Campsites: Full List, Tent Pads & Map

Fifty-odd campsites around 116 km of water, all first-come and all different sizes. Knowing roughly how many tent pads are at the site you are aiming for is the difference between a relaxed afternoon and a nervous one.

How the sites work

Every site is first-come, first-served — there is no reserving a particular one. They are marked from the water with yellow markers, which are easy to paddle straight past, so keep the map you were given at orientation to hand and know roughly where the next one should be.

Most sites have several tent pads. If pads are still free once your party is set up, expect other parties to join you, and make room for them — the etiquette runs both ways, and some evening it will be you arriving late with nowhere else to reach. Tent pads are on the small side, which is why we suggest several small tents rather than one large one.

Every site has a fire pit, at least one bear cache and a pit toilet, and most have nothing else — no tables. See what to expect for the full picture.

Every campsite, by lake

Kibbee Lake

Indianpoint Lake

Isaac Lake — west arm

Isaac Lake — long arm

McLeary Lake

Lanezi Lake

Sandy Lake

Unna Lake

Babcock Lake

Spectacle Lakes

Swan Lake

Group sites

The sites marked above as group sites are reserved for parties of seven to fourteen, who may camp only in them. Independent parties of six or fewer may not use them. If you are organising a larger trip, the rules and the full list are in group trips.

One to watch: #46 on Spectacle is now a group site, though older copies of the BC Parks map still show it as an ordinary campsite.

Emergency and drying cabins

Seven cabins are scattered around the circuit for emergencies, or for drying out when the weather has beaten you. They are old, but most contain a stove you can burn firewood in, which in a wet week is worth a great deal.

• North side of Kibbee Lake, near campsite #1
• Near the end of Indianpoint Lake, at campsite #8
• The start of the long arm of Isaac Lake, northeast shore, near campsite #18
• Halfway down Isaac Lake at campsite #20, northeast shore
• McLeary Lake, at campsite #31
• Between Spectacle and Swan at campsite #48
• The end of Swan Lake, just before the Bowron River

These are not accommodation — you camp in your tent. They are shelter for when something has gone wrong or you need to get dry.

Covered picnic shelters

Four sites have covered picnic areas with tables, which on a wet day is the best thing on the circuit:

• Wolverine Bay on Isaac Lake (sites #15 / #15a)
• The end of Isaac Lake, campsite #29
• Turner Creek (#33 / #34), north side of Lanezi Lake
• Pat’s Point (#47 / #48), where Spectacle meets Swan

Planning your nights

Work out roughly where you want to be each evening before you launch, using the distances in the lake-by-lake guide and about 15 km a day as a comfortable pace. You will change the plan — everyone does — but starting each morning with a target and a fallback beats improvising at six in the evening on a lake you cannot land on.