Check out Lac Manicouagan in Quebec. It's an impact lake and a giant circle. Its large, central island is big enough for big lakes of its own. The water rises and falls due to hydroelectric-adjusting. You could spend weeks on it, exploring its arms and bays. You can also drive to it.

This is in my neck of the woods!

Very large body of water where you can expect sea like conditions and mile wide muddy shores according to water level. Not a place for safe canoeing.

quote Frederic: "This is in my neck of the woods!

Very large body of water where you can expect sea like conditions and mile wide muddy shores according to water level. Not a place for safe canoeing."

Yeah, it's a big one. Crossing from one side to another would be a nailbiter even on a calm day.

I’ve read of people becoming disoriented on that lake because of its shape.

I just went out and looked at it on Google maps. That's really cool. It's about 50 miles a across.

Do you have pictures from your trip? I'd love to see them.

Very cool..it's a old Crater and the 5th largest reservoir by volume in the world..

Manicouagan Reservoir

See what I found in the press this morning...

CP, Montreal PQ --Questions are being raised about certification for outdoor guides following the release of a police report on a canoe trip that went very wrong last summer.

According to the Gagnon, Quebec police report, a guided group of American tourists set out on a canoe trip on Manicougan Lake. As the Full Circle Tours goup of 12 prepared to launch at Gagnon, the guide suffered a hernia lifting a cheap canoe off a van and was rushed to hospital in Baie-Comeau. According to the assistant guide who took over the group, the senior guide had time only to instruct him to "take the group to the put-out at the dam". Manicouagan #5 is located 60km south of the lake, on the Manicouagan River. The guide was not the only resource they lacked. It turned out they also left a bag in a rented van -- a bag containing what turned out to be the group's only maps, gps and satellite phone.

"We looked for the gear for two days before facing the fact we didn't have it." said Paul Addled, the assistant guide. "We all discussed the matter and agreed the route was simple enough that it wasn't worth going back and ruining the trip." Little did they know what an adventure they were in for.

The group was totally unaware Lake Manicouagan is a donut-shaped reservoir, formed when the dam filled an ancient meteorite crater. Had the group headed south down the east shore, they would have reached the lake outlet and the river. Unfortunately, they chose to parallel the west shore, which is actually the east shore of a huge island that fills the center of the lake. At 75km in diameter with rugged shores, the lake's gradual curve is not apparent from the water.

Addled said they became utterly perplexed as some of the group noted and insisted the position of the sun, which, as they unwittingly turned west, then north, started rising in what they thought was the west, and set in the east. "Yeah, it just made no sense whatsoever." said Addled, "Who would imagine a lake shaped like a circle? We had some very forceful personalities that insisted nothing was wrong. Those who disagreed with them had no explanation for what was going on, so it seemed best to just keep on going and see what happened. We started to question our sanity, and the atmosphere of the trip got quite strange at times."

Because the group had food and time to reach the dam, they got all the way to the north end of the lake again before being reported missing. "We never dreamed something like that would happen, and we thought we were on schedule." added client Sally Forth contacted by phone in Shinekteky, New York. "So we weren't running out of food or anything like that. The sun thing seemed a bit odd, but I trusted the others knew what was best."

The alarm was raised when the group failed to show up at the dam. Several days were spent searching the east side of the lake for aftermath of a canoe accident. When no trace of the group was found, the search area was expanded, eventually to the west side of the lake. The group was found, a little hungry but healthy, still on the central island's coast, but just opposite their starting point in Gagnon and now headed southeast. "The lake got narrower, so we thought we were in the river." added Addled.

"I've never seen so much confusion in my life." said bemused Gagnon QPP officer Marc Soleil, describing the surreal scene as the group tried to fathom why they were being rescued and how they had somehow returned to Gagnon. The group was rushed to the town clinic for checkups and symptoms of poisoning as a result of their confusion and incomprehensible bizarre stories about "bad water" and the sun's orbit reversing.

Some of the clients said they probably won't book with the company again. Apparently however, other clients fully enjoyed what they called their "altered state adventure". Some of them, including Forth, have already signed up again with the company for a trip described on Full Circle's website as being a "Forest Wander" in northern Saskatchewan's boreal forest.

quote oldgentleman: "I just went out and looked at it on Google maps. That's really cool. It's about 50 miles a across.


Do you have pictures from your trip? I'd love to see them."

No trip. That lake scares me!

quote Frederic: "See what I found in the press this morning...

CP, Montreal PQ --Questions are being raised about certification for outdoor guides following the release of a police report on a canoe trip that went very wrong last summer.


