Woodland Caribou Provincial Park

Ontario Wilderness Park Of About 4,500 Square Kilometres On The Manitoba Border, Forming Part Of The Pimachiowin Aki UNESCO World Heritage Site; Over 2,000 Kilometres Of Canoe Routes And One Of The Southernmost Woodland Caribou Populations In Canada · Red Lake, Ontario

Woodland Caribou is about four thousand five hundred square kilometres of Shield, lake and boreal forest on the Manitoba border west of Red Lake, and it forms PART OF THE PIMACHIOWIN AKI UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE - the Ontario side of the same protected boreal landscape that Atikaki covers in Manitoba. It holds OVER TWO THOUSAND KILOMETRES OF CANOE ROUTES on interconnected lakes and rivers, and ONE OF THE SOUTHERNMOST WOODLAND CARIBOU POPULATIONS IN CANADA, a species that has retreated steadily north as the boreal forest has been cut and roaded. There are OJIBWE PICTOGRAPHS on rock faces throughout, and the whole area is Anishinaabe territory in continuous use. Like Wabakimi there is no entry quota and there is very often nobody else: a two-week trip here can pass without meeting another party. Portages are unmaintained and route information comes largely from volunteers.

West of Red Lake on the Manitoba border, Kenora District, Red Lake, Ontario, Canada

THE PADDLING SEASON RUNS ROUGHLY LATE MAY TO EARLY OCTOBER, bounded by ice-out and freeze-up. THERE IS NO GATE, NO VISITOR CENTRE AND NO STAFFED FACILITY IN THE INTERIOR. INTERIOR CAMPING REQUIRES AN ONTARIO PARKS BACKCOUNTRY PERMIT obtained in advance, but THERE IS NO ENTRY QUOTA - you are unlikely to compete with anyone. ACCESS IS BY ROAD TO TRAILHEADS AND ACCESS POINTS WEST OF RED LAKE, or by float plane from Red Lake, which is how many parties start deep and paddle out. PORTAGES ARE LARGELY UNMAINTAINED and can be overgrown or blocked; route information comes largely from volunteer mapping rather than official sources. FOREST FIRE CLOSURES ARE COMMON in the boreal summer and are absolute. This is Anishinaabe territory; the pictograph sites are protected. No cell coverage.

Woodland Caribou Provincial Park on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos