In principle, the May long weekend could be a good balance of trout still being shallow, pike being open, and bugs not being too bad yet (usually). The problem is that within Algonquin there's basically no such thing as a 3-day loop with pike. Pike are very limited in the park and nvm has said what lakes contain them; the only actual "chain" of lakes with pike is Tip-Up down to Shall, off access point 17, and it's not really part of any appealing 3-day loop. I would probably just focus on trout.

(nvm -- just for trivia's sake -- bass are native in the lower Petawawa and in the Amable du Fond system in the northwest corner of the park.)

swedish pimple wrote:

would that mean that ,65 % of the park has road access?,, if the article is correct,,

Not at any given time really. 65% of the park is under a zoning designation within which the AFA can do commercial forest management, and within that roads are built as necessary for logging operations, and then decomissioned, eventually bridges are removed and the old roads are overgrown. And even those roads don't give "access" to anyone but the AFA and park staff, of course. But yeah, we've all crossed roads on portages, both current and partly overgrown.

As indicated in my previous post, my one hot tenting experience was renting one on a “have at it and good luck” basis, and my only real problem with it was that the outfitter was located (in the GTA) so far from the destination that the return arrangements were disruptive to the trip itinerary. So naturally my feedback is going to lean more to a laissez-faire model… once you’re doing the standing camp thing like Marko pointed out Basecamp has done, you’ve basically got low-end yurt rental going. My group last winter avoided that kind of thing specifically, because we wanted our own backcountry adventure. In our case in particular we wanted to research and access a natural brook trout lake; others will have other priorities. And, I mean, I don’t know much about the liability issues in the industry, but surely there’s a difference between the clientele to whom you rent whitewater gear and long shuttles, and those for whom you deliver Kevlar canoes to Canoe Lake? Like, yes independent winter camping involves a certain degree of skill and danger, but does that make it impossible for an outfitter to facilitate?

So, to the questions:

would you pay $80 - 100 per day to rent a tent and stove combo?

We did pay about the middle of that range. As you say it seems to be the going rate, and $80/day is comparable to two canoes holding a similar number of people. The economics are a bit funny for the client… after a few rentals of a few days each at that rate, you’ve paid as much as buying one, BUT that’s as a group, and there might not be any one person for whom the purchase would be cost-effective or in the budget. I proposed a joint purchase to my friends since they want to go annually, but one of them being a new father even that wasn’t an easy commitment, and in any case sharing property like that is only an option if you have a very consistent set of hot-tenting buddies.

The longer-rental discount probably makes sense if part of the diffi

I *think* Algonquin Basecamp in Kearney rents Snowtrekker hot tents. At least they used to. Unless you're coming from the north, that's not really on your way to the Highway 60 area, and in fact you'd have to cover some real distance on foot to access the park itself on the west or north side since the access roads in those areas aren't open all the way to the park boundary in winter. Then again, if you're not planning to make use of any Highway 60 facilities (interpretive trails, campground amenities, etc), there's limited benefit to being in the park itself. Lots of nice crown land in the Kearney area.

Last winter actually I went camping on crown land in the Kearney area in a rented hot tent, but Basecamp wasn't operating in the winter for family reasons, and we rented an Esker hot tent from Canadian Outdoor Equipment in Etobicoke (we live in Toronto). Can't say I loved dealing with them, their rental system isn't super accommodating, like they need their stuff back by closing time on the last rental day which is hard when you're driving all the way back from Algonquin. But they're an option if you're in or passing through Toronto.

In spite of Marko's point about moisture, I wouldn't say hot tents are pointless for weekend trips, it's just a very different experience from cold tenting. More work, but perhaps more comfort, and enjoyment, subjectively, depending on what you like. It's like having a little cabin that follows you into the woods.

For your first trip I'd recommend base camping (ie staying put). Travel is slow, days are short and gathering/cutting wood is more of a significant chore than you're probably used to from canoe tripping. I mean it's not just gathering sticks, you need good solid long-burning logs, and they have to be cut to fit your stove. No big deal once you're used to it but allocate time at first. Depending on your distances and sled setup, you might even consider hauling in a little purchased firewood for the first night (if you're in

Yeah I also use a $20 telescopic rod. There are better telescopic rods on the market for sure. I'm sure a lot of serious anglers would consider what I use an abomination, and have valid reasons. But the fish don't seem to care too much.

I call it a thunderbox, occasionally latrine. On my last canoe trip in the park about 3 weeks ago we started calling it a DropBox with lots of euphemisms about file transfer and file cleanup.

To me an "outhouse" implies an enclosed structure. At the summer camp I went to as a kid they used the term kybo for what they had at camp; these were outhouses.

Motorboats are allowed throughout Rock Lake, there's no line they have to stay behind. If you're going in on Rock I would take the short portage to Pen and camp there for more of a backcountry feel.

Hard to say when you "have" to start, I try to start early in the day where possible. The fact that you're going in on the Friday which is still a work day may help a bit.

It occurs to me that although I've been saying the Ragged Lake option has the advantage of being a loop, you could in theory make Pen Lake a loop also, albeit with a longer portage on the way back, if you returned via Night and Galeairy back to Rock. A bit more challenging but you don't need to commit, just go camp on Pen and then decide whether to return the easy way (the same way you came in) or the more ambitious way.

Mink?

trippythings wrote:

If you don't already do this, you should check moonrise timing as well. A full moon is only a problem if it's up in the sky between sunset and the time you want to sleep... but often the full moon can rise later than that. My ideal scenario is full moon rising at 10pm or so... watch the sunset, stargaze, maybe get lucky with a pretty moonrise, then call it a night. Moon rise times shift by about 45min each day, so it's a lot more variable than sunsets and sunrises
 

Yes, moon rise times shift all the way around the clock. But moon rise times correspond with moon phases, and the closer to full the moon is, the closer to nightfall it will rise and the closer to dawn it will set. In other words, the brighter the moon is in the night sky, the more of the night it will be up for. So you can't actually have a full moon that lets you view the stars in full splendour before it rises. But a few days after a full moon you could still have a moon that's in between half and full and rises after 10 pm (in summer).

All this is because the reason for a full moon is that the moon at that point in its orbit is opposite the sun from our perspective, so we view the moon with the sun at our backs at see its face fully lit. And being opposite the sun means it rises at about the time the sun sets.