Algonquin backcountry paddling trip summer 2009
Our Algonquin Trip report
In the spring of 2008 I went on a Hen do, long story for another time, where I got talking to a friend who told me of an amazing trip he’d been on the summer before to a place called Algonquin. What a weird name I thought. After talking about their trip some more it realised it was exactly what I had been looking for. Since Hannah and I had been going out she had always talked about doing some kind of paddling trip. As this was a sport I had no real experience of I always banked the idea and moved on. This sounded like the perfect time to withdraw the idea and win some serious brownie points!
I researched the area and found some excellent resources, we planned and plotted and asked lots of questions. Eventually we booked various flights, canoes and campgrounds and eventually in the summer of 2009 we got on a plane. This is the story of what happens when two relative novices go back country paddling for 17 days.
24th August to 16th September. On the water 28th August to 14th September
Day one. Canoe Lake – Tom Thomson Lake – Macintosh Lake
Weather – Sunny with a light Northerly wind.
Portage – 2610m (Total walked 7830)
17 days of food and kit are loaded into the AO van and we get ferried from Oxtongue Lake to Canoe Lake. It’s busy with all sorts of people. Families out for a day, kids coming back in from a few days out and some very experienced looking paddlers. We’re excited, worried we will go in the water the first time we get in the canoe, can we even make it round? Questions that certainly crop up in my mind. We sort out our permits and buy a small frying pan, something we had not been able to pick up previously. Moosky, our mascot for this trip, is tied to the bow and we push into the water. Hannah takes the bow seat and I take the stern. It’s busy and we head north up Canoe Lake with a pace that only first day enthusiasm can sustain. Everything is fascinating, we absorb it all, drinking it all in. The lake side cabins, the other paddlers on the water, the weather. We’re heading for Macintosh Lake which is a fair way, the thinking is to get away from the day trippers and people out for a few days. The first major portage is hard work but we are rewarded by a patient beaver who allows us to follow him for about 200m finally giving up on us with a slap of his tail and a disappearing act. On Macintosh we had hoped to camp on an island easing the potential bear problems but we arrive and it’s busy. All the islands are taken so we take a campsite on the northern bank. H is surprised how little discomfort or pain she’s in considering the length of the first day’s trip. We arrive about 6.30pm and make camp for the first time. The food bags end up in two separate piles on the floor rather than in a tree as we can’t find an appropriate tree! We have dinner and as we’re settling in when we hear some very weird splashing huffing noises coming from the waters edge. We head down with our torches and as we shine our torches out to the water we are shocked to see three sets of eyes shining right back at us. The eyes vanish with more splashing and odd huffing noises. We assume it must be beavers or otters, well we hope so!
Day two.
Macintosh Lake campsite – Rest day
Weather – Overcast and windy.
Portage – 0m
Our first rest day, after only one day. Interesting but enjoyable. I wake up early and wonder out to make our first back country breakfast of the trip. Pancake’s are on the menu this morning with fresh blueberries. A treat to be savoured given the contents of the larder. The pancakes don’t go well, the spatula we bought is just that a soft easily melt-able spatula rather than a robust fish slice. The heat on the fire is all wrong, the pancakes are either burn or raw. cooking on open fire is trial and error. They still get eaten. I spend the day in a whirlwind of activity, doing all the things I dreamed I would be doing, collecting wood, trying to make a fire using the bow method, really hard, and unsuccessful. I find a suitable branch and start whittling a model canoe.
‘Oh how I ache all over’ is Hannah’s first thought. H feels like she’s had a good nights sleep with plenty of animal noises heard during night most coming from our own tent. The campsite is very peaceful. cooking on an open fire is trial and error. Made garlic bread from flour, water, baking soda, garlic and salt. H had done this on an expedition to Belize when she was 18. It was tasty and I was very impressed. We plan to eat all the fresh heavy food as the portage in to Macintosh was more of a shock than expected. Day’s off revolve around food. We have a dinner of baked potato, meatballs, tomato sauce, pepper, onion, two carrots and garlic, what a feast! The hammock went up during the day and was a winner. The biggest eye opener is the time and effort involved in doing everything collecting fire wood, cooking, washing-up and even collecting clean water using the water filter all takes so much time. Significantly more time and effort trekking at home where fires aren’t allowed and you invariably camp on a campsite with running water and sinks. It really makes you realise how easy we have it at home.
Day three
Macintosh Lake to Big Trout Lake.
Weather – Rainy, windy with thundery bursts.
Portage – 1320m (Total walked 3960m.)
