Powell River Forest Canoe Route. 5-7 days. FW. Portaging. Lower BC.

Powell River Forest Canoe Route

Full blog with pictures and maps: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/powellriverforestcanoeroute
 

This is a 5-7 day canoe route near Powell River, B.C. on the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver. It makes a circuit through multiple lakes and portages, has great swimming, good weather, and is mostly sheltered from wind (except Powell Lake). This is one of our favorite routes with our kids and we have done it twice. This is not a wilderness trip. It travels through areas with logging, the lakes have boater access, you pass through a car camp, and Powell Lake has a lot of house boats. However if you take a look at our photo album, I think you'll see why we love it so much. To me, it is pure fun with kids -- good swimming, great camps, low-key but beautiful paddling (except Powell Lake), and few people. The PRFCR is a 42 mile circuit in the upper Sunshine Coast, near Powell River, BC. It is about 3-4 hrs north of Vancouver on the mainland across from Comox on Vancouver Island. This is a marked canoe route that follows 7 lakes connected by portages. Although it is not a "wilderness" route (there are logging roads around and clearcuts), it does feel isolated and there is great scenery. The camping is in forestry campsites that are just for the canoe route.

This was our 2nd time doing the PRFCR. The first time we did it, we were with 3 other families, it was our first week-long canoe trip, and Jake was 1-year old. This time, we were alone, Jake was 7, and we were all seasoned canoe trippers. We have done many canoe circuits since that first 2001 trip on the PRFCR, but this route still ranks as one of our favorites -- which is why we wanted to do it again. The lakes are perfect for swimming -- warm, clean, no leeches, and few people. And it's in the upper Sunshine Coast, a piece of heaven on the B.C. mainland that is relatively unknown.

We left Seattle at 7am, arrived in Powell River at 4pm, and were on the water at 6pm. We paddled an hour to a small island in Lois Lake. It has beaufiful white sand beaches. In the glow of the sunset, we went for a swim and then basically didn't take off our swimsuits for the next 6 days. We cooked hotdogs over a fire and Jake and Inka built forts in the driftwood. Each day had a similar routine: wake up late, swim, paddle 2 hours, swim, portage, paddle another hour, swim, set-up camp, go diving off the dock, make a campfire, sing camp songs, go to bed tired but not too tired. That is what summer is about in my book.

This time doing the circuit, we did not find it particularly difficult. In fact, we found it quite relaxing. But I should note that the first time we did it, we found it quite physically challenging -- expecially the portaging. Since then, we learned a lot about packing of canoe tripping and we also had 2 extra pack animals (the kids).

Logistics
Canoe rental  Both times we rented from Mitchell's Canoes in Powell River.  We took 1 canoe (for 2 adults, 2 kids and 1 dog): a 17.5 ft Kevlar Clipper 60lbs. Cost was $180 for the week plus another $100 for the shuttle (drop and pick-up).

Map and route We picked up our map from the tourist info center in Powell River, but you can probably find one online. Our route and camps (refer to the PRFCR map in photo album): 1) Lois Lake, camp on island not marked on map. 2) north end of Horseshoe Lake, small but nice and isolated camp, 3) Windsor Lake, great camp with good swimming. We had intended to camp at Canoe Pt on Dodd Lake, but changed our minds... 4) Goat Lake, great camp. This was our short day, just a portage no paddling. 5) Powell Lake, beach camp half way down Powell Lake.

Dogs Allowed

Bears Probably but we have never seen tracks or sign.

Direction of travel and days  If you are with kids or are not strong paddlers, I suggest spending 6-7 nights on the trip. The swimming and camps are wonderful, so why rush it? We have done the loop counter-clockwise (Lois to Powell Lake) but I would suggest doing it clockwise (Powell to Lois). In fact, we intended to do it clockwise but forgot to tell Michell's and so were dropped off at Lois Lake. The books say to do it counter-clockwise because that way you do the Goat-Windsor portage going downhill -- but that means you will battle HEAD winds on Powell Lake for 2 days. They tell you can avoid the winds by going before 9am. You have 17 miles to paddle from the Goat Lake camp to the first Powell Lake camp. You'd have to leave at 6am -- and that is not happening with kids. Also the winds are strong. Karel and I are strong paddlers and both times we have done the loop, we have almost been pinned down by winds. Forget it if you are travelling with 1 adult in the stern and a kid in the bow. Going with a tail wind, you still need to be careful (stay close to shore, tie down everything, put more weight in the stern, and paddle when the wind is down). There is chop and big swells, but you won't find yourself simply unable to make progress and if you get pinned by winds for a day, you can make it up with a long day on the protected lakes.

