Killarney's Western Coast: 3 Day Canoe Trip | Baie Fine to Killarney Village 

Lol, haters gonna hate! It's not even live yet 😑 Thanks man!! Hope you enjoy.

@@ExploreTheBackcountry that's the ridiculous part. I know I will! 👍👍

They probably just hit the wrong button, meant to hit thumbs up 😊

Hahaha, well we did trip together in December. I'll be a while with getting that video out, but he has his up!

Yeah man, I always wondered the same thing. Really cool spot. Would have been better if it was sunny and calm. The landscape switches from quartize ridges to limestone shelves. Very cool geology. Ha, actually, come to think of it, I can paddle there too from my house via the Matagami and Spanish Rivers, but it would be a little harder than your trek! Future ideas....

:D haha yuppers! Should be a good time too!

Thanks Jim!!

Oh indeed! Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it!

Yeeee 😀 Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for watching as always, glad you've enjoyed it!!!

Oh yeah, safety first, your observations are spot on. We've learned a great deal over the years in this regards, still more to learn! After all, you want to get out there and paddle another day!! Thanks for watching!

Crazy eh?! The adjacent bays can be so calm, despite being in a near similar orientation to the wind. Those ridges definitely funnel wind currents in interesting ways. Glad you guys made it out okay too. You can't beat fish and chips at the end of that experience.... we used it as motivation!

Thanks guys! Oh man, best place to end a trip is a dockside restaurant! haha! Thanks for dropping in!

Thanks Derek! Great off trail hiking around there - well anywhere along the ridges really. Indeed it is amazingly gorgeous! It's the one park we keep on returning too. We've been nearly everywhere in Killarney now and it has never disappointed! Knee is 97-99%, It will probably never be 100%, but she's good to portage again - and that's all that matters to me! I could barely walk for 2 months, so that's a huge difference....

Thanks man! Certainly is, really enjoy it down there! Will definitely want to return in some sunnier weather though. Hoping to make the move south to the Greater Sudbury Area in the near future, so it would essentially be in our backyard!

Explore The Backcountry That would be awesome brother! We would love to have here!

The BEST way to end a trip haha! Always a post Killarney staple for us

Yeah, they can whip up realllly fast! Still worth it though. Just part of the adventure!!

Thanks man 🤙

Love sailing too! Haven't done it in years though. Baie Fine looked like such an amazing area to sail through.

Yeah it's is providing it's downwind.. we flew the spinnaker all way out of the bay. Still remember the way we flew along. Gotta make it back out there next season

Yeah. Even worse I person vs on camera too! Was a good push to get through!

Hahaha, yeah we love ketchup...with the fries. I'm a strict tartar sauce and fish guy, lol! Mother nature is finicky at best.... best to make the most of it and enjoy the trip no matter what!

Thanks for watching 😁 They can really whip up fast out on the Bay.... crazy.

Yeah, that was pretty tricky given my knee at the time. Very stiff and painful. Took it slow and it wasn't too big a deal. Thankfully it was a pretty easy path and the canoe was really light! Wasn't planning on taking it pre-trip, but thankful that it was there when we needed it!

Yeah, it whipped up fast. Those big lakes can always be fickle! Maybe a bit insane. We'd love to return when it's a little calmer (and sunnier) 😁

Thanks Dan!!! When you do your circle route, what route do you take to the bay? Chikanishing? Mahzenazing?

Depends on the year, but for example, this year we (me, my sister, and my daughter) are doing: David, Fish, Hanwood (or Murray, the swamp between to Howry is not as terrible as last year), Helen, Baie Fine, Killarney (2 nights), exit from George, shuttle back to Bell. So, the 'outer loop' circle route, coutner clockwise, with a minimum of time in Georgian Bay. I have done the many portage route back in to Three Narrows, but it's brutal mini portages, and then The Pig portage, which is no fun!

Lol, it's usually me who does the meals, although Leah and discuss what we want to eat pre-trip. We brought wayyy to much cheese as both of us picked up packs when we did separate shopping runs. Ah well! Oh yeah, those waves were getting a little gnarly. You can only glean so much from the camera, but the bow was catching plenty of air over some over those crests! She's got skills!

Ah yes! We have paddled the majority of the interior and hiked all the trails - some over those ridges are quite steep! It's quite a magical place. Baie Fine always intrigued me. Most info came from pleasure craft operators and sailors. They definitely know what's up!

