Offline
Hi everyone,Mid-september my European friends and I will plan a 3-day canoe trip (2 nights) into the Algonquin backcountry. We will arrive Sunday noon from Toronto airport and will leave Tuesday evening late. The trip options are so numerous that we would appreciate some advice on particular routes from the experts on this forum, especially those that know beautiful nature and wildlife spots away from the crowds. We like a change of scenery, going from lakes to rivers and a bit of land. What is also useful to know is which popular lakes to avoid if you like peace and quiet. It is difficult for me to estimate reasonable canoe distances per day so any advice on that is most welcome.
I am mainly doubting between two areas in the park:
a) West access points Rain lake, Magnetawan lake or Tim river:
Although this sounds like a quite popular canoeing district I wonder which are the ‘little gem must-do islands and lakes’ to visit and camp at. Which routes do you suggest here have a varied landscape and have a fair chance of wildlife spotting in 3-days time? Are the river levels (Tim or Petawawa) not too low in september?
b) South access points Roger lake, Smoke lake or Whitney:
Are Louisa lake and McGarvey lake worth a trip? Are these routes south of HWY60 varied enough or is it mainly limited to big lakes? How is wildlife on this side of the park? What are the beautiful non-touristy spots that are reachable for a 3-day trip?If you are a fan of other areas in the park, I am very open to suggestions (but preferably no Canoe lake trips nor trips in the far eastside of the park). Thank you very much in advance for the tips.
Kind regards,
Julie from Belgium
Last edited by jmgoosse (8/01/2018 7:47 am)
Offline
Hi Julie,
Your dates are good from the perspective of avoiding crowds: you'll be after our "Labour Day" weekend (which means kids are back in school) and not on a weekend. But with only two nights, you're not going to be able to get all that far from your access point, so choosing a quieter access point is your best bet. I have a few questions that might help this board give you good suggestions:
Do you and your friends have canoeing/camping experience?
Do you want to spend your two nights on two different lakes, or both nights in the same place?
How many hours is your group looking to spend traveling in a day?
How far are you willing to portage each day of your route?
I assume you'll be renting canoes and perhaps all of your camping gear - do you need advice on outfitters as well?
Last edited by Uppa (8/01/2018 8:34 am)
Offline
Hi Uppa,
Thank you for your reply.
We have experience with river kayaking (not with advanced white water paddling) but our canoe skills are very basic. Hence we prefer to use kayaks if possible. I have recently contacted an outfitter in Kearney for more info. I've heard someone saying portaging is easier with canoes though. We might borrow some camping gear but most things we will bring ourselves as some of my friends are living in Toronto.
We don't mind portaging if it allows us to get to beautiful spots (estimated 30% of our daily time, maybe max. around 3-5 kms per day?). We wish to move around from site to site and can kayak from morning until evening with maybe some small breaks (5-7 hours, 15-20 kms?). However I've read stories from people that had to drag their boat along in low-level rivers for most of the day and this is not something we're looking forward to particularly. Hope this helps you to answer my question.
Thank you very much in advance,
Julie
Last edited by jmgoosse (8/01/2018 8:49 am)
Thread StarterOffline
Mcgarvey is a nice little lake and in my visits there I've not seen others.
I've tripped from Rock to McGarvey, then McGarvey through the whatnot lakes then looping east through bonnechere, phipps and coming south through rod and gun for a second night on Louisa which itself is a spectacular lake for campsite selection. I've also come shorter from McGarvey north to bonnechere via lost shoe. Pardee is a lovely lake to stay on too. The site closest to Kirkwood looked nice. Note that there is little to no river travel along this section.
Another consideration I'd suggest is the kawawaymog access point. You'd get your river travel on the amable du fond, some big lake experience with North tea. For this area I'd suggest an early start heading east through North tea, north up to Lorne or Sisco (the latter had beautiful looking water), and loop back past lost dog for a second night on North tea. North tea and kawawaymog can be windy as you head out.
Lastly, Rock Lake access point south and then west for a stay on Welcome, North to Louisa for night 2. That's a nice little loop that I've enjoyed in the past.
Offline
jmgoosse wrote:
Hi Uppa,
We have experience with river kayaking (not with advanced white water paddling) but our canoe skills are very basic. Hence we prefer to use kayaks if possible. I have recently contacted an outfitter in Kearney for more info. I've heard someone saying portaging is easier with canoes though. We might borrow some camping gear but most things we will bring ourselves as some of my friends are living in Toronto.
We don't mind portaging if it allows us to get to beautiful spots (estimated 30% of our daily time, maybe max. around 3-5 kms per day?). We wish to move around from site to site and can kayak from morning until evening with maybe some small breaks (5-7 hours, 15-20 kms?). However I've read stories from people that had to drag their boat along in low-level rivers for most of the day and this is not something we're looking forward to particularly. Hope this helps you to answer my question.
Thank you very much in advance,
Julie
Portaging a kayak is much harder, yes, and is probably not something you'd want to have to deal with. If you want to take kayaks then you'll want to keep your portaging to a minimum. Zemantic's suggestion of the Kawawaymog access point would be good for kayaks as you'd just have a couple of very short portages to get out into North Tea, which is a big beautiful lake, and you could get into Biggar or Manitou as well without any significant amount of carrying.