It rained, a lot, last night. The tent was battered with lashing rain, too tired to care much so slept through. This morning it’s blustery and wet. Not ideal for packing up camp. We get a reasonably dry breakfast and fire and delay packing up as we think we don’t have too far to go with only one portage to get through. The waterproofs go on straight after breakfast and we slowly start to pack, I set up the tarp so we have somewhere dry to get stuff done. We’re wearing a lot of clothes, thermals and extra layers to keep the wind and rain at bay. It’s not long before the only thing left to get packed is the tent. We delay hoping for better weather, it doesn’t come. We lie in the tent on the hard ground, everything else packed away. We doze and listen to the rain hoping for a break in the weather. The incessant patter of rain slows and stops, I look out and see a brightening sky, we decide to go. We’re soon on the water paddling towards Macintosh Marsh. The rain keeps coming but we’re warm enough so it’s not so bad, once you get it into your head you’re gonna get wet it becomes fun. You just have to hope you get a chance to get dry at some point.We quickly make the first and only portage of the day and hump the gear through. As we do so the weather rapidly worsens, the sky darkens and I start to worry, it’s something I’m good at. We go back for the canoe and on the route back come across three canoes coming our way, we say hi, talk about our respective routes, we’re warned that Big Trout is nasty with some big wind blown waves, ‘You don’t want to be heading that way.’ is the parting comment. Joy, guess where we’re going! We decide to have lunch before paddling off through the marsh and up to Big Trout. It starts to really hammer down, I get out the tarp, H thinks it’s over kill, there’s a huge roll of thunder and suddenly it’s like someone turned on a power shower. I get the tarp up in a botched way and we huddle out of the worst of the weather. We’re sitting this round out. A lunch of squeezy cheese, sausage and wholewheat biscuits is dished out, desperate attempts are made to keep things off the floor which is rapidly turning into a river. We sit waiting for the worst of the weather to pass, the canoe is slowly filling with water and I’m wondering what to do about it. More thunder hammers around us and the rain intensifies, it’s mad. Out of the rain we see a canoe, paddling into the portage. All we can think is they’ve been out in the worst of the weather and must be half drowned. They haul their kit in and we offer a temporary respite from the rain inside our bodged shelter. We chat and share some food. Surprisingly it’s two Brit’s and a Canadian. They soon head off and this spurs us to get a shuffle on. As we paddle through the marsh we keep an eye out for for moose, this looks like prime territory. It’s amazing how many tree stumps look like moose.
Paddling ino the rain we’re seeing a side of the park we didn’t expect, the river narrows, the banks close in and it feels completely different to the wide open lakes of the last two days. The rain comes and goes like a sprinkler system, we paddle on. We’re both soaked and oddly tired, the day is winding up so we decide to look for a campsite, we like islands and see there’s an option ahead of us. We stop and find it’s reasonably flat so start to make camp. The tarp goes up to give us a chance to keep out of the weather. Everything is a touch damp particularly H’s thermarest which has been attached to her pack all day. I make dinner on the stove rather than try to build a fire. We don’t do too bad. The food goes down well and we’re soon contemplating sleep. We retire to the tent and play an extensive round of Gin, sitting in our thermarest chairs. There’s socks hanging from the washing line in the tent drying as we dose off. H’s final thought is ‘Wet soggy pine needles get everywhere!’
Day Four
White Trout -Big Trout Lake – Longer Lake – Burntroot Lake.
On water for 11am finish by 6.30pm
Weather – Windy, overcast with some breaks in the clouds.
Portage – 365m (Total walked 1095.)
We get up early and breakfast is on the go, the weather isn’t great but it’s a lot better than yesterday. The stuff in the tent dried out well so we have comfy clothes to wear. We pack the bags, load the canoe and head off in to the wind. This is the windiest we’ve encountered so far. I’m a little nervous, so far our lack of paddling experience hasn’t caught us out but today could be different. I’m wondering where the wind shadows are going to be, can we get into the lee of an island but find we’re on the wrong side of the lake to get any real shelter and crossing the lake doesn’t look to great. We meet a group of paddlers coming our way and exchange pleasantries. We head off up the lake, little did we know these would be the last people we would see for four days. We paddle then paddle some more and then some more. There’s a long way to go if we’re going to get back on track with our schedule, yesterday we only did about 1/2 the distance we were supposed to do. The scenery is good this morning, the cliffs on the side of White Trout Lake make for a stunning back drop to our steady progress. We often talk of seeing a bear and decide we would rather do it from the relative safety of the canoe than on land. An easy choice really!
‘The Narrows’ is the gap between Big Trout and White trout and it’s a great feature with tall cliffs on either side. We tick off the landmarks and islands as we head north to the top of Big Trout and negotiate the portage into Longer Lake. On a shorter portages like this we tend to carry everything bar the canoe in one go. This is currently a really heavy load but it’s over soon enough, then come back for the remaining canoe. Longer Lake is really nice, a little more sheltered so easier paddling, there’s a sense of calm here and the lake looks like it ends ahead but as we approach the hills part to our right and a really beautiful site is before us. There’s lots of grass in the water and the current is flowing in our favour, the reeds and water plants are thick on either side and a narrow clear channel cuts through showing us the way. We think this could be moose territory and hope for a glimpse of the iconic animal. To us everything is moose country! Lunch composed to two tortias, peanut butter/cheese slice/quarter of chorizo sausage each.
