Description
Lookout River -- Onamakawash Lake to Lookout River, Smoothrock Lake, Caribou River/Caribou Lake and Little Caribou Lake take-out. (PDF download)
Armstrong is at the Northern termination of Highway 527 and is the starting point for many of the trips in this area. Although the town is extremely small, it does have a number of useful facilities: a grocery store, gas station and a couple of restaurants.
There are actually two choices of starting points for this route. Beginning at the town of Armstrong, one requires a shuttle and the other begins with a short train ride:
- A shuttle from Hwy 527 south of Armstrong, along the Obonga Lake Road to Magotte Lake where there is a small parking area and campsite. From here, paddle north through Kenakskannis and Boulder Lakes to Shawanabis and Onamakawash Lakes. This start to the trip will add another couple of days for a 7-day trip.
- Or you can take a brief train ride from Armstrong to Schultz’s Trail, mileage point 24.7 on the Via Rail line. From the train stop there is a short trail down to Onamakawash Lake.
Once you reach Smoothrock Lake, you have a choice of either the West or East arm of the Lake before exiting at the NE corner of the lake into Caribou River. Portage into Little Caribou for a pleasant paddle to the road takeout.
Campsites along the route are quite plentiful and like the portages are not marked but usually quite obvious.
These maps were created by Laurence Mills based on his and others' years of exploration. Formerly sold on his wabakimimaps.com site, he has provided these to Friends of Wabakimi to sell as digital downloads. You are encouraged to print and laminate these for use when paddling. You may wish to compare these to similar FOW maps found in the Volume I-V series.