Here's a suggested route if you did it Powell to Lois.
1) Leave Seattle 7am. This will get you to Powell River around 4-5pm and on the water about 6pm.
2) Put-in at Mowat Bay Park (not at the marina because that will mean you have to cross the lake; don't cross Powell Lake if you don't have to)
2) Camp 1 at Haywire Park. It is only a 30 min paddle; big beaches, fun for kids, but there are cars, so best to start on a weekday. Or if you get on the water earlier, you can make the beach camp at the head of the trail to Inland Lake.
3) Camp 2 at Goat Lake. Start early to avoid the swells and chop that develop on Powell Lake. Once you get around the point after the last Powell Lake camp, you'll start to be able to hide from the wind but before that you are exposed.
4) Camp 3 at Windsor Lake. Just do the portage this day.
5) Camp 4 at Canoe Pt on south end of Dodd Lake
6) Camp 5 at north end of Horseshoe Lake or the unmarked island on Nanton Lake. You can portage straight over from Canoe Pt, but why shorten it? I would do the longer portage through Ireland Lake. Ireland Lake has great swimming at the north end.
7) Camp 6 at the south end of Horseshoe Lake or on the island in Lois Lake (if the latter, it'll be a long day).

Opeongo-Laveille Lake Loop. 7 days. FW. Portaging. Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario

Opeongo-Laveille Loop, Algonquin





Algonquin Provincial Park is a huge park full of endless lakes north of Toronto, ON. Like the nearby Boundary Waters park (U.S./Canada), you could spend a lifetime exploring the area -- and people do.  We started at the Opeongo Canoe Centre (the 11 red diamond on the map), then north into the North arm of Opeongo --> Proulx --> Little Crow --> Big Crow --> Crow Creek --> Crow Bay --> Lavieille --> Dickson --> East Arm Opeongo --> back to start.  We took 7 days.

This is a beautiful trip and I recommend the loop.  I don't have photos as I dropped my camera in a lake just after the trip.  Opeongo and Proulx lakes were crowded.  In retrospect, I would have taken the taxi and gone to some of the lakes farther out.  Past Big Crow Lake, we only saw one other party in 3 days.

Here's a map and some photos from someone else's trip report on this loop
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=65247
We took the same route sans wheels for the portages...and with 5 young kids (5:3 kid-adult ratio).  LOL.

And here's more info on this loop
http://www.doe.carleton.ca/~ngt/algonquin/opeongo/opeongo_frames.html

Logistics
Canoe rentals We used Algonquin Outfitters.  They have a store/rental place on Opeongo.  They also do water taxi to the end of the North arm if you want to get farther in fast.  We did not use the taxi however.

Nation Lakes Canoe Route. 5-8 days. FW+easy river. Upper BC.

Nation Lakes Canoe Route

Full blog with pictures and video: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/nationlakes
 

The Nation Lakes Canoe Route (110km) is a one-way canoe route through four large lakes and three short rivers north of Prince George, B.C. (some 1000km north of Vancouver). This is a beautiful route in an area that receives few visitors (about 20-30 parties in July/August). The solitude is incredible. We saw only one other party during our 7-day trip and we saw no people for a 3-day segment. The camps are lovely, the lakes substantial but not too big, and there is good scenery, too. The logistics are more expensive because there is a 4-5 hour shuttle that needs to be arranged, but that helps keep the traffic down.


Logistics:
We rented canoes at $140 per week from Doug and Dolores French who run Nation Lakes Canoeing Camp during the summer. They shuttled us in their truck ($500 for the shuttle). They will also shuttle you in your car for $175. Why the difference in price? Wait till you see what the roads are like! The roads are fine for 2-wheel drive, but expect your car to take a beating and make sure your spare and jack are in good order.

