woodstripper wrote on Jul 14^th, 2010 at 6:22pm:

This was my first trip to WCPP, and my expectations may be out of line for such a remote area.  But even if the trails are really no worse than expected, I am concerned about the damage that is being done to the fragile bogs.

I believe you are correct.  My expectations as to the conditions of portages was relatively low for my first trip.  I was actually quite surprised at the condition of the portages.  Although not generally a boulevard, I didn't find any difficulty following them or even finding them.  Based on conversations with both Doug and Claire, it was clear that the park is short on staff and some areas of the park don't get the attention they need.  For example, portages, on average, don't see a portage crew for four years.  (I've been contemplating entry via Garner Lake, Manitoba but it appears that area hasn't seen a portage crew for about 6 years.)  Furthermore, I suspect that the Leano/Onnie areas get more than their fair share of attention.  In these areas, clearly the park is expending a significant amount of their resources.  Compared to last year, the Leano entry was well marked, with new rip-rap through a boggy area just out of the parking lot and a well crafted plank bridge/boardwalk over another stream/boggy area.  And, on my exit, it appears that Onnie received even more resources.  Again, the signage was new and informative, but even more important, they extended what appears to be a brand new boardwalk for perhaps 100 yards from the parking lot over a serious boggy area.  Not only did it make my exit much more pleasurable, it also provided protection to the bog/swamp, which was actually quite beautiful.

dd