We paddle through a still, broad section of the lake, like a pool, towards a narrowing. Ahead of us are two short rapids one after the other, we have talked about paddling these rapids. As we approach we pull into the get out and have a look. The rapid is short but turns a relatively sharp corner. We can see the places where other paddlers have scrapped the bottoms of their canoes on prominent rocks. We umm and ahh for a while but think it best to stick to walking. We spot poison ivy on the bank and are surprised and pleased we actually spotted it. The second of the two rapids is not far away and as we approach we see what looks like a big fish breach. No fish but an otter and then a second and a third. There’s three faces all looking at us across the water. There’s a strange nasal huffing sound and it’s the same one we heard on our first nights camp at Macintosh Lake. It’s now apparent it’s a warning signal, two of the three dive and the third keeps watching. There’s a scramble for cameras in the boat and the filming starts in earnest. Where are they? Over there. No here. One reappears a little further away and makes the huffing noise again, I see a second resurface near the bank and watch as the graceful swimmer becomes the hump backed inquisitor that runs off up a tunnel of grass in the bank. The near otter dives and reappears a few more meters away as if to lure us in that direction. A final splash and the otters gone. Another magical moment for people who rarely see wildlife like this at home.
The rapids are ahead of us and we pull into the bank opposite the portage sign to check out the options. We hum and ha again. The rapids barely earn the name but we can see plenty of rocks with coloured plastic and expensive scraps of carbon & kevlar on from the passage of plenty of other trippers. We decide, after lots of pointing at various lines in the water, that we will shoot the rapids. We’re both a little nervous, H decides to film the event so wanders off down the bank to find a suitable vantage point. We have to set the camera filming and then race back to the canoe, jump in and paddle towards the entry. Before we know it we’re committed. There’s a lot of thrashing around and shouting ‘left’, ‘no right’ and then a few scrapes and we’re through. We pull into the bank and scramble back up the bank to get the camera. There’s a sense of relief and nerves are slowly calmed as we see another hurdle dealt with. We’re quickly onto Burntroot Lake and find the wind a real chore, we’re heading almost straight into it and we’re having to work hard. There’s some wind blown swell of about 1 1/2ft but nothing that makes me feel too worried. I’m kneeling in the bottom of the boat and pulling hard on the paddle and we’re making some headway. We’re keeping a good eye out for campsites and decide to head to Anchor Island to check it out. There’s a welcome wind shadow on the south of the island and we take a little breather. The campsite is less than ideal, there’s not a lot of protection from the wind although there’s some amazing old metal work from previous industry littered around the campsite. We’re soon back in the boat and paddling north into the wind looking for a better site. We pass Whistle Bay and a couple of island campsites heading towards Birch Bay, there’s an island there we’ve had our eye on since looking at the maps in our living room. We check out the campsite and are happy with it, the tent goes up and we get the site homely. Dinner is quickly on the go and we settle in. We realise as we discuss the day that we haven’t see anyone since this morning and suddenly it feels a lot more remote out here. The light is fading as dinner is being demolished, sitting on a well made rock seat I see a flicker in the corner of my eye. I put it down to tiredness and continue to shovel food into my mouth. Apparently H is wondering how I’m getting on with so few calories. I certainly haven’t felt too bad so far. With dinner digesting we started to tidy up when I see another flicker , this time it’s connected to a little head and a thin little tail. Mice! And loads of them. H is not so pleased and we start to pack everything up so the mice can’t get into our stuff. We string a line between two trees and hang everything off it. There’s one rubbish bag which is hanging on the line. We soon hit the tent and are asleep in double quick time. During the night we went to the toilet and found the mice tightrope walking along our washing line to get to the rubbish bag. Obviously not enough predators on this island!
Day Five.
Burntroot Lake.
Weather – Fine, blue skies and warm.
Portage – 0m
The weather is fine this morning, still a little cool but there’s very few clouds in the sky. We chose to go for porridge on days when we’re paddling and pancakes, scrambled fried pancake mix to be more accurate, when we have rest days. I make breakfast, H pumps five litres of water which is an epic effort and we tidy up. I’ve quickly got the hang of making a small cooking fire rather than a monster that goes for hours. Small twigs make for a very adjustable fire. We have also capitalised on H’s experience of making flat bread when she was on a trip in Belize. Wholemeal flour, a dash of baking soda, whole milk powder and water. Take the flour, milk powder and baking soda and add water until you get a sensible dough. Divide into small portions and flatten as much as you can. We found the best way to cook was on a medium to hot heat with only a little oil. This got the bread to rise slightly like a naan bread. Breakfast goes down well and we sit around drinking tea. H was up and around now but I was broken, the 17 days of food is a huge weight to haul around. Perhaps the lack of calories and hard work is taking more of a toll than I thought. Interestingly we don’t see any sign of the mice this morning, perhaps they like a lie in as well.I go back to bed at about 10:00am. This is very unusual for me but almost as soon as my head hits the ‘pillow’ I’m out. Our tent is great, one of it’s brilliant features is it allows you to roll up each end creating an open ended tunnel, the air flows through but the inner is intact and keeps the bugs at bay. I’m out for two hours solid. The rest of the day is spent finding wood, getting everything dry after the last two days of seriously inclement weather. The washing/drying line is constantly busy with the next set of wet stuff. We both have a good wash, a bit of skinny dipping and generally enjoy the now beautiful weather. Rather ineptly H stub’s her big toe on a rock. Not a big deal you think but this far out it could cause problems. It quickly goes purple and she’s really not having a good time with it. It’s as if her sparkles been knocked out along with the toe. I attempt to revive her enthusiasm with whisky and some cards. We have a dinner of pasta & pesto with two carrots and share a dehydrated vanilla moose for dessert.