Maps:
You can download a basic map from www.nationlakes.com and Doug gave us a more detailed map. I also downloaded the detailed map on the BC Parks website: BC Parks Map

Rivers:
This trip involves three river sections. Note we did this in late August during low water.   BRING A HAND SAW!
Tsayta-Indata (6.5km): This section was very tedious. Water was low, there are snags everywhere and the river is very twisty. We had to use a lot of river-technique to paddle most of this. We had to teach the girls how to do a strong river draw to be able to paddle the twists and avoid the sweepers. We could have lined the boats. The water was shallow and the river narrow. But that seemed both slow and boring, so we paddled as much as we could. There were 3 big log jams that we had to portage around. The jams were a hindrance not a hazard as the current was a trickle (when we did it).  It took us 4 hours to do this 6.5km section. A hand saw would have been handy for the first section. Ug.
Indata-Tchentlo (4.8km): This section was fine. It was wider, there was more water, and it was straighter. There were just two or three parts where we needed to use river techniques. At the end, there was one log-jam, but we were able to slide the boats over the one log that blocked out way. We took this jam on the right. The current was slow so there was no danger of going under the jam.  This section took us two hours.
Tchentlo-Chuchi (5km): The section was easy. Wide and straight. We zipped right through this in 1 1/2 hours.

Camps:
We stayed at the recreation camps because it works better with kids to have a bigger area for them to explore and to have a privy. The recreation camps had tables, fire rings, privies, and sometimes "bear bars". The bear bars were logs put about 10 feet off the ground. I don't think they'd keep a bear away from your food, but they work for the smaller critters. All camps that we saw were placed where there was a nice sandy beach. The map on www.nationlakes.com shows the locations of these camps that have big sandy beaches. There are other places to land too, but these are the better/bigger sites.

Dogs:
Allowed.

Bears:
We saw signs of bears (tracks) only at one point (not a camp) near a big stream. Dolores said that people see black bears sometimes, but the bears are shy and there have never been problems.

My thoughts:
This was a really beautiful trip -- lovely large lakes, great views of the surrounding mountains, animals to see (from the boat), great camps with sandy beaches, and lots of solitude. I highly recommend the trip.

Maligne Lake. 3-5 days. FW. Jasper Nat Park, Alberta.

Maligne Lake

Maligne Lake is a stunning lake in Jasper National Park, a few miles outside of the town of Jasper.  It is a popular 3-4 day trip to the end of the lake.  We took 3, but I wish we'd had 4 to spend the night at the end of the lake and finish the trail up to the glacial basin.  The pictures say it all for this lake.

Full blog with pictures: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/malignelakealberta

Logistics:

Reservations:  You need them unless you luck out and someone cancels.  Call Jasper National Park.   You pay a nightly fee while in the park.  It's not cheap.

Canoes: We brought our own canoe, but you can rent them on Maligne Lake. http://www.malignelake.com/act_canoe.html

Maps: You can buy maps in Jasper.  I used this one the Jasper & Maligne Lake map by Gem Trek which I got at a bookstore in Jasper: http://www.gemtrek.com/jaspermalignemap.html

Camps:  There are established camps.  They are in great shape and a ranger patrols the lake.

Dogs:  Not sure if they are allowed.  We saw dogs in boats.

Bears:  This is Jasper National Park.  There are bears.

Safety:  The water is very, very cold.  You don't want to flip while crossing the lake.  The lake is big and is prone to strong winds.  We were pinned for 3 hours waiting for it to die down.

Solitude:  Not so much, and there are a gazillion tour boats going by during the day.  But it is really beautiful.

Murtle Lake. 3-7 days. FW. Lower BC

Murtle Lake, BC

Full blog with pictures here: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/murtlelake
 

A beautiful non-motorized lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park.  We did a 4 day circumnavigation (95km) in August 2010.  This is the destination that I send my Seattle friends to when they want a guaranteed great lake canoe trip.  Easy access from Seattle, easy logistics, beautiful camping and swimming, no motor boats, lake big enough that multi-day trips are good and great scenery.

This lake is known for its stunning scenery but when we did it smoke was blowing in from forest fires up near Prince George.  We couldn't see a thing.  The "fog" in the pictures is smoke not fog.  Thus you will not see mountains in our pictures, but they are there!

Logistics
Canoe rental Blue River Campground (http://www.bluerivercampground.ca/) rents canoes and a whole camping package.  They have lots of info and are very helpful.  It's a good place to camp on the way in too (showers, wifi, books, supplies, local info).

Camping There are established camp sites along the way on a first-come basis.  The ones farther out are less used.  Camps have fire rings, bear bins and tables.  Many of the camps are on beaches and are quite idyllic.

Maps  The one you can print off from the Blue River Campground website (with marked campsites) is fine.

Fees $5 per night per adult.  There's a pay box at the end of the 2.5 portage.  Bring cash.

