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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

Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit Planning Page
Plants of Bowron

Map Link: gaiagps.com

Our adventure starts with a stop at Costco in Canada for Gas. Poutine, and Pizza

Scouts loading up on carbs to fuel them on their drive through Canada

The drive in Canada started out nice enough with blue skies

Vast areas of trees were damaged by invasive mountain pine beetles and fire

As we continued north we started seeing massive carniage from recent fires and the smoke from active fires nearby. Our eyes burned and all you could smell was smoke.

They main highway to Bowron was closed, adding to the length of the drive as we detoured to the east.

Source: cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca

Per this map, you can se that wildfires affected our route to Bowron. Luckily, our campsite just south of Williams Lake and Bowron (between Quesnel, Williams Lake and McBride) was spared, at least for now.

The WalMart in Merritt was 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

The air cleared up a bit as we headed north and it even looked like it was raining a bit in the distance.

We made several stops for gas. This wasn't going to be an inexpensive adventure.

Lac La Hache Park

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. The Walmart in Quesnel was much better than the one in Merrit and had berries and salami. Yum!

It's possible to fit 3 vehicles and a trailer in this campsite, as long as you put up tents elsewhere.

The area between the highway behind our site and the site was large enough to fit all of our tents and more.

Lac la Hache (French for "Lake of the Axe" ) behind our camp.

Possibly named after a Hudson's Bay Company mule fell through the lake ice, losing its cargo of hatchets.

Getting up at first camp

Food inspection time

Having meals packed into daily bags made it easier to exstimate how much food was packed.

Having less than 8 days of food was bad.

Having half full bags suggested there wasn't enough calories per day for an expedition.

Checking straps that seem to get loose overnight.

Trash sweep before leaving.

The Canadians look down on litterbugs.

Denny's in Quensel

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

Quensel to Bowron

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 right before arriving at Bowron.

Bowron Lake

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 canoes on a rock. The husband and wife owners were also so nice to us.

Becker's Lodge

Large building is the resturant and shop
Lower far left is long term parking
The message square on the beach is where you can park temporarily to pickup/launch boats

Wating patiently for chow.

Instruments were available for those who were musically inclined.

Becker's Lodge wasn't cheap, but did serve excellent burgers and ice cream!

Dinner here was optional and some of our crew opted for dinner in camp.

So good!

Bowron Lake beach at base of Becker's Lodge

Bear River Mercantile

We picked up our carts at Bear River Mercantile.

We found them on an internet search and hoped for the best. They are a mom and pop shop and are just salt of the earth wonderful people. We highly recommend them and their carts seem to be better than others used on the Circuit.

Bring Canadian cash in case you want some souvenirs, fishing gear or fancy foods.

Bowron Lakes Campsite

We squeezed everything into 2 adjacent camp sites with room to spare.
Bowron Lake was right behind our camp, allowing for a quick swim.

Screenshot of "American Black Bear" was taken at Bowron Campsite using the Seek app.

This images wasn't photoshopped and we tried the app several times and it kept coming up with the same result.

Even apps can be wrong, as we know this paddler is Canadian.