Schultz's trail cleanup story: by volunteer david thomas

 
After many paddle trips in Quetico, Wabakimi had been on my bucket list for many years.  At the 2025 Canoecopia Expo I put Vern Fish’s presentation on FOW on my calendar.  I’ve always been a fan of volunteer travel.  My wife and I have done over 20 volunteer trips that included trail building in Denali, giving lighthouse tours in the Apostle Islands, and building computer labs in Central America.  When Vern mentioned needing volunteers for a cleanup in Wabakimi, my hand shot up.
 
An opportunity to travel to Wabakimi and have many of the travel arrangements made by FOW and Ontario Parks, made this an easy choice.  Vern, along with Ontario Parks staff, provided all the info and I arranged to car-pool from Minneapolis with Joe Agan.  Joe and I drove up to Armstrong, Ontario, a tiny town that seasoned Wabakimi travelers certainly know.  It’s a 250 mile drive north of Thunder Bay, on a road with no apparent living soul, gas station or convenience store visible from the road.  Armstrong is home to a stop (on request) for the Canada transcontinental railway and home to a settlement of the Whitesand Ojibwe First Nation people.
 
Day One:

On the morning of Monday, July 7th, Joe and I met at trackside with Al, the other volunteer and 3 Ontario Parks staff led by Jake Guggenheimer and his assistants, Valkyrie and River.  While waiting for the train, one of that park staff commented “It does not get more Canadian than this.”  I looked around at the mix of locals; First Nation travelers, Mennonites, and paddlers loading up luggage, backpacks, and canoes.  Behind me in line was Joanne, carrying her cargo in a collection of cardboard boxes, 5-gallon buckets and tote bags. 
 
After a 30-40 minute train ride, we were dropped off at “Shultz’s Trail”, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  How Wabakimi is that? It turned out Joanne was getting off at the same stop as us, but just about 200 yards from her home on Lake Onnamakawash where she grew up trapping beaver, fox, and rabbits. She had just taken a run into Armstrong for supplies.
Though we were told to arrive prepared for camping, we were put up on Shawanabis Lake in very luxurious style (by Wabakimi standards) at a cottage owned by Bruce Hyer of Wabakimi Outfitters. 
 
Our cleanup site was just about 500 feet east of Joanne’s place.  Mr. Schulz’s place (hence the name of the portage trail) was a set of abandoned buildings that were filled with an assortment of trash that was the target of our cleanup.  The plan was to move all the trash from Shultz’s cabins on Lake Onnamakawash,  500 feet to the RR track, then about ¼ mile along the tracks, to the shoreline of Lake Shawanabis, down a hill to the lake and then, by motorboat, another 1-1/4 miles to a dock owned by Wabakimi Outfitters, where a float plane would come to pick it up a day or two after our departure.
 
Upon arrival, it took us a few minutes to get oriented and find the actual portage trail, which was about 260 feet east of the drop-off.  We hauled our gear that direction and carried our tools and trash collection supplies to the site.  Two of the Ontario Parks staff needed to head over to the Shawabanis landing, where Bruce Hyer had left us a canoe.  Then they had to paddle the 1-1/4 miles to our cabin and pick up a motorboat to be used for hauling our gear and trash.
 
The remaining four of us decided to jump right in to the cleanup.  Donning gloves and N95 masks, we began shoveling and filling trash bags.  As we filled bags, we began hauling them along the tracks over to the shore of Shawanabish where our gear was waiting for the motorboat/pickup.  That little motorboat got quite a workout, as it took 2 trips just to get all six of us and our gear from the RR tracks to the cabin and then approximately 10 more trips for the trash alone.  In total, I estimate we had 40 stuffed trash bags and about 20 large miscellaneous items.   This means that each of us (3 volunteers and 3 staff) made ten trips carrying trash through the woods and along the tracks.
 
While we were told to travel with our own food, the Canadians really knew how to travel in the wilderness and there was a lot of sharing of food and snacks. Joe Agan took it upon himself to keep us supplied with walleye to supplement our meals. The evenings were filled with fun, sharing of stories, culture and laughs.  The older volunteers (avg age 66) managed to beat the younger Ontario Parks staff (avg age 24) at Trivial Pursuit, but the youngsters put up a good fight.
 
Day Two:

On day one, we had made a pretty good dent on the trash strewn on the floors of the cabins and we began hauling the larger pieces of debris that included chairs, 55 gallon drums and gas canisters.  It appeared that we might finish up on day 2 when we discovered an additional trash dump in the woods between the cabins and the lake. Still, we got the bulk of the trash over to the dock by the end of Day Two.  We were thinking that we’d have a day for fishing, swimming and exploring.
 
Day Three:

This was our perceived off-day but there was still plenty to do at the Schultz Trail, closing up and securing the cabins, stowing all the tools and gear for the trip home and planning our return on the train the following morning.  Part of the planning for this trip involved the train schedule.  The train does not run every day, so that required us to stay 3 days whether we needed 2 days or 4. Still we finished everything in time to spend a good part of the afternoon off on our own adventures.  I took in a swim and a paddle while Joe rustled up more delicious walleye (or was it pickerel?) for dinner. 
 
Day Four:
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We had to get up early and hustle a bit to get all our gear and people to catch the train, considering we had to take 3 trips, 2 trips for people and gear and then a final trip to return the motorboat and paddle back to the RR tracks.  You probably know that phone signals and internet are non-existent in the wilderness (adding to the charm of wilderness travel).  Still using some sort of relay connection through Garmin Inreach and someone’s uncle’s co-worker, we managed to find that the train was only about an hour behind schedule, giving us time to rest and chat with Joanne, the local resident.  She told us about her travels and growing up following her grandmother on her traplines.  The trip back to Armstrong was a quick but enjoyable train ride.  Then we retraced our steps back to Minneapolis, getting in around 9 pm.  Thanks FOW for a fun and memorable trip!
 
David Thomas


Many Thanks to David for participating and for the wonderful story
-Friends of Wabakimi Board