Dogs Not allowed.

Bears  Wells Gray is famous for its healthy black bear population.  We did not see fresh tracks, but folks had seen a bear in some camps on the North arm.

Fishing  We don't fish, but folks told us that Murtle Lake is well-known for good fishing.  "Everyone does well at Murtle Lake." was what we were told.

Kenai Wildlife Reserve Canoe Route. 7 days. FW. Portaging. Kenai, Alaska.

Kenai Wildlife Reserve Canoe Route

Full blog with pictures here: https://northernwaters.shutterfly.com/kenaiwildlifereserve
 

This is a 5-7 day canoe route south of Anchorage, AK on the Kenai peninsula. This was one of our most memorable trips. It was a real adventure. It is not one I will repeat, yet I am so glad we did it. It makes a big figure 8 through a series of small lakes (almost ponds) in a large marshy and muskog area. It has the most amazing beavers, lots of moose, and lots of bear (probably grizzly). However we didn't see any moose or bear because we were traveling with 5 kids, and it is almost impossible to see wildlife with kids because they chatter non-stop.   Note there are no views to speak of unless you get to Wonder Lake.

We did the outer loop of the figure 8, which took us into a rarely visited area.  This was our route (double click on the map to the right to zoom into it): Dog-Lure-Pot-Lonely-Kuviak-Junco-Lost-Red Squirrel-Woods-Gene-Eider-Olsjold-Wonder-Nutchatch-Lierum-Lynx-Pepper-Gene-Swanson-Campers-Berry-Redpole-Kuviak-Lonely-Pot-Lure-Dog.  Yes, 25 portages.  This is a route where you pack your stuff in a backpack because you are getting in and out a lot!

Logistics
Getting there  We flew into Anchorage and then arranged a shuttle down to Sterling, AK.  But renting a car would have been better since it was kind of tough being stuck on the Kenai without transportation.  After the trip, we went to Homer on the bus, which runs once or twice a day.

Canoe rentals
Alaska Canoe & Campground
35292 Sterling Highway
Sterling, Alaska 99672
907-262-2331

Weigner's Backcountry Guiding
P.O. Box 709
Sterling, Alaska 99672
907-262-7840

Bears Tons.  No bins.  You need to hang.  We had no encounters but saw lots of fresh sign everywhere.

Map and guide book  There is a guide book and you can download maps from the internet.  Go here http://www.northlite.biz/Canoe/

Camps There weren't really established camps on the route but there were informal ones.  We had small tents and were happy for that since we had to fit into tiny spots sometimes.

Wildlife Beavers, beavers and more beavers.  Wolf, coyote, bear, moose and river otters.  Loads of bird life.  Lots of fish.

Dogs Not sure but it is a wildlife refuge and it has a lot of grizzly bears.  Might not be the best place for fido.

Other stuff to do  The Kenai is an outdoor lovers playground.  Definitely check out Homer.  We stayed at the funky hostel in town.  Then we took a water taxi and did a 5-day hike in the Kachemak Bay State Park.  We got dropped off at Glacier Spit, hiked to Humpy Creek then to Emerald Lake then down to the Saddle trail pick-up.  Map http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/kbay/kbytrsmp.htm  This trip wouldn't take adults 5-days.  We were hiking with a 3-yr old (4 little kids; 2 adults) and could only go 5 miles max a day; I don't recommend doing this with a 3-yr old unless you enjoy hiking with a heavy pack at a 1/2 mile an hour pace.

Clearwater-Azure Lakes. 3-5 days. FW. Lower BC.

Clearwater-Azure Lakes

This trip is in Wells Gray Prov. Park which is in British Columbia just west of Jasper Provincial Park. The trip to the Azure Lake and Rainbow Falls takes you 20km up Clearwater Lake, up the Clearwater River and into the less visited and beautiful Azure Lake. Azure Lake is in the Cariboo Mountains while Clearwater is more in the foothills. The mountains rise dramatically out of Azure and many waterfalls drop right into the lake. It reminded us of Isaac Lake on the Bowron Loop. The Rainbow Falls are at the far east end of Azure Lake and the camp has a wonderful white sand beach. This would be a nice place to spend an extra day if you have time.

