Sounds like a plan Marten. See you there.

I will try to talk you into it at the Copia dinner.

This is on my radar again for this season. God help me. 

A little less than 8 from the Twin Cities which means about an 11 to 12 hour trip. This is almost identical to the drive for Wabakimi which I've done twice. Not bad really if it can be done in one long day. It allows for a longer time in the park.

HighnDry wrote on Oct 15^th, 2016 at 12:54am:

There are several options but the others are harder to describe. Since I have a cabin in the area I often times cross at Warroad and end up accessing the trans Canada at East Baintree via a well maintained gravel road. Then I follow hwy 11 to Pine Falls.

HighnDry wrote on Oct 5^th, 2016 at 1:20am:

I have accessed Walking Stick in WCPP from the east, west and up the creek from Carroll. This summer the creek from Carroll was a hard pull,literally, the last mile because the beavers and their dams were gone. Coming from the west is my favorite but has a some 900 meter portages. There are no maintained or blazed portages but I can get you  my gps tracks through the area.

Thanks Marten. I thought of that way as well. I know at least one other canoeist who went up to Manitoba to enter Gardner from Beresford, if I remember correctly. He did Thief River Falls, then crossed the border due north and caught the highway south of 'Peg to then head east towards the park. I haven't mapquested any of this but I'd guess it would fall in your time range estimate.

From the Rockford IL area it takes the same amount of time to Red Lake or Wallace Lake near Bissett, Manitoba. From the Twin Cities you would head to Fargo and go up 29 to Winnipeg. That way would be about 10 hours for you with even the gravel roads near the end that allow 40 to 50 mph travel speeds.

Is there also a trail into Walking Stick which is a bit further south of that area? I seem to remember a discussion of finding a route in there or that one exists but is unused? It looks like an interesting area to  get into (if it can be accessed) but would require either a west-side entry or fly-in to CarrolL

Marten wrote on Sep 19^th, 2016 at 1:33pm:


Good to learn of that.  The Scouts quit using that route during the 1980s as 1.  The adult crew leaders complained about the trail conditions ( some of them were reported to be absolutely furious, as the trails were a great deal more difficult than they expected ), and 2.  there was a fire in the area during the mid to late 1980s, making the trails tough to locate.  It is one thing to cross a mucky trail full of mire and mud at the end of the trip, after one has learned what to expect, and quite another to begin the trip with three trail of such condition.  People routinely underestimate the rigorous physical challenge some of the trails can present.