Nipissing River: Tim River to Cedar Lake (4 days / 97 km)
My inspiration for this trip came from spending the dark winter days watching Lost Lakes & Xander Budnick’s camping videos. I wanted something that challenged my tripping skills with the bonus of being out on the water during brook trout season.
This journey began at Tim River Access Point and followed the flowing water of the Nipissing River 100 km downstream to Cedar Lake Access. I did this trip with my brother in 4 days, but I would suggest at least 6-7 days for shorter travel days and to maximize fishing time (especially if you are a less experienced backcountry traveller).
This was an intense route that boasted strong Trout fisheries and felt like a very wild section of the park. This river route is for those who don’t mind some longer portaging through a large northwest section of the park. You will need to organize a shuttle or use two cars for this route.
Trip Completed: May 2024
Trip Summary
| Starting Point | Tim River Access #2 |
| Ending Point | Cedar Lake Access #27 |
| Duration | 4 days / 3 nights |
| Difficulty | Advanced |
| Total Distance | 97 km |
| Portaging Distance | 13.25 km |
| Number of Portages | 22 |
Location: Algonquin Park, Ontario Canada
Traditional Territory: This route takes place on the traditional territory of the Anishinabewaki and Huron/Wendat Peoples.
Maps & Resources
Guidebook: No guidebook was used for this trip
Map: Jeff’s Map
Route Planner: Click here to view and modify this route in the interactive Route Planner
Permits & Reservations
Campsite Reservations: All permit and site reservations can be made through the Ontario Provincial Park website. In Algonquin, reservations are made per lake, and the specific campsites on each lake on first come first serve.
Know Before You Go
Season: Spring or Fall – higher water is better
Cell Reception: No cell reception
Water: Must be filtered or treated before drinking the river water
Wildlife: Lots of Moose, Grouse, and Beavers can be found on this route. There is a chance of encountering a Black Bear so make sure you’re using backcountry practices for managing your food.
Waste: There were Thunderboxes at all the campsites we visited. Don’t forget to pack out when you pack in.
Outfitters & Shuttles
I used my own gear and my own transportation for this trip. If you are looking for an outfitter or shuttling, I would suggest contacting Algonquin Outfitters. You will need at least two vehicles or arrange a shuttle service since you are using two different access points.
Trip Report
Day 1: Tim River Access to Highview Falls Cabin (36km)
We arrived at the Tim River access point at 8 in the morning to start our longest and hardest day of travel to Highview Falls Cabin, which is a restored Rangers Cabin deep
within the park. With “Parent Outfitters” providing us a drop off at Tim River Access, we could see the small old dock was already a bit under water, showing some high water levels. We promptly unloaded and paddled off with a wave and a pick up time for the end point at Cedar Lake (with the hope that we would make it on time).
The trip started off with a nice leisurely paddle through Tim Lake/Tim River to Rosebary Lake where our first portage of the trip, a nice short 370m, took us into Floating Heart Lake. This was quickly followed by a 1320m portage into Latour Creek and an 810m portage into Loontail Creek, which leads into the Nipissing River.
Both were pretty straight forward, but in the early spring, the trails were quite damp in some areas. The dark tea-stained waters were flowing nicely around the bends of the river, but we had lots of distance to cover and had to fight the urge to fish the whole time. There were 3 short portages (360m, 90m, 100m) on this long stretch of the river and with the higher water levels the shorter ones could be lined down the rapids. There was also a log jam after the first portage, the high waters actually did make this a little bit challenging to pull the canoe over since the water was so deep. Luckily some of the logs were huge trees and we could comfortably stand on them to heave the canoe over. It was getting later in the day by this point and so we picked up our paddling speed and got into a nice rhythm, drifting through this serpentine section of the river.
Some may find river canoeing monotonous, but as we found our rhythm we let our minds wander with the bends of the river, it can be very calming. The sounds of the spring birds chirping and the beating of Grouse wings in the distant forests gave us a sign that we were paddling deeper into the wilderness of Algonquin. With the dwindling daylight we flew through the last few short portages before reaching the 850m portage at Dogay’s Dam Rapids (Highview Cabin is located less than halfway down the portage). The cabin is an amazing sight with a full moose skull greeting you at the front of the cabin and lots of assorted heirlooms from the park’s past. We were the first ones to stay there this year, as it was very dusty in the cabin. It looked like it had housed a family of mice over the winter so we did a quick sweep of the cabin with the broom provided. We finally got our fishing lines in the water near the rapids, but with little daylight left we did not have much luck. We lit up the stove in the cabin to heat up our dinner and prepared for the night after a long day on the water. We easily passed out in the bunks of the cabin with only the sound of the stove crackling away.
