BWCA First WCPP trip 2021 planning Boundary Waters Group Forum: Woodland Caribou Provincial Park
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      First WCPP trip 2021 planning     

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homers
senior member (51)senior membersenior member
  
08/05/2020 08:43PM  
My wife and I are planning our first trip to the WCPP. We've done BWCA (twice) and Quetico (once). Later in life, still healthy late 50's, early 60's. We'd like to fly in/out to make the trip a bit more special.

Route suggestions appreciated. Been reviewing all I can find here and on other forums, as well as watching youtube videos.

1) Would like to stay off big lakes, wife doesn't like paddling in whitecaps or too large of waves.
2) Fishing for walleyes and lake trout
3) prefer to minimize burn areas
4) like waterfalls

Flexible on the number of days, say 7-10, with a fairly relaxed speed.
Also, which month? Pros/Cons for each month that I can see.
June - Pros
not normally as hot as full summer,
seems like easier fishing (more shallow)
flies aren't as bad as July
June - Cons
?
July - Pros
?
July Cons
Hot
Fish start to move deeper
Busiest time?
Peak flies?
Aug - Pros
blueberries
Aug - Cons
Probably similar to July
Sept - Pros
past peak visitor
cooling down weather
fishing?
Few, in any, insects
Sept - Cons
?

Thanks for all route suggestions and help/corrections to the month pro/con list
 
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hobbydog
distinguished member(1973)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
08/06/2020 07:31AM  
I don't think there is a bad time. My trips have either been Mid June to July 4 or the first couple of weeks of Sept. Bugs, including flies have never been a problem. I like Mid June for its really long days. Fishing is good but I think you can find good fishing all summer long. A downside is you might see more boat traffic in areas with fly-in fishing. That has never bothered me and have only seen a few. July is too hot for me so can't help you there. August has blueberries, a greater possibility of lower water levels. You will want to be wary of any places marked seasonably shallow. Less motorboat traffic but probably more canoe traffic. Days get noticeably shorter, better chance at seeing northern lights and nightime sky. Can be hot or cool but winds are usually quite calm. Zero bugs. .....There is no bad time.

One possible route....fly into Artery Lake and go east to Barclay, Simeon, Dunstan and down to Royd. At the top of Royd head NE to Irvine or Murdock. You could chose to fly out on Royd, Irvine or Murdock depending on the pace you want to take. Or you could just drop down to Gammon, Rostoul, Hanson.

You have lots of options if you want to fly in and fly out. Don't be afraid of the burn out areas. Only downside with them can be shade on hot sunny days. Hard to avoid them now as lots of the park has burned in the last 5 years.
 
dentondoc
distinguished member(1097)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
08/06/2020 10:22AM  
If you prefer to try to stay away from the burn areas, you might take a look at THIS MAP to aid in establishing a route. (You'll need to zoom in to the area of WCPP. The darker the shading, the more recent the burn area.)

dd
 
homers
senior member (51)senior membersenior member
  
08/06/2020 01:37PM  
hobbydog:
One possible route....fly into Artery Lake and go east to Barclay, Simeon, Dunstan and down to Royd. At the top of Royd head NE to Irvine or Murdock. You could chose to fly out on Royd, Irvine or Murdock depending on the pace you want to take. Or you could just drop down to Gammon, Rostoul, Hanson.
"


I had not looked at that part of the park until you mentioned it. I'll have to research this but from initial look at the map seems like a possibility. Looks like a nice mix of lakes, streams.
 
homers
senior member (51)senior membersenior member
  
08/06/2020 01:39PM  
dentondoc: "If you prefer to try to stay away from the burn areas, you might take a look at THIS MAP to aid in establishing a route. (You'll need to zoom in to the area of WCPP. The darker the shading, the more recent the burn area.)


dd"


Thanks for that map. I'll take it into consideration with my planning.
 
08/06/2020 02:57PM  
Hobbydog's Royd>Irvine suggestion is a good one, but know that those lakes and the entire (long) day's travel in-between them burned in 2018.
 
