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Travel to Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
"The Journey Begins"
Travel to Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
"The Journey Begins"
Date: August 11-12, 2026
2026 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Travel to Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Bowron Lake Park Registration and Visitor Centre
Day 1 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Day 2 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Day 3 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Day 4 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Day 5 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Day 6 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Day 7 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Day 8 Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Return from Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit
Our adventure starts with a stop at Costco in Canada for Gas. Poutine, and Pizza
Not only was the drive to Bowron 2-days long, we had to drive around immense fires and through some really thick smoke.
They main highway to Bowron was closed, adding to the length of the drive.
Source: cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca
Wildfires affected our route to Bowron, but our campsite just south of Williams Lake and Bowron (between Quesnel, Williams Lake and McBride) were spared.
Merritt WalMart engulfed in smoke
Merrit was particularly nasty to drive through. They also issued an absolute ban on public access to perimeter forested areas and local trails starting August 10, 2026. This was in part due to extreme wildfire risks but to also limit creating more fires which were in part blamed on backcountry visitors. It may seem crazy to close off the outdoors in Canada, but there wasn't enough resources to control the fires and so much was already lost. Camping in the thick smoke with risk of fires wound't be all the enjoyable either.
Stop at A&W Canada
Getting up at first camp
Food inspection
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.
We had to make some tuff decisions in Canada.
Build Your Own Grand Slam was not intended for indecisive people.
Our last real breakfast prior to our voyage on Bowron - at Denny's in Quesnel
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.
A few more hours and we made it to the Bowron Lakes Camp.
We picked up canoe carts at Bear River Mercantile and checked out Becker's Lodge.
For future reference, the carts at Bear River Mercantile had fat tires and would be so much better than some of the other carts we saw on the Circuit. Some of the trails were pretty rough with roots, sharp rocks and mud to crawl over. Having fatter tires made work easier and we were less likely to crack our canoe on a rock. The husband and wife owners were also so nice to us.
Becker's Lodge wasn't cheap, but did serve excellent burgers and ice cream!
Dinner here was optional.
We squeezed everything into 2 adjacent camp sites with room to spare.
Bowron Lake was right behind our camp, allowing for a quick swim.
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