WCPP Campsite Database (Read 2405 times)
Joe_Schmeaux
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WCPP Campsite Database
Sep 26th, 2012 at 6:44am
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WCPP doesn't have a campsite database, so I propose using this thread to collect campsite descriptions and ratings.

There are no official campsite names or numbers in WCPP, and that makes it difficult to match campsites to descriptions. So I am posting maps with my own numbers attached. I have numbered most of the sites on my maps, even the ones I didn't find or visit, so that others can add descriptions without posting new maps. (But of course if you want to rate a site that is not on one of my maps - and this is encouraged - you will have to generate your own maps and give the sites your own numbers.)

I have also included a couple of campsite descriptions / ratings from DentonDoc and SunCatcher.

Campsites in Manitoba do have official numbers (1, 2, etc) but these are not unique, so I have renumbered the one site I visited on Garner Lake from "1" to "GAR1" to distinguish it from any other site "1" that might appear later in this thread.

As much as possible, I have tried to keep the star rating consistent with PCD. Everyone has their own criteria for what constitutes a "good" campsite. This is a rough description of my star rating:
   0 stars: Not significantly better than a makeshift site anywhere else in the park.
   1 star: Very basic, usually a small site with a fire ring but no good tent locations, usable in an emergency.
   2 stars: Has a fire ring, at least one flat, level tent spot, not much else.
   3 stars: Tent spot(s) are flat, level and sheltered, the site has enough size that you can walk around. This would make an ok base camp.
   4 stars: Tent spots and site size are better than the minimum. The site also has good views, overall it is significantly better than a 3 star site.
   5 stars: Even better than 4 stars, needs good sitting rocks, kitchen area, etc as well.

Island sites need to be big enough that you can build a latrine and collect firewood without leaving the island (or degrading the site), otherwise I lowered the rating one star.

Because of the granite dome topography, almost all of the sites in WCPP seem to have good canoe landings, so usually I left this out of my descriptions.

There are eight maps covering the sites on my route, plus an overview map showing how the eight smaller maps fit together.

The campsite numbers and portage lengths might be too small to read on your screen as displayed here. In that case, try opening the image link in a new browser window or tab and then increasing the view size of that window, or try saving the image to your pc and opening it in a separate viewer. The images' resolutions are good enough that one of these should work.

On the maps, the campsites are shown by red dots and red circles. The dots are sites identified on DentonDoc's MemoryMap disc, the circles are sites added from the WCPP and Nopiming park maps.

The portage lengths are in metres according to the WCPP canoe map, with "np" meaning "no portage". Refer to the portage database thread for more details.

