Who's going to WCPP this summer? Tell us about your plans.

Well, my wife and I are going and starting to get pretty excited. This will be our 4th trip into WCPP. This year will be our longest trip - 26 days of pure, unadulterated bliss. Beginning on August 8th, we'll be flying into Haggart Lake and paddle up into Broken Arrow for a couple of days. From there we'll head back east through Haggart, Bulging and up towards Hammerhead or Donald. There are a number of possible routes and we'll work that out on the fly. From Donald we'll continue east to Royd, Constellation, Lightning Lake and Indian House. Then we'll paddle southeast through Crystal and Page and have Harlan pick us up with the boat shuttle at Douglas, September 3rd.
This should be a nice, easy trip since we'll be taking our time. From Indian House to Douglas we've done before but all the rest will be new territory for us. If anyone has done any of this route and has suggestions about particularly noteworthy campsites or fishing grounds and would care to share, please, please don't hesitate, especially when it comes to fishing. Since we'll have so much time I'm planning to try my hand at night sky photography this time out. Can't wait!

I envy you folks. Loved my 2014 visit, but doing a northern Q entry this year. Maybe 2016 for the WC.

quote AndySG: "
I envy you folks. Loved my 2014 visit, but doing a northern Q entry this year. Maybe 2016 for the WC. "

Doing the MinnJim with nctry and his group from July 8-18th or so. We are driving up the access road to Lund if I remember correctly and heading into Knox from there, Murdoch, down the MJ and back out.

I am flying into Artery from Lac du Bonnet and paddling back out, at least to Bird Lake. Starting June 15 and finishing up around July 1. Longest and most challenging solo trip yet. I missed out last year so figure I have to make up for it.


route plan

I'm like hobbydog... Need some extra time. Trip with High and dry is the first leg of three in that area.

quote nctry: "I'm like hobbydog... Need some extra time. Trip with High and dry is the first leg of three in that area."

Now I'm VERY jealous! Stay safe Ben.

Sounds like lots of people are doing long trips this summer.

For myself I'm planning a 30+ day trip from mid-August to mid-September. Start on Johnson, catch the Bloodvein, and take it all the way to Lake Winnipeg. Then turn around and paddle back, probably catching the Gammon river on the return trip. Just me and my dog.

Maybe I'll bump into one or two of you along they way.

Alan

I will be out for a while too. Some friends are flying in to join me on Irvine on Sunday August 2. With a cost share the empty Otter airplane is available for the trip from Irvine to Bissett, Manitoba. The short shuttle from the Bissett Airbase to Wallace Lake on the Wanipigow River can be arranged. An Otter can carry two canoes on the outside and a lot inside.

Not sure on the route yet but we will be there probably in August.

Doing a fly in in Sept out of Red Lake. Still not sure of route.

Anyone got any preferences for a grand slam fishing trip? Want to spend most of the time fishing, but can day trip or move maybe twice in a 9 day trip.

Also - what is the best map source?

Old Hoosier

I haven't found a place that is bad for fishing, but it depends what you want to go after. Not every lake holds all species. Lake Trout/Northern Pike, Walley/Pike are many times on separate lakes. However, as with all areas, there are some lakes that hold everything.

My favorite areas for good fishing is obviously Mexican Hat, Glenn, Hansen and that general area. Pretty hard to go wrong.

Good Luck

quote Old Hoosier: "Doing a fly in in Sept out of Red Lake. Still not sure of route.

Anyone got any preferences for a grand slam fishing trip? Want to spend most of the time fishing, but can day trip or move maybe twice in a 9 day trip.

Also - what is the best map source? "

If you are talking about the "Classic" Slam (Walleye, Northern Pike, Lake Trout and Smallmouth Bass), your best bet is along the Bloodvein River. Musclow is purported to have all four species, but Smallmouth is "iffy." Personally, i've caught everything EXCEPT Lake Trout in the area just north of Simeon Lake (between Simeon and Larus). That area is too shallow to support Lakers.

So, you could do a fly-in/fly-out and include Musclow, Barclay, Sabourin and Simeon and only have 1 portage (about 25 rods between Musclow and Barclay). Be prepared to deal with some larger Northerns. I personally boated three over 40 inches between Barclay and the water north of Simeon.

There is a downside, however. Sabourin Lodge is located on Sabourin Lake, so you'll likely encounter early/late boat traffic.

dd

Thanks for the replies. Specially looking forward to Lake Trout. Never caught one yet. Gotta' fix that problem this year!

Still trying to firm up plans.

Old Hoosier

quote Old Hoosier: "Specially looking forward to Lake Trout. Never caught one yet. Gotta' fix that problem this year!"

