Algonquin Park 2001
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For the spring of 2001, Wendy and I decided to try something we had not done before. I have been on several canoe
trips previously, but have never led one. Wendy had not really done much canoeing in her life at all. We decided to
borrow a canoe from my parents, rent a car to get there, and take a six day moving trip through the lake systems of
northern Algonquin Park. We
chose mid-May as a time frame to avoid the crowds and the bugs. It was hoped that this time of year would not prove to
be too cold either.
Our intended route was a loop as follows:
- Cedar Lake to Radiant Lake
- Radiant Lake to Philip Lake
- Philip Lake to Lac La Muir
- Lac La Muir to Burntroot Lake
- Burntroot Lake to Catfish Lake
- Catfish Lake to Cedar Lake
It turned out that the plan was a little ambitious and we ended up doing a shorter loop instead.
Here is a brief journal of the trip. Click on the hyperlinked text for photos.
Got on the road at 0630. Drove up to the park in about 4 hours. Pretty uneventful drive in an absolutely beautiful
day. Almost no traffic. Had a quick lunch of packed sandwiches and apples before heading out in the canoe. The
wind had picked up quite a bit and the waves were quite large. At least it was blowing in our direction. It took
a couple of hours to get across the lake to the mouth of the Petawawa river. At some points the waves became quite
large and splashed over the sides of the boat, but it was travellable. Then began the portage. This was more
difficult than we had expected. Carrying the canoe and a 40 lb pack could only be done for a couple hundred meters.
We took turns carrying until we reached the end where we had to lower down a steep rocky cliff. All in all it took
us about an hour to travel the 960m trail. We got going again, but not for long before the second portage. We
decided to try doubling it just to see how it would go. We first hiked the packs over and then went back for the
canoe. We had seen another place suitable for landing so we canoed further down the river before carrying the canoe
around the rapids. After a brief snack break, we were once again paddling, but it was only a brief period before the
final
portage. I started solo carrying the first couple hundred meters but then the terrain got very treacherous with
steep hills and lots of rocks. We leap-frogged the canoe and the packs over this for the next exhausting hour.
Thank goodness this was the last portage of the day. Another hour on the river and we reached Radiant lake about
an hour before nightfall. We quickly set up camp at the mouth of the river, ate supper and head to bed just as
it was getting dark.
It rained a little during the night and we did not get the best sleep due to fishing jumping in the water and
waking us with the splashing sound. Morning broke with another
beautiful day and we had a quick breakfast before
packing up camp.
Paddled out to Radiant lake and then began heading up little Madawaska. The going was easy at first but the
current got stronger as we went. As we aproached the portage the current got extremely strong and we had to get
out and wade the boat upstream. We ferried across the river to get to the portage and then began the longest
portage on the trip. This was not as difficult as yesterday. For the most part the
trail was smooth and I
carried solo. A few places we had to double where the trail got really steep. We progressed in 500m stints until
finally the end was reached about 3 hours after we started. After eating some lunch we continued up the river.
The river wound left and right and then became a maze to follow as it zig-zagged through the marsh. It was
impossible to tell where we were because the park map we bought had no topographical information. Several times
we took short wrong turns where the maze of a river split, sometimes rejoining the main channel, sometimes
ending in a dead end. We saw another canoe at one point but did not get to speak with them because they were
picking their way through the marsh in another channel. Then, as we approached the portage, the river forked.
The main channel was much narrower then a side route and we took the wider. We headed down this path for over
an hour. I did notice that the current had disappeared, but did not follow my instincts to turn around as the
thought of the portage being 'just around the next corner' continued the whole way. The river got narrower and
narrower until finally we could go no further. It was beginning to get late and we finally admitted that we
were lost. We thought about setting up camp but there was nowhere as we were in the middle of a swamp created
by beavers. We had no choice but to turn back and both, look for the correct route, and also look for a suitable
place to sleep. Going back was a little easier than heading up but I was near exhaustion. At one point both of us
thought we saw a portage sign, but at closer inspection it turned out to be the sunlight filtering through a dead
tree. Our exhausted minds were playing tricks on us. Finally we got back to where we took the wrong turn and saw
what where we had erred. We continued heading upstream until we got to the portage we were looking for. It was
getting close to darkness and there was a campsite on the far end of the portage so we decided to leave the canoe
and just hiked the packs over. We quickly set up camp, cooked a quick supper of soup and sandwiches, then hit the
sack.
