NOTE: This Page is Under Construction!

We just got back and don't have all of our pictures sorted.

Travel to Bowron

After many many hours of driving, we stopped at Lac La Hache Park and spent the night.  Our spot was adjacent to the road, which allowed us to camp behind our site and fit all the vehicles into one campsite.  

Other than a little swimming, we mostly just slept and got up early for the second day of driving to Bowron.  This camp was also a shake out to make sure we had everything, which was good, since 2 Scouts were a bit short on food.  A stop at Walmart in Quesnel the next morning allowed us to stock up on provisions and tons of snacks for the long journey to come.  

Don't expect to find any vegetables or fruit at convenience stores or even at some of the Walmarts.  That Walmart in Quesnel was much better than the one in Merrit and had berries and salami. 

More driving to Bowron, with the last bit on really nice dirt roads.  We did stop to take a look at a black bear munching on berries on the side of the road. 

Becker's Lodge wasn't cheap, but did serve excellent burgers and ice cream!
Dinner here was optional.

Day 1 - Camp to Site 7
"Huge Waves"

Group Camping Spots (shown in red) were predetermined by the Parks Service.  Day 1 would start at the Ranger Station next to Bowron Lake Campground with a portage east to Kibbee Lake, then a portage to Indianpoint Lake to Site 7.  

Site 2 was NOT used for group camping. Spots were predetermined  

The very first of the the portages started uphill and seemed like it just kept going up.  The trail was lined with berries, poisonous plants and a tree trunk with huge claw marks on it.  Bear scat was seen on the trail.  The start was not easy by any means and we would have probably given up if we didn't have carts for our canoes. 

Our boats finally get wet; we are off on our Canoe Adventure!

After our second portage, we find that Indianpoint Lake has significant waves.  Even though we started about as early as we could have, we likely still arrived later than ideal, allowing the afternoon wind to build up waves.  

We rested for a few hours and hit the lake after the waves quieted down a bit.  The waves and headwind was still a bear and a wakeup call to the reality of conditions we would likely encounter on the giant lakes we would travel on.  From this point forward, the fear of afternoon winds and dangerous waves were more than just a theory.

We fought our way across to our campsite and settled in for the night.  Scouts voted to wake up at 5am to beat the afternoon winds.

Day 2 - Site 7 to Site 14
"Muddy Portage"

Day 2 started at Site 7 and would take us east to a portage to Isaac Lake to Site 14. 

The beach here was covered in sticky mud.  Care must be taken to lift canoes over obstacles to the left trail.  The right route took you to a dock that was surrounded by mud that would try to swallow your shoes.  The longer route to the left is recommended for the future. 

Dock in background
This beach was a much better launch point

We finally made it to Isaac Lake

Day 3 - Site 14 to Site 21
"The Big Lake"

Day 3 started at Site 14 and would take us southeast to Site 21 all on Isaac Lake

Our Adult Lead found fresh bear tracks on the beach.  A huge bear was patroling our campsite.

Day 4 - Site 21 to Site 29
"Rapids Training"

Day 4 started at Site 14 and took us further southeast to the end of Isaac Lake to the entrance of "The Chute" and Site 29

After watching a few paddlers tackle "The Chute", we started practicing.  First our adult leads would take Scouts down The Chute one at a time to the left eddie.  After we got a few runs in, Scouts could run the canoes with other Scouts tandem.  Adult leads also showed how to turn a canoe into an eddie solo. 

Day 5 - Site 29 to Site 33
"The Chute!"

Day 5 Started at Site 29 and would take us through The Chute and "Roller Coaster" to a mandatory portage past the Cascade Falls to a short river run to a mandatory portage past the Isaac Falls, to McLeary Lake, to the Cariboo River west to Lanezi Lake to Site 33

After practicing The Chute the day prior with empty boats, we tackeled The Chute with loaded canoes.  We all made it without dunking a boat!

Day 5 required a mandatory portage around the Cascade Falls and then around Isaac Falls.  Cascades would have likely destroyed a canoe and Isaac Falls would probably been lethal. 

Isaac Falls viewed from the portage trail.  What a ride that would have been!

Once we got out of McLeary Lake, we entered the Cariboo River.  Depending on conditions, the Cariboo River can have deadly flows and debris. 