@@ExploreTheBackcountry Three additional suggestions for you,, McGregor Bay,, wonderfully,, horribly complex group of islands fill the bay. You could paddle and camp for weeks. Collins Inlet, lovely, interesting. For a canoe, the French River complex,,, five outfalls into Georgian Bay, hundreds of miles of criss-crossing waterways,,, and coupled with that the Bustard Islands are only 3 to 4 miles off shore,,, you could idyll out there for a month. One practical suggestion,, life saving actually,,, you had no business out there in those winds, waves, and water and air temps. Had you swamped, this video would, might, have been used at an inquest. You have tremendous skill,, you wear a life jacket,, and so must your boat. Both. Either cover or flotation, or both. Huron will swat you like a fly. Especially up there. Imagine a 30 foot sailboat, 5 tons, perfect blue sky and 8 knot winds,, and from one second to the next, slammed down on her side and pinned with mast and sails in the water. She righted as soon as I threw off the sheets,, and then 10 minutes of hard work furling the main and swapping out the foresail for a small jib. Lake Huron can hurt you bad. Right there,, where you were. The one piece of equipment you did not have, and certainly should have had, a full spray deck with skirts. That makes all the difference in the world in that situation. I think it is Jim Baird has used one,, and so do I, North Water spray decks, Vancouver. My 20 foot MacKenzie, Clipper out of Abottsford, BC, full cover, skirts,, can be fully submerged and not take on more than one or two gallons. I fill under the cover with dry bags, cases,, and inflation mats to completely fill the spaces under the cover. Everything is tied tight to the bottom 50+ D-rings inside so nothing shifts, total of flotation in mine runs as high as 1200 pounds of flotation. The US Coast Guard uses a memory trick 50/50/50 50F water, 50 minutes immersion, 50% mortality. In May in Frazier Bay the water temp was not even 50F, maybe as low as 45F. Incapacitated in minutes. He shakes his finger at you,, "Don't do that again." I like your videos,, I want you to keep making more.

@@Sailor376also we have a fully outfitted Prospector, decked etc (See our Lake Superior video for example). We were testing a new fleet for Killarney Outfitters on this jaunt so it wasn't our goto open water setup (and thus a little more nervewracking). That storm blew in quick when we were on an open water stretch (as they tend to) with minimal to no safe havens for landing; more typical of Superior but without all the reflection waves - tho we did get a few near shoals and cliffs. I had a good eye on the height, period and direction of the waves and was confident the skills matched the conditions. Had they deteriorated further, some evasive emergency landing procedures would have entailed. And of course, drysuits were donned for this paddle. Hypothermia can kick in mighty quick in the big cold lakes without them. We do a lot of ocean paddling too for races or leisure. Same thing. Life jacket also contains PLB and emergency survival supplies. Throw and tow ropes etc. We have paddled all your suggested areas (most of the G-Bay coast actually) with the exception of McGregor Bay, which does indeed look mighty interesting. That Bay is just incredible!!! Bustards are one of my favourite stopovers.

@@ExploreTheBackcountry It sounds like you have it 'goin' on'. Good job. Personally,, I think Lake Huron can throw more surprises at you. Could not tell you why,,, she just seems to beat on me. Up there, especially if you have a keel,, I draw just shy of 7 feet with the current boat.. you have to navigate your buns off. That northern shore,, from Port Severn to Sault St. Marie,, about 300 air miles, there are 12,000 miles of shoreline and 50,000 islands,,, and from being glued to a chart and GPS,, there are 100,000 more islands just below the surface. But,,, so, so beautiful. Find the right place to anchor or camp,,, and the world no longer exists,,, stars,, and loons to sing thee to thy rest.

@@ExploreTheBackcountry Ya know,,,,, I do most of my paddling these days on rivers,, I'm lazy,, I like the current. And most of those rivers are permit rivers,, and white water. Ya wanna go? I have a permit for the main Salmon River, Idaho, June. Still room on the permit last I looked.

Awesome! Yeah we were pleased with it. Always fun to try out different canoes and see how they stack up. Woodland Caribou must have been a great trip! I had been eyeing it last year as potential trip, but then we spent 22 days in St.Raphael and Wabakimi-Kopka instead. We'll get there in the next few years I'm sure.

@@ExploreTheBackcountry 22 days in St. Raphael/Wabakimi sounds amazing though. WCPP is probably similar to Wabakimi I'm sure you'd love it.

Thanks 😁🤙

Congratulations on your upcoming union.

Yeah, drysuits were a must on this trip. Daytime temps were around 7-12C too, but that's May for ya!! Leah is quite skilled in the big water, despite it usually being one of her biggest apprehensions on trip. It hasn't stopped us yet though, always learning and refining skills.

