The Bagwa canoe loop is an excellent introduction to canoe for novices. This is where I started, way back in 1983. You should have some idea of how to steer a canoe, and also know enough to stay off a lake when it is to windy and dangerous... I even took my parents on a 4 day trip around the lake.

Here are some maps of the Bagwa/Kingsmere Lakes.

Waskesiu is a small resort town in the Prince Albert National Park. It is a 2 hour drive north from Saskatoon. You have to pass through here to book your back country camping sites. Back in the old days, they were free, but nowadays it costs about $3/person/night. The advantage of this is that when you get to the back country sites, you have a site. Since most of these can only handle 2 or 3 tents, this is a necessity. The campsites include firewood, a firepit and pit toilets.

Once you have checked in, you have a 1 hour drive to the north end of Waskesui lake, where you put unload in put in on the Kingsmere "River". The Kingsmere River is about 20 feet wide, and 1 to 4 feet deep. I doubt that there is any place where you can't stand up. However, the gentle current and the scenery make the 10 minute paddle to the tramway portage an enjoyable experience.

The tramway portage is there to make it possible for fisherman with small aluminum boats (with small outboard motos) to get up to Kingsmere up. The 400 meters of rapids are impassible by anything. Even walking up them would be difficult. The tramway also enables canoeists who have foolishly overpacked to get up to the lake as well. You run off and fetch the cart (800 pounds of crudely welded steel, which is always found at the wrong end of the portage), then drag the canoe(s) up the ramp onto the cart. Then a brief push up to the far end, where the canoe(s) are slid down a matching ramp. The twenty minute paddle through the meadow is another pleasant experience. I like paddling along small rivers. You can actually tell you are making headway. On lakes, unless you stick tight to one shore, you seem to paddle forever, without actually getting anywhere.

The river pops out onto the southern end of Kingsmere Lake. Kingsmere lake is big (7x10 kilometers) and deep, which translates to cold, and frequently dangerous when the wind kicks up, which is almost every day. The lake has lots of lake trout.

Many canoeists get wind-bound here at the South end and are forced (by common sense, or more frequently by the rangers) to overnight here. The campsite is big campsite and pleasant, with a large beach. We only stay here when we have to, itching to get away from the motorboat crowd. Motors aren't allowed in the back lakes (Bagwa, Claire and Lily). No motors usually equates to much fewer people... The back lakes have a different character from Kingsmere. They are shallow, muddy and warm, while Kingsmere is deep, clear and cold.

We usually stick to the west shore and make our way to the portage into Claire Lake; about a 2 hour paddle. The portages are all marked with a white "X" nailed to a tree. These "X"s are not as easy to find as you might expect. When the wind comes up, it frequently comes in from the west, so this is still a viable option. Both portages are about 200 to 400 meters long. The trail's are pleasant, wide and well maintained. One of them even has a 70 foot board walk built out into the swamp, so that people can launch their canoes without wading through deep, deep muck.

Claire is full of lily pads. An hour long paddle gets you across it and to the next portage. Lily has fewer lilies... One of the back country campsites is on the east shore of lily, about halfway up the lake. It has room for three tents.

Again, an hour of easy paddling gets you to the north end of Lily where you discover the narrow channel leading to Bagwa. The Bagwa campsite is just at the end of this channel, on the western shore.

This is my favourite campsite here. Situated on a narrow pennisula, there are very few mosquitos since the wind often blows right across it. There are two campsites here, both with a view of the water to the east and west.

The channel back to Kingsmere is to the northeast. It is about an hour paddle, through a wide channel, filled with lilies and wildlife. Once you pass the sign at the end saying "No Motors" though you are back with the motorboat crowd.

There is a nice big campsite here at Peace Point, right at the end of the channel. The water can't make up its mind if it is warm and muddy or cold and clear. The swimming here is good, and it is fun to swim across the channel to the other side. In recent years, the Peace Point campsite was relocated from the southern shore to the northern shore. All my overnight experiences have been on the southern side, but I have visited the new northern site.

The camp was relocated because of the wear and tear that people deal out to nature, even unconsciously. The old site was wide open, with big trees towering overhead. There was little or no underbrush. Apparently, some of the big trees had toppled, as the pitter patter of thousands of feet crushed and killed their roots. The new site is very different. Lots of brush and things growing everywhere. I assume there are big trees there too, but you just don't see them with all the greenery.

From this site it is a 4 hour paddle back to the south end of Kingsmere where you can go back down the river again and reverse the whole process of getting up here.

Here are some maps of the Bagwa/Kingsmere Lakes.

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