Canada’s Best Canoe Routes
Are you planning a canoe getaway this year? With near-unlimited routes coast-to-coast-to-coast, Canada is a canoeist’s paradise. Here are Canada’s Best Canoe Routes:
Maritimes
Nova Scotia’s Margaree-Lake Ainslie watershed, on Cape Breton Island, offers a multi-day canoe route that starts in the wilderness and ends in historic Acadian farmland.
Quebec
Try the Dumoine River, in north-western Quebec — start at Lac Dumoine for a seven-day wilderness experience; it is the perfect first-timer adventure trip, expect both whitewater and pine-fringed lakes; excellent campsites abound.
Ontario
North-western Ontario’s Quetico Provincial Park will amaze; a myriad of lakes, loons and striking cliffs dot this wilderness gem.
Manitoba
Northern Manitoba’s Hayes River offers a real wilderness history tour; fur trade-era artefacts abound; tour old-time gravesites and classic portage routes.
Saskatchewan
Portage through Northern Saskatchewan’s Prince Albert National Park — two classic routes are the Bagwa and Bladebone Canoe Routes; the latter being a multi-day advanced expedition and the former a gentle day-trip.
Alberta
The Bow River, inside the beauty of Banff National Park but away from the hordes, offers frequent sightings of elk and moose.
Red Deer River — a totally different feel from Banff; this is lesser-known central Alberta, rich in settlers’ past; grassy sleeping sites, cool mesa bluffs and hoodoo views abound.
British Columbia
Bowron Lake Provincial Park, in BC’s Cariboo Region, is a multi-lake and river circuit, filled with eye-candy mountain scenery and its fair share of moose.
Tweedsmuir Park — near Bella Coola — offers big lakes, big mountains, wide-open spaces and virtually no crowds.
The North
Wind River, a Yukon legend and part of the Peel River watershed; routes follow the famed Lost Patrol; expect whitewater and dramatic mountain ranges.
Nahanni River, in the western Northwest Territories, offers quintessential wilderness, featuring grand canyons and caribou; expect challenging whitewater and sheer cliffs.