As long as you are a watershed that has Lakers and you are dragging something through the water that will get down 20-40 feet, you should have no problem ... well maybe not a dirty sock, but most anything else will probably snag one if you have a hook in it.

Its not actually called fishing in WCPP, its more like "catching." On more than one occasion, I've had a Walleye hit a lure that only had the back inch or so submerged in the water as my rod lay across the gunwale while releasing another Walleye I'd just caught. I recommend not taking a net, it will slow down your catch rate when the bite is on. I've landed more than 30 per hour a number of times and so I gave up the net to be able to keep up.

BTW: I'm planning to be up sometime in early August, but the exact details haven't been established as yet. I'll likely be somewhere in the Royd/Irvine area to start my trip and do a paddle-out to the Douglas area.

dd

I was getting nervous as my shoulder has been giving me fits. But today I got the results from a MRI and I'm good to go. I got a cortisone shot and it's slowly helping as the day and now night goes on. My surgeon is as excited about me going as I am. Today was a good day! So High n Dry and Magic paddler I'm not going to let you down! You either Harlan.

quote nctry: "I was getting nervous as my shoulder has been giving me fits. But today I got the results from a MRI and I'm good to go. I got a cortisone shot and it's slowly helping as the day and now night goes on. My surgeon is as excited about me going as I am. Today was a good day!"

I did the same regiment this off season ... MRI followed by cortisone shot. So, I'm hoping to be able to beat the water into a froth when my trip comes around. What dates are you going to be up, Ben? I have a pretty good idea of your route via MagicPaddler.

dd

quote dentondoc: "

quote nctry: "I was getting nervous as my shoulder has been giving me fits. But today I got the results from a MRI and I'm good to go. I got a cortisone shot and it's slowly helping as the day and now night goes on. My surgeon is as excited about me going as I am. Today was a good day!"

I did the same regiment this off season ... MRI followed by cortisone shot. So, I'm hoping to be able to beat the water into a froth when my trip comes around. What dates are you going to be up, Ben? I have a pretty good idea of your route via MagicPaddler.

dd"

July 8th to Aug 9th

quote nctry: "July 8th to Aug 9th"

Drat! I guess we'll pass each other on the road south of Red Lake!!!

dd

dd said it well concerning the fishing. You will enjoy it.

I'm planning to head up in early August. Plans are not finalized yet but more than likely flying into Royd and frogging around the middle/north part of the park for about ten days or so. One of my friends is going along and this will be his first backcountry trip although we've been on a few river trips together. We'll be fishing for walleyes and some northerns. When we get things finalized I'll post the details. Perhaps our paths will cross.

What is it about shoulders? I banged mine up in Hawaii two months ago while making my first attempt at body surfing. Not one of the brightest things I've done to date although the beach audience thought it amusing seeing an old guy upside down in the surf. I could tell by the expressions on their faces not to mention some sparse applause. Yes, I did see the warning signs concerning this activity on a different beach at a later date. Lucky for me and unluckily for the fish my hook setting ability does not seem to have been affected.

Safe travels.

So I grew up tripping through the Quetico with my dad, brothers and assorted friends. But a few years ago, my dad got a little too old to stumble across the portages and work the paddle. So we started doing fly-in outpost trips out of the Red Lake area. They are pretty sweet and offer a different experience with a lot of conveniences, but it's not the same closeness to nature that canoeing provides.

This year I couldn't rally my dad, brothers and nephews for a trip. I was going to take my boy backpacking, but it's a low water year here in California, so I decided it's time for him to get the real experience of being in the up-north wilderness.

We are arriving in Red Lake on Saturday morning (July 25th) and will be picking up our canoe and hitching a ride with Harlan out to Johnson Lake. I had a notion to head to Indian House Lake and then head down the route that eventually gets to Gammon. But the swampy rivers and marshes sounds a bit ambitious for my first time in the park and for my boy on his first ever canoe trip. I have now opted to head through Douglas and lakes west and ultimately end up on Rostoul where we will spend an extra night exploring portages and lakes in that area. We will then backtrack and end up on Mexican Hat for another layover and to explore that area. Then it's back out Glenn and Telescope to Onnie and back to the Johnson Lake route. All wind and weather permitting. We will be in the park for nine days total.

Packing up the gear today and I'll finish up the food tomorrow. At present, we are both out of our minds in anticipation of being in the woods one week from today. Can't wait to be fishing, hearing the loons, cooking in the wilderness and dealing with all the challenges this type of adventure affords. It's good to feel like a man again.

We are the lucky ones to know such a great way to vacation.

