Bowron Lake Provincial Park is one of the top 10 canoe destinations in the world. Located in the interior of British Columbia south of Prince George it offers a 116km canoe circuit that is nearly a perfect circle all the way around.
We had planned to take this trip the previous year but couldn’t get our group together at the time. So this year reservations were made early (Jan/2010) for our August adventure in Bowron Provincial Park.
## Prep Day 1 ## July 29th
I packed my bags and headed up to Kamloops to meet the rest of my group. We organized our gear including food and fishing equipment and got ready for the weight in.
## Prep Day 2 ## July 30th, 2010
Today we packed up the truck and headed to Bowron Lake. To get there we first traveled through Cache Creek, Clinton, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Quesnel, Wells, then finally Bowron Lake.
We had arranged to stay at the Bowron Lake Lodge but unfortunatly the resort is under new management and they don’t have their act together just yet. The didn’t have the canoes we had reserved, we expected semi-rustic cabins but they were far from what was advertised on their website. On one page they say “All of our cabins are fully equipped” and on another they say “Rustic Motel & Housekeeping Cabins -no bedding, no hot water, showers available”
Becker’s Lodge their nearest neighbor resort was able to help us out in the canoe department and set us up with some beautiful Clipper Tripper (17.6ft Kevlar) canoes for our trip.
## Day 1 ## July 31st, 2010
After a cool night in the cabins we awoke to a gorgeous sunny day to start our trip. We went to the only local restaurant Bear River Mercantile for a great breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and ham. The owner/operators were very knowledgeable about the area and gave us some tips for our trip.
After our morning orientation that was required before entering the park we had our gear weighed and set off on the first portage. (Registration Centre to Kibbee Lake 2.8km)
The trails were hard packed and dry so relativly easy going with canoe carts, but still we were looking forward to paddling the canoes rather than carrying them over land. When we finally reached our first lake (Kibbee Lake) I did my best Lewis and Clark pose for the camera.
We paddled Kibbee Lake (3.0km), then portaged again to Indian Point Lake (2.3km). We decided to setup camp for the night near the middle of Indian Point Lake.
## Day 2 ## August 1st, 2010
The next day we finished crossing the rest of Indian Point Lake which is 5.5km from end to end and found a large swampy area that looked promising to see a moose in but we didn’t see any.
After our 3rd portage (2.2km) we arrived at the mother of all lakes Issac Lake (West Arm 6.3km)
We checked out Wolverine Bay and some camsites along the way and decided to head up the East Arm a bit to setup camp. The East arm of Issac Lake is about 30km as the crow flies but with the winds and curves along the shoreline it’s much longer. I tell you it is one friggin huge lake when your in a canoe.
West Arm meets East
We knew much of BC was experiencing wildfires and were pretty luck to only see a slight haze part of the day then clear skies the rest of the time.
## Day 3 ## August 2nd, 2010
The next day we headed out and explored a few campsites along the way. We also found a moose on shore taking a rest. He wasn’t bothered by us at all and were able to take a few pictures.
The mountains at the end of Issac seemed a million miles away as we paddled… Soon they would be much closer.
Each day we’d try to get up early and travel in the cool of the morning. Then fish during the day. Issac lake must have hidden it’s larger fish in the deep parts of the lake because fly fishing and spin casting only seemed to produce tiny trout.
## Day 4 ## August 3rd, 2010
Today we finished up the last stretch of Issac Lake and grabbed a nice campspot at the end of the lake. We watched other canoeists run the chute a few times to build up our confidence. We opted to head down the river early the next morning.
## Day 5 ## August 4th, 2010
We got up an hour earlier than usual. 5:30am had breakfast and packed up our gear. Today we took extra care to strap down all our bags incase they got wet from the run in the river.
After “the chute”, and “the roller coaster” there are some big white water sections that canoist and kayaker’s avoid.
On the remaining portage between the upper and lower river sections we got stopped by a ranger on foot. He informed us of a fire in the South West corner of the park that was threatening the river and they were not allowing anyone further than the chute. He said that the travellers on the other side would be directed to get past the South West corner ASAP and that we could either wait for a few days or should turn around and head back home the opposite way.
We were hugely dissapointed to say the least and began a backwards portage that I don’t think anyone has done with loaded canoes for maybe 100 years. (Or since the fur traders were here on the lakes) Apparently the park has had fires before but they’ve never had to close a section down in recent known history. The only sign they had was one that said “DANGER area closed bear in area” so they had to make due with what they had.
We all tried our best to keep spirits light but weren’t looking forward to paddling back up Issac Lake again. The ranger that had to deliver the bad news was nice enough to pose for a group picture.. Deep inside we were all probably thinking about how to hijack his motor boat.
There were a few sights along the way we had not seen heading down the other direction. But these were rare.
We all put our heads down, paddled hard the rest of the day and made it back to where we were on Day 2! A paddle of 28km plus the river and porage back to the start of Issac. It was a very long day and we were all beat by the time we setup camp for the night..
The fires in the distance started to cloud the sky again in the evening when the wind was just right.
## Day 6 ## August 5th, 2010
Today we finished off Issac Lake and portaged back to Indian Point Lake. At the start of Indian Point Lake a black bear made a brief appearance and we found that the busy beavers had started making a second dam. We barely made it through the dam with our canoes. We never did see any beavers but if they had one more day to build our canoes wouldn’t make it through.
Later that day the rangers came by and cleared the damn dam… Don’t worry the local beavers have another area all to themselves including a nice dam already built the way they like it.
We setup our nicest campsite of the trip on top of a hill overlooking the wetlands and Indian Point Lake. There was a nice cool breeze most of the time since we were up higher than the water. This breeze kept the bugs down quite a bit.
We fished for most of the day and tried as hard as we could to spot a moose in the wetlands but never found one. Late in the afternoon several other canoists dropped in and needed to share our camp. The closure and reverse flow of the circuit had created a bit of a bottleneck.
We saw our first raindrops of the trip in the late evening.
## Day 7 ## August 6th, 2010
Today we packed up camp for the last time and headed through the rest of Indian Point Lake, portage to Kibbee. We crossed Kibbee and portaged back to the parking lot. Phew what a trip, time for a hot shower, clean bed and a cold beer.
jermorse@myflytie.com