plander wrote on Feb 28^th, 2010 at 9:05pm:

I made a reservation in Jan for May 17 entry on the west side-Lac LaCroix ranger station entries, or at least I thought.  I even received a reference #.  I got a call last week and was told that the park doesn't open until May 21.  Is this correct?  I checked online (   (You need to Login or Register) and the interior has camping dates April 1, 2010-March 31, 2011.  Dawson Trail has a May 21-Oct 21 opening but I would have guessed that if you can get yourself to the ranger station you could get your permit.  How does one go about getting a permit for entry prior to May 21?  Would a RABC permit work? I know they have switched over to a new system.  Any help or advice would be appreciated.   Thanks in advance.

Hmm...  Here's the update.  I got a message a few days ago from Ontario Parks telling me that they have been trying to call for weeks and if I don't get back to them soon I will loose my May 17 entry reservation.  Well, I called back and got the reservation, but not after I sent in my RABC application.  I must say I did find this all somewhat confusing.  On the one hand I was told a couple weeks back by the same office that my My 17 reservation wasn't any good since the park doesn't "open" until May 21 (see my original post).  On the other hand, Walleye Opener is May 15th and my understanding has been that Quetico's ranger stations open the day before the opener, thus reservations are accepted starting at that time, May 14 .  The only thing that made sense was the fact that things were consistently inconsistent with the reservations this year.  All that said, I'm not going to complain too much.  I am able to make my trip into Quetico this year (first time with my boy-10 yr old) and that's what counts.  I've been to many interesting places around the globe the last few years and Quetico remains my favorite, hands down.

By the way, thanks for all the advice and help. If nothing else I think I have a pretty good handle on the details/caveats of going into the park in the off-season.  If anyone has any questions on the matter I have plenty of info now.

Peter