Awesome 😁😁

Yes, I could only imagine in a smaller canoe too!! Those 15 footers bob like a kids toy in a bathtub.... It's always a white knuckle affair when the wind whips up. The open water can be more nerve wracking than a gnarly rapid. Thanks for watching as always!

Hey thanks a lot! It's always a learning process. Editing is half the fun sometimes. Put a bit of passion into it and you'll be rewarded. Best advice: so long as you're pleased with what you produce, keep on doing it. Glad you enjoyed the vids! Keep up the editing.

Oh man, Head Lake is notorious for high winds and waves. I've also had a few hairy crossings so I can only imagine... The longer canoes are great for those wavy days! Thanks for watching.

Very cool! We've done the majority of the interior too. It's such a gorgeous slice of Ontario, you picked a great place to paddle! Do you have the white quartzite (or similar) rocks over there?

Explore The Backcountry Yeah it was beautiful, and we where there during fall so the colors of the trees was fantastic. No, we don’t have that much quartz, that is a difference. But the granite landscape grinded over ages into soft shapes and an archipelago of little granite islets and skerries. That is exactly the same, but in our case it is the ocean rather than a big lake. I actually have some videos from it 😊

Our go to canoe is a decked and outfitted Prospector (e.g see Lake Superior video). This was a first test run of Killarney Outfitters newest Bay fleet - a loaner for the trip. Wished we had our decked boat, but this performed admirably.

Yeah, we love the spray deck! It affords quite a bit of forgiveness. We've submerged it fully on a few CIII, just plows right though! This trip was a tester for Killarney Outfitters in their new Georgian Bay fleet. We were the first ones out, and we certainly put that boat through the wringer! You learn to respect the water more when it has more ways of upsetting you and your canoe. Sometimes we take the Moisie, which has higher rockers for whitewater, but doesn't have a deck... yet.

Hey Paul, yeah we we're essentially testing out the new G-Bay fleet for Killarney Outfitters. I would have taken the decked Prospector if it was a regular trip, but this canoe handled it extremely well!

Ha, I think we'll stick with the decked prospector! Though, kayaks would be a lot of fun! Thanks!!

Ah, cool! We loved the water shuttle Will definently look into it for future trips, maybe even one to BWCA/Quetico in the future! Yeah, the wind and waves can get nutty. That storm came in fast and hard. It wasn't as nerve wracking as Superior, but having a bum knee and not being able to kneel certainly didn't help boost confidence...

That's good to hear! It's quite the scenic spot. Hope it stays that way for another 50+ years!

Ah, we did trip together in December. I'll be a while with getting that video out, but yeah, a canoe trip would be fun too!

Ah the other Killarney! It's usually quiet sunny here, but this trip was more of a taste from across the pond! Hehe! - Hope to visit there one day!

Explore The Backcountry if you come over gimme a shout , I love that Killarney , it’s peaceful and beautiful and the start and finish of the ‘Ring of Kerry ‘ ,,Ireland at its best ,,except for Wicklow ,,Cork and of course Armagh ., Lolol

Yeah, Leah wasn't too thrilled with those waves haha. You know how they can get.... also, being in a canoe we have never paddled before (+not being able to kneel) adds to a bit of the trepidation. Would love to get back there on a warm, sunny and CALM day, lol. Thanks for watching man!

Hope so Daz, it's a wonderful place to paddle. Undoubtedly better in the su though!

Haha, nope! Killarney, Canada! The one across the pond - and a breathtaking area to paddle and explore. Thanks for watching!

Ah, would have to agree with you there! It certainly has a unique landscape. This entire province contains some real gems beyond Algonquin etc.

Not that year. Ice out was later in the season, but then the bugs came out with force for the remainder of the year. One of the worst in a while.

Camera case. It was setup for another shot. We circled back after getting the paddle by 😁

Explore The Backcountry hahahahaha you got me

Look Upstairs by Oran Loyfer

Was trying to keep it a little more family friendly. I'll play around with it. I tried the silent in the editing. But the dead air had a weird effect that was counter to the emotion.

@@ExploreTheBackcountry yeah man, I get it. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Also, I wanted to add that you two must have a pretty awesome relationship paddling like that. This is why I paddle a solo canoe 😆

Haha, yeah, tandem is a whole different experience. 😁 But yup, we work well together as a team out there. Ain't no 'divorce boat' for us here. What do you paddle solo?

@@ExploreTheBackcountry Northstar Phoenix in IXP. It looked like the Northstar you paddled in this video had the same layup.