being the longest)

• Portages vary in quality with some being clearly marked, well used trails and others being blowdown laden and barely recognizable. Several portages on the Donald Creek section are choked up with log jams.

Shuttle service

• No shuttle required.

Resources

• West Temagami Maps by Jeff is the best (and possibly only) paper map resource for this area. The full map can be viewed online, but it is highly recommended that you have a hard copy with you on the water.

Trip story: Gone with the wind! 

On two separate trips, I have passed through Donald Lake. Each time was a different route, but while on Donald, we stayed on the same site both times. It’s an amazing peninsula site with great views, lots of flat spots to camp (both on the peninsula and just off it towards the thunderbox. Both times we stayed on this site, the wind was intense. The first time was just before the May long weekend. It was also my very first experience sleeping in a hammock. I made the hammock camper rookie mistake of setting up completely exposed on the peninsula. Temperatures dipped into the negatives overnight and I nearly froze to death. 

On our second trip to that site, you would have thought I learned my lesson about camping on the point…well I did…kind of. I used a tent this time. Although the temperatures were much more favourable, the wind once again blasted us from the north on our second afternoon there (we took a layover day to fish the lake). Now windbound, I spent the afternoon deploying extra guylines and setting up a windbreak with a tarp to save my tent from certain disaster, only to finally give up after discovering fine dust had been blown all inside my tent. Time to get off the point.

Moral of the story: if high winds are in the forecast, don’t set up on the point!