BWCA Red Lake Outfitters exit from WCPP Boundary Waters Group Forum: Woodland Caribou Provincial Park
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      Red Lake Outfitters exit from WCPP     

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Marten
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01/19/2020 11:16AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
I came across this video of a late 2019 trip into WCPP. The intro message and some of the comments shed good light on the nasty situation going on last summer in Red Lake, Ontario. I wish Goldseekers the best as they pick up the slack in the WCPP outfitting business. Nice canoe video and interesting comments about RLO"s exit.
 
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01/19/2020 10:31PM  
Looks like they had a pretty good trip, despite it all...

I'm less clear now about the RLO situation than I was before - I thought the outfitting business was sold - but this video indicates a sale of the "retail business".
Is RLO shut down or is it being operated by someone else?

Regardless, Albert at Goldseekers is going to have a busy year! My crew is already booked with him for liquid water season.
 
Marten
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01/20/2020 09:23AM  
I have been told that Red Lake Outfitters is no more. The retail store is Chukuni Outdoor Supply now and they plan on doing some outfitting but not the scale of Red Lake Outfitters. The intent of this posting is so that others know that Red Lake Outfitters has gone out of business. It appears that Harlan did not let any of his clients know that he was leaving town.
 
hobbydog
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01/20/2020 08:56PM  
I really enjoyed their trip report. Despite a little rain, some pretty nice September weather.

I had some mixed feelings about how Harlan promoted/marketed WCPP. I get the business side and WCPP does not get a lot of visitors but I think the common routes on the east central side get a disproportionate amount of traffic. I have never been on this route but you can see from the campsites in the video that they get a lot more traffic compared to the western half. I prefer ones that get maybe one or two uses a year....if that. But I do encourage people to go there and outfitters have their place. Good luck to Albert and Goldseekers.

I think the last 6 lines of the Eagles "The Last Resort" kind of sum it up for me.

Stand up and sing about
What it's like up there
They call it paradise
I don't know why
You call someplace paradise
Kiss it goodbye
 
Marten
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01/21/2020 09:24AM  
I agree about the emphasis on that one area in the south central part of the park being pushed too much. Probably made sense for an outfitter if he could fly a party in and pick up another nearby on the way back.

There are so many better places in WCPP than that area.
 
donr
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01/21/2020 12:57PM  
I would love to get to other areas of the park, but my issue is the lack of relatively easy vehicle access and not be able to camp on Crown Land at most of the entry points. Not being able to camp on Onnie is a deal breaker for that access point and Johnson does not lend itself to circle routes.

I would love to try Obukowin, but am concerned about the portages from Siderock. That leaves Wallace Lake to Crystal Lake or Garner Lake. Garner Lake looks more feasible, but I have not been able to find information about leaving a vehicle there.

Being somewhat of a control freak, I hate to rely on access/pickup by plane or shuttle.

I would greatly appreciate suggestions on routes other than the SE portion of the park.

Don
 
hobbydog
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01/21/2020 05:12PM  
donr: "I would love to get to other areas of the park, but my issue is the lack of relatively easy vehicle access and not be able to camp on Crown Land at most of the entry points. Not being able to camp on Onnie is a deal breaker for that access point and Johnson does not lend itself to circle routes.


I would love to try Obukowin, but am concerned about the portages from Siderock. That leaves Wallace Lake to Crystal Lake or Garner Lake. Garner Lake looks more feasible, but I have not been able to find information about leaving a vehicle there.


Being somewhat of a control freak, I hate to rely on access/pickup by plane or shuttle.


I would greatly appreciate suggestions on routes other than the SE portion of the park.


Don"


I have done Garner twice and no issues. You park at the boat launch in a staffed campground. Same with Wallace Lake EP. You will need a Manitoba provincial park pass. Lots of loop options going in Garner. check out my trip report. Garner Lake
 
Marten
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01/21/2020 06:42PM  
A number of years ago I recorded a route from Glenn north through Domain to Prairie to Indian House. It is a great area but needs chainsaw work by the park and that's the rub. Claire has pushed for it but can't get it on top of the list. With the past fires it is really needed now. It would allow numerous routes from the easily driven to Johnson access.

