BWCA Updates on Conditions in WCPP Boundary Waters Group Forum: Woodland Caribou Provincial Park
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   Group Forum: Woodland Caribou Provincial Park
      Updates on Conditions in WCPP     

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Explor8ion
member (8)member
  
06/08/2022 10:35AM  
Wow, this forum is very quiet! This either means everyone is out in their boats enjoying a great time or there is very little to update from WCPP so far in 2022. I fear it's the latter but in case anyone has updates, either first hand or from the parks staff could you kindly share with us here?

I am trying to plan for a trip the first half of July but the amount of beta available on current conditions is very sparse. I've been tracking the weather around Red Lake so far this Spring and they've had a shocking amount of rain and very few warm, sunny days. I am expecting high water but if things don't settle down there sooner than later I might have to cancel.

The only detailed feedback I have so far is the following snippet from Albert at Goldseekers from a week ago;

"Our first trippers are just starting to come out. No news on Johnston to Telescope -yet. Should have more this weekend. Optic to Hanson is crispy but passable -no issues with high water between lakes. Hanson to Wrist is a bit of a slog on the middle 450m and the 650m -bring a saw or three. No news Wrist to Aegean or Paul via the west entry. Campsites on the west side of Paul were reported as OK. S Aegean/Paul to Talon is a complete mess. Talon to Middle Kilburn has a few challenges. Kilburn(s) to Leano no serious issues. It sounds like the burn between S Aeg. and Talon was really intense burning through a large number of trunks, so when coupled with the heavy snow, rain and wind this year thus far, it's made for challenging conditions. Although since it was also burned in 2016 this could be the reason it's a mess too -the 2-4' new growth burned intensely enough to do further damage to the standing dead from '16.

The roads are officially closed to travel at the moment but are easily passible with a decent sport ute or truck. I can get through everything with my 2wd van so 4x4s should have no issues. I would expect by July they should be back to normal.
"

I'm looking for any and all updates such as these.
 
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donr
senior member (83)senior membersenior member
  
06/09/2022 12:36PM  
Vern,

Just an FYI, I was on Paull last September and the west end looked pretty bad. The Gucci island site was burned and the tent pad areas were covered by downed trees. The north shore was spared. The peninsula site just to the northwest was good, but I did not check any of the sites further west.

Don
 
MNGreene
member (34)member
  
06/12/2022 12:58AM  
Update from May 29 - June 3, 2022. Garner Entry (west side of WCPP)
Roads: East: Check with the Park. West: Check Manitoba 511 for road closures.
Water levels: Just slightly higher than normal, but this may vary by watershed.
Burned area: Vast areas were burned to bedrock with a few blackened stumps and burned fallen trees remaining. Soil burned. Think moonscape. The rest of the other areas had standing trees with brown or no needles. Very few spots survived the fire unscathed - a few small islands and some shoreline.
Firewood: Surprisingly hard to find any downed firewood in fire areas as it was all burned. We had to travel to unburned areas to find firewood.
 
Explor8ion
member (8)member
  
06/13/2022 03:49PM  
MNGreene: "Update from May 29 - June 3, 2022. Garner Entry (west side of WCPP)
Roads: East: Check with the Park. West: Check Manitoba 511 for road closures.
Water levels: Just slightly higher than normal, but this may vary by watershed.
Burned area: Vast areas were burned to bedrock with a few blackened stumps and burned fallen trees remaining. Soil burned. Think moonscape. The rest of the other areas had standing trees with brown or no needles. Very few spots survived the fire unscathed - a few small islands and some shoreline.
Firewood: Surprisingly hard to find any downed firewood in fire areas as it was all burned. We had to travel to unburned areas to find firewood."


Thanks for the update! That's a crazy amount of burn, but not surprised given the satellite views of the area. Which lakes did you travel through?
 
hobbydog
distinguished member(1973)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/18/2022 06:23PM  
I got back last night. Flew into Artery June 1....had to delay a day due to weather. First week very cold and windy, hung out along the Bloodvein between Artery and Larus the first 10 days or so. Areas south of the Bloodvein between Marys and Barclay were burned to the rock. A lot of the most burned areas were reburn of the 2018 fires. Lot of areas just took the jacks yet the birch and poplar were greening up nice. In some place is was scorched earth and yet untouched adjacent to it. Water level on the Bloodvein were exceptionally high. The current in the area of Artery pictos was especially fast and took some work to paddle through. The northerly portage to Mary's was flooded. I spent a couple of days at the campsite there fishing. While there a group of 5 came through. Came from Kenora on the way to Hudson Bay. Check out "Backyard Beginnings" on FB. Had lunch with this awesome group led by Emma. They said the English River system, Islands were flooded to the top of the trees. WCPP ports were flooded or very difficult bushwacks. Campsites were burnt with fallen trees everywhere. Yet they had high spirits despite the miserable weather and were very experienced for their age.

