Powell Forest Canoe Route

Although a good portion of the route is located reasonably close to civilization this is still a backcountry paddling adventure brimming with beautiful vistas and wildlife. It is not uncommon to hear the call of loons and you may see eagles, frogs and even a beaver at play. Due to the remoteness of some sections of the route, you will not have a cell signal for a good portion of the route so be prepared to be self-sufficient with some sort of satellite communication device and a first aid kit, plenty of extra food and foul weather gear and clothing. I carried the Garmin inReach Messenger just in case things went sideways but luckily I never had to use it—you can read that review here.

Despite being somewhat remote, the Powell Forest Canoe Route is not entirely a wilderness adventure. A good portion of the route is within a working forest managed by Western Forest Products. This means that there are plenty of logging roads, clear-cuts around most of the lakes and evidence of past logging such as old-growth tree stumps and dead heads protruding from Lois Lake and Powell Lake. You will also paddle through ‘The Elephant Graveyard’ which consists of a handful of large old-growth tree stumps located between Goat Lake and Powell Lake—it is eerily beautiful. The majority of the lakes are pristine and uninhabited but once at Powell Lake, there are a fair amount of houseboats and cottages that dot the lake shore.

The best time to do the Powell Forest Canoe Route is from early June until late September and there is no cost to camp at any of the twenty or more sites which operate on a first-come, first-serve basis. Each of the sites have tent pads, picnic tables, an outhouse and fire pits with most even having food storage lockers to prevent bears and other wildlife from becoming habituated to food and garbage.

While paddling, be on the lookout for large orange triangle or diamond-shaped blazes on trees which signify takeout points as well as the route on Lois Lake which can be tricky to follow due to all the dead-standing snags. The portage distances are as follows:
1st portage from Lois Lake to Horseshoe Lake is 1.5 km
2nd portage from Horseshoe Lake to Little Horseshoe Lake is 1.3 km
3rd portage from Little Horseshoe Lake to Beaver Lake is 0.74 km
4th portage from Beaver Lake to Dodd Lake is 0.47 km
5th portage from Dodd Lake to Windsor Lake is 0.7 km
6th portage from Windsor Lake to Goat Lake is 2.4 km

You will find frequent canoe rests on every portage route about every 300 meters along the trail so you can frequently take a load off while completing some of the longer or more hilly portages. There are two routes to choose from to portage from Horseshoe Lake to Dodd Lake, with the west side going via Little Horseshoe Lake and Beaver Lake, while the west side goes through Nanton Lake and Ireland Lake. The west portage route is longer, the trails are flatter with better footing and there are fewer transitions between paddling and portaging. The east side route is an alternate route which is narrower and has some hilly sections complete with stairs but if you are looking for a less travelled and shorter route then the east side is for you.

Day one was an early start with the canoe pick-up at Mitchell Canoe & Kayak en route to the put-in at Lois Lake. After some route finding through the snags on Lois Lake, we found the portage route and arrived at the first camp after only 1.5 hours. The portage to Horseshoe Lake was very flat and smooth with plenty of canoe rests but since the portage was only 1.5km we took very few stops and made good time. While not planning to camp so close to the start of the route, we could not get over how nice this campsite was at the south end of Horseshoe Lake. It had plenty of new picnic tables, a new outhouse and even a new out-of-the-way camp platform complete with a lake view as you can see below in the pictures. We were sold! So we decided to relax and stay for the remainder of the day and night as we figured we could make the time up on day two. The views from camp were pretty fine and camping under the shadow of Walt Hill reminded me of the adventure I had just completed a few days prior on the Sunshine Coast Trail.

Given that we had such a short first day, we knew that we’d be putting in more time to get back on track and reach the north end of Windsor Lake which was our predetermined camp sight for day two. We decided to take the shorter east portage route to Dodd Lake via Little Horseshoe Lake and Beaver Lake even though we heard it was more challenging. After paddling up Horseshoe Lake with Tin Hat Mountain on the Sunshine Coast Trail in our sights we hit the portage route and found it to be challenging but it went by quickly, taking a few more rest stops along the way. While the trail was tight, hilly and steep in sections it was still manageable and nice to have two small lake paddles en route to Dodd Lake. These portages and the next one to Windsor Lake crossed and followed logging roads so be sure to be aware of logging truck traffic on weekdays and car traffic on weekends. Since industrial vehicles tend to move pretty fast they may not be able to stop quickly so look and listen before crossing or following any roads.

