Has anyone paddled the Berens River to Silcox lake northeast of Red Lake, Ontario? There evidently is road access? Any info would be helpful. Are there campsites along the River? Is there a campground on Berens Lake? Thanks very much!
Berens River
I paddled through there a couple years ago. I do not believe there is road access to Silcox lake. There has been a road in the works that would cross the Berens river below Silcox Lk just above the last falls before Berens lake (I do not recall the name of the falls, but we got caught on the edge of a tornado there while doing the portage). To my knowlege the road is not yet completed, but is being built as a logging initiative for the First Nations village on Berens Lake. There are some smaller campsites along the river from Goose Lake down to Berens lake. Some of them are trashy from the native hunting/fishing groups. Silcox would have some decent spots to camp but we did not explore that far into the lake (1 km off the Berens River). It is a very pretty lake with some good cliff diving on a hot day. If you intend on paddling up to Silcox from Berens lake be prepared for a workout. It is a good distance (20 km?) with some uphill portages and a very strong current on the Berens. You can camp pretty much wherever you want. Berens lake has a campground that allows RV’s at the south end and it is very trashy with the typical bear problems. There were plenty of islands on the lake so finding a place to camp would be easy. There is a fair amount of fishing boat traffic on the lake too since it is easily accessed by road.