The maps:
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The campsite data:
Quote:
Site #___ Date visited____ Comments   
GAR1 August 8, 2012 Small, room for at least 2 tents. 2 stars
D001 2011 DentonDoc: This place is huge and has a fantastic sandy beach.  That said, it is also a site that gets over used and may be trashy.  Although technically within Ontario, this site also has a [metal fire grate].
S001 August 2012 SunCatcher: S002 is much better
S001 August 22, 2012 Three small fire rings on a small site. Sheltered tent spot in forest, maybe room for more. 2 stars.
S002 August 2012 SunCatcher: 5 stars
S002 August 9, 2012 Room for two tents on a flat grassy area on small island. Good views, lots of room to move around. Island too small for latrine though. 4 stars.
J001 August 20, 2012 Remnants of a fire pit. Room for one tent in the trees. 1 star.
J002 August 20, 2012 Fire ring on an east-facing shoreline. Room for 4+ tents on flat granite. Young forest lacking aesthetics. 1 star.
J003 (not checked)
J004 (not checked)
J005 August 20, 2012 Two fire rings on rocky point, One so-so tent spot in back. 1 star.
J006 August 20, 2012 Fire ring, room for one or two tents (a good sheltered spot in back). 2 stars
J007 August 20, 2012 South-facing shore, fire ring, room for a few tents on the reindeer lichen. 1 star.
J008 August 20, 2012 No fire ring, but room for tents. No stars.
J009 August 20, 2012 Rocky landing in marshy bay, but no site found. No stars.
J010 (not checked) Could not find a site here.
J011 August 20, 2012 Firepit below waterline on tiny exposed island. Room for 1 tent. 1 star.
S003 August 2012 SunCatcher: 5 stars
S003 August 20, 2012 West-facing site on north of island. Designer firepit, room for 2 or more tents. 5 stars
J012 August 10, 2012 Great view from a north-facing point, room for only one tent. Good (but small) kitchen area. Landing on the east side is mostly blocked by fallen pine tree. 3 stars
J013 August 10, 2012 A trail connects this to J012. This is also a small site, but with a much worse view. Could get three tents in here though. 2 stars
J014 August 10, 2012 Seldom-used site, grass growing in the fire ring. One big tent spot. 2 stars.
J015 (not checked)
J016 August 11, 2012 Excellent landing on the NW corner of the southern island. Two tent pads and a fire ring are higher up in the trees, well sheltered. 3 stars
J017 August 11, 2012 The landing is on the SE corner of the north island. The fire ring is further west, directly opposite the J016 landing. Poor tent spot. 1 star.
J018 August 11, 2012 Rudimentary fire ring, poor tent spot. 1 star
J019 (not checked) Could not find a site here
J020 August 11, 2012 Good landing, nice fireplace, but no good tent spots that I could find. Hemmed in by deadfall. 1 star
J021 August 11, 2012 Open point without much shelter. 2 stars.
J022 August 11, 2012 Good landing, fire ring on a point, the tent sites are further back in the trees. An east facing site with a long granite beach, lots of room to walk around. 3 stars.
J023 (not checked)
J024 (not checked)
J025 (not checked)
J026 August 12, 2012 Spacious point site, excellent landing, designer kitchen. Room for at least 3 tents. 3 stars
J027 (not checked)
J028 August 12, 2012 Spacious site, the tent pads I saw weren't very level. 1.5 stars
J029 (not checked)
J030 (not checked)
J031 (not checked)
J032 (not checked)
J033 (not checked)
J034 August 12, 2012 Fire ring on a small point. No good tent pads, though there may be room for a small tent on the reindeer lichen or back in the woods. No stars
J035 (not checked)
J036 August 12, 2012 On a small channel. Has a fire ring plus room for a couple of tents. 2 stars
J037 (not checked)
J038 (not checked)
J039 (not checked)
J040 August 13, 2012 Excellent takeout, nice view to south. Small, room for only one or two tents, but looks comfortable. 3 stars.
J041 (not checked) Could not find a site here: there is a takeout onto a tiny exposed point with room for one small tent, but no fire ring. If this is it, no stars.
J042 (not checked)
J043 August 14, 2012 There are a couple of flat spots alongside the portage where you could pitch a tent, but no fire ring that I saw. 1 star.
J044 (not checked)
J045 (not checked)
J046 (not checked)
J047 August 14, 2012 On the north side of the southern island. Has a fire ring with fireweed growing in it. Room for one tent behind a big rock. 1 star.
J048 August 14, 2012 I checked the north shore of this peninsula. There is a finger of granite here, some rocks that may once have been a fire ring, some scattered fragments of charred wood. No place
for a tent. No stars if this is it.
J049 August 14, 2012 The site has a poor takeout onto a sloping granite slab. There is an old fire ring and a place for a tent at the top of the slope, but this is as close to a "makeshift" camp as you can get. Half a star.
J050 (not checked)
J051 August 15, 2012 The fire ring is on the southern tip of the southern island. Maybe room for a small tent. Half a star.
J052 August 15, 2012 On a small island in the channel between the big island and the mainland. Two firepits, two good landings on the north and south sides of the island, room for two or three tents, good views.The island is too small for a latrine or for a reasonable supply of deadfall though. 4 stars.
J053 (not checked)
J054 (not checked)
J055 (not checked)
J056 (not checked)
J057 (not checked)
J058 (not checked)
J059 August 17, 2012 The fire ring is on south-facing point. Good tent spots are located further back from the shore. This site doesn't seem to get much use. 3 stars
J060 August 17, 2012 This is a separate site from J059. Fire ring is mostly destroyed. Little used site? 1 star.
J061 August 17, 2012 There is a large beehive-shaped cairn on the point. but no fire ring. Maybe there is room for one tent. No stars.
J062 August 17, 2012 This is a small site on a south facing point upstream of the narrows. Has a fire ring, only one good tent spot, but the site is large enough to walk around a bit. Good views. 2 stars
J063 August 17, 2012 This is on a south-facing point. The site is small, but has flat spots for three tents. Good views. 3 stars
J064 (not checked)
J065 (not checked)
J066 (not checked)
J067 (not checked)
J068 (not checked)
J069 August 17, 2012 There is a possible remnant of a fire ring here, no spot for a tent. This is probably not the real site, no stars if it is.
J070 August 17, 2012 On a south-facing shoreline, this site has a fire ring with fireweed growing in it. Room for one tent nearby, with the possibility of more farther back in the forest with some deadfall clearing. 1 star
J071 (not checked) Could not see anything here
J072 August 17, 2012 This is a small site on a south-facing point with good views. Tent pads are sheltered but not level. Look for boletus edulis on the trail along the west shore. 2.5 stars.
J073 (not checked) Could not see anything here.
J074 (not checked)
J075 August 19, 2012 The fire ring is on an exposed tongue of granite. There is room for one large tent. The site has good views, but I would not want to be here in bad weather. Seldom-used site? 2 stars.
J076 August 19, 2012 This site is on the west side of the island. It's a slightly better site than J075, more sheltered, but the views are not as good. There is room for at least one tent. 2 stars




