Closest Access Point: Canoe Lake (Access Point # 5)
Distance To Access Point: 16.4 KM (3 -4 hours)
Difficulty of Travel From Access Point: Easy.
Maintenance Level: Regular
Date of Visit: July, 2020
This site doesn’t seem very exciting at first, but it grows on you over the course of a couple of days. It’s on the small size, and there are only a couple of semi-decent tent spots, but it’s got great views, good bug control and a couple of very welcoming chipmunk landlords.
Terrain: This is a pretty uneven site. There’s a small rise up from the water, and the only truly flat spot is the area immediately around the fire pit. That being said, it’s not a sharp rise or fall anywhere, so it’s not going to wear your legs out moving around the site or anything.
Canoe Landing: Not great. The slope of the rock descending into the water is at just the right angle to make getting in and out an exercise in balance control. Loading/unloading is an even bigger pain. There is a small V canoe harbour that you can ram your bow into, but the rocks underneath this part are pretty uneven and I was a bit worried about putting a hole in the bottom of the boat with all the shifting weight over top of those rocks.
Fire Pit: It’s got a really nice fire pit. High walls to protect against the wind, lots of room to build your file. You also have a nice view out to the water from beside the pit. If you’re looking for firewood, you might have to go a bit into the woods as it’s picked fairly clean near the site (also, people have been stripping birch bark from live trees off any birch tree they can find. Don’t do this).
Swimability: It grows on you. My kids loved swimming here, I didn’t mind it. The underwater terrain is very rocky. That means adult sized humans are likely water hopping from rock to rock as they make their way into deeper waters.
Tent Sites: Not ideal, but not terrible. There were three spots that you could put a tent if you squint. One of them would end up with a few roots under you, the other was basically on two levels. We made it work for our 6 man tent, but it basically meant we had a split level tent for the weekend.
Thunderbox: Back from the site and in good shape.
Accessories: A couple of nice log benches that double as food prep areas. An extremely tame and hungry chipmunk. That’s about it.
Views: Nice views looking south and west along Burnt Island from the site. Great views looking east as well when you’re sitting by the water. The shoreline coverage is fairly dense to either side of the canoe landing/swim area, but you don’t feel as closed in as you might on other sites, probably because the site itself is on the small side so the window out tot he lake feels relatively large.
Notes: One of my favourite things about this site was that it seemed to get a breeze through it no matter which way it was blowing. That meant very few bugs. It was also in shade the entire time, which was a Godsend given how hot it was when we were there. All in all, this wasn’t a bad spot.
Related Trip Report: Burnt Island Lake
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