I was thinking about "prolonging" my solo trips to Quetico with some camping outside of the Q. I know there are "Green Zones" where US citizens are prohibited from camping. Does anyone have any experience with camping in "legal" areas within, say, an hour or so of Atikokan, Ft. Frances, or Thunder Bay? (Fishing and photography would be my two main interests in picking a spot.) --Goose

this map is older, it does give an idea of closed areas though. if you a canadian outfitter i don't think it applies. the areas i have canoed in ontario are all now parks, white otter, kopka river, albany river. years ago we paddled savant lake,pashkokogan lakes to the albany river,

in the later 90s we did a loop from crane lake (horrible entry point) to lac la croix, we got a queens' land permit at sand point lake, this allowed us to canoe the namakan river (canada) to namakan lake in voyageur national park, back to crane lake. this river had some really nice qualities, great fishing, long stretches of good whitewater, and was a part of the voyageur route at times. there are plans to construct a dam on this river at the scenic high falls. if you plan on something different this was an interesting trip. namakan lake is really huge to canoe on, at times we couldn't see the west horizon.

John: What was the source of that older map? It is more detailed than the ones I have found in recent online searches. If I knew the source maybe I could download a better resolution version. What I am really interested in is just pointing my vehicle down some road near Ft. Frances or Atikokan, and "winging" it with pitching my tent, or maybe hauling my canoe up there and canoe/camp. Maybe I should talk to Jim at Canoe Canada this summer. --Goose

i picked the map up at the atikoken ranger station, ministry of natural resources, ontario, fort francis district. no date on the map though. as a retired cartographer / land surveyor that is a real oops.

John: Thanks, I will probably be up there this summer. "Oops" is right. No North arrow either, that I can see. I also worked with maps -- last 8 years before retiring I was GIS Manager for a metropolitan planning agency. I'm trying now to access the Ontario MNR website, and apparently it is "down." --Goose