There were plenty of "Deadheads", "Sweepers", and destroyed boats on the river.  One canoe was completely taco'd around a deadhead and others littered the fast flowing banks of the river.  Scouts followed the line of our River Guide and avoided adding more evidence of carnage to the river.   

Not advised for future trips, our adult leads were able to collect a lot of lost gear which we transported out of the Bowron Lake Circuit for our service project.  Each of our canoes carried 2 bags of lost gear.

Among random gear we carried out was a huge wallet, cellphone and car keys.  We sent these off with some Canadians that lived in the same town as the owner of the wallet and after our trip, the owner let us know they received it.  It was good to hear that they made it out alive after capsizing and losing all of their gear.

Site 33 had a cabin next to it.  Each of these cabins had a wood stove and were decorated with artistic paddles.

Day 6 - Site 33 to Site 42
"Lanezi Lake"

Day 6 would start at Site 33 and take us west to Sandy Lake, then further down the Cariboo River to a hidden entrance into Unna Lake to a hidden entrance to Rum Lake to Site 42

The gear we collected the day prior was soaking wet, heavy and really stinky.  We washed it as best as we could the reduce the stink and hung it out to dry to reduce weight.  The following day, the bags weighed only a fraction of what they did we we recovered them and lost most of their stink.

We handed a completely full bag of rotten food and camp meals to a ranger servicing the site.  It was pretty nasty and we were happy to get rid of it.  The sealed bags may have still contained tasty meals, but who knows what was in them or how long they were soaking in the river. 

We did reuse some of the gear we found, such as propane canisters that were still full of fuel and the really heavy stove that came with them.  We left these in camp for future campers to use. 

Site 42 was covered with velvetleaf  blueberries, bearberries, lingonberry, dwarf huckleberry, and creeping snowberries.  There were also signs warning us about bears and a tree that looked like it was ripped apart by a bear. 

We made sure that we locked up all of our food and cooked away from our tents. 

Day 7 - Site 42 to Site 50
"The Fog"

Day 7 starts at Site 42 at Rum Lake, to the hidden entrance to Unna Lake, to the hidden entrance to Cariboo River against the current, northwest up Babcock Creek, to a portage to Babcock Lake, to a short portage to Skoi Lake with a marshy entrance, to short portage to Spectacle Lakes all the way to Site 50

Day 8 - Site 50 to Site Trucks
"Moose Hunt"

Day 8 starts at Site 50 and takes us north on Swan Lake, to the windy Bowron River marsh, to Bowron Lake, to the takeout point at the base of Becker's Lodge

Most of the Scouts slept "cowboy" style to watch the stars and save time packing up.  The night had a clear sky, excellent view of the stars above and was really cold.  Be we got up in record time and were ready to get on the water.

Bowron River is surrounded by marsh and we quietly maneuvered through the marsh in hopes of seeing a moose. 

The moose are pretty shy and only the head canoe was able to see any moose before they vanished into the grass lining the river. 

Bowron River is surrounded by marsh and we quietly maneuvered through the marsh in hopes of seeing a moose. 

The moose are pretty shy and only the head canoe was able to see the moose before it vanished into the grass lining the river. 

The Finish Line!

Journey Home

After beaching our canoes, we loaded up gear, turned in canoe carts, checked out the the ranger station and had ice-creams at Becker's Lodge.  We planned to camp halfway between Bowron and home and started our drive.  

As we got closer to our campsite, we discovered that the areas was impacted with wildfires and was covered in a thick blanket of smoke.  It wasn't safe to camp at the halfway point and after talking to firefighters at A&W, we found out the it was smoky all the way down past Hope.  The next "safe" campsite would be just 2 hours from home.  Loaded up with caffeine and fresh drivers, and continued our journey through the smoky landscape on our way home.

Continous driving after 8 days of canoeing on the circuit took its toll and it was clear that home was just too far of a journey to complete in a single day.  We arrived at Vedder River Campsite after closing and begged the ranger to let us in for the night.  We found our site, parked and everyone passed out on the grass.  

Morning folks were able to clean up a bit and go for a walk around the park before leaving.

Others could have enjoyed a few more days of sleep.

After packing up, we headed to Tripple Os for gas and "breakfast" and headed home for a shower, real food and for some - a nice nap on a really soft couch.