Powell Forest Canoe Route (gone for 7 days)

[@canoeingbc]

You can tell you have canoeing experience. What a lovely trip! So much peace and puppy fun!

[@adventureben22]

Thanks Christie! For anyone who wants to do this trip and needs a canoe, we rented ours from Christie: www.canoeingbc.com/ We had a long drive and our own canoe isn't great for tandem trips, so we decided to rent one locally.

[@BloodToDust]

WOW what a great video! You really capture the Powell Forest Canoe Route. Thank you for adding in a shot of my van, always appreciate help promoting my small business. Those ultralight canoes are a blessing Eh? Hopefully this year we get more rain to fill up those lakes and rivers. BTW those are Bullfrog Tadpoles, invasive buggers. Hope to see you back here again soon!

[@adventureben22]

Yes, they really are! Going up on Cardiac Hill was a slog. 😆 Still happy we did it that way around, it was nice to have the tail wind doen Powell Lake and get the hard work over with early on. We had such a blast on that trip! I learned afterwards about the bullfrog, those things are voracious! I hope they don't end up taking over completely... We'll be back out that way one day, that place is too beautiful to stay away from! 😉 Have you filmed anything spectacular with your drone recently? You showed us some of your orca footage and that was really cool. I hope you'll have time to check out my other videos.

[@GRSRiverrider]

A pretty place, that's for sure. What a nicely behaved dog. Thanks for sharing.

[@adventureben22]

Thank you for watching my video! I will readily admit I left out the less well behaved moments, though. 🤣 Joking aside, she is a great adventure dog.

[@redfishnc]

Love healers, they seem to be able to hold their on

[@adventureben22]

Yes, they can! Though admittedly ours is an absolute wimp (except with bears, she is a great bear dog). Her dad on the other hand, has earned a solid reputation as the defender of the pack. He also has the vet bills to prove it... 🤣

[@ruraldragonfly]

Just rewatchesd this...hoping to paddle this route this coming summer!

[@adventureben22]

Thank you for watching it ... again! Much appreciated. 😊 You'll have a ton of fun! Most people do the loop counter-clockwise, but we decided to go the other way around. You can't go wrong either way, but we were very glad we opted for the tail winds on Powell Lake at the cost of portaging "Cardiac Hill" uphill. It bought us an extra day (made it to Goat Lake on day one) and we enjoyed finishing the trip on Lois Lake, which is a bit less busy with people than Powell Lake. But again, you can't go wrong either way! Have fun and safe travels!

[@ruraldragonfly]

I'm excited! I noticed you did the route "backwards." We are still in planning stages and we had talked about getting Powell Lake over with first but at the moment I think we are leaning towards starting at Lois Lake. I do like the idea of getting the "busy lake" over with first though! How did your 2nd trip to Nation Lakes turn out?

[@adventureben22]

@@ruraldragonflyIt was amazing! My friends had no clue they were going on the trip until breakfast on the day they were getting on the plane! 😆 Very interesting to do the trip again, it was both the same and very different. I'm editing the video at the moment, but it is a bit of a monster production... Also! Bring good shoes to the Powell Forest Canoe Route, it really is 50% paddling and 50% hiking! Amazing and worth it, but good to know before you go.

[@ruraldragonfly]

Thanks. I was planning on good footwear.I was able to get away with my Teva's for last summers 500m portage but figured proper shoes were a must for this trip. Can't wait to see your Nation Lakes video.

[@adventureben22]

@@ruraldragonfly will you make a slideshow/video of your PFCR trip, too?

[@redfishnc]

Beautiful area and looked like a great trip. I noticed bear spray in a couple of shots, any sightings beyond the footprints?

[@adventureben22]

Thank you! No sightings on this trip, but there are black bear in the area. The dog never got her bear bark on either, so I don't think we ever got close to an encounter. At home we are used to having bears around and we generally carry bear spray on adventures.

[@RideSUPHike]

Just watched this great clip. Great adventure! I have a couple of questions for you. I understand that you started from the Powell Lk (common end point). Did you drive there and left your car?? Also, where was your exact end point at Lois Lake? The campground or the Lois Lake Dam Boat Launch? I am planning to do this route this summer (direction undecided), and I am wondering how you moved from the end point back to your car (if you left your car at the start, that is.) Thank you in advance.

[@adventureben22]

Thank you for watching, it is much appreciated! We rented a canoe from Mitchell's in Powell River. They let us park our vehicle there and we used Sasquatch Trails to shuttle us to the start and to pick us up again at the end. We agreed to meet at the public boat ramp at the bottom of Lois Lake. I wouldn't leave my vehicle at the boat launch. The put in was much more public, but since we didn't decide to leave our vehicle on either side I never looked into options for that. We decided to start on the Powell Lake side to make use of the waves. We're slow starters and knew the afternoon winds would be a challenge for us. Cardiac Hill is a challenge, but if you take a day and go slow it is quite doable. Because of Cardiac Hill, if you do go our way around (clockwise) and you rent a boat, it is worth shelling out for the lightweight boat. We ended up flying up Powell Lake and if I'd known that (you can't bank on it, though!) we would have taken a day to explore Goat Lake. In hindsight I am extra happy we went this way around. We didn't know this when we left, but the shores of Powell Lake are lined with never ending floating cabins, which was fun for a little bit, but it was bad for the sense of remoteness we were looking for. As soon as we left Powell Lake we got exactly what we wanted and it stayed that way for the rest of the trip. Lois Lake has some cabins at the end of the lake, but nowhere near as many as Powell Lake and that made for a much more pleasant ending to the trip. All in all I'm glad we did it this way around, but, in fairness, you can't go wrong. If you're on Facebook, there is a group dedicated to paddling the Powell Forest Canoe Route. You can find lots of good information there, too. Happy paddling!

[@RideSUPHike]

@@adventureben22 Thanks so much for the detailed account. Your info is much appreciated. We haven't decided the direction of the travel but were leaning towards the counter clockwise. Humm... Finishing in the wildness instead of boat houses is much appealing. We will see. Anyways, thank you!!!