Hike to White Partridge Lk
Sept. 11, 2024
In a 2014 article in The Raven, Rory Mackay notes that by the 1850s there was a supply road conneting a depot farm at Basin Depot to a place called Chamberlain's Depot on White Partridge Lake. A map dating from 1922 shows a road to White Partridge Lake that likely followed that early supply road.
Algonquin Provinial Park, Canadian National Railways, 1922.
The road to White Partridge went between May Lk and White Partridge and then turned north following what today is the cart trail
Twenty years later the route had changed. The earlier route started just west of the North Bonnechere River. A map from 1934 has the road staying on the east side of the river, crossing over below Teal Lk and then turning northwest. But instead of going between May Lk and White Partridge it stayed close to the west side of North Branch before heading over to the landing at White Partridge.
Algonquin, Topographical Survey of Canada, 1934.
On previous hikes we had searched for signs of these two routes. It does appear a more recent logging road may have followed the 1922 route for a short distance, but we found no indication that the 1922 and 1934 routes would provide a viable hiking route to White Partridge Lk today. We decided the best route to White Partridge from the south would be to follow a trail shown on Jeff's map which runs to the east of North Branch Lake. To reach White Partridge using this route would mean hiking a long distance north to Dawn Lake, then bushwhacking west to get on the cart trail back down to White Partridge.
We set out early, just before sunrise close to the hydro line -- near McIntyre's Clearing on Jeff's map.
For the first 3 km we were on a road currently being used for a logging operation toward the Gross Lk area.
Sunrise - light hitting the top of the trees. The road gets narrower after this point.
The trail runs along the edge of Teal Lake.
After Teal Lake the trail goes up over several high hills and then down crossing the portage trail that runs between North Branch Lake and Loonskin Lake.
Our route in orange from the starting point to the North Branch - Loonskin Lk portage.
Map courtesy of Maps by Jeff
Trail to North Branch Lk.
Trail to Loonskin Lk.
Pond above North Branch Lk. We had walked 10 km at this point.
Another view of the pond.
As mentioned at the beginning of this report, the route we chose meant walking well to the north of the top of White Partridge before heading south back down to the lake. We did consider the option of trying to bushwhack from the trail, across the top of North Branch to get onto the portage trail to May Lk, and then bushwhack again below May Lk to get onto the portage trail from there to White Partridge. But after reviewing the maps and satellite images we determined that the amount of marsh and swamp to get around would take too much time.
Our route on a trail from the North Branch portage to Goblin Lk and past the kettle lakes on Jeff's map; then bushwhacking on remants of an old trail to Dawn Lk and to the cart trail, then 4.6 km down to White Partridge.
Island on Goblin Lk.
Goblin Lk looking south.
Going further north the trail becomes more grown over and eventually regularly covered by windfall.
Bushwhacking now, we've made our way from the main trail across to Dawn Lk. Having reached the lake we still had to bushwhack across to the cart trail.
After hiking 5.5 hrs we reached the landing on the northeast corner of White Partridge. No sign of anyone on the lake.
Looks like this has been dug out to serve as a boat launch area.
A cross has been erected nearby with the inscription "Fiddling George". Not sure what the story is behind this.
White Partridge looking south.
Toward the mouth of White Partridge Creek.
After some lunch and a change of socks it was time to start the journey back.
The cart trail -- soon after leaving White Partridge.
We kept to a ridge along the south side of Dawn Lake.
But eventually had to find a way across some wet areas.
The early signs of fall colour.
Garter Snake on the trail -- the only wildlife we saw during the hike. While there were fresh signs of bear and moose along the trail, it was an unusally calm day with almost no wind, so animals likely heard us coming while we were still a long way off.
A final look at Goblin Lk on our way out.
At the portage to North Branch we thought about going down the trail to the lake but doing so would have got us back to the truck quite late -- also we had hiked in to North Branch in past years.
North Branch Lk - a picture we took on a hike in June 2020.
Around 4:45 PM and approaching the end of the hike -- this is the start of the trail down to the McIntyre Homestead along the Bonnechere River.
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At the end of the hike we both determined it was time for new hiking boots.
Distance covered: 41.7 km Duration: 10 hrs 20 min
The highest point on the route -- 398m
Our route as tracked by the app we were using.
56,318 steps
Notes
Mackay, Rory, "East Side Story: A Celebration", The Raven, Vol. 55, No. 1, June 1, 2014.