We did not car camp anywhere near Watson Lake either before or after our
North/Black/Liard River trip. There are a couple private campground/RV
park listings in the Watson Lake Chamber of Commerce literature I have,
both of them in, or very close to town. There is a Yukon Territorial
campground (government) on Watson Lake, accessed from a road that goes
north off of the Alaska Highway a couple miles west of town. I've not
stayed there.
Campsite Explanation
We did not get up there so I don't know what the camping opportunities
above lower North Lake are like. The North and Black Rivers, as of '97, had not
been paddled enough to have any cut campsites -- that's one of the lures
of the place. There is the hunter's campsite on lower North Lake (which
we used), a set of small hunting/fishing vacation cabins on Fire Lake (cleared
space, plus horse corrals),
and the trapper's cabin (with no usable tent space) on Black Lake. I do
not know if there would be any problems with camping at either of
those cabin sites, or at others on down the Liard.
The Liard has several
cabins along it's length. We did not stop at any of them, I don't
think any were occupied when we paddled by. We saw what looked to be
at least one or two other hunting camps (no cabins visible as we paddled by), plus one on the
Frances (may have been a cabin we didn't see behind some trees), just
above the Liard confluence. There are lots of large open sand/gravel
bars on the Liard (which higher water than we had could cover).
The numbered sites in all three versions of the list on this page are
the ones we actually used. The others
are possible sites I saw in otherwise tight areas where you might
need a place to camp. You can camp almost anywhere except a vertical
cliff (which exist here), some places
are just not as desireable as others.
Link to a UTM grid explanation,
or a coordinate explanation
(info on those strange numbers you see below).
Campsite 1. (UTM grid = 132048 on 50K map 105G/7
Grass Lakes)
We camped at the south end of the largest North Lake, which had a
small, usable cabin framework. Bring a 10'x12' tarp (3 x 4 meters) along
with you (we used it for cooking, only). The site is back in the brush
about 100 feet (30 m) from the
lake shore, not right on the sandy beach. Despite this, it had the fewest
mosquitoes of any of the areas on the lake we visited (fewest above
the Laird river for that matter!). There is not a lot of tent space,
but you don't want a large group on this river, anyway. This is
the only usable campsite on the lake that we saw, without cutting
another one out of the brush. Try to avoid this, let's leave this
river system as close to pristine as we can.
Campsite 2. (UTM grid = 142892 on map 105G/2
Fire Lake)
Our next campsite was on a river-right sandbar on the North River,
about 12 miles (20 km) below North Lake, and two miles (3.2 km) above
Fire
Lake. Sandbars change rapidly, so don't expect all to be exactly
the same from year to year. Also, if the water is higher, this
site may not be usable (see "wilderness river camping." - a future link).
There could have been other possible sites farther upstream, we were
busy enough when paddling this section we might not have noticed some.
Fire Lake:
We did not check for campsites on Fire Lake at all. A small party
might be able to camp on the sand spit at the North River inlet
(UTM grid = 146879 on map 105G/2 Fire Lake) as long as the water isn't high.
If it is still in use, someone at the mining bush camp farther down the lake might know of another better place.
You can probably camp on or near the grounds of the hunt/fish
vacation cabins down near the outlet in a pinch (UTM grid = 184852 on
map 105G/2 Fire Lake).
An outhouse to use is really nice (bring your own toilet paper!).
Campsite 3. (UTM grid = 200822 on map 105G/1
Waters Creek)
Our next campsite was on the North River about three miles (5 km)
below Fire Lake. It was on the left bank maybe a mile and a half (2.4 km)
below the
downstream end of the portage around the big rapids. In the brush,
no real beach. Two or three good spots for tents between the trees and
the water, and more on flat ground maybe 20 or 30 feet (6 to 9 m) back
behind the trees. An old, overgrown sandbar is what this looks like.
