Mistik Creek

Description

The remote creek flows through Churchill River Upland portion of the Midwestern Canadian Shield forests and is surrounded by mixed forest with stands of black spruce, white spruce, jack pine, and trembling aspen. The shoreline is characterized by steeply sloping irregular rock ridges and poorly drained areas of muskeg.

Mistik Creek area is largely pristine and home to moose, black bear, lynx, wolf, and beaver. It is part of the range of the Naosap woodland caribou herd. Bird species include raven, common loon, spruce grouse, bald eagle and hawk owl. The creek is not easily accessible, but there is some trapping, hunting, and recreational fishing activity.

Etymology

Mistik is Cree for "Tree". The river is notable including fourteen lakes named in numeric order in Cree. The fourteen lakes listed by their Cree names with the English translations in order from south to north are:

Course

The river begins in Naosap Lake, and the upper lakes lie in very irregular basins with low banks surrounded by muskeg and flows slowly. Downstream, the lakes become smaller and the river portions form continuous rapids. At Neso Lake, the creek passes by the Neso Lake Provincial Park and under Manitoba Highway 10 before emptying into Lake Athapapuskow via Payuk Lake's outflow Payuk Creek.

Canoe route

The "Mistik Creek Loop" is a well-known remote wilderness canoe trip which is 95 km (59 mi) in total length can be paddled in four to five days. The route is characterized by many short, unmarked portages around small sets of rapids. It begins and ends at Bakers Narrows and relies on longer portages between Lake Athapapuskow, Alberts Lake and Naosap Lake

Tributaries