How old is your son? Sounds like a fantastic trip. That you are doing it with your son and it is his first trip - unbelievable. Looks like you'll be heading out just about the time my wife and I will be heading in.

Going in july 24th via lund. Loop via minnjim. Out lund. 7 dats. Will pass tbru indian hse.if you plans change .

My boy is 13. He loves to be in the outdoors and never can get enough. The first time we did a fly in trip, my brother started talking about having to go home the next day, and my boy burst into tears when it dawned on him that we had to leave. He simply loves it that much. And if it's possible, he loves fishing that much more and he is phenomenal to watch. He is bringing his fly rod on this trip and wants to catch some Northerns on it. It'll be a riot to see that.

If we decide to go up through Indian House, we will definitely look for you HighnDry. I like the idea of going that way as it sounds less traveled. But from reading all the trip reports, it sounds like the park doesn't get too much crowding even on the popular lakes/routes, which is what appeals to me. Have a great and safe trip. I hope the weather and fishing are A+ for you.

HobbyDog

Hope your trip went well. We would love to receive some details as you covered a great distance. As you may be aware, we rely heavily on visitors' trip reports to relay information to others yet to come. How were the portages? Any stand out as requiring work? Any caribou sightings? How was the fishing.

Claire

quote Que: "HobbyDog

Hope your trip went well. We would love to receive some details as you covered a great distance. As you may be aware, we rely heavily on visitors' trip reports to relay information to others yet to come. How were the portages? Any stand out as requiring work? Any caribou sightings? How was the fishing.


Claire "

I am working on a trip report. Here is a very condensed version. Portages were all in pretty good shape. The portage from Simeon to S Simeon could be marked a little better on the north side. (Long story there...will be in the trip report). A few fallen trees that were easy to step over with a little saw work on some portages. The two ~500 meter ports between Gammon and Rostoul had a couple bigger trees down but passable. (They are hard portages at the end of a long day) I had a hard time finding the 150m portage out of the no name lake that flows into the Talon River going to Talon Lake. (That no name lake is a beautiful lake) It was covered up by several small trees that had fallen across the entrance. Picture of what it looked like after clearing it. It was one of the few times I used the saw. It should be good now. I was a bit concerned that the route out of Talon Lake might be hard as I assume this entry point it is not well traveled but was pleasantly surprised, it was in very good shape. Outside the park, the portages between Chase Lake and Snowshoe looked like they had not been used since the blowdown or longer. I had expected that. Three of them had a recognizable trail that I did a bit of clearing on. Two of them were bushwack but were relatively short and not too difficult.

Outside of to port from Jigsaw to Wrist and Wrist of Streak I saw no evidence that any had been used this year. I did meet some fisherman coming from the outpost on Gammon over to Royd. Also saw a couple boats on Simeon. I saw no other canoes on the trip until I got almost to Bird Lake.

I fished a fair amount on the Bloodvein, Fishing was good, smaller sized walleyes were very easy to catch. The best fishing was at the falls out of Musclow with a few walleyes over 20". Pretty much a fish on every cast for about a half hour. Caught one nice northern there as well. Caught a few northerns in the 35" range on Barclay and Simeon. I didn't fish too much after that until I got to Aegean. I caught a few nice sized lakers there and on S. Aegean.

I did not see any Caribou despite getting early morning starts and looking for them. I did see a few tracks on the long portage from a no name lake into Royd. I saw close to a dozen moose. None of the cow moose had calves with them but I think most were younger moose. I did see a bear at the falls out of Larus.

With the exception of the last few hours of the trip the weather was near perfect. Bugs were minimal. The northern part of the park had a very bad army worm infestation.

It was a very enjoyable trip and went off pretty much as planned. This route allowed me to see the different regions of the park from top to bottom and some of the less traveled areas.

Here is a link to a slideshow. Now I just need to get working on a full trip report.

Hobbydog, awesome photos. Can't wait to read the trip report.

Two years ago, we paddled from Artery Lake to Wanda Lake, spending time on the island you visited in Dunstan. We were fortunate to see 4 immature caribou swimming toward our island site, then swim around it when they sensed us. We have video and photos of them. It was worth the price of the trip! No antlers because they were young ones.

I think they're in the water as much as they are on land. We have made two, two-week trips and these are the only ones we've seen.

Thanks a bunch for the photos and report. Valuable to us. I see that it is time to replace our boundary signs at the Talon and Bird Rivers. Yikes!