According to the Gagnon, Quebec police report, a guided group of American tourists set out on a canoe trip on Manicougan Lake. As the Full Circle Tours goup of 12 prepared to launch at Gagnon, the guide suffered a hernia lifting a cheap canoe off a van and was rushed to hospital in Baie-Comeau. According to the assistant guide who took over the group, the senior guide had time only to instruct him to "take the group to the put-out at the dam". Manicouagan #5 is located 60km south of the lake, on the Manicouagan River. The guide was not the only resource they lacked. It turned out they also left a bag in a rented van -- a bag containing what turned out to be the group's only maps, gps and satellite phone.


"We looked for the gear for two days before facing the fact we didn't have it." said Paul Addled, the assistant guide. "We all discussed the matter and agreed the route was simple enough that it wasn't worth going back and ruining the trip." Little did they know what an adventure they were in for.


The group was totally unaware Lake Manicouagan is a donut-shaped reservoir, formed when the dam filled an ancient meteorite crater. Had the group headed south down the east shore, they would have reached the lake outlet and the river. Unfortunately, they chose to parallel the west shore, which is actually the east shore of a huge island that fills the center of the lake. At 75km in diameter with rugged shores, the lake's gradual curve is not apparent from the water.


Addled said they became utterly perplexed as some of the group noted and insisted the position of the sun, which, as they unwittingly turned west, then north, started rising in what they thought was the west, and set in the east. "Yeah, it just made no sense whatsoever." said Addled, "Who would imagine a lake shaped like a circle? We had some very forceful personalities that insisted nothing was wrong. Those who disagreed with them had no explanation for what was going on, so it seemed best to just keep on going and see what happened. We started to question our sanity, and the atmosphere of the trip got quite strange at times."


Because the group had food and time to reach the dam, they got all the way to the north end of the lake again before being reported missing. "We never dreamed something like that would happen, and we thought we were on schedule." added client Sally Forth contacted by phone in Shinekteky, New York. "So we weren't running out of food or anything like that. The sun thing seemed a bit odd, but I trusted the others knew what was best."


The alarm was raised when the group failed to show up at the dam. Several days were spent searching the east side of the lake for aftermath of a canoe accident. When no trace of the group was found, the search area was expanded, eventually to the west side of the lake. The group was found, a little hungry but healthy, still on the central island's coast, but just opposite their starting point in Gagnon and now headed southeast. "The lake got narrower, so we thought we were in the river." added Addled.


"I've never seen so much confusion in my life." said bemused Gagnon QPP officer Marc Soleil, describing the surreal scene as the group tried to fathom why they were being rescued and how they had somehow returned to Gagnon. The group was rushed to the town clinic for checkups and symptoms of poisoning as a result of their confusion and incomprehensible bizarre stories about "bad water" and the sun's orbit reversing.


Some of the clients said they probably won't book with the company again. Apparently however, other clients fully enjoyed what they called their "altered state adventure". Some of them, including Forth, have already signed up again with the company for a trip described on Full Circle's website as being a "Forest Wander" in northern Saskatchewan's boreal forest."

How could none of them know that the lake was round? Seems fishy to me and not the good kind of fishy.

I agree the level of ignorance was amazing..even without maps just a look at the map prior would give me a clue at least. Evidently the experienced people were easily swayed and not real experienced. Kinda amazed they didn't bump into someone else. The maps look like there might even be cabins on the shore. Still it's a cool crater!

Yeah, the story of the tourists is cute, but it's not true. "Sally Forth" of Shinekteky, "Paul Addled" and Marc Soleil". "Full Circle Tours".......

This one has been making the rounds since at least 2004.

I was waiting for this last post! Can anyone seriously book a trip described as a "Forest wander" in Northern Saskatchewan?

Full credit for this story should go to a poster called SGrant on a Canadian canoeing forum.

I had a such a good laugh when I first saw it that I could not resist sharing on this thread.

Yeah, I love it.....sun rising in the west, etc.

Actually, that looks like one interesting lake. However, I can see where people might get a bit disoriented. To paddle what appears to be a straight course, and end up back where you started! How freaky would that be.

I worked on a "campus" several years ago, and one of our buildings was a five story hospital that was round. Every time I would work (maintenance) in that building, I'd have to stop and look out a window just to get my bearings. I never could get used to not having a hallway end. My brain just could not get used to it. I've got a pretty good sense of direction, but could never figure out if I was on the west side or east side or north side or south side of that building.

Paddling on Manicougan Lake would be like paddling on a river that appears straight, but goes around in a circle. Totally weird! Weird but very cool.

Good laugh! Strange lake...

Only in Canada can such a yarn be spun.