Because of this I started to lean to option B for me which was to spend 3 weeks taking it slow and easy and then flying out from some lake along the way vs paddling out to Wallace Lake.

I was fortunate to find some decent campsites in lightly burned or unburned island sites. The shorter portages (less than 200 meters) were not too bad and other than step overs and walk arounds and a little sawing along the way. When I got to the "Enchanted Portage" between Dunstan (completely burned) and Ugly (not burned) I had mad up my mind to go with Plan B. I had done this 750 meter portage in 2015 and it was enjoyable. This time the middle part was relatively good but the ends had a lot of larger fallen trees, especially on the south end where it was hard to find any semblance of a path other than a piece of orange tape on the ground. It didn't help that the cold had turned to a cloudless, windless hot day day. Nice moose shed found along the way.It is now a portage marker. The next portage, a short one to Wanda was a wreck. Fortunately it was short. I ended up staying on Wanda as the fishing was really good and one of my goals was to not prove that I needed to push my 65 year old body past its limits and slow down and enjoy. It as a good decision.

It really varies. The fire had left large pieces untouched while scorching the next lake.There is a lot left to burn. Lots of fire killed jacks with needles still attached. Lots of dead jacks due to pine beetle damage in unburned areas. Lots of stuff that burned in the last 6-7 years with lots of dry fuel. The park is definitely different. It has suffered from lack of use and routine portage clearing due to COVID, fire and record water levels this year. Campsites will offer little shade and will need some work to make them viable....not just from the dead stuff but new growth sprouting everywhere. There are lots of campsites on the map but even before the fire, few were nothing more than a landing and maybe a tent pad. It would be nice to focus a site or two per Lake and make them the default sites. Quality over quantity. The site on Barclay I stayed at in 2015 was unrecognizable. It was not burned but the small island was overgrown to the point you would never know there had been a site there.

The constant is that the fishing is unchanged and hard to beat. The wilderness feel is there now more than ever. Hopefully enough people keep going to keep the main routes open. Don't be deterred. Maybe wait until late July/early August when the crews have had a chance to clear some areas and the blueberry crop, which looked excellent this year is in full swing. BTW, skeeters were kinda bad for WCPP standards, at least on the north end.

Just getting started on going through pics. ...

Notice the canoe picto on the bottom is about level with the water for reference on water height.








Saw lots of Moose







Portage on North end of Terry Lake...not bad
 
Explor8ion
member (8)member
  
06/19/2022 09:31AM  
Thanks for the updates and the trip report. Appreciate the detail and pics!
 
06/19/2022 11:16AM  
Thanks for helping us better understand the current state of things in WCPP, hobbydog...

Did you use Albert's services - if so how is he? What's the aviation situation? Any scuttlebutt on the outposts within the park and how they fared?
 
hobbydog
distinguished member(1973)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/19/2022 01:17PM  
I flew in from Bissett with Bluewater Aviation. Much like in the US the government propped them up during Covid. They are busier than ever with people putting off plans the last two years.
I think the main routes from the east side will be fine as they will get more traffic.
I would say that soloing is going to be more difficult, especially for those of us getting older. I was triple portaging with lighter loads and between that and having to take extra time navigating and cutting it made it much more difficult. Again, it would be nice to see a good east west route and a north south route well maintained and the more adventurous can venture out from there for the next few years. It needs users right now. They will do as much to keep things open as the park crews have a huge task in front of them. I assume that too few users and funding for portage maintenance becomes more difficult to come by.

On a plus side, Places like Marten's bushwack from Dunstan to Moose Lake might be easier now. All of Dunstan is burned now and parts of it on the east side burned for a second time. This is a pic from the east side of Dunstan.