After 6 trips in southern Quetico, I wanted to do something different. A friend of mine and I plan to fly into Haven and exit at Leano during the last week in August. WCPP intrigued me because of the smaller number of visitors vs Quetico, the possibility of a fly-in to get deeper into the park given the limited time we have, and the opportunity to see caribou (not guaranteed, of course!). This route was one of a few recommended to us by Harlan.

quote Ausable: "After 6 trips in southern Quetico, I wanted to do something different. A friend of mine and I plan to fly into Haven and exit at Leano during the last week in August. WCPP intrigued me because of the smaller number of visitors vs Quetico, the possibility of a fly-in to get deeper into the park given the limited time we have, and the opportunity to see caribou (not guaranteed, of course!). This route was one of a few recommended to us by Harlan."

Routing you back via Mexican Hat or Paull?

dd

quote dentondoc: "

quote Ausable: "After 6 trips in southern Quetico, I wanted to do something different. A friend of mine and I plan to fly into Haven and exit at Leano during the last week in August. WCPP intrigued me because of the smaller number of visitors vs Quetico, the possibility of a fly-in to get deeper into the park given the limited time we have, and the opportunity to see caribou (not guaranteed, of course!). This route was one of a few recommended to us by Harlan."

Routing you back via Mexican Hat or Paull?

dd"

We plan on going through Mexican Hat.

quote Ausable: "We plan on going through Mexican Hat."

You'll work through a burn area between Haven and western Wrist (reasonably recent in 2009). The portages have been cleared (of course) and parts re-routed from a previous route ... just maintain focus working through there so you don't wander off the trail.

The exit from Nutria into Mex. Hat can run from an easy paddle to swamp/muck depending on water level. The hard travel part is not huge, but just be prepared for some potential sloppiness.

Otherwise, the portages are generally easy to find and not particularly difficult (although you'll be going up hill a bit leaving Mex. Hat).

Hope you have a great trip.

dd

BTW: Harlan is "good people."

quote dentondoc: "

quote Ausable: "We plan on going through Mexican Hat."

You'll work through a burn area between Haven and western Wrist (reasonably recent in 2009). The portages have been cleared (of course) and parts re-routed from a previous route ... just maintain focus working through there so you don't wander off the trail.

dd

"

Do you plan on staying the first night on Haven. It is a nice lake worth spending a night. I like the portages through the burn areas. The jack pines are sprouting everywhere. Follow the rock cairns and enjoy the vistas. This one is between Gulch and Jigsaw.

Hobbydog, I took pretty much the exact same picture going through there in 2012.

quote hobbydog: "

quote dentondoc: "

quote Ausable: "We plan on going through Mexican Hat."

You'll work through a burn area between Haven and western Wrist (reasonably recent in 2009). The portages have been cleared (of course) and parts re-routed from a previous route ... just maintain focus working through there so you don't wander off the trail.
dd
"

Do you plan on staying the first night on Haven. It is a nice lake worth spending a night. I like the portages through the burn areas. The jack pines are sprouting everywhere. Follow the rock cairns and enjoy the vistas. This one is between Gulch and Jigsaw.

"

DD and HB,
Thanks for sharing that information. I did not know about the previous burn west of Wrist although I had been watching for info re the latest fire. We hadn't decided whether we'd stay on Haven the first day or just spend a few hours and push on. Thanks for giving me something to think about.

quote Ausable: "

quote hobbydog: "

quote dentondoc: "

quote Ausable: "We plan on going through Mexican Hat."

You'll work through a burn area between Haven and western Wrist (reasonably recent in 2009). The portages have been cleared (of course) and parts re-routed from a previous route ... just maintain focus working through there so you don't wander off the trail.
dd
"

Do you plan on staying the first night on Haven. It is a nice lake worth spending a night. I like the portages through the burn areas. The jack pines are sprouting everywhere. Follow the rock cairns and enjoy the vistas. This one is between Gulch and Jigsaw.

"

DD and HB,
Thanks for sharing that information. I did not know about the previous burn west of Wrist although I had been watching for info re the latest fire. We hadn't decided whether we'd stay on Haven the first day or just spend a few hours and push on. Thanks for giving me something to think about."

I guess I should also mention that the forest fire designated as Red Lake #25 (north of Wrist) is still listed as active ("being observed") but as of the last formal posting by Ontario MNR poses no threat to those using portages in or out of Wrist. (Initially the portages from Hansen and Haven were closed until they could establish which direction the burn would take.)

BTW: For my money, the best campsite on Wrist is on the extreme eastern side on a smallish island. It has easy landing and lounging rocks on the south end and enough flat spots to park a couple of tents. It was an excellent layover spot for me and 3 others back in '09. Between this island and the larger islands to the west the lake is deep and a good spot to fish for Lakers (with at least some fish large enough to snap 10 lb test line with little effort).

dd