Day Six
Burntroot Lake – Robinson Lake – Whiskey Jack Lake – Remona Lake – Nipissing River.
Weather – Fine, blue skies and warm.
Portage – 4135m
Apparently I ask H to start her diary entry with ‘oh the pain’. Perhaps the lack of paddling experience is taking it’s toll. We’re both shattered but I’m up at 7.30 and H soon follows. The weather is good today, we pump water, eat breakfast, break camp and paddle off towards what we know is a going to be a long day. The first portage is on us before we know it, a quick paddle across to the northern shore. The portage is a fairly long one and with 11 days of food still on board the loads are still really heavy. We’re also having problems with our Sealline bags, we bought a couple of ‘Urban Back Packs’ thinking we would load them with food for the trip and use them once we got home. The name should have given it away really, the attachment points simply weren’t designed for the loads we’ve put in them. The stitching was ripping almost every time we picked up the packs. It was a real problem, having to carry the bags with both hands instead of the second pack on our front. We’re both still a little low today, even after our rest day we seem a little flat. The portage is tough and we get the boat into Robinson Lake, a quick sprint over to the portage at the end of Whiskey Jack Lake. A lunch of tortilla, biscuit browns a British armed forces ration savoury biscuit, squeezy cheese, 1/2 a sausage each along with some peanut butter and cucumber. This is our staple diet when we’re moving. At the moment it’s not so bad. Will it still be interesting in 10 days? We lunch at the short portage before Whiskey Jack Lake.At the portage I quickly haul all the kit over the 20m path and move a few floating logs out of the way to make it easier to move into the lake. The weather is beautiful, warm and sunny. We make the next portage into Remona Lake, the shore is there in no time, the packing and unpacking of the canoe is time consuming and is taking it’s toll. We start the 1910m portage into the Nipissing River, my mood is dark and I’m tired, the portage is made in near silence. From my other trips and experiences I know I’m not doing so well. The dark mood is often a sign of a plummeting blood sugar level and I decide I need to eat something. The calorie intake by day so far is probably 1/2 my normal, something has to give and it looks like it’s going to be me. I break into a bag of trail mix and demolish it fairly quickly. Things start to look a little brighter. By the time we have the bags at the bank of the Nipissing I’m beat, the usual light footed trip back to get the canoe is a quiet one. The canoe goes on my shoulders and we shuttle back to the bank of the river.We look out over the calm waters of the Nipissing, it’s narrow just here on the corner where we put in. We look at the ground around the portage and see numerous moose prints. It makes us more excited. We paddle quietly along the river in the hope of seeing some Moose. We begin to loose hope. It’s also dawning on us that we have miles to cover before our booked campsite at the White Pine campsites so decide to stop at the campsites near Jack Pigeons spring. As we’re approaching the campsite we turn a right hand corner and there on the banks of the river in a still pool of water are three Moose. To my untrained eye it looks like a mother, an older daughter and a calf from this year. There’s the transfixing moment where we look at them and they look at us and everyone is deciding what to do. They quickly make their decision and move off into the woods behind them. We drift round in a gentle circle in the middle of the river with the momentum from the last paddle strokes until we drift into the bank. We see what the scrabble for the camera has left us with and review the pictures and film we managed to get. H is very happy to have seen some moose and I am very happy H has seen some moose! It was quite a special moment even if it was a brief one.
The campsite at the portage is flat but riddled with mosquitoes, by far the worst we have experienced. We make dinner as best we can over a small fire but H is getting bitten really badly so I send her into the tent to get away from them. A dinner of re-hydrated lasagna and a small baked potato is taken in the tent, the first time we’ve had to do this. We play cards until it’s dark. Sleep comes easily.
Day Seven
Nipissing River to Cedar lake.
Weather – Fine, blue skies and warm.
Portage – 1800m
A quick getaway is required and executed to avoid the mossies. I’m feeling unusually grumpy, perhaps I didn’t sleep so well. Once on the water we’re happy and my mood improves. We’re still excited about seeing the three moose yesterday and hope we may be lucky again. I think we both feel a little lighter after yesterday’s hard work, we can see we’re not far from Cedar lake now and another rest day. Cedar will mark the 1/2 way point.
