Planning a Bowron Lake Canoe Trip: Circuit, West Side, Fees and Portage Rules

Full circuit or West Side

The full circuit is a 116 km (72.1 mi) chain of lakes and connecting land in the Cariboo Mountains, and takes six to 10 days. The West Side is the shorter trip, two to four days. BC Parks recommends the circuit only to people with some backcountry canoeing experience.

Portage trails link every lake and add up to 10.8 km (6.7 mi). BC Parks says the West Side lakes are warmer for swimming, because the East Side lakes are fed by glaciers and snowfields. The park is about 120 km (74.6 mi) east of Quesnel, the last 27 km (16.8 mi) on the Bowron Lake Road, a wide, graded dirt road.

What a reservation buys

A standard reservation is an arrival date for up to six people, who can then use the circuit for 1 to 14 nights. Parties of 7 to 14 book a group reservation and paddle a fixed seven-night full circuit or three-night West Side. Only two group departures go out each day, one on each route, and a group pays for at least seven people even if someone drops out.

Anyone 16 or older can book. You name an occupant who holds the reservation and must be present for the whole trip, and they may be asked for ID at the visitor centre. A reservation cannot be transferred or sold. Camping and transaction fees are paid in full when you book.

Fees and cancelling

In Canadian dollars: $60 per person for the full circuit or $30 per person for the West Side, tax included, plus an $18 vessel transaction fee per canoe, with tax added. Each change or cancellation costs $6, and a call centre transaction adds $5. Starting in 2027, visitors from outside BC pay an extra $20 non-resident fee.

Camping fees are refunded when you cancel more than 28 days before your arrival date. At 28 days or fewer they are not refunded. Transaction fees, vessel fees included, are never refunded. After February 15, 2026, group reservations can only be changed or cancelled through the call centre.

Orientation, canoes and carts

Every party attends an orientation at the visitor centre, held daily from 8 am to 12 pm, before it starts. Miss it on your first reserved day and the reservation is cancelled without a refund.

No more than three people travel in one canoe, or four when two are small children. Canoe carts are allowed with an axle no wider than 75 cm (30 in), and with a cart the cargo in the canoe must not pass 28 kg (60 lb); you carry anything over that on your back. Motor boats are not allowed on the circuit.

• Camp only on tent pads or established campsites; a pad is up to 4 m by 4 m and holds two tents and four people
• Use the bear-proof caches at designated campsites at all times
• No dogs, firearms, crossbows or bear bangers; pepper spray only when labelled for bear use
• No soap in the lakes: wash at least 50 m inland
• No cell reception; six public two-way radios are for emergencies only

What PermitSnag does here

Each permit page says whether you can set a PermitSnag alert for it, and links to the agency that sells it.

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