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Sorry guys, I am referring to this image here, it seems to me there is an initial portage from highway 60... The red lines are portage a right?
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No portage. Read what DanPM said. He nailed it! Don't plan with that map. Use this instead: www.algonquinmap.com
Last edited by MartinG (9/08/2016 12:53 pm)
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Whatever the source of that map is, destroy it and get Jeff's map. Jeff's map is also great for online trip planning with access to it through his website in the previous post. In the field, the printed maps are waterproof and float. You will be highly satisfied!!
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That is literally the map from the Ontario provincial parks online booking system lol. Thanks guys I will stick to Jeff's map from now on. Thank you!
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Pazmore,
The "map" you screengrabbed from the CAMIS online booking system isn't really a map at all... more of a diagram of the park, so that you can find the sites you mean to book somewhat geographically rather than looking for the lake on an arbitrarily-numbered list. It is not intended for wayfinding or even basic trip planning. If you want to see the official Algonquin canoe routes map approved by Ontario Parks, you can preview it here or buy the hard copy at various locations. It's still not as good as Jeff's map and I wouldn't endorse it, but it's useable.
In any case, if the portage you're talking about is the 1380 m one, that is the portage from Smoke Lake to Ouse Lake; it happens to cross Highway 60 but it is not connected to any access point and it's not what you would use to launch. The portage shown on the CAMIS diagram and the official park map as 355 m (Jeff's map calls it 585 m) is simply the paved road from the Canoe Lake parking lot (access point 5) to the Smoke Lake parking lot (access point 6). It is signed as a portage and marked as such on all these maps because it is the canoe route link between the two lakes; you would portage it if you were passing through Canoe and Smoke Lakes mid-trip, and as I noted earlier, many people carry their rental canoes from the Portage Store to Smoke Lake that way. But it is a drivable road and it leads to the Smoke Lake access point which is a large parking lot right on Smoke Lake with docks and a boat ramp.
Smoke Lake is lined with motorboat-access cottages, so there's definitely no portaging involved in getting there.
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Wait, you have never canoed before? Not even once? And you're planning on doing 23km your first time out?
Good shape or not, it's going to take you a while to get your technique down, you'll be using muscles you normally don't use and it's an experience just learning how to pack and trim a canoe correctly. You'd be smart to rebalance your days.
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Hey Spicol yeah you're totally right, I decided to balance out the kms a bit. Bonnechere 1st night, and head lake 2nd night. Wish me luck!
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DanPM wrote:
....If you're renting from Algonquin Bound or Algonquin Outfitters, they can deliver right to Smoke.
Fixed it for you
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Hey Spicol yeah you're totally right, I decided to balance out the kms a bit. Bonnechere 1st night, and head lake 2nd night. Wish me luck!
Cool - don't think you'll regret it. Have a great trip.