We see a moose close up today in the Nippissing River, we’ve been doing our usual hyper attentive thing in the hope of seeing a moose. The signs are all there, prints, clear paths in the grass. We have hope a plenty but so far nothing. It’s a couple of hours after we set out, I’m looking in to the water next to the canoe meditating on the paddle stroke I just made when I notice H is whispering. I’m wondering what she’s whispering about when I hear her whispering my name a little more insistently. I lift my head and look around. There on the right hand bank standing knee high in a shallow pool quietly munching on grass is a lone moose. This time it’s not so much of a scramble to get the camera gear in-play. The paddle stroke is pushing us down river and we gently drift past the moose about 3 metres away from it. The moose looks at us for a while and decided it should probably make a tactical retreat which it does. Slowly turning round and wondering into the short scrubby trees behind it. By this time we have drifted almost out of site. I can just see the moose stop and head back to the patch of obviously tasty grass thinking we’re long gone. I quietly tell H we’re going back and I make a few inept strokes to get us turned around as quietly as I can. We start to gently drift back into site of the moose and spend quite a while taking more pictures. This is finally met with a look of distaine from our new Canadian friend who eventually makes something close to a huff and wades quickly into the water directly in front of us and swims expertly across the river and stomps into the undergrowth once and for all. We are very over excited!
Later that day we see our first people in 4 days, a couple of guys in a boat who’ve come over from Catfish this morning. It’s a little odd. The river opens up after the White Pine campground and turns into a beautiful wide valley with plenty of floating weed and vegetation. We see all sorts of birds and drift our way though thick patches of weed wondering if we’re going the right way. The portages during the day are endurable as we know we have a rest day coming although we do trip ourselves up and have miscounted the number of portage’s tot he lake by two so when we’re expecting the vista to open up before us we instead see another big yellow portage sign. Where did that come from! Once onto the lake we’re thinking about the perfect campsite and start visiting a number of different locations on the western edge of Cedar. One campsite particularly looks amazing but rather sadly it’s already occupied. Nothing is looking as exciting as we might hope. H spots what looks like a campsite sign on the eastern shore and we take a gamble and paddle over. This is something of a risk as we’ve not been on such a large open body of water and I’m a little nervous, more due to our inexperience. But the weather is warm and calm with little wind so there really shouldn’t be any issues. We pull into a gently sloping gravel beach and check out the campsite, it certainly passes muster. There’s loads of fire wood and a nice flat spot for the tent.
Day Eight
Cedar Lake rest day
Weather – Fine, blue skies and warm.
Portage – 0m
A relaxed day at the rest camp, we eat breakfast of our fried flat breads with raisins and nutmeg. H is pretty beat so gets breakfast in bed at 8.15, porridge with cranberries, honey and cinnamon followed by cinnamon bread along with a cup of tea. She has a lie in and I fluff around the camp, collecting wood. Later we head over to the store and get some extra supplies and get lucky by borrowing a speedy stitcher to repair the sealine urban backpacs. I’d almost succumbed to buying a proper sealline drybag but was happy with the repairs. We had ice-cream and crisps at the store, a great little treat. ice-cream being my favourite and crisps are Hannah’s. We also get our first shower, boy that felt good. Hot water and everything! Back at camp, we have a slap up lunch of macarroni cheese but we couldn’t eat it all – shock horror! Relaxed afternoon and lazy dinner. The extra supplies of rice and citronella candles are a welcome addition.Both agree this 17 day adventure is more of an endurance test than either of us had envisaged but we’re currently sat on a pebble beach in the sun and it feels like a proper holiday.
Spoke to a ranger who said the weather was looking stable for the next four days. WE also asked about not getting a key or code to get into the Big Crow cabin but he didn’t think it would be an issue but it was out of his area. Fingers crossed then eh.
Day Nine
Cedar Lake – Petawawa River – Cat Fish Lake
Weather – Fine, blue skies and warm.
Portage -3600m
We briefly stop at the store to drop off the speedy stitch and say thanks. H decides to paddle in the rear for the first time which she finds easier when I stop trying to drive the boat from the front! She makes a great paddling buddy. Ok, so we go in a few circles whilst we cross the lake but by the time we arrive at the portage she’s nailed it and we mostly go in straight lines. No worse than me anyway. We’ve psyched our selves up for a tough day but the sweets bought at Brent keep us going. We felt much better than the five portage day on to the Nippissing. Both sang ‘today is a good day, good day – ‘insert your reason why’ for most of the day to keep our spirits up – it worked.
We have another day of great weather, the sun is up and we’re trying not to get burnt. The portages go past reasonably well, the food is significantly reduced by now and the bags are lighter. We paddle through the Narrow Bag and spot the remnants of a log dam used by loggers in winter to store water up and cut logs ready for a spring flood to wash all their hard fought logs down stream. We paddle a long way down cat fish lake looking for the perfect campsite, we’ve decided to try for an island campsite. We paddle all the way to Shangri La Island before turning round and heading back north to grab the campsite next to the island marked with ‘no camping’. This turns out to be a really idyllic camp spot, one I don’t think I will ever forget. I t had everything, trees for the hammock, a flat spot for the tent and some really good shelving rocks into the water. Perfect fishing spots. H caught 2 and I caught 1. One of the fish we caught was rather greedy munching all three barbs of the hook, there was no way I could get him off so I had to kill him. We used him as bait but the bits just kept falling off. I am no fisherman, that is a fact.
