Mattagami River

Mattagami River

Access points are at Gogama (on Minisinakwa Lake), Mattagami Landing, the Cache (on Kenogamissi Lake), Wawaitin Holiday Park (at Wawaitin Falls), Timmins at Hgwy 101, and Sandy Falls Road. Finish up at the train bridge at Jacksonboro or keep on paddling until you reach the salt waters of Hudson Bay. Review typical 1 week itinerary.

Route	kilometers	miles	Days
Gogama to Wawaitin H.P.	115	77	4
Wawaitin H.P. To Smooth Rock Falls	130	83	4-5
Smooth Rock Falls to Moosenee	325	202	8-10
Portaging No. of Portages : 9-12 Total Portage Distance : 4,851 m. Average Portage Length : 354 m. Longest Portage : 1,108 m.	Ratings River Travel : Intermediate Lake Travel : Novice Portaging : easy - strenuous Remoteness : intermediate - extreme
Maps 42 A/06 Timmins 1:50 000, 42 A/04 Kenogaming Lake 1:50 000 42 A/05 Dana 1:50 000, 42 A/11 Pamour 1:50 000 42 A/12 Kamiskotia Lake 1:50 000, 41 P/13 Mattagami Lake 1:50 000 42 A/14 Buskagau River 1:50 000, 42 H/04 Bradburn Lake 1:50 000 42 H/05 Smooth Rock Falls 1:50 000
Route Description While the headwaters of the Mattagami make for easy paddling and a great choice for novices and families, the lower Mattagami traverses through untamed wilderness and should only be attempted by experts or with an experienced guide.

View Lower Mattagami River canoe routes in a google maps View the map continuing North to Timmins

View the map South of Timmins

To view levels and flows through the watershed visit Ontario Power Generation.

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Boreal Shrubs

Mountain Ash

Deciduous shrub or small tree reaching up to 10 m tall. Branchlets are greenish-brown to reddish with pale cork-like elongated spots; older branches are reddish brown, the bark scaly and winter buds sticky.

White flowers in dense round clusters 5 - 15 cm each 7 mm with 5 petals in mid June. The fruit are bright red berries about 7 mm in clusters late August and September.

The berries have historically been considered edible but are not very palatable. Aboriginal peoples used the wood to make canoe ribs and snowshoe frames. Chewing the leaves will induce vomiting; they contain cyanide and are poisonous.

Mountain Maple

Deciduous tall shrub or small tree about 5 m tall; trunk is short, often crooked and divided into several fairly straight branches. Buds and branchlets are hairy. Leaves are opposite on reddish stalks; simple maple leaf with three prominent pointed lobes and coarsely toothed margins.

Flowers are small 5 mm greenish yellow in June; fruit in slender-stalked pairs, winged nutlets about 2 cm long in August. The Mountain Maple has a very high wildlife value. It provides browse for beaver, snowshoe hare and moose; red squirrels, other small mammals and song birds eat the seeds. Aboriginal peoples treated sore eyes with a lotion made from the pith of the twigs.

Mooseberry

Deciduous; erect to spreading usually less than 2 m tall. Numerous branches purplish brown to reddish turning ray to brownish with age. Leaves are opposite on smooth stalks and maple-leaf-shaped with 3 sharply pointed lobes to a heart shaped base; coarsely toothed with lighter underside and hairs on veins. Flowers whitish small with 5 petals; fruit orangy red 6 - 12 cm in August.

Mooseberry is a primary or secondary food source for many mammals and birds in the Boreal ecosystem; moose, caribou, deer, beaver, grouse.

Blueberry

Deciduous with many spreading and upward-growing branches usually less than 35 cm tall; branchlets are greenish brown with warty dots turning blackish smooth with flaky ridged bark. Leaves are bight green, 1 - 3 cm long; flowers white to pale pink 6 mm long in clusters; fruit bluish purple 6 - 12 mm in diameter July - August. The berries are edible raw or cooked; aboriginal peoples dried the flowers, placed them on hot stones and inhaled the fumes as a cure for 'craziness'. Very high wildlife value; grouse, small mammals, black bear, red fox, and song birds all feast on this shrub and its fruit.

Wild Rose

Deciduous low and bushy to about 1 m tall. There are two varieties one with reddish branchlets covered with many straight slender prickles 3 - 4 mm long, the other is primarily smooth with only a few slender prickles near the base of stem.

Flowers are pink saucer-shaped with 5 petals 2 - 3 cm long in June; fruit is bright red fleshy egg-shaped about 2 cm long in September. The rosehips are high in vitamin c and are used to make jelly and tea; the petals have been historically used in salads. Songbirds, ruffed grouse and small mammals eat the rosehips, and varying hare browse the bark, leaves and twigs.

Chokecherry

Deciduous, erect and treelike averaging 3 m tall but sometimes reaching 10 m; spreads from shoots and often forms thickets. Branchlets are reddish brown to purplish gray and emit a strong unpleasant odor when bruised.

White flowers 1 cm with 5 petals on elongated clusters at branch ends May - June. Fruit is 8 - 10 mm ripening a deep crimson in August - September; Juicy with large pit. The bitter sour-tasting cherries are considered edible and have been used to make jelly and wine. Aboriginal peoples used the fresh bark in a diarrhea remedy. Songbirds, ruffed grouse, and small mammals eat these berries.

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