token wrote:

It is convienient being able to paddle back to the car in the evening to stash some food to eliminate the proccess of hanging it.

Umm, stashing food in your car makes it very tempting for a bear to break in to your car!

Actually, there's a huge sign right on the walkway down to the launch dock warning people NOT to leave food in their cars.

I believe with the sign posted as it is, you could actually be charged with 'unlawfully storing wildlife attractants'. Maybe someone can clarify that for us.
 

I'll be in the park the same weekend. I'm introducing a coworker of mine to canoe camping. Going to be on Pen Lake. Forgot about the new moon. Should be awesome if the night is clear!

BethNearNorth wrote:

token wrote:

I was told that its not a huge deal as long as its sealed. When you go car camping they tell you to store it in your car, if it was such a huge deal why wouldn't they have food lockers setup or a place for you to hang it? I know I have seen many people do it with easy access backcountry sites.

Sealed doesn't count for a whole lot! I don't know anyone with any backcountry experience that would tell you that!

Car camping rules are different and if you notice all the warnings and sightings, there's quite a bear problem around the car camping areas precisely because people don't store food properly. But at car camping spots, there's people around including rangers for scaring the bears off.

At the access points there is no one around to scare the bear(s) off all night long. It's an access point not a camping area (except for the jump off spot) so there's no expectation that people SHOULD be leaving food. Cars have been broken in to with nothing more than a Timmie's coffee cup left in sight.

Once a bear figures out what a cooler looks like and that there is likely to be food in it, they become a break and enter expert in really short order. Then everyones' vehicles are at risk of being damaged.

My apologies to ZenSoloist for hijacking his thread.




 

Tis' my fault! I guess I wont be doing this any more! I think I've done it twice both times being this year.

Token, I base camp so I can day trip and explore the area at my leisure, no packs aside from a small day pack with food and water and my camera. I do stash food in my car, but it stays in a cooler on ice and out of sight in the trunk, in the 20+ years I have been doing it I have never once had an issue with bears. The food barrel I bring in gets either tied up or tied to a tree way from camp, never had an issue with bears that way either. 

KellyCamps, go for it! The west side is a great place, big lakes, mostly short portages. You can't go wrong going in through Rain, Mag or Tim. 

The last 3 days at work have been hectic with the NHL media day in town ( I work at a hockey rink as a Zamboni operator). GoPro was in from San Francisco on one of the rinks and it was pretty fun to watch them use drones, GoPro blacks and a 40 GoPro bullet time rig! As they were packing up one of the girls on the crew handed me a new GoPro Hero4 Session and said thank you for all the help! I'm still kind of in shock but also excited beyond belief I will be taking the new toy on the canoe trip, hope to have some cool videos to share along with the normal pics int he trip report :D

Heading up for my first solo ever this afternoon.  Leaving work at noon, and hope to be setup on Sproule lake with splake dinner by 6pm!

Well, maybe splake dinner will have to wait until tomorrow, splake can be sneaky . . . =)

 

That is so cool about the GoPro!  Have a great trip!  

This time of the year I usually don't make a reservation if I am base camping on an access lake. I also tend to go during the week which thins out the crowds as well. My favourite site is the one closest to the portage to Little Eagle but the big one by Hambone is great for sheer size.