Campsite 4. (UTM grid = 257683 on map 105G/1
Waters Creek)
Our next campsite was on the North River about 15 miles (24 km) below
Fire Lake, and a quarter mile or so (400 m) before the junction with
the Black River. It was another low, ephemeral sand/gravel bar on
the right bank. There are much better sites starting at the Black River
confluence (UTM grid = 256683, same map) a quarter mile (400 m)
downstream, and on most of the next
several gravel bars if you can wait that long. Again, remember
that water level rules, and low sand bars like the one we used can
change rapidly. Those we saw on the Black River are more likely to
be usable than the one above the confluence that we actually stayed on.
Campsite 5. (UTM grid = 293642 on map 105G/1
Waters Creek)
Was on the beach along the north shore of Black Lake maybe 100
yards/meters
east of the outlet of the river into the lake. We couldn't find any decent tent
spaces at the trappers cabin west of the river mouth. The cabin is
very small, and we don't sleep in cabins, anyway, because the mice
keep us awake all night with their scurrying around. Might be worth
something as emergency shelter, and an outhouse is always nice. The
beach we used was a long, skinny thing with three or four decent tent
sites at our water level. The beach was actually a long thin
peninsula, with water immediately behind it. We put our kitchen tarp near the west
end of the beach and tents east of there, 50 - 100 ft apart (15-30 m).
The beach
half way down the lake on the east shore was small and wet. We also
did not like any of the others we checked, but did not look real
closely at all of them. There might be sites in the trees, but there,
the bug situation would usually be worse.
Potential Campsite.
One somewhere just below the outlet of Black Lake? Before any rapids
of consequence? I don't remember
which bank or what it was really like, just made a note later as to a
possibility for emergency use. You'll normally want to be camping
on the lake upstream, anyway. It's a pretty place with better
fishing.
Potential Campsite. (UTM grid = 319496 on map
105B/16 Black River)
On the right bank of the Black River after the second dark cutbank on
the left, nine miles (15 km) below Black Lake. It is at the bottom of
a rapids in a right turn of the river with a large eddy right in front
of the campsite. We needed to get farther than this before camping that
day or we would have
stopped here.
Campsite 6. (UTM grid = 386398 on map 105B/16
Black River)
On the left bank of the Black River after a wide left turn and just before
a sharp right turn 19 miles (31 km) below Black Lake. There is a rapids
in the wide left turn with a big left eddy at the bottom. Tent sites in
the woods and maybe on the beach if water level isn't high, the better sites
were upstream of the eddy you pull into. A sandbar on the right indicated on
the topo map just below the hard right turn below here didn't exist when we
paddled by so don't aim for it unless you know it's been rebuilt.
Potential Campsite. (UTM grid = 389374 on map
105B/16 Black River)
On the left less than two miles (3 km) below #6 above, at the next
islands
indicated on the map below there. I did not get out and really
check it over, but there was a wide flat area that was open (tall
grass?), and looked, from the river, like decent tenting grounds.
The Liard River is below here (actual confluence UTM grid = 390320 on map
105B/9 Allan Creek).
Lots of camping on the gravel bars. There were stretches without
sites suitable to us (swampy), but certainly usable if necessary, and
the current is fast enough that you should have no problem getting
to, and finding a better place to camp. Across the Liard from the
mouth of the Meister River was a great site (listed below). On the right,
a few miles downstream of the Black confluence, was a good one, but I failed
to mark a waypoint for it. We thought we could
do better and also wanted to go a bit farther that day. The UTM Grids for the
three Liard River campsites we used are:
Campsite 7. (UTM Grid = 531166 on map 105A/12
Sambo Creek)
In open woods, but a nice site on river right. It was about a 5 foot
climb (1.5 m) up a steep, eroded bank at our water level to get on the
campable grassy flats.
Campsite 8. (UTM grid = 743872 on map 105A/6
Middle Canyon)
Meister River mouth. A long, wide sandy gravel bar on river left,
directly opposite the Meister confluence. Plenty of firewood, but not
massive amounts like on many other bars in the area, where there was
often enough driftwood to make camping very difficult. A great site,
few bugs on the huge beach, but plenty in the woods.
Campsite 9. (UTM grid = 989683 on map
105A/3 Dodo Lakes)
Gravel bar on an island. Start going to the left of the big island
and almost immediately pull over on the right at the upstream end.
Another wide, sandy gravel bar that might not be usable in higher water.
US Milage Distance