Day Ten
Catfish Lake Rest Day
Weather – Fine, blue skies and warm.
Portage – 0m
Another lazy rest day day spent doing not very much. Saying that it’s amazing how much time and effort goes into getting the fire going, making breakfast/lunch/dinner along with washing up and pumping water through the filter! Really makes you appreciate the luxuries of running water and washing machines. So much taken for granted in our everyday life.
We paddle around a bit and take some pics. I also aid my fishing mad girlfriend by paddling around at sunset in the hope of catching some fish. If only we knew what we were doing!
Lots of time spent reading in hammock, taking turns. saw baby catfish in the water at night using our headtorches. This is certainly H’s favourite location, the rocky shores make for an interesting change in scenery. Rather sadly though it turns out to be one of her worst nights sleep. I’m as ever the villian with my rather monstrous snoring. H ended up crying in frustration at about 4am. She forgot about the hammock otherwise I think she would have slept in there.
Day Eleven
Cat Fish Lake to Sunfish lake – Hogans Lake
Weather – Fine, blue skies and warm.
Portage – 1800m (5400m)
H is in a dispicable mood due to crap sleep, cuased by me of course. As a result I christen the day ‘special little pickle day.’ Everything heavy goes in my pack and on the three portages we do that day H only had to do the first leg of the portage and could tae the time to chill whilst I go back for the rest of the kit or the boat. The ploy worked and before too long she’s back to smiles and a cheery disposition. On third and longest portage H came back with me for the boat as I was worried about surprising a bear with a canoe on my head.
We head south towards Sunfish and guess what, the sun is out again. Each day is so nice with the weather being near perfect. At the first portage we meet some guys heading the other way, we exchange pleasantries. There’s a short portage followed by a short lake followed by a long portage of 1945m. We head for the the island campsite again as this makes us feel a little safer. We beach the canoe and notice there’s lots of mussels in the water and loads of empty shells in the water and onshore. A free meal we figure, lets give it a go. I know we have to cook them so they open. Hopefully they won’t kill us! The dried food is obviously wearing a little thin. H get some funny shots of me wandering around in the water in my pants, there’s no dignity for a man once his girlfriend decides she’s a film maker! We cook up the mussels but they are really chewy, H leaves them after only a few, I persevere but I’m not impressed. It’s hard to cook them in the small pans. We find the bones of a moose, long dead and start wondering if bears can swim too and how far.
Spaghetti and pesto watching an amazing sunset – cards then bed.
Day Twelve
Hogan Lake – Big Crow Cabin
Weather – Sunny and warm, light breeze.
Portage – 11250m
We head out of the camp site under blazing blue skies. We quickly round the tip of the island and head into the portage. We meet a bunch of guys coming out of the portage and exchange pleasantries and steel ourselves for one of the biggest challenges of the trip, a 3750m portage. Oh boy this is going to be a hard day. Because we’re carrying too much stuff we have to walk each portage three times so we’re about to do a 11.25km hike, part of which is going to involve having a canoe on my head. If you tell that to normal people you get some odd looks, I know I tries it. Remarkably the hike goes reasonably well, we get the canoe to the landing stage and rapidly turn round as it’s infested with mossies. The walk back is light hearted. I take lots of pictures continuing to experiment with my digital point and shoot. The return leg is over before we knew it. We’re excited about being on Big Crow Lake as we get to stay in the Ranger Cabin. We’ve booked this months in advance and have been pretty over excited about it. We paddle towards the cliff and see the fire look out tower. We move on south past the cliff, the shore line is in shade and we keep an eye out for the cabin. We see some people at a landing and wonder if that’s the cabin, if they are in it, has it been double booked. All sorts of things go through our heads. We arrive and chat to the couple, they are camping over the other side of the lake and just having a look round. We don’t see any key and there’s no sign of how to get in so we improvise. My multitool has the right bit for the screws so we remove the lock holding the door shut. We try to ignore the sign that says don’t break in! We’ve paid in full so don’t feel so bad. It feels weirdly good to be in a building. It needs a good clean before we can use it so we set about unpacking and getting the place in order. The longdrop is up the hill and we collect a pile of wood for the stove and the firepit outside. It’s still early so we go to visit the firetower up on the edge of the cliff, the hike up is easy to follow if a little sweaty but it’s an interesting distraction for the day. The tower is tall that’s for sure, we can see rotten boards in the viewing platform itself. I climb about 1/2 way up the frame work but decide the risks if something go wrong are just too high so beat a prudent retreat, I must be getting older and wiser. The view from the cliff is great, there’s forest and forest and forest and well lots of forest, there’s certainly nothing like this in the UK. I remember the larger map shows there are roads all around the park and in a strange way I yearn for the bigger places, the parts of the world where there aren’t any roads. The thought is exciting and slightly terrifying. We celebrate the milestone by cracking into our supply of 12yr old Highland Park and nutella, bliss. The marshmellows also sacrificed themselves this great evening. The games of gin rummy went my way, this I like!
Day Thirteen
Big Crow Cabin Rest Day
Weather – Sunny and warm, light breeze.
