Staff Pick

Road Trip Bissett to Atikaki – Wild Shield & Anishinaabe Pictographs

Bissett Parc Atikaki
60
km
1h30
drive
Summer
season

The Itinerary

Atikaki Provincial Park (3,981 km², UNESCO World Heritage with Pimachiowin Aki since 2018), 250 km northeast of Winnipeg, is one of the largest accessible wilderness areas in the southern Canadian Shield. It's also the heart of the Anishinaabe First Nations ancestral territory (Bloodvein, Little Grand Rapids, Pauingassi, Poplar River) — four communities guardians of the oldest painted pictographs in North America.

From Bissett, a former 200-inhabitant gold mining town, Provincial Road 304 — a 60 km gravel road — is the last accessible road before the wilderness. Beyond, access is by canoe or floatplane. The Bloodvein River crosses Atikaki for 200 km, dotted with over 100 ochre pictograph sites (3,000+ years old) on granite outcrops — Mosquito Lake, Artery Falls, Tulabi Falls are the most accessible.

Pimachiowin Aki ("the land that gives life" in Anishinaabe) is one of only two mixed UNESCO sites (natural and cultural) in Canada. Wallace Lake Provincial Park (50 campsites on the Shield) and Manigotagan River Provincial Park (heritage canoe route) are road-accessible. Outfitters: Bloodvein Outfitters, Adventure North.

Points of Interest

  • ✦
    Atikaki Wilderness PP
    3,981 km² mixed UNESCO with Pimachiowin Aki.
  • ✦
    Bloodvein Pictographs
    100+ Anishinaabe pictograph sites, 3,000+ years old.
  • ✦
    Bissett Gold Mining Heritage
    Former gold-mining village, 200 inhabitants.
  • ✦
    Wallace Lake PP
    Drive-in camping at edge of Shield.

Fishing Spots Along the Route

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Aikens Lake
Lake
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Akeroyd Lake
Lake
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Alberts Lake
Lake
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Alice Lake
Lake
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Anderson Lake
Lake
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Andrew Lake
Lake
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Anson Lake
Lake
🎣
Argue Lake
Lake

Protected areas along the route

🌿
Whiteshell Provincial Forest
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🌿
Whitemouth Bog Wildlife Management Area
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South Atikaki Provincial Park
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🌿
Manigotagan River Provincial Park
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🌿
Wallace Lake Provincial Park
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🌿
Whiteshell
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🌿
Whitemouth Falls Provincial Park
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Pinawa Dam Provincial Park
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Pinawa Provincial Park
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Chief George Barker
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Lee River Wildlife Management Area
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🌿
Agassiz Provincial Forest
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Take this route offline

Cell coverage thins out fast once you leave Bissett. Export the map as a geo-referenced PDF before you go and open it in BorealMaps — your GPS position shows on the map with no signal at all.

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Practical info
  • Departure Bissett
  • Destination Parc Atikaki
  • Distance 60 km
  • Duration 1h30
  • Category Short (< 100 km)
  • Best season Summer
Themes
unesco Indigenous wilderness canoe pictograph shield adventure photo

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