This is a beautiful trip, but be aware that Clearwater Lake is quite popular and has powerboat traffic. So Clearwater Lake does not feel isolated at all. However Clearwater has many many sandy beaches, so it is a nice place for the kids. Azure Lake feels much more remote and has much less traffic since it takes 2 days paddling to get there. Unfortunately, it does get regular boat traffic from the day trips that Clearwater Lake Tours does to Rainbow Falls. However, the most regular boat traffic (3-4 times a day) were the park rangers. That was a bit much and did not help the ambiance. That said, it was a fun trip and is a good non-wilderness trip for someone just getting into canoe-tripping.

Logistics:
Rent canoes lake side from Clearwater Lake Tours (CLT)
In 2009, canoe rental was $200 for a week + $1/person/day CLT fee
Park fee was $5/adult/night (Make sure to take your receipt because the rangers will come by on the water and check.)

Maps:
No need for detailed maps for this trip. You can use the one on the BC Parks website or if you rent from CLT, they will give you a map.

Camp info:
The camps are very nice with sandy beaches, tables, fire rings, bear bins, and privies. The camps are well marked with red square markers.
Diver's Bluff -- nice swimming, tent spots in woods close together, lots of day traffic from boaters. There is a long trail that leaves the camp and goes up to a viewpoint.  Here's our notes on camps from our trip:
Bay View -- nice beach with camping on either side of point (so can be secluded even with another party)
Huckleberry Beach -- nice beach, seems popular so is probably nice
Ivor's -- canoe only, small beach, has creek to explore
Archer Creek -- smaller beach, nice tent spots up in woods but all spots fairly close togther (no seclusion)
Barella Creek -- would be mosquito haven if bugs are out, nice beach, tents spots in woods are a bit muggy
Indian Point -- didn't see it
Four and a Half Mile -- nice beach, morning sun, had parties every day we passed it so might be popular
Osprey -- canoe only, small beach, 3 tent spots, dark in the morning but it's a nice secluded spot
Rainbow Falls -- beautiful! huge beach, many spots, lots of opportunities for seclusion, shelter (old cabin). The falls are a 5min walk from camp.

Clearwater River:
We did our trip in late August when the river was quite low. With the help of my 11-yr old in the bow, I was able to paddle upriver without working too hard but I did get tired. We paddled up until we could sneak by on the left and then crossed the river back right above the portage and dropped back down to the portage. We didn't know it at the time, but it would have been easy to continue up river and avoid the portage. The boats stay in the main channel on the left, but there is a small channel on the right that we could have used. There might have been a little lining of the boats, but I think it would have been easier than the portage -- at least when we were there. At higher, faster water, this might not be the case. But you might want to walk along the bank up river before committing to the portage. On the way back, we dropped the kids at the portage and Karel and I paddled the canoes with me in the bow and Karel in the stern. In retrospect, we could have gone down the river just fine with the kids. The current wasn't too strong and the snags were cleared. Obviously conditions change year to year and week to week, but I would suggest taking some time to scout up river before doing the portage. Even if you do the portage on the way up, you'll know what the river is like in case you want to paddle it on the way out (as we did). Note that in addition to it being low (and slow) water during our trip, there were very few boats on the river. If there is a lot of boat traffic, the river might be dangerous for canoes to go down.

Portage:
The portage is short (1/2 km) but is not suitable for canoe carts due to the steps along the trail (see photos).

Bears:
Wells Gray is known for its healthy black bear population, however we saw no sign of bear (scat or tracks) during our trip. The park provides bear bins at all the camps.

Dogs:
Dogs are allowed though BC Parks discourages them.  We had our dog with us but we kept her leashed as she is an avid hunter.

My thoughts:
This is a good first-timers canoe trip.  The logistics are easy, the portage short and the river short.  You can easily make the trip shorter or longer.  However, this is not a "wilderness" trip.  There is quite a lot of boat traffic, even on Azure.  Best to go in the shoulder season (September) to avoid the crowds if you can.

Bowron Lakes. 5-8 days. FW + Class I river. Portaging. Central BC.

Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit

We made this trip in late August, 23-30. It is a 116km circuit to the west of Jasper National Park in British Columbia. The circuit is world-famous among canoers. The circuit is generally done in 5-8 days, and we took 8. It features mostly lake paddling with a few easy portages between lakes; however, it does have one river section on the Cariboo River. It has one class II rapid, but that can be portaged around (in fact you have to go out of your way to run the rapid). This is classified as a wilderness route, but I would put wilderness in quotes. Unless you go in late-fall or early-spring, you will see people every day. All the campsites are designated and are developed with fire rings, tent platforms and pit toilets. Some sites have cooking structures and on each big lake there is at least one public cabin for drying out and such.