Portage – 0m
Oh my lord this place is horrible! I can’t put my finger on what it is about the place but it’s giving me the creeps. I think in some way it’s all the writing on the walls, almost as if you’re being bombarded by the thoughts of so many people before you. After so many nights in the tent the cabin feels all wrong, either way I’ve had an awful nights sleep. I’ve been snoring like a train, so bad that H has had to move into the other room to get some sleep and ends up crying in frustration at about 4am. I.m not sure if it’s the dust on the top bunk but I wake with a swollen face and eyes. This subsides completely over the course of the morning but it doesn’t help my state of mind. Today was a simple day of not a lot. The hammock went up and has been enjoyed immensely. Rather oddly for a two person hammock the thing fell down when we both sat in it, the hooks opened up under the weight. I bent it back and it too the further battering. Cut down lots of deadwood for fires and discovered the spring further along the shore line. Made ‘vehicles of butter syrup’ for breakfast, essentially a pancake batter mix without the eggs to go in it. This mix was fried in the pan and then smothered in butter syrup that we found in the cabin, sweetness and calories never tasted so good.
Day Fourteen
Big Crow Cabin Rest Day
Portage – 0m
After a breakfast of dehydrated scrambled eggs with bacon which was a real find in MEC. We paddled over the other side of the lake to go and see one of the last stands of virgin forest made up of giant pines. They look stunning although we’re slightly underwhelmed when we think back to the giant redwoods in California. Damn those Americans!! The walk in the forest to visit the virgin forest is very pleasant, we think of bears and wolves but are disappointed thank goodness. On the way back we recall what can only be described as a beach further up the lake so we go to have a look. It’s a quite stunning little sandy beach in the north coast of Big Crow. As we land at the beach we see lots of fresh water mussles again so I pick a hat full in the hope of making an interesting dinner. We lounge about on the beach enjoying the weather. I check out all the tracks and think I can see moose prints and what looks like wolf prints. Well in my mind they look like wolf prints. We have a good wash and generally feel refreshed. Our stomachs tell us to go home and we don’t argue. The shadow is deep where the cabin sits and it doesn’t look particularly inviting to me, my misgivings about the cabin are really playing on my mind. As we land H gets really upset, she’s not even sure about what and has a good little cry. Perhaps the weariness is taking it’s toll. A good hug and a meal and we’re both back to relative normality. Rather sadly my second effort at fresh water muscles was again fairly rubbish. Won’t be trying this again.That night presented itself with some quite interesting events. H woke me with an urgent whisper. ‘Did you make a noise’ she asks. Sleepily I reply with a ‘No’. H decides she’s heard something outside and we have to investigate. All I’m thinking is in the horror films if you go outside you know you’re in trouble! The torches are on and we stumble outside, needless to say there was nothing to greet us but my goodness I was jumpy! A quick trip to the toilet and we’re back to bed. What I don’t tell H is that by the toilet there’s a tree stump on it’s side that a lunchtime had still been in the ground. I figure a bear has been involved with this kind of work. I’m eager to get back in what I see as the relative safety of the Cabin. The rest of the night passes uneventfully if a little fitfully.
Day fifteen
Big Crow Cabin to North Arm Opeongo Lake (Graham Bay)
Weather – Clear Blue Skies again!
Portage - 1340m
We push off from the shore paddling into the lake and I breath a huge sigh of relief. ‘Thank god for that, I’m so glad to be leaving that place.’ We’re both feeling a little off, explosive bottoms! We’re thinking it may be the water from the well at the Cabin. It’s the only place we’ve not filtered the water and we’re both feeling its touch. As we left the Cabin we screwed the lock back onto the door so all should be well for the next visitors. We certainly left it cleaner than when we arrived. Between us we christen the place ‘The Scary Death Cabin.’ I’ve felt very off with the place from the moment we opened the front door.We’ve got quite a long day so get paddling. Into Little Crow, through the Crow River where we saw a very cool Painted Turtle sitting quietly on a half submerged log and out into Proulx Lake where we swiftly made it to the portage point. More and more people are appearing round each corner, humanity is slowly creeping back into our world. The last portage was over before we knew it. I was certainly glad I wouldn’t be humping the swift on my head anymore. Don’t get me wrong it’s been an incredible boat, easy to get to grips with, relatively light and very forgiving, a trait relative novices appreciate. We saw a snake, only a small one, on the portage which was cool. Can you tell we don’t have much wildlife at home. The weather is still being kind to us although it is a little cooler today. We were a little nervous heading out onto the North Arm of the Opeongo, motor boats in the distance and not so distant and the thought of the wind picking up! Thoughts definitely on the final leg now. We decide to travel a long way down the lake incase the wind picks up in the next couple of days. As it turns out we had nothign to worry about. The campsite is another island which is always nice. There’s a little rock pool at the edge of the campsite, H is thinking this could be a good place for a soak, as she paddles in she picks up a rock and there wiggling on the under side is a leech! This wasn’t expected. H isn’t in the water much longer that much I can say. The ‘scary death cabin’ has a few lasting symptoms for me when I visit the longdrop. We have an early night and 12 hrs sleep is well received. Rather oddly H snores much like a bear for most of the night.