On the flight out it looked like Carroll Lake was very green. I got some video of the flight out but will have to wait until I get home as cabin coverage is too minimal to upload.

A few more pics....


souther part of Simeon, last campsite before the portage to South Simeaon...very nice campsite, several good tent pads.




The portage into South Simeon




Close to where you make a easterly turn to Sabourin. Islands patches of green where most is burned hard.




If you have the new map that came out last year that has campsites and other interesting facts....This is a beach area where I got picked up on Wanda. It is right in front of the C or cabin designation on the south side. It does not show a beach area on the map. The cabin is long gone and you would have a hard time getting to it as the area is a mangled mess of downed trees.




Handsome and very photogenic young bull moose
 
06/19/2022 03:14PM  
Interesting. What are the advantages of a west side air entry? We flew into Irvine and out of Dunstan on one trip, via Red Lake. May do another fly-in in the next year or so...open to all options!
 
hobbydog
distinguished member(1973)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/19/2022 04:32PM  
sns: "Interesting. What are the advantages of a west side air entry? We flew into Irvine and out of Dunstan on one trip, via Red Lake. May do another fly-in in the next year or so...open to all options!"


For me it is just closer, From my cabin in NW MN it is about a 4 hour drive to Bissett and about 2,5 hours to Lac Du Bonnett. You can fly out of either location. Red Lake is a good 6 hours, not the best roads, and then you still have to get to the EP.

If you don't fly, the west side entries via Garner or Wallace lakes are good options. The EPs and the west side in general gets much less traffic than the Red Lake side.

Atikaki is also an option and maybe one that will see more use with the conditions of WCPP. Or a combination of the two. A good 7-10 loop there would be go north out of Wallace to Aiken Lake then up the gammon to WCPP/Carroll/ Donald and back out the Wanipigow/Side Lake EP to Wallace Lake.
 
Marten
distinguished member(514)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
06/20/2022 06:29AM  
Hard to find current info for Atikaki but I have the info at CCR. Use the routes section search for Atikaki, not SE Manitoba. Atikaki has a little burn but not the charring my beloved WCPP received.
 
Explor8ion
member (8)member
  
07/18/2022 10:59AM  
I just came back from a group trip to the Leano Lake area so I'll update my own thread for feedback to others who may be considering WCPP.

Our trip was only 5 days and we tried to avoid the burns as much as possible. The loop we did went from Leano to Bunny and than the "new" portage routes north of Bunny to East Lunch, Lunch and Jake Lake. From Jake we paddled and portaged into Mexican Hat, down to Burnt Rock and then through Paull, South Paull and into Upper Kilburn Lake. From Upper Kilburn we took the 1000m portage into Kilburn and from there we travelled up Leano Creek back to Leano Lake.

Overall impressions are that the park is extra rustic after two years of Covid and several years of fires. This wasn't a big surprise! Normally the route we did would be considered fairly easy by WCPP standards as a pretty accessible and oft-traveled option. Areas burned in 2018 or 2019 were mostly maintained with reasonable portages that required some work to walk through with a canoe on your head (i.e. some trees fallen overhead). Areas burned in 2021 looked very scorched, thankfully we avoided most of those. Unburned areas were typical WCPP jungle and the portages were obvious but not maintained or traveled quite as much as they normally would be at this time of year. Water levels were great, fishing was good as usual with all the expected species caught in the expected places. Campsites were burned in places but still usable (i.e. Paull Lake and even on Burnt Rock) as long as you adjust your expectations a bit. We saw the regular numbers of birds and waterfowl but less animals than usual. We only saw bear sign on one portage from Bunny. There seemed to be more squirrels than I remembered. Blueberries were just started to come out and we enjoyed a few fresh raspberries. We only saw two other groups.

Ironically the "unmaintained" section of access road from Onnie to Leano was in very good condition with 60km/h travel possible on a lot of it. The washout that has "closed" the road at km 20 was a non-issue for any vehicle with clearance - there is a bypass around the washout now but the sign is still there. The Suffel Lake Road from hwy 618 was in pretty bad shape with very little maintenance and obvious water damage that slowed us to a crawl in sections (still easily navigable though). I'd say the road is easily drivable by any higher clearance vehicle when reasonably dry (i.e. no 4x4 necessary).

That's it for now. If I remember anything else I'll post it. My trip report with video will be up eventually and I'll post a link to that too.
 
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