Campsite: This cabin is definitely not maintained very often, but has some amazing trinkets. It is less than halfway along the portage so other campers may end up walking right past the cabin. It was fun to stay there and I could see it being a nice place, but it definitely needs a good cleaning and some repairs. Maybe later in the year when more people have stayed there it may be nicer. There is some space to set up tents near the cabin if you do not want to spend the night in the old building. There was no real firepit on the outside of the cabin since it had a wood stove inside. I would definitely recommend stopping to at least visit the cabin, but I wouldn’t necessarily stay there again.
| Total Distance | 36 km |
| Portaging Distance | 3.65 km |
| Number of Portages | 11 |
| Campsite Reservation | Reservation by Lake: 758 – Highview Cabin |
Day 2: Highview Cabin to Kelly Creek Junction (13.7km)
We took a well deserved sleep in and ate our leftover goulash from the night before to fuel us for the day. This was our shortest travel day of the trip to Kelly Creek Junction, but had a monster 2.1km portage on this section of the trip. We walked the rest of the portage from the cabin with our coffees to see if we could maybe walk or run the rapids section but we couldn’t see the water from the portage trail. A Grouse was on the trail and tried to intimidate us to leave its courtship area. We snuck past and tried to sneak a peek at the rapids at the end of the portage. I think in the early spring you can line or walk your canoe this section of the river after the cabin, which would save you over half the portage, but we didn’t get to see all the rapids and decided to just carry the rest of the portage just in case.
We finished off the portage and began the next leg of our journey with a nice long stretch of paddling. With the shorter distance of travel today we were able to fish and caught our first Brook Trout, however, it was a little small to eat so we released it. But our desire to have one for dinner that night grew. Shortly after we reached the first portage (370m) over Stewart’s Dam Rapids, which was a good warm-up for the monster portage that quickly followed.
We arrived at Allen Rapids after mentally preparing for the 2140m portage. This was a long one with a couple of hilly areas so we decided to double-carry to save our backs. We ended up carrying our bags to the end of the portage, which got a little bit soggy/marshy near the end and after assessing the depth of water we decided to carry our canoe to the campsite that is 3/4 of the way across the portage and attempt to ride the shallow swifts to our bags.
I would recommend this in the spring or high water levels, but even then with an empty canoe we had to get out to walk through some of the shallows. But it did save us from carrying the canoe through the last section of brush covered portage. After a little bit of fishing and drifting in the current we made it to our campsite at Kelly Creek Junction. We finally got to enjoy our first meal Brook Trout! Maybe it was just the exhaustion and effort from all the portages over the last 2 days, but it was one of the best freshwater fish I have ever eaten.
Campsite: This site seemed seldom used and felt very wild, like a small slice cut in the thick bush that surrounded the area. The access was not the easiest as the banks are quite steep in this section of the Nipissing River. I actually really enjoyed this site even with the tough access, it felt like very few people stop here. My brother, while looking for firewood, found almost a full moose skeleton from what we presumed to be a wolf kill. We decorated the tree with the campsite sign and dubbed this site “The Boneyard”.
| Total Distance | 13.7 km |
| Portaging Distance | 4.1 km |
| Number of Portages | 3 |
| Campsite Reservation | Reservation by Lake: 513 – NipR. Kelly Crk Junc. Aft P2715 |
Day 3: Kelly Creek Junction to Long Marsh (24.3km)
We started this day early since we had another long day of travel ahead of us. There are 4 portages we had to get through today and they all were in the first half of travel. Our plan was to crush these out and stop for lunch after the last portage of the day before our long paddle.
Before the first two portages of the day we had to overcome a massive log jam around a bend in the river. There was a little path people have used on the river right that passed half the jam and then another path on the river left that took you around the bend and the rest of the log jam. We bumped into another pair of travellers (pretty well the only other people we saw on this trip) who were taking that route. We decided to hop off on the river left at the beginning of the log jam and blast a new path through the alders to meet the more defined path that takes you to the end of the log jam. This saved us from having to unload/load our canoe twice, and I would suggest doing this, especially in early spring when the leaves are still thin and you can see where you’re going. This was much faster and allowed us to pass the other group.
We then quickly arrived at the two shorter portages (390m and 370m) of the day and cruised through these. There were a few narrow sections close to the river’s edge, but they were very navigable.
