Detour To Temagami Trip Log Day 1

A broken train plan shouldn’t break a trip. When the Spanish River route vanished overnight after a baggage car mishap, we leaned on fast-moving outfitters, scanned our maps, and chose a new path that turned out to be exactly what we needed: Temagami by way of Red Cedar. What started as a scramble became a reminder that the best stories often arrive when the itinerary falls apart.

We walk through the decision tree—French River, Martin River, then Temagami—and why Temagami won on terrain, access, and spirit. From our Red Cedar put-in to a sandy beach campsite under tall pines, we share the small wins that steady a group: clean landings, quiet water, and a camp kitchen that goes beyond “good enough.” Expect pizza hot off the pan and a shout-out to Bill from Thunderbox Diaries for unrolled cabbage rolls and smashed pierogies that boosted energy and morale.

The day ahead brings two dam portages and our first real taste of whitewater after months of training. We talk scouting, conservative calls, and what “intentional swims” means to us. Safety, communication, and humility take centre stage as we plan runs, respect horizon lines, and keep the group moving smoothly. Along the way, we dig into adaptable trip planning for Northern Ontario—how to evaluate alternate routes quickly, work with local knowledge, and choose campsites that actually fit your needs.

If you’re curious about Temagami routes, Red Cedar access, beginner whitewater strategy, or trail-tested camp meals, you’ll find practical takeaways and a few laughs. Subscribe, share this episode with a paddling friend, and leave a review to help more backcountry folks find the show. What’s your best last-minute trip pivot?

Chapters

• 0:00 Plans Go Sideways
• 0:27 Choosing A New Route
• 0:58 First Night On Red Cedar
• 1:31 Campsite Wins And Camp Cooking
• 2:11 Today’s Portages And Goals
• 2:36 First Whitewater Hopes And Fears
• 3:16 How To Reach Us

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Good day, A. Welcome to Super Good Camping Podcast. This is the Triplog edition. I'm Tim. And I'm Thomas. And we are currently in Not Spanish River. The Spanish River. But we ran into some some issues. The baggage train for the uh train that we're supposed to take up to the Spanish. Put in for the Spanish. It had a bit of a mishap at seven o'clock the night before we were supposed to be. And I'm benefiting fully from their trail. Our our wonderful uh outfitters and guides scrambled to find us uh something else to paddle.

SPEAKER_00: 0:44

Alternative route. Um we we talked about uh just doing French River because we were already sort of on the French River. Um Martin River because we're close to that. Yeah. And we finally ended up deciding on tomogamy, which is where we are now. Uh if you're watching the video version of this, you will see some of tomogamy behind us.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09

Yeah, we put in at uh Red Cedar yesterday morning. Red Cedar, yeah, Red Cedar Lake yesterday morning and uh for a bunch. Excuse me, got ourselves uh out to a uh beautiful site, but it's uh it's fabulous. We've got a nice sandy beach. Uh beautiful trees, quiet, awesome jobs. Yeah, okay, had killer meal. What did we have last time?

SPEAKER_00: 1:35

Oh, we had uh so we made pizzas for the group and then our our group chef made uh some some unrolled cabbage rolls and some smashed pierogies, both of which were really good. Pretty awesome. Yeah. I ate quite a bit of both. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:51

Uh so you can go masculine cabbage rolls without the roll part. Um was was really good. Yeah, it was good. I highly recommend uh then there's a creepy Bill Bill from uh uh uh Thunderbox Diaries, that's it. He's uh he's a good cook, man. And uh and today, yeah, we're looking at not a particularly long. We're over one dam, we've got another dam to get over before we get into some water. And then uh and then there's a particular site that a criteria will want to stop at and hang for. So we'll see what uh we'll see what the soft noon brings for it. Maybe maybe we'll do another trip log because we totally forgot about it last night.

SPEAKER_00: 2:30

This is uh also our first whitewater story trip. Yep. Uh previously we've only done flatwater. Uh you may have seen some of our recent whitewater courses on our social media or uh or heard about them in a previous episode. But uh I think we're getting into some whitewater rapids today. Yes. So hopefully you hear a second trip louder. Because that would that would suck. If you don't, it went working. Yeah.

unknown: 3:04

I think more and more now.

SPEAKER_00: 3:06

Yeah, we're we're hoping we don't tip. Hopefully all our swims this trip are uh intentional. Intentional.

SPEAKER_01: 3:14

Yeah. Alright, yeah, that's it for us today. Uh you can find us on all the social media stuff, Instagram, Facebook, uh uh Blue Sky, YouTube. We're we'd love to uh you know you can choose to text through our our uh through the Buzz Sprouts where where our podcast lives and through I think Spotify as well you can choose a message. Uh or you can YouTube messages, whatever. Hi at Super Good Camping is our email. Hi at supergoodcamping.com. You can always send us a note there. What do you think, any suggestions for future episodes, etc. etc. etc. Uh until then we'll see you later. Bye.