I gave you some suggestions about a month ago but those all seem to be taken now - you should have booked something then!!  

But seriously, you're probably going to have to make some sacrifices this late in the game. Either a couple long portages to do a loop, or do easy portages but pretty much stay at the same campsite for the whole weekend.

I would look to the north of the park, leaving from Kiosk lake (about 4-4.5hr drive from Toronto). You could loop from Kiosk --> Mouse --> Erables --> Maple --> Kiosk, or if you wanted a rest day you could do Kiosk --> Mouse --> Maple x2 --> Kiosk. You could also go just west of that and do Kiosk --> Manitou --> Three Mile --> Maple --> Kiosk, but that has the 3km portage which has a really steep incline at the beginning. If you were ok with staying at the same campsite the whole time, I would do Kiosk --> Maple x3 --> Kiosk

Open up www.algonquinmap.com and find these lakes I'm talking about (all the way in the north). See which route appeals to you the most, and check availability on the reservation system reservations.ontarioparks.com

edit: all of those routes above are really great options, when I said you'd have to make sacrifices I didn't mean in terms of quality of the trip. You'll get nice lakes, great campsites, and good enough seclusion - the sacrifice is that you'll have to do more portaging than what I assume you would have wanted.

Last edited by trippythings (8/28/2017 8:54 pm)

Sepandee wrote:

Thanks! Did you already advise me? I don't think I came on this forum this year until today.

The suggestions you made would work for me, but it's too much portaging for the group. Some of us would love it, but for others it's their first time and I want them to love the experience, not hate me! So no loops, and no long portages, I'm afraid, even if that means staying somewhere busy. Overall, assume a relatively large load to carry (double carries for sure), and they want to get to the campsite in 5-6 hours or less. And then, just rest there: eat, drink, sleep, find firewood, fish... that kind of stuff.

I hadn't looked at the northern part before because it was too long of a drive, I thought. But 4 to 5 hours of driving is OK.

It was on My CCR, and then I think a thread on here as well.

The option of going straight from Kiosk to Maple Lake might still work. It's a 4.5hr drive from Toronto, 6hr day if you have to double carry, and there are 6 portages, all under 1km (3 of the 6 are under 200m). It's not a terrible day and it takes you to a really pretty lake with nice campsites for you to set up camp for the weekend.

If 6 portages is too much even though they're short, I would just say open the maps and the reservation system and try and find something that works and you think everyone in your group would enjoy.


edit: or just go straight from Kiosk to Manitou. Still a 6hr travel day, but there are fewer portages. Manitou is a huge lake with lots of nice sites, but they allow some boats and there are some cottages, so it's not as private as Maple.

Last edited by trippythings (8/29/2017 6:17 am)

Those are good suggestions ... I would consider the water taxi up opeongo and into Proulx,  LC and BC ... its not as far as you think ... and you can camp on big crow (great sites) and trip down the crow river (get reports on the current though .. its usually not bad this time of year) .. chance at some trout, moose sightings in the crow river going back towards proulx ... got a little bit of everything ... and its an easy paddle.  You can paddle from Proulx to BC in a few hours ...

They'll take you, your junk and you canoe, and drop you off at a portage site and I think they'll drop you off at a campsite as well if you'd rather.

Dead_Weight (DW) wrote:

On Opeongo for example there are 2 outfitters (or at least there were) who will carry all your gear up Opeongo to the portage to Proulx (for example .. they will take you to other portages or sites too but you would have to double check which ones) .. so basically it saves you a day paddling on a very big lake ... it also gets you and your buddies into the back country faster.  From there its up to you how far you go or how much you canoe.  

Check out Jeffs map and you will see where I'm talking about ...

I see it. How long does it take to go from the access point of Opeongo to, say, the portage to Red Rock? It's showing as 15km, but not sure how fast these water taxis can go.

And does anyone know how much they'll charge for, say, 6 people with 3 canoes? And do we just "hail" them on the way back?

Another question, and this is just for my map reading skills. As you can see in the attached picture, Kiosk to Lake goes through Amable Du Fond River. This was a route that was suggested, but on the map it shows the direction of the river as being in the opposite direction. So how can one get straight from Kiosk to Manitou? And how do you get back? Can you get back going in the opposite direction of the canoe? For example, from North Tea to Kawawaymog at Access Point 1? Pardon the ignorance, really.

And also, on these rivers, can one just go with a canoe? Never been in a canoe in a river.

Final question: If we were to stay at one of the lakes at the access points or ones very near them (no more than a 4 hour trip), which access point lake would you recommend?

I think worse comes to worse I'll just reserve something at Manitou or even Kiosk or Lost Dog near Kawawaymog. The plan will be ot leave on Friday around 4pm, hopefully make it there just before sundown and camp somewhere near the access point, then leave early saturday as soon as we have our canoes and permits (9am?), make it to the campsite by 2pm.

The water taxi on ope for 6 people and 3 canoes would be about $160 each way. You make a reservation for the return trip before you leave. The taxi goes up the lake on the hour and back down on the half hour. It's about 20-25 minutes from the docks to the redrock portage.