Lessons learned today:
- Do not rely on park maps. Obtain a topographical map in addition to the park map.
- Follow the current when travelling up a river. If we had decided something was wrong when the current disappeared,
we would have saved a few hours and actually made it to Philip lake where we were supposed to end up.
Got up around 0600 and hiked back to get the canoe. Halfway back to camp the center thwart pulled out of the
gunnel and the canoe came crashing down on my head. I walked back to camp and got Wendy to help with the rest
of the carry. Ate breakfast and decided to shorten the route. Today we would take a short paddle to Philip lake
and spend the day resting. After that we would go to Hogan lake, then Catfish lake to get back on course. It
was only about an hours paddle to reach the campsite on Philip and we saw a
moose on the other side so we paddled
over to take a look. It kept looking up at us as we approached but did not seem to care to much about our presence
so we got close enough to get some photos. We
paddled back to the
campsite and set up. Spent the rest of the
day relaxing and snoozing to recover from the previous two days exertion.
Spent a bit of time repairing the thwart on the canoe. I got it back on but am unsure how long it is going to
hold. Also had to repair the stove. Our MSR stove has given us hundreds of reliable meals but today it quit. I
never found the problem, but a complete disassembly and re-assembly cured the problem. We also discovered that
one of the flashlights had come on in the pack and now the batteries were dead. Thankfully we have a second one.
We are going to have to ensure that the batteries are secured so that this will not happen again and we are not
stuck with
no light.
Last night we were awoken several times by the loons. One would start calling and then the whole lake would begin
singing. Woke up in the morning to a loud splashing sound. I got up to investigate and found two moose grazing
in the water. They quickly departed once sensing our presence before I had a chance to grab the camera. Today
yielded an overcast sky, the first time on this trip. We cooked breakfast, broke camp, and paddled out about
0830. We travelled to the end of the lake and continued the journey up the Little Madawaska. As we approached
the first portage the current began to get very strong. We paddled as hard as we could and managed to avoid
wading the canoe up the river. Started the portage with both a pack and the canoe on my shoulders. Not 100m down
the trail I began to think that my pack was now light enough with half the food eaten that the carries would not
be so bad. Just as the thought cleared my head, the center thwart pulled out of the gunnel on the other side and
the canoe came crashing down. After some swearing, we continued the remaining 1400m by leap-frogging packs and
canoe in short bursts. It may have been more efficient to carry the packs the whole way and then carry the canoe,
but we were worried about leaving the food bag unattended for any length of time. At the end of the portage, we
had a quick snack and then continued up the river. After rounding a couple bends the next short portage appeared
so we quickly doubled over this one. The next stretch of river produced a beaver dam which had to be waded over.
The final portage appeared shortly after that and we quickly doubled over as it was shorter than we were expecting.
At the end we ate a hot lunch of falafel sandwiches and coffee. As we paddled out onto Hogan lake we saw a small
moose at the shore which then swam across right in front of us. It stopped in the middle and stared at us before
continuing the swim and clamboring up the opposite shore. The wind was moderate as we made the crossing of Parks
Bay which made the trip a little rough, but not as bad as the Cedar lake crossing on day one. We
found the campsite
we were heading for and then I worked on repairing the canoe while Wendy set up camp. I
re-installed the center thwart and then cut some branches to brace
against the thwart and the bottom of the boat. Added a little bit of
duct tape to hold it all together and I think it should be sufficient for the rest of the journey home. Wendy
also found a battery littered on the ground. It turned out to be good so we have two working flashlights again. If
yesterday was the day of breaking things, today was the day of fixing.
