McPhee Lake, SK

Due to some fire-related closures, we paddled a few lakes just outside of Prince Albert National Park in mid-June, including McPhee Lake. McPhee Lake is located about 5km SE of the main Park gate. There are two options for access. The easiest to find was McPhee Lake Beach (green arrow below). This requires a carry of about 100m down a trail. Parking appears to to be just at the side of the road.

I would say the better, but tricker to find, access is the boat launch (pink arrow above). Access is via an unmarked gravel road (orange arrow). Driving along the highway, you can see McPhee twice. If you are coming from the park gate, it is the second left after you see the lake the first time (if you see the lake twice, you overshot). If you are coming in from the main highway, it is the first right after you see the lake the first time (again if you see the lake a second time, you missed it).

Once you have found the turn, you wind through some trees (again, there is zero signage) until suddenly you are in a typical boat launch (parking, ramp, tiny dock). You can drop beside the water and we went in off the sandy bit beside the ramp. I did not see any bathrooms here. The water was very clean.

The lake is about 5km long and runs roughly east-west. The width varies between 300m and 1 km. There was one other boat on the water when we were there, fishing.

This is a typical boreal lake, with a swampy or sandy shore that immediately becomes a fir forest (or a muskeg bog in one spot). 

We had a nice paddle with little wind. We made it about two-thirds of the way down the lake. There was no wildlife to be seen (except several pairs of loons) so we turned around after about 45 minutes and paddled back.

Overall, a nice enough lake. Maybe using the beach would make it worthwhile coming again? This would be a good spot to SUP. Given the number of lakes in the region, I think we would probably choose to try our luck somewhere else if we were back. No complaints, just not super interesting.