Site Details
Closest Access Point: Brent (access #27 at Cedar Lake. Close is relative here).
Distance to Access Point: 20.6 KM, 1.5 days.
Difficulty of Travel From Access Point: Medium
Maintenance Level: Regular, but minimal.
Date Visited: May 2025
Related Trip Report: Spring 2025: Canoe Lake to Catfish and Beyond; Part One
Map courtesy of Maps by Jeff
Site Location
This is a basic river portage site, the kind you’ll find on various rivers, creeks and streams scattered around the Park. The site itself isn’t all that inspiring, but I don’t think you’re staying here to be inspired. My guess is that this is an ideal site for an early spring fishing trip. It’s right on the Petawawa with access up and down the river. The nearby Snowshoe and Catfish Rapids look to me (a non-fisherman if ever there was) like prime fishing spots. You could definitely use this as a decent base for a few days hanging out in the area. But would you want to spend a few days hanging out on the site? Probably not.
This is a small site. It took me two pictures to get pretty much the entire layout. There’s a basic fire pit, some log benches and enough flat ground for a couple of tents if you get cozy. It’s got great water access (not always the case with portage sites), but the flip side is that water access is also a portage takeout, meaning anyone travelling through here is going to be saying hi.
Are there better sites nearby? I don’t quite know how to answer that for a couple of reasons. 1. I haven’t checked out the nearest site (although passing it on the water it looks like something out of the Blair Witch Project) and 2. There are definitely better sites on Catfish Lake, but is that nearby? That’s up to you I guess.
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