Exploring Quetico Provincial Park
About 2 hours west of the city of Thunder Bay lies Quetico Provincial Park. It’s now known as one of the worlds most iconic backcountry canoe trip destinations because of its untouched, pristine and rugged wilderness. It features over 2000 lakes, countless rushing rivers, and towering boreal forests within its 1.2 million acre (about 4900 square kilometers) boundary.
This land has been occupied by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The name Quetico is said to originate from the Ojibway word “Gwetaming”, meaning the land is very sacred to the Anishinaabe people and is occupied by many spirits. There are numerous ancient pictographs throughout the park from Indigenous tribes that occupied the area for time immemorial. Quetico was also a popular spot for trappers and traders of the Hudson’s Bay and Northwest Companies after it was discovered by European explorers in the early 1700’s.
For a breakdown of the gear we packed for this canoe trip click below!
We used Quetico Outfitters for this trip. Barry from Quetico Outfitters was super reliable, responsive and provided a ton of great info. Contact him and he reserve park permits for you, as well as provide any equipment and shuttle services you need for your trip. You are also able to park your car at their outfitting center, Camp Quetico, while you’re in the park. Find more info about them here: Quetico Outfitters. Since our plan was to traverse eastward across the northern section of park, starting from Beaverhouse Lake and ending in French Lake, Barry would be shuttling us and our canoe in and out. Even if you are doing a loop, the access roads can be quite rough, so a shuttle is still recommended.
The below map shows our projected route, with start and end points in yellow, preferred sites in red, portages in orange, and paddling sections in blue. Campsites are first-come-first-served so you never know what will be available. The sites and portages are also unmarked, making them difficult to find sometimes but providing a true feeling of remoteness.
Our tentative plan was to go start at the Beaverhouse Lake and camp on Quetico Lake. Then day 2 we’ll paddle east across Quetico and portage into Oriana Lake for the night. The third day will be short, portaging into Jesse Lake, paddling through, and portaging into Maria Lake to camp. Day 4 we plan to portage out of Maria Lake into the Pickerel Narrows, paddle across Pickerel Lake and hopefully find a site on the beaches at the far east end. On our last day we’ll paddle through a creek to French Lake where we’ll be picked up. This 5-day route is just short of 90 km.
Day 1:
We started with the 2 hour drive from Thunder Bay to the Camp Quetico outfitters. Barry gave us a safety lesson about the park and some useful tips for our route. He showed us the best campsites and the location of an ancient pictograph along our route. The shuttle from the outfitters was pretty rough. Upon arrival we unloaded our gear and canoe and took off on the 400 meter portage. At the end we threw our canoe in the water, loaded it up with all of our gear and away we went.
The paddle started with a meandering beaver creek before opening up into the wide Beaverhouse Lake. Some strong headwinds made for a challenging start. An hour later we found the portage into Quetico Lake where we met a nice group of guys from Texas on their annual Quetico fishing trip. The 200 meter portage led us by some rushing rapids and a really old car. We wondered how it ever would have got there and were surprised by how intact it was.
The wind had calmed down slightly as we headed out onto the famed Quetico Lake. This is the most sacred lake to the Anishinaabe people. After a peaceful paddle around Eden Island to the towering cliffs of the north shore, we searched for pictographs on the rock faces. We didn’t spot any drawings that resembled anything significant. We did notice some red dots, zig zags and crosses.
We checked out a couple sites along the north shore but ended up paddling further south. After paddling down the east side of Eden Island we found the perfect spot. We set up our large tarp as a rain shelter because the forecast was calling for lots of rain overnight.
This was also the inaugural test of our new camping hammock. We were very pleased with its performance. It was super easy to set up, really comfy, fits and holds two people at once, and packs light.
Dinner was breakfast sandwiches. We cooked hashbrowns and bacon over the fire, cooked eggs on the stove, chopped up an avocado, and toasted our bagels. A great feast for the first night. After a beautiful sunset swim we sat by the fire until it got dark.
Day 1 consisted of 17 km of paddling and 500 meters of portaging in 3.5 hours. Here’s a look at where we went.
Day 2:
It rained a lot overnight but our tarp and tent combo kept us dry. The morning was dark but it didn’t seem as though more rain was imminent. So we made some coffee and tea, packed everything up, and took off in the canoe. We headed south initially to get into the eastern narrows of Quetico Lake. There were some heavy winds working against us early on. After rounding the first corner and starting to head straight downwind it was less of a nuisance.
We spotted some wildlife in the calm narrows of Quetico Lake including a Great Blue Heron, two Trumpeter Swans, and tons of Common Loons. It was an awesome paddle through all the little bays.
At the far east end of the lake was a small winding creek through a marshy area, leading us to the next portage. This was actually two portages (around 100 meters each) with a small paddle through a swamp in between.
After the portages we started our paddle on Oriana Lake. We originally planned to camp on this lake. However, if we didn’t like the campsites, or if they were occupied, we had enough time to go further and camp on the next lake. Oriana Lake was small but beautiful, surrounded by white cliffs. However, it only had one nice site and it was already claimed. Spotted more wildlife friends as we passed through, including Painted Turtles and another Great Blue Heron.
After our paddle around Oriana Lake the map said we had another two portages (about 100 meters each) with a small paddle through a pond between them. The first portage ended up being about 600 meters with a very large elevation gain. That was a nice surprise. After a mix of paddling and shoving our canoe through some mud we made it to the second portage. To our delight, it actually was 100 meters.
