Thinking of hitting Cache Lake this summer.I thought since I was going to put myself through this misery,I might as well Bushwack into Zephira and add a little bit more fun to this trip.Has anybody been there or heard anything about this lake?

I have been thinking the same thing. I was looking at going up the creek that is just North of Zephira to the first place where it gets near the old logging road and start the bushwhack from there. The road does not run in the correct direction to be of any help and I would guess that like the ones KF and I crossed coming into McKenzie from the east they are planted with trees so close together you can’t get a canoe between them. There is a steep section on the North West corner of Zephira that should be avoided.

I have not been there, but years ago, I wrote this poem about it...


There Sits Zephira.....A poem by Stumpy.......

There sits Zephira
what mysteries she must hold
she moves a bit, but doesn't leave
just sits there, growing old
She's sat there for millenia
and will for many more
with visitors so scarce to call
that few have seen her shore.

There sits Zephira
guarded by trees growing tall
she sits beyond our comfort zone
a mystery to us all
we glance upon her picture
and quickly look away
then dream about another route
a simpler, easy way.

There sits Zephira
shes perfect in my dreams
with everything a man desires
"come fish me", she just screams
a ranger once flew by her
and then he told to me
she could be deep with 4 foot pike
her waters look like tea

There sits Zephira
I dream of fish like hogs
with jumping bass, a walleye cache
and pike as big as logs
but why no trail to her?
a portage she wont lend
is she, not worth visiting
or just a route dead-end

There sits Zephira
are her shorelines grand?
are they smooth or boldered
or maybe they are sand
are they thick with Jackpine?
or swamps to thick to tramp
or do they hide some secrets
a long-gone trappers camp?

There sits Zephira
and decades just might pass
till fire sweeps around her
and turns her wood to grass
and we may never see her
a hard bushwack she'd make
but until then, to me always
she'll be the perfect lake.

Great poem Stumpy!!Makes me want to get there even more.I have been trying to find some info on the lake,but my searches have not told me much at all.I guess I will have to keep trying,there has got to be some info out there somewhere.I just do not want to get back there and find out it is a 5 foot deep dead sea.From looking at the google earth and similiar pictures I think it looks like a lake that will hold some kind of fish...I hope so.

Bud Dickson, owner of Canoe Canada Outfitters (& former Quetico ranger) flew over it and told me it had dark water & he bet there were 4 foot pike in it.
Often dark water lakes are great fishing.

I've perused the maps a few times and I agree with Magicpaddler. The sole creek running east may get you there the fastest. At one point Zephira is .6 miles from the creek.
It's close to the edge of the park but too far to be practicle even if you could out all the logistics involved with that. If anyone has gone there they aren't talking. I've never uncovered any intel.

Stumpy,

Thanks for the poem. I'm going to go there next year! Or the next. Or the next.