Marten
distinguished member(514)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
08/08/2020 09:09AM  
If you want the best WCPP has to offer and do not mind a more adventurous route look at Walking Stick Lake. The burn map will show it as burned but a group that was there a last year said they saw none there. They cleared the trees off the unofficial route going west to Craven and found the trail with out a GPS. I can give anyone the GPS info an this never traveled route. Some of the portages are 1000 meters but all dry and firm through mature forest. Walleyes are abundant in Walking Stick and another lake 4 short portages to the west. Fish species in the other lakes are unknown as no one has fished them. There are numerous videos of WCPP on my channel but check the fire map as many of the areas burned and will not match what you see on my videos of years past.


Marten's cabin and canoe videos
 
homers
senior member (51)senior membersenior member
  
08/08/2020 03:02PM  
Marten: "If you want the best WCPP has to offer and do not mind a more adventurous route look at Walking Stick Lake. The burn map will show it as burned but a group that was there a last year said they saw none there. They cleared the trees off the unofficial route going west to Craven and found the trail with out a GPS. I can give anyone the GPS info an this never traveled route. Some of the portages are 1000 meters but all dry and firm through mature forest. Walleyes are abundant in Walking Stick and another lake 4 short portages to the west. Fish species in the other lakes are unknown as no one has fished them. There are numerous videos of WCPP on my channel but check the fire map as many of the areas burned and will not match what you see on my videos of years past.



Marten's cabin and canoe videos "

Marten, I've watched probably a dozen of your videos and love them. We don't mind some tough portages, but I can't see us bushwacking through blowdown like you did. Maybe if we were younger :)

I'll take a look at the route you suggested. Thanks.
 
Marten
distinguished member(514)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
08/08/2020 07:23PM  
The route west of Walking Stick does not have any blowdown on it. A group last year cut any down trees they found along the route. Rock Cairns mark the way. Anyone familiar with following a "track" on a GPS will easily find their way. Not for the new traveler but nice for those wanting a little more. Albert at Goldseekers outfitting has my GPS info and could mark up some maps for you.
 
08/08/2020 08:51PM  
Between Albert and Marten, if you can't find a great route that you will love, there is no hope.

I miss WCPP.
 
mpeebles
distinguished member (253)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
08/09/2020 08:38PM  
sns: "Between Albert and Marten, if you can't find a great route that you will love, there is no hope.


I miss WCPP."


+1
 
homers
senior member (51)senior membersenior member
  
08/20/2020 11:42AM  
So many options, still investigating.
 
danbogey
senior member (79)senior membersenior member
  
09/28/2020 03:30PM  
homers: "So many options, still investigating."


Seems like a beautiful area and seeing that there's very little info out there I'm sure you'd feel like your the 1st people ever to visit it. The planning wheels are starting to spin for next year !!
 
dentondoc
distinguished member(1097)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
09/29/2020 02:49PM  
mpeebles: "
sns: "Between Albert and Marten, if you can't find a great route that you will love, there is no hope.

I miss WCPP."


+1"

+1
 
joewildlife
distinguished member(605)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
10/12/2020 09:50PM  
I've only been to WCPP twice, but the two trips were different. The first time, I didn't worry about there being cabins on some of the lakes. I didn't pay much attention to what kind of fish there were in the lakes. General rule of thumb, walleyes attract people and cabins house people and motorized boats. We saw plenty of motorized boats and plenty of canoes. The second trip we avoided all lakes with cabins and hit a lot of trout water. We saw NO motorized boats the whole trip, and very very few paddlers. The fishing was excellent.

I guess I'm just saying, you can plan a trip in the more popular parts of the park with the cabins, and the Bloodvein and Gammon river systems with all their walleye, and happily accept you might see more people than you expected, or you can plan your route with this in mind and find some real solitude, fewer walleye, and a lot more lake trout!

Joe
 
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