After the warm-up portages were done, we quickly reached the longest one of the day, a hilly 1290m portage around High Falls. There is one section that had some poor footing at the start of the descent. We double-carried this portage and took in the view of the falls on the way back to grab the rest of our stuff. If you didn’t have to lug your gear across, this would be a very beautiful walk with great views of the falls.
We didn’t stay too long at the falls since, down the river a couple of bends, is the last 840m portage of the day. This was another hilly portage, but other than that, it was straightforward since it was mainly downhill. After a quick lunch and some rest, we were glad for no more portages and some time in the canoe.
This section was one of the nicest parts of the river on the trip, it truly is kilometres long of marshland that opens up ahead of you, while you meander the bends of the river. It was great to have this change of scenery after two days of a tight river and overgrown alders reaching over the bank’s edge. The seemingly endless marsh opens up around you and in the sunny blue sky that day it felt like you had space to roam. Luckily we were still early in the season so the bugs were non-existent, though I am sure later in the season on a windless day you might get swarmed. It took longer than expected to cross the marsh, since the river wanders back and forth. But this section had tons of wildlife: we encountered a moose up on the river bank, a rare eagle sighting as it soared from one of the giant Pine trees overlooking the marshland, and tons of waterfowl. Our campsite at the far end of the marshland had muskrats and beavers swimming around in the setting sun while the frogs chirped in the background.
Campsite: We took the campsite at the end of the Marshland and found it to be in great shape. It is very open and has a nice fire pit with a large log with seats cut into the wood. Overall a great campsite and I would stay here again, it had great views of the marshland, but it is situated between two beaver huts so make sure to filter or treat your water properly.
| Total Distance | 24.3 km |
| Portaging Distance | 3.5 km |
| Number of Portages | 4 |
| Campsite Reservation | Reservation by Lake: 518 – Long Marsh – NipR. |
Day 4: Long Marsh to Cedar Lake Access (19 km)
We woke up a bit sore on the final day of the trip, all the paddling and portaging finally catching up with our tired bodies. We slowly packed up and headed out to tackle the first three easy portages of the day (350m, 160m & 250m). With a lighter food barrel and the extra strength Tylenol flowing through our veins, we cruised through these portages, as they were fairly flat and short. The Nipissing River starts to be less winding, so it is a faster paddle in this section that leads to the final 3 portages that lead into Cedar Lake.
The next two portages (240m & 100m) are fairly easy, bypassing a couple of short rapids. We started to encounter some more people in this section. A short paddle leads to the final 930m portage that takes you to Cedar Lake. The paddle into Cedar Lake was very nice with the change of scenery, and the lake paddling was a welcome change after days on the river.
I have been told it can get very windy on this lake; luckily for us, it wasn’t too strong until the middle of the lake, where we had the wind at our backs to help with our final crossing. We made it on time for our pick up from “Parent Outfitters,” who brought us a pizza and a cake for my birthday. It was a great surprise to finish up the trip! We didn’t linger long at the takeout since we were beginning to get swarmed by bugs, the very first of the trip!
| Total Distance | 19 km |
| Portaging Distance | 2 km |
| Number of Portages | 6 |
Trip Video
Youtube Channel – My YouTube channel with other trips. Video for this trip will be out shortly
Reflections
I would 100% do this trip again, but over a longer period. It was a bit of a grind, and we had to rush past some great fishing areas to make it to our campsites with enough daylight to set up. It was a very physically demanding trip, and luckily, my brother was crazy enough to go with me since I would not have been able to do it solo in 4 days. We both ended up really enjoying the trip, but were very drained by our last day. Most of the portages are pretty straightforward forward and the longer ones tend to be a bit hilly, but most of them were easy to find and in good shape.
This section of the park feels incredibly remote. The first 3 days, we only saw 3 other people. We got to see moose, an eagle, and a pair of white tail deer (first time seeing them in the backcountry in the Park). Most importantly, I got to finally taste my first Brook Trout, and I know I will be back to fish these waters again. The Nipissing River will not disappoint you if you have a thirst for adventure in the backcountry.
Author Bio
Hi, I am Isaiah, and I love any outdoor adventure activity. I have been tripping into the Algonquin backcountry since I was 8 years old, and it is one of my favourite places to visit. After a bit of hiatus from tripping, my thirst for adventure and wanderlust has overwhelmed my senses and has taken me on many adventures across Canada. After a couple of road trips across this great country, I hope to focus on some more backcountry canoe trips here in Ontario.
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