I feel for your loss. You only get to leave memories and a few footprints and it sounds like your dad left you some good memories. Thanks for sharing.

Shayne74 wrote:

Thanks. I think it's a very over looked part of the park. Remote feel without the work.

I agree that this part of the park is often overlooked as I've been able to get sites with short notice at busy times. Thanks for your report on the beach site on Pishnecka. I think in the future I'll try to make it there with the kids, since there is almost nothing more popular with kids than a beach.

SeekingSolitude wrote:

I know it is convenient to not check-in ... even a cellphone will have satellite access in a few years.

I think the major benefit of not checking in is that you don't have to waste precious time (i.e. time in the backcountry). But the other point you bring up, that common phone technology will progress to the point where we can all have access and be tracked, even in the backcountry, makes me anxious. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before somebody, acting in the name of safety or the greater good, insists that all our movements be tracked, both inside and out of the backcountry. For centuries people have been traveling across algonquin and the vast majority have done so safely and without constant oversight via technology or whatever. But if it just saves one life then it's good to require mandatory tracking in the park. Time to pitch my tin foil tarp!

280 cm ! Just a little shy of a 10' pole and I wouldn't want to touch that. Sometimes I wish my double bladed paddle would mysteriously disappear because I would be glad to lose the slight gain in efficiency in favor of reclaiming the purity and elegance of a proper canoe paddle.

I bought an MSR whisperlite more than 25 years ago and the only maintenance I've done is to "shake" it clean once in a while. I agree that priming it is a minor pain, especially if you want a quick coffee, but it takes less than 2 minutes and is not complicated.

I think my biggest dislikes about canisters is that I would never want to pack a partially full canister at the start of a trip. Also, I think it's easier to fine tune amount of liquid fuel I pack.

That is a bad ass trip and a bad ass trip report. Sounds like fun, except for the bugs and brutal portages. I remember eyeing Bissett Lake several years ago as it looked to be an interesting destination that's not easy to get too, but it's on the wrong side of the park and I just don't get enough "Algonquin time" for that trip to get on my short list. Bissett looks beautiful so maybe one day in the future I'll be lucky enough to make it there.

The initial packing always takes the longest and it's annoying and time consuming. I want to make it quicker and break the habit of carefully fitting smaller items into pots or have stuff sacks carefully fitted into the limited confines of my backpacking pack. My backpack will always require carefully filling the bottom side spaces with fuel bottles, nalgenes, tent poles, thermarests etc. But I'm going to start carelessly dumping the little stuff into sacks and just throwing it in, hoping that I can still close the top of my pack.

To cut down on initial organizing I just skim my packing list, get a big box, and go "shopping" in the basement where I have all my gear on shelves. Hopefully I don't forget anything critical.

trippythings wrote:

... And that fire pit looks way more built up than the last time I was there!

Somebody put a lot of effort to build up the firepit walls nice and high but it wasn't very solid. It spontaneously started falling during our second night of marshmallow roasting and became a hot mess.