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The available maps for Woodland Caribou Provincial Park present a trade-off: The small scale 1 x 50,000 Canadian topographic maps offer lots of detail except for showing very few of the portages. The official, larger scale park map shows less of the area’s detail–and no topographical information–but does mark the park’s portages. (You can always pack both!) The official map includes lots of interesting information on its reverse side – including information on the geology and ecology as well as an inset map depicting recent forest fires.
Like its wilderness cousin Quetico Provincial Park (Ontario), and its sister the neighboring Atitkaki Provincial Park (Manitoba), Woodland Caribou’s interconnected lakes and rivers offer myriad routes to paddle.
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One basic, week-long loop that doesn’t require a fly-in starts from Leano Lake in the southeastern corner of the park. The put-in is at the end of Mile 51 Road, off of Longlegged Road. From Leano, paddlers will navigate a longer or shorter loop to the west that includes Lunch, Burnt Rock, Mexican Hat, and Glen Lakes. At Wrist Lake, trippers short on time and energy (or just interested in a more leisurely paddle) can begin the loop back through Aegean. Those wanting to put more paddling and portaging in can continue west from Wrist to Jigsaw, Haven, and Adventure Lakes before turning back through Welkin Lake and Beamish Creek.
At South Aegean Lake the long and short loops reconnect for the return to the put-in via Paull, Elephant Head, and Boot Jack Lakes. Portages on the route are often of the typical 50 to 200 meter variety, although the route has an 800 meter-long carry between Burnt Rock and Mexican Hat Lake.
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