A 2-week, 200 kilometer canoe trip in Woodland Caribou Provincial Park in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Detailed trip report at www.explor8ion.com/2023/06/01....
25 years ago my brother and I pulled into that campsite on Mexican Hat where you were catching all the fish. We thought we would see if we could catch a fish for supper. In 5 min. we had a pike, a walleye, and a lake trout. Made a fine dinner. That site looks pretty beat up now compared to back then. Nice to see it again though. Thanks!
Thank you for yet another wonderful paddling video! I took careful notes on my Adventure map as you narrated. I was really interested to see what some of those areas looked like after all the fires. Twice in the last couple years I've had my bags packed and was almost ready to head to Red Lake when fires broke out and cancelled my plans at the last minute. Maybe I'll be able to get up there in 2024!
I spent 2023 working at WCPP as a Canoe Route Technician. I maintained majority of the route that you were on and that 350 on Royd creek into/out of Donald lake was one of my least favorite trails I cleared the whole summer. It was brutal, too bad I couldn’t have gotten to it before you had to use it! Some other brutal ones I cleared were the 875 out of Crystal lake (west) on the Wanipigow entry point route, the whole Irvine loop trail and the 800 at the very north of Royd Lake that leads to Wanda/Dunstan. Great video thanks for sharing! 🙂
First of all - thanks for all your hard work! I may have missed out on it last year, but this year I'm going to be taking that 875 out of Crystal Lake with my daughter! I'm also going to be taking the southern route through Blueberry and Beaver lakes from Kilburn to Talon Lake for the first time. My understanding is that route was also cleared. You guys did a lot of work in 2023 and it's MUCH appreciated. Cheers!
@@VernDewit Thank you very much! Im hoping we can get lots more done this year as well. Yes the southern route got cleared last year, myself and another technician did that mid June and the ticks were bad. It’s a gorgeous route, I really enjoyed the area around Beaver-Sylvia lake. A couple tips that may be beneficial depending on your route for you to know is that the 1000m from Kilburn to Upper Kilburn is a very nice scenic portage with an established trail that isn’t very difficult, more like an enjoyable walk (as far as portaging goes lol). Same with the 1000m out of Sylvia, I don’t remember that one being bad either. VERY good chance you will see moose on the Talon River as well. Enjoy your trip! Maybe I’ll see you in Red Lake this summer.
@@gamer4206 awesome! Good to know. One thing we’re worried about is finding campsites through the south route - I know a lot of them burned. Any suggestions for that? We were hoping to camp in Beaver Lake since there’s small mouth bass in there. 😏
@@VernDewit Cool! I didn’t know there were bass in that lake. Yes absolutely I can help you with that, I have a map I made up before I left on trip that I marked all the known park campsites for that route that I can happily send over to you, I just don’t know how on RU-vid. Also I would avoid staying on Landing Crane lake, we had to and there was no where decent to camp because of the burn. There is a nice campsite on Sylvia right near the portage I would recommend. There are 2 sites on Beaver you can pick from, both in the north part of the lake.
@@gamer4206 That would be AMAZING. Please send that info to vern.dewit@gmail.com. (I'm also doing a 2-week trip with my daughter from Wallace Lake on the MB side, going in through the Wanipigow to WCPP and from there a loop through Bulging, Haggart, Donald, Carroll, Ford and Artery before looping back down on the MB side through Aikens Lake back to Wallace. Any suggested campsites along that route are MUCH appreciated.)
Great camping adventure ! I can't believe the amount of walleye. I couldn't go fishing there because I'd never leave and I have responsibles 😂 It's sad to see so much of the forests burnt down ! 2023 was a record for forest fires I think .
Tough work. Love watching your progress. Love seeing the gratification when you’ve reached the end of those crazy portages. I know that smile Hannah gives you, cuz I give my partner the same one when I’m exhausted too. Lol. Great video of a wonderful trip. Very impressive especially with a busted back. Not sure how long you suffered but I can well imagine how tough it was for you. Thanks for sharing your trip.
Looks like a nice trip. One thought I had was your tent locations always in the trees. Having had a tree fall years ago almost on our tent I am wary of widow makers. Pine trees tend to get blown over with the rocky surface and birch trees tend to break up top and come crashing down. Keep an eye out for suspect trees. Got back after spending a week on Garner lake 2 weeks ago only to learn a gentleman lost his life in Manigotagan with a tree coming down on his tent. His wife needed help to get out from under the tree. Something to think about.
Thx for the comment. I know about trees. They are a blessing and curse. 😏 Mostly we look for level and protected sites. These are usually in the trees. 🤷🏼 We like protection from wind and storms which is hard to find on bare open rocks. Plus if the trees are dense they will usually fall on each other. It’s a gamble either way - wilderness travel is hazardous.
When you eventually remaster this video, I strongly recommend reframing the whole thing as a Groundhog Day-esque narrative where you keep reliving the day after losing your multi-tool, heading in different directions in an attempt to return to civilization, only to wake up back at that first camp together. That is, until the two of you learn an important moral lesson and are then bestowed with an enchanted multi-tool by a benevolent forest spirit in the form of a random man from Ohio (or wherever), which in turn, helps lead you both to safety on day 14. You may need a renactment or two, and an orchestral score, but the bones are there!
Epic journey with an excellent paddling partner. Wifey did great! Daunting trip in places but appreciate your can-do attitude. Contagious. What kind of runners or boots were you using near the end of the trip (reddish colour). Always looking for WIDE shoes and they seem to fit the bill! Have been wanting to do a WCPP trip but always a time crunch.
Great stuff Vern. Was curious how the park looked after all the fires. One thing though... Extend the time that the captions run. Im not the fast of a reader when I'm also trying to watch lol