It is easy to drive on really good gravel roads to the Wallace and Garner parking places.
 
donr
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01/22/2020 09:29PM  
Thank you both for your suggestions. Pulled out the maps last night started planning. Might have to take a couple of trips this summer. :)
 
01/26/2020 06:58PM  
Marten: "I came across this video of a late 2019 trip into WCPP. The intro message and some of the comments shed good light on the nasty situation going on last summer in Red Lake, Ontario. I wish Goldseekers the best as they pick up the slack in the WCPP outfitting business. Nice canoe video and interesting comments about RLO"s exit. "


Happy ending for the couple driving all the way from NC; Richard sounds like a class act all the way!
 
joewildlife
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02/03/2020 08:08AM  
yes, Red Lake Outfitters is no more, and the website is down now. I spoke to Harlan personally and got more of the scoop about the situation, but it will not be repeated here. Richard is a good guy and I hope to do business with him in the future.
It's funny when folks imply the SE part of the park is "overused". I've only been to WCPP twice, and first I will say that Harlan was instrumental in us getting up there in the first place. The only place I saw any concentration of paddlers, at all, was Mexican Hat lake. Other than that, we saw very very few people. I feel that outpost cabins have a much, much more negative effect on the park than even a doubling of backcountry paddlers would have. In my opinion, I'd rather run across a paddler here or there on a trip, than be on a single lake and see motorized fishing boats.

We made a 14 day loop out of Leano June 2019, using truck shuttle in and out, but the shuttle wasn't really necessary. It is a more expensive but less risky option. I'm told if you break down or get stuck or anything, a tow truck is $1000 to get out of Leano. That 14 day loop was an epic trip, we never saw a cabin or motorboat in use, saw exactly one party the entire loop once we got past Mexican Hat, and that was Oldzip. We saw nobody going in through Bunny and up to Mexican hat. And saw nobody between Talon and out through Killburn.

The year before we went in at Johnson lake and spent the first night on Telescope, and saw nobody until Mexican Hat. We didn't see anybody coming out through Embryo Hatchet and Douglas, and get a water tow out from Trout Bay. When you don't see anybody near the access points, that is a good sign. Just stay away from Mexican hat if seeing other canoeists is a problem.

As for us, we won't use air service because when using two solo canoes, it becomes very cost prohibitive. We will have to just make longer trips. If you have 14 days, you can paddle in and out of anywhere in park if you move most every day. We went as far west as Bulging, Mather, and Irregular so there wasn't much more to see to the west or south of us in the park. Sometime we will do the Gammon system to Carrol and the Bloodvein to Artery, but those trips will be more of "there and back" trips instead of loops. I'm looking forward to it, but my next few trips will be in Quetico.

Any comments on driving and leaving personal vehicles at Lund?

Joe





 
Marten
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02/03/2020 08:28PM  
The roads to Lund are a lot better than the one to Leano. Usually water on the road somewhere but can be driven through. We have never had an issue with parking at Lund.

You make a valid point about the SE part of WCPP not being crowded. Very easy to have all the solitude you want. The Haven to Mexican Hat route is one to stay away from.
 
joewildlife
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02/04/2020 10:19AM  
Sage advice Marten. We saw all the boats and traffic in June 2018 in that Mexican Hat Hansen Rostoul Havin Glenn area. The fishing was great, there were some good campsites there, but definitely a lot more like Quetico than the solitude of other parts of the park.

A good general rule if you want solitude...go to trout lakes. Everybody wants walleye and if there aren't walleye, the area will receive a lot less traffic. This was very true, and characteristic of the southern areas of the park.
Joe


 
02/04/2020 11:45AM  
Regarding boat traffic & WCPP trip planning...
Would be interesting to make a list of all the lakes with outposts/lodges/cabins and with boat caches...so anyone who wants to be sure they avoid motorized traffic could do so.

off the top of my head:
Sydney
Kilburn
Hansen
Hammerhead
Optic
Telescope
Douglas
Sabaurin
Royd
Artery
Carroll
Knox
Thicketwood
Murdock
Peterson
Hatchet
Larus
....and I am sure I am missing a bunch.
 
joewildlife
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02/04/2020 05:55PM  
Funny, I've been on a lot of those lakes and don't remember there being boats...I guess if I didn't see them running I wasn't too worried about it?

Add Rostoul to the list.

I was just working out an idea of what a trip on the Bloodvein would look like. Too many lakes on the route are on your list!
Joe
 
Marten
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02/04/2020 08:41PM  
Wanda, Craven and Musclow can be added. Royd could probably be dropped because the private cabin there has been removed and Showwalters old cabin on the south end rarely gets used because Royd is a "Trout" lake. All of the Bloodvein has boat caches at the least. Carroll has to be the busiest when it comes to motor traffic. Donald has a number of private cabins.
 
joewildlife
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02/04/2020 08:56PM  
Marten, you should write a guide! Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the park with me on this and another post. I'm taking notes. Our June trip was our best ever, because I researched it and Harlan gave some great advice pointing to the south and southwest part of the park, where we could get away from everything. Never saw a gas engine (aside from on the float planes overhead) in 14 days.

