Kibbee Lake Day Trip: Paddle Bowron in a Day

You do not need a week, a reservation or a portage cart to paddle at Bowron. Walk in about two and a half kilometres, and there is a canoe waiting for you on Kibbee Lake.

A day on the water, without the circuit

Most people who arrive at the Registration Centre are starting a six-to-ten day expedition. This is the other option: a single day on the first lake of the circuit, with none of the commitment.

The canoe is already on Kibbee Lake. You do not carry it, cart it or shuttle it — you walk in, and it is there. That removes the hardest part of a Bowron day trip, which has always been getting a boat over the first portage and back again.

The walk in

The trail to Kibbee is the circuit’s first portage, roughly 2.5 km from the Registration Centre. It has plenty of ups and downs — honestly, it feels like more up than down — and the surface is bumpy in places. Give yourself the better part of an hour and wear shoes you do not mind getting wet at the far end.

Fill your bottles at the tap by the Registration Centre before you set off. There is no water on the trail.

What Kibbee is like

Kibbee is small — about 2.4 km end to end — narrow, and usually calm. It sits under the Cariboo Mountains with forest right down to the water, and because almost everyone who reaches it is hurrying on toward Indianpoint, you will often have it to yourself.

There is enough shoreline to spend a whole day exploring. Poke into the inlets, and if the water is up, carry on through to little Thompson Lake. Bring lunch and something to sit on; there is a campsite and a group site on the lake if you want a place to pull out.

Who it is for

Anyone with a spare day. It suits people camping at the drive-in campground the night before a circuit start, families who want a paddle without a portage, and anyone curious about the Bowron who is not ready to commit a week to it.

It is also a fair test of whether a full circuit appeals. The first portage is the one you do on a day trip, and it is one of the two longest on the whole route — if it does not put you off, the rest will not either.

Booking a day trip

Prices vary with the season and the boat, so give us a call rather than trusting a number on a page — +1-778-414-8014, or send us a message. We are at the Registration Centre from May through September.

A day paddle on Kibbee does not need a circuit reservation from BC Parks, because you are not camping overnight on the circuit. If you decide to stay the night in the park instead, that is a BC Parks campground booking, and if you later want the full circuit, start with their canoe-circuit page and then talk to us about a canoe.