In a nutshell: Very beautiful and classic canoe route. Don't expect solitude in high season (June-August).

Getting there:
It is a 10 hr drive from Seattle to Quesnel (south of Prince George). From Quesnel, it is another 2 hrs east to the Bowron Lakes Provencial Park.

Canoe rental:
There are a couple big lodges that do most of the rentals. They have good canoes and canoe carts (wheels). The two lodges are Becker Lodge and Bowron Lake Lodge. We rented with Bowron Lake Lodge. The canoes from this lodge were fine but their wheels were very heavy (like 25+ lbs) -- albeit indestructable. Next time, I'd try Becker Lodge which has lighter wheels and the same types of canoes. If you canoe much at all, I strongly suggest buying your own good paddle. Rental paddles are always heavy and not very nice. My light wooden bent-shaft paddle was highly coveted by all paddlers in my boat.

Reservations:
If your are a group of 6 or fewer, you can try the drop-in spots. Each day, there are 4 spots for drop-ins. These are lottery distributed, I think. Otherwise, you can get a reservation and if you are a group of 7+, you must have a reservation. Search for Bowron Lakes online and you'll quickly find the reservation info. It is very easy to do over the phone. You need to get reservations well in advance. I made reservations in March and there was only 1 group spot available in the 2-week window we had for doing the trip. Being a group had its pluses and minuses. The minus was that we were assigned a schedule (7 nights) and were required to stay at our designated group site each night. The pluses were that a) we had a big reserved site all to ourselves and didn't have to compete for sites, b) we were forced to slow down a bit and take 8 days instead of 6 that we might have otherwise, c) the groups sites were generally away from others and quite nicely situated.

Maps and books:
No need for detailed maps for this trip. You can use the one given to you when you make your reservations. There is a good guide book for the route: THE BOWRON LAKES A Guide to Paddling British Columbia's Wilderness Canoe Circuit  Link to website for guide book
Camps:
Get the guide book. It describes all the camps. Also in our photo album you'll see pictures of some of the camps.

What skill level is required:
Although most of the paddling is lakes, you need some decent paddling skills and a healthy dose of common sense. 1) Flipping in many of the lakes would be bad since they are cold (like the temp of the ocean here in WA). 2) You must paddle the Cariboo River. The river has a handful of class 1+ spots although it is mostly gentle. Although the river is not hard, it is wicked cold (MUCH colder than the ocean in WA) and there are snags all over and a few tight bends to negotiate. Flipping would be bad news -- however that said, the river is not wide and you would quickly make it to shore but sans gear and hypothermic. This route sees a lot of beginners and we saw 2 recent flips; 1 was from the night before and we helped collect their gear. There is a radio at the end of the river and a ranger boat that does rescues. We saw both boat and helicopter rescues during our week on the circuit.

Weather and bugs:
This route gets a lot of rain and wind. Every trip report I saw described paddling in the rain with wind. However, we really lucked out as we often had glassy water even in the afternoon. But normally the wind kicks up every day at around 2-3pm, so if you can manage to get an early start, you will avoid most of the choppy water. It rained about every day on our trip, but we rarely paddled in the rain and had plenty of blue sky. This area is known for bugs, but by late-August when we did the route, they were all gone and we rarely saw mosquitoes. If you come earlier in the summer, be prepared.

Portage:
There are lots of portages, but they are all maintained for canoe carts.

Bears:
BC Parks is rather paranoid about bears in this area, so I suspect that they do have some (black) bear problems. We saw no bears but other parties did see some. We saw tracks near one camp which was on a creek. All camps have bear bins.

Dogs:
Not allowed.

My thoughts:
Bowron Lakes is a "must-do" trip because of its stunning setting, variety, and circular loop.  However it is not a trip that I will repeat unless I'm taking friends from overseas (who I want to make sure have "wow" experience) or am going in the shoulder season (September).  For me, there were just too many people, too much regulation (needed due to too many people), and too many rangers.  Even when there was no one around, it was clear from the campsites that this area gets a lot of use.  The camps were in great shape, but just clearly lots of people go through them.  I prefer trips where we are more "out there", where the portages are rough, the camps rough, and no cabins or fire grates.  However, those precise features of the Bowron are what attract others and don't get me wrong, the trip is stunning, really stunning.