Canoe-camping: a unique experience with nature

All sites can be reserved using the Parks Canada Reservation Service under the heading “Backcountry Camping”. This service has all the information you need concerning reservation procedures and refund policy.

Start of reservations: February 7, 2024 from 8 am / Eastern Time
Internet: www.reservation.pc.gc.ca
Telephone: 1-877-737-3783 (1-877-RESERVE) from 8 am to 6 pm
Telephone (Outside of North America): 1-519-826-5391
TTY: 1-866-787-6221

You do not need to print your reservation. Simply present a digital copy or your reservation number at your arrival.

Please note that a maximum of 2 people per tent is allowed. If 2 adults are accompanied by children in a single tent, they are invited to reserve the La Pêche #1, Isaïe #1, Du Caribou #1, Édouard #1, Wapizagonke #1 or Wapizagonke #11 sites, which have been specially identified as family sites.

For all other backcountry campsites, the maximum occupancy capacity is 2 people, including children. If more than 2 people wish to occupy a single tent, they must reserve 1 additional site for every 2 additional people to respect the site's capacity. This is to ensure resource conservation and environmental integrity.

It is possible to rent a canoe a kayak or a paddleboard for your stay.

Fees

Schedule

From May 31 to October 14, 2024.

* If you wish to go kayak-camping or paddleboard-camping, we recommend this activity for the more experienced.

** Restoration efforts to improve the ecological integrity of the park will take place on weekdays on lac des Cinq and Dauphinais Lake during the summer of 2024. Work crew activities may be heard on the lake during weekday daylight hours. For everyone's safety, please avoid driving near the unloading areas and the floating work platform.

Canoe campsites are located on lake:

• Anticagamac*
• À la Pêche
• Baie Cobb
• Baie des Onze Îles
• Du Caribou
• Des Cinq*
• Dauphinais*
• Édouard
• Isaïe
• Marie*
• Waber*
• Wapizagonke

*Campsites without picnic table

Available on each campsite:

• a maximum of four tent platforms, which are quite spread out
• a picnic table
• a dry toilet
• a bear-proof food hanger
• a fireplace (where wood fires are permitted).

Canoe-campers must see to bringing whatever other supplies and equipment are required for their entire length of stay. The following is a non-exhaustive list of things to bring:

• Sleeping bag, blankets and ground sheet
• Canoe, paddles and life jacket
• Food, drink and container for water
• Clothing
• Dishware, cookset
• Rope for hanging food
• Flashlight
• Firewood*, matches or lighter, fire starter, kindling paper
• Insect repellent

* You must purchase your firewood at one of these six locations:

• At the park's three semi-serviced campgrounds: Mistagance, Rivière-à-la-Pêche and Wapizagonke.
• At boat rentals at the park's three picnic sites: Shewenegan, Édouard Lake and Wapizagonke.

In addition to the national park’s general rules, canoe-campers must follow a few additional rules:

• Subject to fine and/or expulsion, it is forbidden to:
  • behave in a way that disturbs others (partying, etc.);
  • keep one’s site in a condition deemed unsatisfactory by the park superintendant.
• Canoe-camping is permitted only on designated sites.
• To camp on a canoe-camping site, the permit holder and occupants must comply with the following restrictions:
  • Maximum of one (1) tent per delineated pad
  • Maximum of two (2) persons per tent
  • You must settle on the A-B-C-D site corresponding to your reservation
• Clean your equipment, particularly your boat. Inspect and clean your gear and footwear to remove all seeds, mud and plant matter before and after visiting the park
• No domestic animals are allowed in boats or in the backcountry.
• Motorboats are prohibited on all park lakes.
• Stops on the islands are prohibited at all times.
• Bringing firewood into national parks from outside is prohibited. It is important to purchase wood from the park and burn it on site.
• It is forbidden to light or maintain a fire anywhere except in fireplaces. It is forbidden to use dead wood or wood taken from the forest to light or maintain a fire.
• You must collect your garbage and leave it in the receptacles designed for that purpose.
• Any person who has obtained a fishing permit must return it to one of the reception centers or campsites as soon as he leaves the park, in order to have his catch counted and to establish the fishing effort, whether or not he has fished and whether or not he has caught any fish.
• Backcountry campsites are restricted to licensed users.
• Water safety equipment is mandatory in the boat.

During their stay in La Mauricie National Park, canoe-campers must respect maximum departure times (from the park reception centre to the canoe-camping site), arrival times at the site, quiet hours and check-out times from the site.

We recommend that you leave as early as possible for your canoe-camping site. Canoe-campers can check in at the park reception centre as soon as it opens in the morning but must not exceed the maximum departure time in order to arrive at their site on time.