I decided to take my daughter (the oldest of 3) on our first canoe trip together and at the same time try out a new area in Nopiming Provincial Park. You can learn a lot about yourself and obtain valuable skills in the outdoors, and I hope to pass on to all of my kids. Hope you enjoy, and be sure to checkout my first video on this trip by clicking the thumbnail below or by clicking Here.

LOCATION DETAILS

I chose the Seagrim Lake Chain canoe route in Nopming Provincial Park.  It looked like a relatively short and easy to navigate route for my daughters first canoe trip. It was important to give my daughter a positive experience.

THE JOURNEY TO ELTON LAKE

There are 3 portages to Elton Lake and an additional portage to Seagrim Lake, note that there is no camping is permitted on Seagrim as it is a sensitive Woodland Caribou Calving area.

Portage #1

This 300 meter portage starts at the parking lot and goes to the first unnamed lake.  Well travelled and easy to navigate, a good little warm up to start the trip!

Portage #2

Located across the lake on the Northwest portion, this portage is approximately 175 meters. A few meters in and you will come to a steep rock which at first you think you need to climb, but you can walk around on either side. The portage ends on a nice rock outcrop that makes for a nice put-in.

Portage #3

This 200 meter portage is almost straight north across the water once you get out of the bay.  A family heading back gave us a heads up that the portage doesn’t have a sign.  They pointed out that the trail was to the right of a large rock formation. The trail is mostly rock with elevation changes, be careful as a few spots could lead to an ankle sprain.

Portage #4 – If going to Seagrim Lake

We didn’t canoe on Seagrim, our campsite was a short paddle away and we went to check it out.  This 160 meter portage is short and easy to navigate.  

Campsite, Fishing and Shore Lunch

Campsite

Since it was a new area, I didn’t have a particular campsite in mind.  We met up with a family on the last portage and they told us know one was on the northwest portion of the lake and recommended island campsite #9 just before the Seagrim Lake portage. So off we went!  

What a great site.  Good take-out spot on the southeast side of the island with an elevated walk up to the fire pit/eating area with a great view of the lake.  There were good tent pads sheltered from the wind and a toilet that was on a high point looking north with a nice private view of the lake and the Seagrim Lake portage sign.  There were strong south westerly winds most of the time which prevented any fires; however, the northside of the island was well sheltered from the wind and had a nice bedrock shoreline to fish from and cook on the stove.

Fishing

Because we were windbound a lot of the time, we were limited to casting from shore resulting in nothing but a few bites.  After trying every piece of tackle we had, the wind finally calmed down and we decided to get on the water to increase our odds. We tried still fishing and drifting with no luck.  Finally we got setup for trolling, my daughter switching to a little joe with a Gulp 3” killer crawler and myself to a Storm WildEye “live” perch. 

It was slow at first until I spotted some pencil reeds on the west side of island campsite #8. On the first pass my daughter caught a nice sized walleye – Finally we found the spot!  We made several passes catching both bass and walleye which was a lot of fun.  The little joe with night crawler was definitely the winning combo out fishing me 5 to 1. The wind was picking up which was making it tricky to stay in position and avoid hitting shore when we had a fish on the line so we decided to head back to prepare a shore lunch.

Shore Lunch

A good fish fry is hard to beat, especially when you worked your butt off to land a couple eaters.  I packed a couple potatoes which I cut into fries as the side dish.  The combo together was dynamite and most importantly my daughter loved it as much as I did! I think I have muttered the words “this is the best meal I have had in a long time” on just about every backcountry trip I have gone on.  I don’t know what it is, food simply tastes better in the backcountry!

Parting Thoughts

I couldn’t have asked for a better trip. Aside from a few scrapes, bumps and bruises along with getting windbound for a couple hours on the return home, the trip went smoothly and was a lot of fun.  Most importantly, my daughter had a great time and I was impressed at how well she embraced the entire trip and experience. She was filthy dirty the entire time, which was all good with me!  

This canoe route in Nopiming was perfect for our first trip together.  It is not too long, easy to navigate and has good campsite options. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a beginner route or one that is suitable for shorter duration trips. If you’re going with your kids just make sure you are well prepared to ensure they have a fun and safe trip.  I will be posting a separate blog post on how I prepared for this trip with kids in mind.