  
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DentonDoc
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Re: WCPP Campsite Database
Reply #1 - Sep 26th, 2012 at 1:19pm
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Joe -

This is an outstanding effort.  I can tell much work has gone into this material.

However, there is, in fact, a campsite database for WCPP.  Last I checked, it was being maintained/developed by the park staff, specifically Shannon Walshe, Park Biologist (name sound familiar?).  While this effort is still in development (e.g. some of the sites do not yet exist or their exact locations have not been confirmed), the ultimate goal is to exceed your expectations ... and has been suggested to include such things as photographs of the site (we'll see how this turns out, because that could be more than trivial from a database management perspective). 

The campsite locations do, in fact, have numbers.  Since you mentioned that you have the Memory Maps material I produced, you also have the numbers.  The source of all those little dots came from the park staff ... first a map from Claire and then a file (from Shannon) containing number (assigned by the park staff), and location (UTM's if I recall correctly), plus the name of the lake (as a comment).  In some cases, the file has a campsite number followed by A, B, C, etc.  when the exact location of the campsite had not been confirmed and there were multiple instances of a campsite located in that rough position.  (Some of this I edited out to minimize clutter when placing a campsite on the Memory Map disc.)

And, yes.  There are some errors in the file.  For example, a campsite on extreme eastern Telescope Lake that is shown on the southern shore line is actually located on a small island perhaps a 100 meters east of that position.  Also keep in mind that some of the campsites (like PCD), are probably "legacy" in nature.  I've stayed on one of those in Quetico and one on Hjalmar in WCPP and it was clear that both had not been an active campsite in decades.

So, I'd recommend that we transmit at least a copy of what we find on a trip to the park staff to help them develop a comprehensive database for campsites (and other things).  For example, there is now a pictograph map floating around that has general markings of where they are in the park.  But based on my last trip, I think there are still several that have yet to be "discovered."  (I say "discovered" because I'm guessing that some First Nation folks already know where they are.)

As for a portage database for WCPP, I'm aware of no similar effort by the park staff to develop a descriptive database for that purpose (although based on my knowledge of the folks there, I'd not be completely surprise to find that that material is also floating around the office somewhere ... maybe not in an electronic format.)

Oh, BTW.  I've already suggested that I could assist the park in establishing a remotely accessible database for campsites.  (I'm not retired long enough that I don't know how to do this kind of thing.)  So, far ... no takers.

dd
  
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Joe_Schmeaux
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Re: WCPP Campsite Database
Reply #2 - Sep 26th, 2012 at 5:50pm
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Thanks, DD

I was aware that park staff were working on a database. My info (from Claire, in July) was that the project is still ongoing, with public consultation still to come, and an online electronic map not expected for a few years. Maybe they're looking at something like the one for the Manigotagan River in Manitoba? That would be a major undertaking, so I thought it better to get some info out in quick 'n' dirty form rather than wait for the final product to be finished.

As of July, the WCPP campsites did not have numbers yet (according to Claire). The park staff had expected to be finished their inventory this summer though, so it's possible they have added numbers between July and now. Once the official numbers are publicly available, my maps and tables are easy enough to update.

I did see that there were numbers attached to the campsites in your MemoryMap disc. Since there were many sites on the 2012 park campsite map that are not on the MM disc (all of the red circles on the Ontario side are missing from your database), I decided to go with my "definitely wrong but maybe mostly complete" numbering rather than your "possibly obsolete but definitely incomplete" data Grin

Part of the thinking was also to avoid confusion if the eventual official campsite numbers are different from the MM site numbers but have the same format. "J066" will obviously not be an official WCPP site name (I hope), so anyone who sees a J066 site rating will know they have to cross-check. But "227" might be associated with different sites on MM and the final database, and a comment associated with MM site 227 could get misinterpreted.

I think Claire monitors this board from time to time, so if there's data in these two posts of use to the park staff, they should be able to retrieve it.

  
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