July 19 – July 23rd 2010.
Six of us travelled the Bowron Lakes Canoe circuit in central B.C.. Myself (Theo), the usual suspect – Ken De Wit – sixth epic trip together in six years – and a host of Dykstra’s - My brother-in-law Henry and his sons Tim and Kalvin, as well as his brother Jack. Once again missing Fabian M., who has some more pressing priorities like family and work. Maybe one day…
We reserved our starting date early in May (~$68 per head), choosing to put in on July 19th. This meant arranging to be at the registration center 9 am that morning. I began planning and organizing early in July. Ken and I arranged a canoe rental with a canoe cart (a set of wheels) from Bowron Lake Lodge (you can find them under this name on Skype). I bought a few small dry bags, but planned to pack everything in my back pack. We left Seattle in the afternoon on the 15th and drove up to Williams Lake, where we stayed overnight, and met up with our old friend Frans for breakfast on the 16th. Afterwards we drove up to Prince George, picked Ken up at airport and headed west to Houston (B.C. for my American friends). On the 17th, we finalized our supplies list, picked up what we needed in Smithers, and packed up for the trip.
We left from Henry’s home around 11pm. on the 18th, and drove back through Prince George to Quesnel, headed east on HWY 26 towards Barkerville, then north on Bowron Lake road. We arrived a little early (around 6am), so we snoozed in the parking lot until the lodge opened at 8am, at which time we arranged our canoe delivery to the registration center. After some toast and coffee (some form of brown water, though Ken thought it was ok…) at Bear Mercantile, we made our way to the registration center. Check in included an introductory video and a weigh in – only 60 lbs of gear allowed in the canoe during portages, everything else had to be carried in our back packs. We were ready to roll by around 10:00 am.
Kudos to Ken for keeping a detailed log and sending me the PDF!
Day 1: Registration Center to Isaac Lake – Camp #16. ~22 km.
Day 2: Camp #16 – Isaac Lake to Camp #27 Isaac Lake. ~30km
Day 3: Camp #27 Isaac Lake to Camp #40 Unna Lake. ~33km
Day 4: Camp #40 Isaac Lake to Camp #51 Swan Lake. ~19 km
Day 5: Camp #51 Swan Lake to Bowron Lake. ~11km.
The trip is summarized in the attached google map.
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