I would like to circumnavigate Lake Nipigon and any helpful information would be great.. I have a solo canoe with a deck cover and spray skirt.

A good place to park?
Any must see sites?
As a US citizen, do I need any special permits to paddle the lake?

Paddling the circumference of Nipigon will definately be a challenge. Local wisdom on the lake says best time to paddle it is in the spring.....June in particular. August is the worst month. It's a big lake with lots of waves, and in many cases, not a lot of spots to land. Similar to Superior. Be prepared to be wind bound frequently. It's a beautiful lake, but one that needs to be treated with caution.

An excellent place to start is at the Beardmore municipal park..they have a fenced in compound that they will allow you to park in. It's not 100 percent safe, but it is lit all night. You will probably need the Crown Land Camping permits that most americans require. The must see sites are mostly on the islands, and i would not want to be canoeing out to them. Ombabika Bay is quite nice to spend some time in, and almost a lake of it's own. Good Luck!

Great information......it has me rethinking this trip.

Parking: I noticed on the map Beardmore in not on the lake, or is it?
Is it a place to park and paddle or is a shuttle required?
Is Lake Nipigon Provincial Park an option?

I'll do a search for info on Crown Land Camping Permits....but if anyone knows the web-site, please let me know....thanks everyone.

Poplar Point Park is just outside of the town of Beardmore...if you are coming from the west, turn north on highway 580 less than one mile out of beardmore. Follow the road for about 12 miles...there is only one turn off on it, don't take that one, continue straight, it eventually ends at the park. The staff are very accomodating, but if you are going to do it, I can give them a heads up as to when you will be coming in. It's a typical camper-trailer park with lots of big boats and stuff...it's a fairly affluent part of the lake, with several "cottages" (read mansions) built on the bluff. The entire suffered a huge forest fire six or seven years ago, so there are not a lot of trees on the 580.

Lake Nipigon Provincial park...I'm not really familiar with it, but perhaps that is the Sand Point park, about 20 miles west of Beardmore...it burned in the fire too, and I believe it has been taken over by a local Native band. I don't think it is in operation, but I could be wrong.

MNR sites should have info about Crown Land camping permits, you can pick them up from the local MNR office in Nipigon, or many local outfitters can look after that for you. I can't remember the amount, will look it up.

I have a couple of friends who run charter fishing boats on the lake, and what a lot of canoeists do is hire them to take them out to some of the islands, and then the canoeists will spend a week or two exploring the islands, then get picked up and brought back. Those guys also know a lot about the lake and interesting places to go.

Cheers!

http://publicdocs.mnr.gov.on.ca/view.as ... nt_ID=7530

10 bucks a day, unless you are a registered charity or church, or unless you can convince the powers that be that your canoe is set up for overnight lodgings.

About how many miles do you figure a cirumnavigation will be?

FWIW, Did a very rough calculation with SoftMap and came up with ~350km...

I knew it was big, but wow.