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After a short hike, we finally made it up to Widgeon Falls. The guys and I took a much needed break to eat lunch and enjoy the scenery before hiking back down to the canoes and the long paddle back.

As we paddled along Widgeon Creek, one of the guys spotted a tributary to the creek. Despite the clear “Do Not Enter” sign and the chain across the entrance, we decided it was worth a further look. The water level of the creek was just high enough over the chain that we could paddle our canoes across. The farther we travelled up the creek tributary, the narrower it became until we ran out of water.

We had no idea how to rejoin the main creek and we were certainly not going to turn back so some of the guys went off scouting ahead on foot. They shortly returned with cries of “That way!” and “Portage!” Soon we were all yelling “Portage!” We picked up our canoes, held them over our head and began to portage in search of rejoining the main creek.

After a short trek, we came across an old abandoned dock. The dock was no longer on the water as the creek had changed course over the years, but the creek was just on the other side. As we traversed the dock, one of the guys nearly fell through the rotten timbers. He was lucky to make it across with nothing more than a few scrapes. Luckily no one else fell through. Once on the other side, we re-entered the creek with our canoes. The water was crystal clear (unlike the rest of Widgeon Creek) so we decided to have a swim and play in the water for awhile. Soon we were racing each other to see who could pull the canoes the fastest while swimming.

After our swim, we followed the new creek to see where it would lead us. As luck would have it, we rejoined Widgeon Creek not more than 100 feet from where we entered the tributary. Talk about a shortcut! Our adventure over, we continued up to the Falls.

My first trip to Widgeon Falls was back in July 1994. My friend Kevin was getting married and he really wanted to do this hike for his bachelor party. So we rented some canoes and paddled across Pitt Lake past Siwash Island to the entrance of Widgeon Creek. But that was only the beginning of this memorable adventure. We would soon go off exploring and get ourselves lost!