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We're heading into the park over the Thanksgiving weekend from Sat to Tuesday.
We have Sunbeam booked for the first 2 nights and then we'll book the last night before departing (system won't let us book in advance).
We'd like to do a day trip to explore Grassy Bay from Sunbeam on our rest day if the weather permits. The third night, we're likely going to get a permit for Tepee or Joe/Western Gap so we're a bit closer to the access for the paddle home.
I wanted to take advantage of the low crowds to explore this area of the park. I know there are tonnes of cool things to see around this area, what are your favourites?
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I just got back from that area a few weeks ago. The portages between Sunbeam and Grassy Bay were pretty hilly and very muddy (and extremely buggy but hopefully that won't be an issue anymore). There were about 3-4 flooded sections that required getting back in the boat and paddling 20-30m. They were a complete pain and I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you need too – I definitely wouldn't do it twice in one day. Then again I was double carrying so maybe I hated it more than others would.
Grassy bay is definitely a nice paddle though and has a unique aesthetic different than the rest of Algonquin, with lots of smaller wildlife throughout.
Some of the sites on Sunbeam are really nice; I camped on the south West Island and that was easily the nicest site on the lake in my opinion. There was 1 bar of cell service on the largest rock sticking out of the site, in case that's useful for your planning.
Water levels getting to Sunbeam are ok going through vanishing pond, which is the quicker route. Just watch out for all the spider webs!
I know this isn't really advice on what to see or do, but hopefully it helps anyways.
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trippythings wrote:
I know this isn't really advice on what to see or do, but hopefully it helps anyways.
This is excellent advice regardless of my original question! Maybe we'll rethink the grassy Bay expedition and explore other areas. It will probably depend on the weather and how we feel that day. We'd be doing it with no packs so that might make us willing to try it out.
And I ALWAYS love campsite recommendations. I've never really been disappointed with a campsite but I do have a desire to find the BEST one (even though that's rather silly and subjective).
thanks!
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I know this isn't really advice on what to see or do, but hopefully it helps anyways.
This is excellent advice regardless of my original question! Maybe we'll rethink the grassy Bay expedition and explore other areas. It will probably depend on the weather and how we feel that day. We'd be doing it with no packs so that might make us willing to try it out.
And I ALWAYS love campsite recommendations. I've never really been disappointed with a campsite but I do have a desire to find the BEST one (even though that's rather silly and subjective).
thanks!
That's true without all the gear it won't be as bad... except for the person carrying the canoe. I was also moving at an unreasonably and unnecessarily fast pace, so that might skew my perception a bit more. It's definitely a nice area to paddle through though, so might be worth it anyways.
I'm the same; if you've ever read any of my trip reports basically half of it is just talking about the campsites. I know campsite preference is subjective, but I have my checklist of things that I like, and I try and plan my trips and strategize how to increase my odds of getting a site that I'd like.
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CC, an interesting side trip in that area might be walking the long port to Ink lake... it's been a long time since I've been there, but IIRC, the port does pass by some ponds and wetlands areas and there might be tamaracks changing color along the way... (edit... the small pond does have a rough trail around it, IIRC again).
Much of the forest cover in the Joe - Littledoe - Tom Thomson area is poplar resulting from regrowth after pines being cut in TT's day... from the APP webcam poplars still are green and by the TG weekend they still might be green but you never know. They will have good fall color at some time but predicting the poplar peak isn't certain. The tamaracks OTOH, are changing color and if you're walking or canoeing through wetlands areas, they can look great.
IIRC there are also tamaracks in the wetlands in the northernmost bay of Burnt Island but maybe too much with ports. The creek flowing out of Ink to McIntosh is scenic, has tamaracks IIRC and emerging out onto McIntosh itself is scenic... only one long port and not too bad from what I can recall.
There is a cliff somewhere on Joe lake that's supposed to have a good view (Gibraltar something) but I've never taken the time to find it.
Last edited by frozentripper (10/04/2017 7:19 am)
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