Just got back from an 8 day trip. WE entered at Leano paddled thru the Kilburns, Paull, Mexican Hat, Jake, Lunch, Bunny, and back out Leano. This was my wife and my first trip into the park, just love the area. I was surprised by the 2 hour drive from Red Lake to the entry point. First impressions, the portages are hard to find and not used very much. We were in and out of the burn area and found the contrast beautiful. The canoe landings are rough in places but not overly difficult. Camp sites were very nice, we stayed at a spot at the northern end of Mexican Hat that had a sand beach, awesome.I didn't fish as much as I thought I would because 15 to 20 MPH winds every day. Is this common up here? We did catch a lot of 16-18" walleye's in Mexican Hat.Anyone wondering about the difference between here and the BWCA you will see nobody, and its a little rougher. We did portages that there were no footprints. Just an absolutely beautiful place, something you have to experience.

Appreciate the impressions of another 1st timer. Planning our 1st trip there for next June.

Always good to see first timers post up. Glad you had a good trip.

I went there in May of 2017 and also found it to be windy. Great place to get away from it all though. I was there for 10 days and didn't see another person until day 9. I plan on going back.

You saw some nice lakes on your route. Glad you found the sandy beach campsite to your liking ... my first trip up, that site was pretty well obscured by deadfall, but I noticed on a subsequent visit that it had been cleaned up. There are also some real gems just a little further west. I personally like the couple of lakes just west of Paull and Mexican Hat ... Aegean and Wrist. Like Paull, there is a pictograph on South Aegean, and a small cave on the water on Aegean (across from "Quartz Hill") Wrist also has some monster lakers.

Although it is not windy all of the time (I've paddled flat water in WCPP on many occasions since my first trip a decade ago), it has the potential to be windy due to its proximity to the plains of Manitoba. Thermals tend to build to the west of the park and move easterly.

WCPP is also a lightening-prone area. So when you see a storm approaching, I'd recommend being prepared to move to a relatively safe area in the event of lightening strikes.

Lightening, is by the way, the most frequent cause of forest fires in the park. And since the park "theme" is "Where Nature Rules," fires are usually just observed rather than fought.

dd

I ended my first trip to WCPP a couple weeks ago, 11 days with my 22 year old daughter. We put in on Johnson, went west to Mexican Hat, Wrist, Haven, Rostoul, Hansen, and back out. It was a great trip. A real diversity in lakes and habitats! Fishing certainly didn't disappoint. We ate fish every night and released more than I can count. The campsites were very clean, no TP bombs anywhere. Found a handful of trash at the most, and it ain't there no more! The portages and campsites are all more "subtle" than those in BWCA and Quetico, for sure! You need to know where to look, it was never a problem. We saw three paddlers in two canoes total, and maybe 6 or 8 fishing boats working out of the cabins on the route. The portages were actually shorter and easier than a lot of 'em in BWCA or Quetico. The landings at the campsites and portages were rough, so the boats took a beating but that's okay (we took two Kruger Sea Winds), that's what they are made for. IF I had a complaint, there is a "seasonally shallow" stream between Cyclops and Roustoul that really ought to be portaged around, at least at the stream levels we saw, in that even lining the canoes around the rocks and shallow spots was hard on the boats. If I was that worried about it, I would have bushwhacked through the grass and brush, but we just pushed through. My route was likely a highly travelled area overall, but next to nill compared to BWCA and Quetico. The cabins and fishing boats were not unexpected, and didn't bother me. That said, my next trip will be south of there and go further west, into more trout waters and probably lesser use. I can't wait! Red Lake Outfitters provided the shuttles and everything they did for us was top notch!

And yes, it was windy! We had a few mornings where we paddled an hour or two of relative calm, otherwise it was 20mph plus gusts, and usually in our face! So, travel was a little slower than expected in some areas, but we had plenty of daylight and plenty of time fishing because of a less-ambitious plan we had!

Logstacker (or anyone else): How's the road to Leano looking these days? Any dicey spots?

I travelled the road in early June in a full size SUV. I did not run into any difficulties, but I would say it is in need of a scrape. I would guess my average speed was around 15 mph and I did not go any faster than 25 mph after passing Black Bear Lodge. There was water at each of the places where the drainage culverts had been.

Also, I talked with a couple of guys who had tried to come in from Ear Falls on the Long Legged Lake Road. It was washed out and not passable.

Don

I like WCCP. Do you?