The loons kept waking us up all night. I mean they are neat creatures and all but the racket gets a little on
your nerves at 0400. We head out early as we had a long journey today and it was pouring rain. The portages,
while long, were accomplished quickly as the food pack is now quite light, and except for a few parts of rough
terrain, we were able to move along in one pass. The fix to the center thwart held up quite well. On one of the
portages we saw many
trillium flowers, both
red and white. This was interesting as I have never seen the white
variety as these are very rare. At the end of the last portage we ate lunch under some large trees to take shelter
from the rain. While paddling through the swamp from Sunfish lake we saw a white-tail deer along the shore. We
made good time and found an island on the north end
of Catfish Lake. There
are campsites on the shore on either
side of us and both are taken by four people each. This feels kind of strange as these are the first humans we
have seen in three days. The site we took is very dirty. We spent some time cleaning up garbage, pieces of onion,
and a large rotting fish head nailed to a tree. A quick hot fire took care of most of the mess. Luckily it stopped
raining in the evening so we were able to cook supper on a dry rock.
It rained all last night but thankfully stopped just as we were getting up. We ate a relaxed breakfast of pancakes
and then packed the gear into the canoe and said farewell to our island. The paddle across the remainder of Catfish
Lake was easy and we quickly reached the mouth of the Petawawa river. The first portage skirted around a
small rapid
and was only 80m long. We did not even bother to flip the canoe over and just carried it and the packs separately to
the end. We met a couple at the other side who had come up from Cedar Lake and were just beginning their canoe
vacation. The next portage was also very short. The third one was longer at a little over 2 km. We met several people
on this one. I guess the long weekend has attracted the crowds. I am sure glad that we chose to do our trip the week
before the May two-four weekend. The mosquitos began to become an issue on this
carry and we had to bring out the repellant
for the first time (another indication that we chose the correct week for the trip!). Wendy and I took turns with the
canoe and small pack as neccessary about every 500m. At one point
I was carrying the canoe and stepped on a very
slippery rock. I fell and the canoe landed on top of me pinning me to the ground. Although unhurt, I was in such a
position that I could not move. I was also a fair bit ahead of Wendy at the time,
so was stuck there for a little while
until she caught up. Imagine her suprise (and fear) to come walking over a rise to see the canoe on the ground
with only my feet sticking out from
underneath! We ate a quick snack at the end of this portage before continuing down the river. The next portage
bypassed a
neat waterfall and came a little uncomfortably close to the
drop at the take-out. We encountered many more
people on this carry, and even had to wait for the put-in to clear out of canoes so we could continue. One party had
an absolutely beautiful hand built wooden canoe. The final portage was a little less than a kilometer, and we managed
to cart over with only one canoe swap between the two of us. Again we met many people along this trail. What a
difference from seeing absolutely nobody for the most part of the trip. We had lunch at the end of the portage while
a fisherman talked with us. The wind at this point had picked up quite substantially, and the waves on Cedar Lake were
huge. Although we could see the parking area a few kilometers away from where we were, it was obvious that a direct
crossing of the lake would be impossible. Unfortunately Cedar Lake is very large and a circumnavigation would take hours.
We decided that we had no choice but to head around. The going was extremely tough. The waves, even close to shore,
gave us a roller coaster ride, and the wind was strong enough at some points that we had to paddle at full force just
to remain in one place. We slowly made it up the coast and up the north west arm. At one point we saw a female moose
with a tiny calf. We stopped for a snack at a camp spot about half way up the arm. Wendy caught a snake in
the bushes here. Just as we were leaving, we noticed that the wind had temporarily died. We decided to quickly make
the crossing before it started blowing again. We made it most of the way across before the wind picked up and started
tossing the canoe around in the waves. We made it to the opposite bank without mishap and then proceeded to work our
way around to the parking area at Brent. Since the wind was now at our backs we made good progress and just really had
to hang on for the ride as we bounced over the waves and steered around the rocks along the shore. We finally made it
back to the car and loaded up for the drive home. A storm hit just as we were driving out. It was lucky that we were
able to make the crossing when we did, otherwise we would have been caught on the lake. We drove back to my parents
place to drop off the canoe and then headed home for a much needed shower and good nights rest.
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