As we were putting our canoe into Jesse lake we heard a huge crashing through the woods right beside us. It sounded like a moose was really close and we spooked him. It must have been quite large because it snapped several decent sized trees as it fled. Our energy was fading at this point as we’d been on the move for 8+ hours, but we took a little break to observe a huge hawk above us.
33 km of paddling and 900 meters of portaging in 9 hours led us to a really cool site on our own private island at the far east end of Jesse Lake.
We were super happy with this site. A very long day had paid off, as we made it far enough that we could take tomorrow off as a rest day. Here’s a look at our journey today.
The sun finally came out as we arrived and it looked like it was clearing up. So we decided not to put up any kind of rain shelter for tonight. This was a decision we would come to regret!
Dinner was delicious mac and cheese with ground beef and veggies. Each of our servings was pre-cooked and wrapped in tinfoil so it’s easy to pack and to warm up over the fire. As mentioned before, Quetico prides its wilderness on being mostly untouched by humans, so there are no metal grates over any of the fire pits. This meant we had to fashion our own warming rack for our mac and cheese out of some sticks and rocks.
After some reading in the hammock we went down to the water to brush our teeth. Before rinsing our hands in the lake we noticed a monstrous snapping turtle lurking right off shore. His claws and head were massive.
At about midnight we woke up laying in a cold puddle of water. Our tents fly was waterproof but it was raining so hard that water had found its way in underneath. We always put a tarp underneath our tent and tuck the edges under the fly to prevent this. But the wind unfolded our tarp so the rain was being funneled directly underneath our tent instead. We rushed outside to fix it and set up our large rain shelter tarp as we could hear more thunder rolling towards us. The water intrusion had soaked some clothes and a sleeping bag but luckily it was confined to one side of the tent. It was also lucky we caught it when we did as the next few hours got a lot worse weather-wise.
Day 3:
Early in the morning the wind was strong so we emptied the tent and hung everything up to dry out. It was a rest day today so thankfully we didn’t have to move camp. Our stuff dried out pretty fast in the heavy winds but the rain sent us back into the tent in the late morning. The heavy winds and rain continued intermittently throughout the day so we stayed inside. We did take a nice walk around the island during one rain intermission to take some pictures and collect firewood.
On our walk we found moose scat and tracks along a game trail. But there was no other sign of them. For lunch we made ham and cheese sandwiches grilled over the fire. Just as we finished eating we could see another wall of rain approaching. Back into the tent! We had hoped this day would be full of fishing and exploring Jesse Lake by canoe. But the weather did not cooperate. Before dinner the rain let off again and we did get to cast a few times off shore. Plus, another sighting of our dinosaur (snapping turtle) friend from last night.
Dinner was a dehydrated backpackers pasta primavera. Not our favorite dehydrated meal but it was decent. Luckily our rest day fell on the worst weather day of the week as paddling today wouldn’t have been fun. However, taking a rest day meant that tomorrow was going to be a long trek to Pickerel Lake.
Day 4:
After some coffee and tea we bid farewell to our island. It was a warm early morning paddle to the portage at the end of Jesse Lake. This one was 700 meters but mostly flat, leading us into Maria Lake. Originally we planned to spend last night on this lake but decided it would be easier to rest a full day then grind out a longer day 4. Maria was another small lake with a couple good looking campsites.
The portage from Maria Lake into Pickerel Lake was extremely hard to find. After paddling around the shoreline for a while we finally located the tiny path leading into the dense forest. This portage was 300 meters and mostly flat as well. Though it was pretty swampy in some areas so we had to hop from rock to rock to stay dry.
As we started paddling on Pickerel Lake the wind really started picking up. Luckily, it was at our backs for the most part. The first half of Pickerel Lake is known as the Pickerel Narrows. Its a series of thin channels weaving through picturesque rocky islands. The wind gusts got heavier and more sporadic but in the narrows it didn’t bother us too much. At least the sun was out!
After a long day some relaxing in the hammock was required.
Dinner was a dehydrated backpackers 3-cheese chicken pasta. It was fantastic and we will definitely buy it again. Time to roast some marshmallows and enjoy an awesome sunset.
We’d been hoping to see some stars all week and we finally got a chance. Didn’t get any pictures of the stars but did capture a nice crescent moon.
Today we paddled 30 km and portaged 1080 meters in 7 hours. Here’s a look at our travels.
Day 5:
We got up early to meet our outfitter on French Lake at the time we agreed on. It was a gorgeous morning paddle through the beaver creek that leads from Pickerel to French Lake. We spotted another big hawk and another Bald Eagle.
A couple beavers also swam by us before slapping their big tails on the water and diving under. It sounds like a huge rock being dropped in the water. We had been hearing this noise during some nights and finally confirmed what it was.
We met Barry the outfitter on the beach. He was a little surprised to see us. He said the heavy winds the last couple days delayed some other groups that were due back yesterday. He helped us loading our gear and canoe into the truck and offered us cold pop which tasted awesome after a few days in the woods.
Here was our route on Day 5. A short but sweet 6 km paddle in 90 minutes.
It was an awesome first trip to Quetico. We paddled a total of 86 km and portaged roughly 2.5 km in 5 days. The weather could have cooperated a little better but overall we had fun. There is so much more land to explore though. To give an idea of how little of the park we saw during our trip, here is our route (in blue) in comparison with the park boundary. Keep in mind that the red outline below is the Canadian half of the park. Across the border the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota is just as big as Quetico, and many people do through trips from Canada to the US and vice versa.
So there’s lots more fun to be had! Already planning the next Quetico canoe trip…
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