The paddle on Dodd Lake was longer than it looked on the map but felt more remote and was a beautiful paddle despite the headwind the entire way. Finding the portage route to Windsor Lake was easy and with a short 0.7km carry we arrived at the south end of Windsor Lake. After a short paddle on Windsor Lake, we took out at the dock and set up camp. A rest was well earned after a 5-hour day of paddling and portaging but thanks to a 7:00 am start we were at camp by lunch and had the day to relax. The camp was small and south-facing so there was good sun exposure on the dock and the swimming was nice and warm in the shallow end of the lake.
 

The third day of our trip started with a longer 2.4km portage which was almost entirely downhill once we gained the small saddle above Windsor Lake. The portage went by quickly given that gravity was on our side and we put in at Goat Lake. We were thankful to have camped up high on Windsor Lake as there were too many sites at Goat Lake (aka people) for our liking and also less sun exposure. After a short paddle across Goat Lake to the river which connects with Powell Lake we were treated to views of massive old-growth tree stumps in what is known as the “Elephant Graveyard”. Aptly named, the Elephant Graveyard was our last taste of smooth water for the remainder of the day. The northwesterly winds we were warned of are a real thing and we got to experience them first hand but it was a fair trade-off for not having to carry the canoe and gear up the 111m portage to Windsor Lake had we decided to paddle the route clockwise from Powell Lake.

The remoteness of the paddle route quickly faded away as we reached the open water of Powell Lake with floating houses dotting the shoreline and boat traffic being fairly consistent given that it was a weekend. We decided to break up the 28.5km Powell Lake paddle by stopping at Fiddle Head Landing but the official Powell Forest Canoe Route Map has the Hut indicated in the wrong location, luckily where it is shown there is a nice sandy beach campground that was good enough for us after 3.5 hours of paddling and portaging. The camp had a nice northerly view of Goat Island but given its aspect, it meant that the sun did not hit the beach until 3:00 pm so we walked the shoreline to find some sunshine to load up on vitamin D and relax. 

On our last day on the canoe route, we decided to get on the water early to avoid the winds that would pick up by mid-morning/early afternoon. Sadly then came about 30 minutes into our paddle after launching at 6:30 am—we should have just slept in. We opted to stay close to shore in case the weather picked up and a storm decided to blow in off the ocean. This proximity to shore was not only safer but it allowed us to marvel at the complexity and size of some of the floating homes on the lake. Despite the extra effort thanks to the consistent headwind we covered the distance to Powell Lake Marina in just under three hours and loaded up the canoe onto our car which had been shuttled there for us. We headed through Powell River and back to Mitchell Canoe & Kayak to give the canoe and gear a good once over and cleaning so that it could be returned in pristine condition.

The Powell Forest Canoe Route is an ideal length for those looking to get into canoe paddle routes with portages. While the route is remote it is not that remote that rescue by road or a nearby inhabitant on one of the lakes is not impossible. The scenery is varied and ever-changing and encounters with wildlife are abundant. The campsites are for the most part beautiful as they have each received upgrades in recent years. The portage routes are more than manageable for novice canoe carriers and well developed with plenty or rest stops along the way.

In our four days of paddling and portaging, we only ran across four other groups and never had to camp with any other parties. This made the entire experience that much better as it felt more isolated and remote which is why we undertake such adventures. With easy access and a manageable distance, the Powell Forest Canoe Route is one you should put on your adventure to-do list and while you are in Powell River why not check out the Sunshine Coast Trail which I completed two days prior with my faithful K9 companion and also wrote a review of.

If you are looking for a more challenging route then the famed Bowron Lakes route is definitely worth putting on your to-do list as it is twice as long as the Powell Forest Canoe Route and far more remote. If you want to start off your portaging experience with a route that has only one small portage and more paddling flexibility then read our article on Murtle Lake which is North America’s largest paddle-only Lake. We have also created these Top Ten Tips For Paddle/Portaging which is centred around Bowron Lakes but applicable to any canoe routes you choose to tackle.

If you are interested in an adventure of a different kind then you may want to consider the Sunshine Coast Trail while you are in Powell River as it is the longest hut-to-hut trail in Canada at 180km. It provides amazing opportunities for forest bathing, wildlife sightings and just time in nature. You can complete it in 8-10 days and you'll be rewarded with incredible bird's eye views of the Powell Forest Canoe Route from various peaks along the trail.