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Day 3 is now up, with one more day to go. It was a 'hang out' day on Three Mile, but I paddled around North Sylvia to take a peek there (spoiler: one really nice campsite, one nice campsite, two sites that clearly never get used).
My trip video posts are mostly getting met with thunderous silence these days, so whatever I'm doing clearly isn't resonating with this forum - which perhaps isn't surprising. I'm posting trip report videos about Algonquin, a place you all know as well as I do. In any case once I'm done with this one, going forward I'll just make one post per trip instead of for each video. If you want to see my videos as they come out, the easiest way would be to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Hope you enjoy it!
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Well, they’re still resonating with me so keep on posting. Another good video. That sucks about the Guardian. Were you able to fix it after the trip?
If you were picking between the site you stayed on on Biggar and the one on 3 Mile, would there be a clear favorite?
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Appreciated as always Drew. Looking forward to camping with you again this year if we can swing it!
The filter was unrepairable, and I'm pretty annoyed at MSR for introducing an obvious "saving 2 cents per unit" flaw into what they claim is a military grade filter. But MEC replaced it with no arguments or hassle, so I have a brand new one. Too bad I can no longer entirely trust it.
As to the campsites, they both meet my criteria for 'perfect'. Big chunks of Canadian Shield. Gorgeous views. You can dive right into the lake (although now I'm wondering if I actually did that on Biggar. It's pretty shallow off the site). Biggar has the sun rise over the water right between 'peaks' on both sides, which can make for an amazing morning view.
But - if you held me to the ground and yelled 'PICK ONE!", it would be the Three Mile campsite. It's the kind of campsite you wish you never had to leave.
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I also thoroughly enjoy your reports!! I don't always comment here but I subscribe to your youtube channel cuz I love watching them on my TV as opposed to a computer.
Happy to hear about MEC replacing your filter though I agree it'll be hard not worrying about when it will fail next.
Keep posting please!!
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Glad you enjoyed it! I'm not going to stop posting trip reports, I'll just keep them to one thread per trip (likely posted at the end) rather than one per video.
But yeah - MEC was great to replace it, but when you spend that kind of money on a water filter, you don't expect it to break in a way that renders it completely unusable. In circumstances more challenging than Algonquin, that's a life-threatening flaw.
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Hey Uppa, thanks for sharing. Just finished the full 3 days so far, though out of sequence lol. Love some of the techniques you're using--especially the map graphic with watermark image overtop. Some really top notch visuals and effects. Very nice!
I wouldn't read too much into the "thunderous silence" (nice one!), as since returning to this forum several weeks ago I find that, in general, activity here seems really slow for the buildup to the new paddling season. I keep wondering where everybody went! Am I missing something?
Anyway, will look forward to day 4, hopefully coming soon. I'm guessing you didn't end up staying on Manitou?
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I'm pretty surprised how sleepy this forum still is myself, to be honest. Usually people are dying to talk camping by now. In any case I wasn't just talking about my most recent postings, but rather just the general trend. But mostly I was probably just having a bad day ;).
I'm glad you enjoyed it and I appreciate the feedback. Day 4 I haven't had the will to even begin working on yet, to be honest. It should be a very short video because yeah, I headed out that day. I was on the water as soon as I could see in fact. So... I'm not sure I can make a terribly interesting video that's just one long travel montage. But I'll do what I can!
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I was waiting for day 4 to comment! Loved it (so far). I think you might need to bring a hobby with you into the park. These early days leave you looking for something to do before bed. Maybe try whittling, fishing or reading. You could bring a book on CANOE tripping or something ;)
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Hah - I just this moment started working on day 4, but being bored in the park is not something I have a problem with. I'm on the move (almost) every day, I take a kindle, my phone and ear buds, and of course whiskey. If it weren't for fishing I would never have gotten into camping, but somewhere along the line my love of camping completely eclipsed the fishing side of things - perhaps in part because a fishing rod is an awkward thing to keep safe in a dry hatch.
I've literally never read a book on canoe tripping or camping, which as I write this seems super weird to me. Suggestions?
Last edited by Uppa (3/17/2019 5:17 pm)
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What I usually bring on interior trips are collections of short stories, usually science fiction type anthologies. I like to sit and read a bit, get up and muck about the site, gather firewood, fish, swim etc. for a bit, then read a bit more and on and on. I like the shorter stories because then I don't have to go back to reading and try to remember everything that's happened so far or, "where were we?". I finish a short story or three then I'm free to do what I want. Also, and I learned this from Backpacking years ago, I can use the already read material as fire starter with the added bonus that the book gets lighter as I go!
Last edited by oldboyscout (3/18/2019 8:29 am)
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Uppa wrote:
I've literally never read a book on canoe tripping or camping, which as I write this seems super weird to me. Suggestions?
Nothing like reading about old time Algonquin while tripping in current time Algonquin. Two of my favorite books to read while canoe tripping are: Joe Lavally and the Paleface in Algonquin Park (Bernard Wicksteed), and Algonquin Story (Audrey Saunders Miller). Guaranteed you can't read them just once.. they're kinda like Lay's potato chips in that regard.
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@oldboyscout: Seems like a reasonable idea! I'm not much of a short story kind of guy though - I read pretty fast, and if I'm stuck in my tent due to bad weather I can tear through a novel in a hurry. A couple Springs ago I finished two complete books and started in on a third (kindle - I wouldn't be lugging around three paperbacks).
@Peek: I'm sure there's no chance I'll find ebook versions of those, so I just ordered them - thanks for the recommendations. Whether I read them at home or on a camping trip will depend on how packable they turn out to be ;).
Last edited by Uppa (3/18/2019 1:13 pm)
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I wasn't serious about reading CANOE tripping books. But since Peek got the ball rolling with the excellent, 'Joe Lavalley and the Pale Face', I will add, "Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure". Might be the best book of the Genre!
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If you looking for something a little more than just a book about paddling I highly recommend the Orenda by Joseph Boyden (500+pages so get the Kindle version).
Last edited by MartinG (3/18/2019 3:34 pm)
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@Martin I don't actually hate canoes you know. I mean I don't want to have to sit in one or paddle one or own one or really be too close to one, but the canoe has a long and storied history in this country and in APP (I can only assume by people who hadn't discovered kayaks yet). So as long as they're not just long stories doing nothing but extolling the virtues of the canoe, I'm sure I'll appreciate them.
I found both your recommendations in ebook format, so I'll add them to my collection. Thanks for the suggestions!
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If you looking for something a little more than just a book about paddling I highly recommend the Orenda by Joseph Boyden (500+pages so get the Kindle version).
I haven’t read The Orenda, but Three Day Road, also by Joseph Boyden, is also excellent (and a good chunk of it takes place in a canoe!)
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3 Day Road and Through Black Spruce are both awesome. One day Joseph Boyden will get round to finishing that trilogy. The characters in those books are decendants of Bird in the Orenda. The Orenda is a really powerful look at how Europeans through the fur trade, Jesuits and Iriqouis destroyed the Huron Nation.
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