All,

I just returned from a trip into (and back out) of WCPP from the Lund Lake entry point in early July 2010.  If you have thoughts on using that entry, send me a P.M. for a condition report.  I've contacted Claire and reported conditions, and she indicated that they will be following up on it.

A full story / report is pending, but I want to give WCPP a chance to validate or correct my observations before posting it.  This was, after all, only my first trip to WCPP.  My expectations may be unrealistic.

Woodstripper

Glad to hear that all visitos to WCPP got home safely.

As for the road to Leano.  I got to drive the section from Red Lake to Onnie both ways in my F150.  Although there were a few washboard sections, a few rock humps, a few potholes, and water across the road a time or two the overall condition of this section of road was good to very good.  Keep in mind that I'd rarely reach speeds of 40 mph ... mostly 25-30, with occasional slow downs when conditions warranted.  I had no ground clearance issues and no ruts.

The section from Onnie to Mile 51 was a bit more demanding, with water over the road in more sections, but still shallow enough that a vehicle with a bit higher ground clearance would easily make it.  A couple of spots were steeper than on the RL to Onnie section.  We even encounterd a couple of vehicles coming the opposite direction towing somewhat sizable boats behind them.

From Mile 51 to Leano is a single lane road with brush encroaching.  Expect to have branches scraping the side of your vehicle through here unless you are driving a compact.  Other than being narrow with a few potholes, this section produced no other challenges ... it was just slow because of the narrowness of the road.  (I guess slow would also be good because animal life could easily step out right in front of you with NO notice.)

dd

woodstripper wrote on Jul 14^th, 2010 at 5:17pm:

Wet conditions?  Hmmm.  Should have been there last season when they were experiencing a 30-year record for high water.  Last year, we did find that several portages looked more like streams and a few others were in and out of running water.  We were actually able to skip a couple of portages north of Aegean toward Streak... one a lift over and one was a paddle thru.

This year, the water depth on portages was at least a few inches less over the same portage.  Water over the road was clearly less when compared to last year.

dd

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

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

nctry_Ben wrote on Aug 9^th, 2010 at 7:44pm:

This is where Jimbo chimes in to tell you our story of a close call.