Wow, that would be a disappointment, paddling across the park east to west only to see a bunch of motorized boats on Carroll!
Joe
 
mpeebles
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02/04/2020 10:19PM  
I believe that there are twenty-six guided fishing boats operating out of Sobourin Lake Lodge. They travel extensively along the Bloodvein River system in that area. Boats from Lower Artery in Atikaki also come into Artery, Lower Artery, Mary's, Ted's, etc. (a couple of these........ nice folks from North Dakota gave us two coffee mugs as we forgot ours. Sometimes things just have a way of working out. Thanks North Dakota nice people ! )

Anyway, all that being said, you will encounter some boat traffic in that part of the park.

Safe travels.......
 
mpeebles
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02/05/2020 07:19AM  
Just wanted to add that there is some of the best walleye/northern fishing anywhere in the north/central and northern parts of the park that are rarely visited by canoeists let alone motor boats.

Safe travels.......
 
joewildlife
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02/05/2020 09:14AM  
I'll have to look for those!
It's more important for my daughter and I to have solitude and good fishing than to have simply traversed the park east to west and back on the Bloodvein and Gammon, that is for sure!

Specifics and recommendations always welcome :)

Joe
 
jillpine
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02/05/2020 09:42PM  
mpeebles: "Just wanted to add that there is some of the best walleye/northern fishing anywhere in the north/central and northern parts of the park that are rarely visited by canoeists let alone motor boats.
Safe travels.......
"


Mike, are there shuttle or drive-in options for northern / NC options?
Beth
 
02/06/2020 07:57AM  
jillpine: "Mike, are there shuttle or drive-in options for northern / NC options?
Beth"


Not Mike, but - the northernmost drive-in access is Lund. The map on my wall also shows entry points associated with Hawk, Mimi and Trough lakes but these are all paddle-in, and are many days from a road.

In fact, other than flying I bet the fastest way to those three northern entry points is to go in at Lund.
 
mpeebles
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02/06/2020 07:55PM  
Pretty much what sns said. Getting TO Mimi and Hawk are fly ins. I've been on Hawk but we paddled there from Musclow. I've not been on Mimi and I'm not sure the river south of Mimi is navigable all the way to Burntwood. That would be a question for Claire. Getting into the interior is pretty tough unless you have a lot of time and don't mind portaging. Even though I have the time, for me I think it's worth it just to fly in/out mainly because I/we tend to travel heavy. Comfort is good when one gets older!

You can also access the n/e part of the park via the Chukini River. I met a family of four on Linge last year who did that although they mentioned that they probably wouldn't do it again. We loved that part of the park last year...Bigshell, Little Bigshell, Olive, Linge, Young and a bunch of 'other' lakes we explored.

Hoping Marten chimes in as he knows infinitely more about the routes in the park than I do and Wallace Lake might be an option.

Safe travels......Mike

 
mpeebles
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02/06/2020 08:44PM  
One thing I forgot to add. The n/e part of the park did not burn recently. There is a recent burn on the n/e side of Olive and along one of the portages going to Linge from Olive.

To JoeW's point about specific routes and lakes. I'm willing to share everything I've experienced up there. Feel free to e mail me and I'd be more than willing to share info. Better yet, if you have a map of the park we could go over it on the phone. That worked really well for me last year. Better, better yet, if you can hook up in person with someone who's been up there and go over topos. (Thanks again Marten!)

Later......Mike

 
Marten
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02/16/2020 08:16AM  
I know float planes are thought to be a deal breaker because of cost but you owe it to yourself to at least check out what Goldseeker's is offering in this Facebook special posted on Feb. 2.

Goldseekers Outfitting special rate on WCPP flights
https://www.facebook.com/woodlandcariboupark/

Flying into WCPP opens you up to the ultimate adventure in the seldom used parts of Woodland Caribou. Goldseekers Outfitting special rate on WCPP flights

Goldseekers special offer on flights into WCPP
 
bottomfeeder
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03/08/2020 10:11AM  
Marten: "I know float planes are thought to be a deal breaker because of cost but you owe it to yourself to at least check out what Goldseeker's is offering in this Facebook special posted on Feb. 2.

Goldseekers Outfitting special rate on WCPP flights
https://www.facebook.com/woodlandcariboupark/

Flying into WCPP opens you up to the ultimate adventure in the seldom used parts of Woodland Caribou. Goldseekers Outfitting special rate on WCPP flights

Goldseekers special offer on flights into WCPP "


Albert will have several groups flying in over the summer. If you coordinate your trip and schedule a fly-in with Goldseekers, he may be able to sync your group with another, i.e. one flies in as the other flies out, and split the cost of a leg between the two groups. That makes a huge dent in the cost.

Flying in opens up half the park to trips that would otherwise be inaccessible or physically draining in a weeks time or less.
 
joewildlife
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03/08/2020 11:04AM  
Just a shout-out to Richard at Chukini Outdoor Supply. He is now selling the laminated topo map sets with his own logo on them.
Joe
 
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