Closest Access Point: Canoe Lake (Access Point #5)
Distance To Access Point: 13 KM (2.5 hours)
Difficulty of Travel From Access Point: Easy
Maintenance Level: Regular
Date of Visit: July, 2021
This is kind of a cool site. You can’t really see much of it from the water. It’s up a bit from the lake, maybe 10-12 feet higher. The shoreline is relatively dense, so you don’t really get a sense of what’s there until you’re up and walking on the site.
Terrain: It’s a small climb up from the water, but once you’re up there the site is very flat. The ground is clear, mostly hard packed dirt with a couple of roots/rocks sticking out. The site is a quasi-point. You’ve got the lake on one side and a marsh on the other (which means this spot is probably buggy AF in June). Tree cover along the shoreline is dense, but the actual site itself is pretty open.
Canoe Landing: Not perfect. There’s a spot where you can pull your canoe up but it’s rocky. You’ll want to be careful with loading/unloading. That said, it’s not like you’re pulling up to a rock wall, you can definitely pull the canoe up and get out without having to channel your inner mountain goat.
Fire Pit: Right in the middle of the site. It’s a pretty nice pit. It’s big, well built and central. It’s also facing what is pretty much the only window out to the lake, so you’ve got a semi-obstructed view while you’re watching the flames.
Swimability: The underwater terrain is a mix of dirt and small to medium sized rocks. The rock wall has a couple of spots where you can slip in, but this site didn’t strike me as being an ideal place to swim from.
Tent Sites: The site is nice and flat with room for a few tents. One thing I noticed was that the ground seemed to be pretty damp, which left me wondering if you might get a bit of pooling under your tent during a storm. Otherwise, it looked like there were at least a couple nice spots to set up. It is a fairly compact site, so you won’t be far from the fire pit pretty much wherever you set up.
Accessories: There’s a pretty nice semi-circle of log benches around the fire pit. Apart from that, not much.
Views: As I mentioned before, the site is pretty enclosed. You’ve got obstructed views from most of the site but a decent little window looking out from the fire pit. Down at the water you’ve got a nice view north up Bartlett.
Notes: I would stay here. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but it is definitely a reasonable option. The only time I’d avoid it would be June, that marsh out back is probably a bug jamboree.
Related Trip Report: Tom Thomson Lake
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