Day Sixteen
Rest Day going nowhere
Weather – clear blue skies again.
Portage – 0m
Not a lot going on today as you can imagine, we watch people go fishing out on the lake and relax. We’re obviously feeling a little odd as the trip is soon to be over and it’s such a big part of what we’ve been dreaming of for a long time. Saying that we’re tired and are starting to think about beer, steaks and beds, roughly in that order as well! The day has it’s own rhythm and the sun slowly starts to dip into far shore. The weather still looks settled which is ace. We discuss how long we think it will take us to paddle over to the access point. I’m thinking a good few hours, perhaps four. Hannah is convinced it will be a lot shorter. The Lake is significantly busier than we’re used to but perhaps not as bad as we had thought. We’re already thinking back on the trip and wondering what it would be like to paddle rougher water in a boat like this, perhaps we need to do a white water course when we get back, could be interesting. Today has been a good food day. Porridge with prunes, cranberries, honey and cinnamon for breakfast, soup for lunch and pasta with pesto and sausage for dinner. Popcorn round the fire later in the evening.
Day Seventeen
Weather – Morning mists leading to clear blue skies, again!
Portage – 0m
A beautiful morning of mists and piercing rays of light. Our last mornings breakfast of porridge goes quickly, we pack up like experts and get the gear in the canoe, we’re eager to get to the outfitters, to finish the trip, to get a beer and have an ice-cream. On the water we estimate the distance to the outfitters and lay bets on how long it will take us. I bags the bow paddle position and H takes the stern. H is saying 2 hours and I’m talking about 3-4. By the time we get going the mists are rapidly clearing and we head off. We push a fast pace and make the first headland in an hour, the next island not long afterwards. I begin to realise that when your remove 17 days of food from the canoe it actually goes like stink, I’m sure all our practice paddling has helped as well. 1 1/2 hours later we’re pulling up at the outfitters. It’s an odd feeling, the people, the cars and motorboats all seem at odds with the feeling of wilderness we still have in our heads.
We tie up the canoe and wonder into the shop, nothing has changed, there’s stuff to buy, food to eat and stuff to look at. Nothing has changed, after buying an ice-cream I start to wonder if we shouldn’t just turn round and head out again. We find the showers and get scrubbed up and feel a lot more human. There are plenty of people around which feels a little odd. We sit on the veranda and just look out at the lake happily waiting for the lift back to the tent cabins, a cab ride, a train ride and a plane ride home.Whilst we wait H raises the question ‘How much would someone have to pay me to go straight out and do it again?’ The answer was not as high as you might think.
Hannah took a lot of photo’s during the trip and has produced a film you might like to check out here
Our list of stuff that worked
- thermarest seats
- rucsacs – new arcteryx Bora packs
- new hammock from MEC
- exped drybags with rucsac straps
- biscuit browns with squeeze cheese
- dehydrated desserts
- hydrated main meals – look what we found
- GSI – coffee press
- titanium cutlery – i got bored of soggy sporks
- Hilleberg Kaitum 2GT – amazing tent
- tarp
- lantern
- water filter – although a steripen would have been better
- long sleeved shirt
- mashmellows
Our list of Stuff that didn’t work or we would change if we did it again
- Would have taken more tea bags
- Another bottle of whisky
- Less clothes – possible only because the weather was so good.
- More variety of food ie couscous
- Less sausage
- A plastic barrel with straps for food
- More stove fuel and less fire cooking as it’s quicker and cleaner
- Attempt to go more light weight overall
- Not go for such a long trip although we both enjoyed the trip
- Bigger better solar panel or none at all
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 at 9:40 pm. It is filed under Adventure, All, Paddling, Trip Reports and tagged with Algonquin, camping, Canada, canoeing, Films, hiking, inspiration, travel.
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Hey I love your videos.. they are so funny. my wife Tracey and I and the boys . Tristan 10 and Brandon 9 . do Algonquin every summer for 10 days its a blast . its really the only real time we get to ourselves no computer no phones no ds games. just us ahhhh I miss it every time we leave… so please keep up the great work .. you and Hannah are hilarious together I think that’s how you spell hilarious. lol thanks George
Hey guys!
Just read your account of the fantastic trip, watched the video and can’t wait for May to arrive when we’ll be heading north to get in the first of a few Algonquin paddle trips this year.
I haven’t been to Opeongo in a few years and wondered if the last photo of Patrick enjoying his beer was at Opeongo Algonquin. That appears to be a nice room and I wonder if they sell more than liquid refreshment. If the pic is not from Opeongo could you share the location?
Thanks again for a fun reminder of what Algonquin has to offer!
Jester
Jester,
Thanks for the lovely comment it’s always good to share these things. It’s also great to think you can get people excited about getting out and about. To answer your question the beer was at the restaurant just over the bridge from the AO store at Oxtongue Lake. The food was fairly good if rather pricy. IT was certainly hugely appreciated at the time.
Have a great trip in May I hope you get good weather.
Patrick