If you go with canoes then I'd suggest sticking to smaller lakes than North Tea, however. I'd suggest the Magetawan access point. Stay on Ralph Bice or Little Trout (or Queer) the first night, then into Misty for your second night, then paddle / portage out from Misty along the Petawawa River (water levels won't be an issue).
Offline
Hi Uppa,
Thank you for your reply.
We have experience with river kayaking (not with advanced white water paddling) but our canoe skills are very basic. Hence we prefer to use kayaks if possible. I have recently contacted an outfitter in Kearney for more info. I've heard someone saying portaging is easier with canoes though. We might borrow some camping gear but most things we will bring ourselves as some of my friends are living in Toronto.
We don't mind portaging if it allows us to get to beautiful spots (estimated 30% of our daily time, maybe max. around 3-5 kms per day?). We wish to move around from site to site and can kayak from morning until evening with maybe some small breaks (5-7 hours, 15-20 kms?). However I've read stories from people that had to drag their boat along in low-level rivers for most of the day and this is not something we're looking forward to particularly. Hope this helps you to answer my question.
Thank you very much in advance,
Julie
If you take a kayak, I would not recommend portaging (or any long portages to be more specific). It’s possible, but if this is your first backcountry experience and first time in Algonquin, you should take a canoe. There are members on this forum that use kayaks and love it, but I’ve also seen someone camp at the end of a portage because they couldn’t take their kayak the whole way so they just gave up, set up camp, and went back the next day.
Saying that, if you want the proper backcountry experience, and if you want to avoid crowds, you’re going to want to portage (and take canoes instead of kayaks). They’re not that hard to paddle/control, but they have more room for gear and are easier to portage. Just watch a few YouTube videos to learn the basic strokes and you shouldn’t have any issues.
Using canoes is also a more Canadian experience 
If you do decide to go with kayaks though, I’d recommend going from Rock to Clydegale. I talk about this route a lot because it has nice camp sites, waterfalls on the way, and the Booth Rock Trail hike you can do on the last day (time permitting). Clydegale is also a great lake for moose sightings. But most importantly for kayak use, it has very short portages to get there, making it much more manageable with kayaks.
Offline
Dear all,
Thank you already for the fast responses that's highly appreciated 
.
Personally I would like to say I'm more enamoured of little lakes (McGarvey lake looks great on video footage and pictures, this is just an example) and smaller passages through marshlands and woods compared to the great open waters. If this means using canoes is the better option, than we will definitely go for it. So whatever trip suits our needs here is great. Spotting moose (let alone wolves) would be the cherry on the cake, but I guess we'll just have to be lucky with that.
I'm really looking forward to it! Is it true the weather can get bitterly cold at night in September?
Greets
Thread StarterOffline
I'm really looking forward to it! Is it true the weather can get bitterly cold at night in September?
Greets
It can, but not necessarily. I’m usually fine with two layers (tshirt/sweatshirt, long underwear/sweatpants) and a warm hat. Cheap gloves can help as well. This is at its worst, when I’m outside the tent first thing in the morning watching the sunrise. Plus when you’re outside the tent you can have a fire and/or coffee to help keep you warm
Offline
Hi Julie, I second the Rock lake to Louisa loop, with all kinds of side adventures possible. Because kayaks do not come with a yoke, you'd need 2 people per kayak to get to the other side of a portage, unless you have a sling of some kind, you can use a strap and carry kayak sideways. The portages are too rocky to drag the boats. On top of that youdd need food and camping equipment.you'll need 3 kayaks, as a double kayak is too heavy. Sit on top kayaks won't work either because of all the equipment and food that has to come. Not sure what kind of kayak you've used in the past, but sea kayaks are too heavy as well.
I too recommend a canoe, especially a pack boat ( canoe with a kayak seat in the middle, you use a kayak paddle for it, it's open, so easy to stow your equipment and food barrel) it's also quite light, at about 36 lbs, and with a portable yoke it's easy to carry overhead. Algonquin outfitters in oxtongue lake rents them and can bring them to an access point, not sure of the transport fee
There's an opportunity to see wild life on any route you decide on, but there are no guarantees. I'm not sure if you've been to he Canadian back country before, but the word ''park" is a bit of a misnomer for what Europeans usually understand is a park. Algonquin is absolutely huge. You will need a map.
And yes, September nights can be quite cool, depending on when you go. A good sleeping bag is a must, as is warm clothing. Dress in layers, you can always take layers off if you happen to hit a hot spell, which happens too.
Last year in midseptember we had 30 degrees Celsius days and cold ( 5 degrees at night for several nights) . But cold and rain is just as possible.
If you go to the Algonquinadventures.com site, and click on the PCI project tap, you can see what some of the campsites look like. Not all lakes are covered here, it's a project in progress. You can also click the tab for trip reports and gain more information that way. Bugs are not usually a big problem in September.
I hope you have a great time, there's lots of help already for you on this forum,
Prettige vakantie!
Offline
Thanks a lot for all your advice everyone, I think we're gonna go with the Magnewatan-Misty lake loop.
If you have recommendations for good campsites on Misty lake, they are welcome!
Greets
Thread Starter
1 of 1