O-Lake?

Just seeing this now - thanks for sharing. Nice shots, and the meals look great too! It's such an invigorating feeling to hit a quiet, hidden gem on a sunny day. Like Dave, my first solo experience was via backpacking (in 2012) and I tend to do this several days each year now, although it didn't work out for 2023. I completely echo Guyute's take on it. I would love to do a solo water trip one day as the backpacking trails in Ontario have become so overrun now...
Cheers,
Rich
 

We have an Excalibur and love it, although it hasn't been used nearly as much as we had hoped (yet!).

Bampot wrote:

To be more accurate, all of them had the same green, domed tents set up at each site but without any people or other gear visible.

Very interesting - several years back my wife, daughter and I were backpacking to a site on Maple Leaf Lake for 2 nights and the prime site at the end of the trail had a green, domed North Face tent staked there with no other gear visible. I figured it may have just been someone there who had done a day hike and didn't think much of it. We were lucky enough to get another site that wasn't too bad, but then a father and son came by afterwards looking for a site and couldn't figure out how 3 sites were already staked when there were only 3 reservations made (including theirs) for that section. We didn't see/hear anyone come down the trail after that and there were no signs of activity in the evening at that site. I decided to check the site/tent the next day to make sure everything was ok (loudly announcing my presence as I approached) and found it vacant. That pretty much confirmed that someone had inappropriately staked a tent there for whenever, without having reserved it. Maybe the same tent colour and style is coincidental, but logic seems to indicate otherwise...

Hi Kevin,

I assume you are referring to the loop north of Rainbow that passes through Otterpaw, East End and Loft Lakes? This northern section of trail that passes by East End and Loft has effectively been decommissioned for several years now and is no longer maintained. I know that backpackers have still traversed it, although I can't speak to its current state and how apparent the old trail is. The section through Otterpaw especially has lots of ups and downs, so the loop would be a solid hike for a day but quite doable, especially without a heavy pack.

If you decide to explore this area, a good option may be to canoe/portage up to Loft Lake as the sites there are now designated as canoe vs. backpacking. This way, you won't need to worry about stowing your canoe and the sites may be better than the low maintenance canoe site on Rainbow. I camped at the northern Loft site years back (when the trail was still active) and I really liked it. Aside from clam shells and shore vegetation, it also has a great sandy expanse for swimming. I was quite saddened when they closed this trail section as it was a fantastic corner of solitude.

Hope this helps!
Rich
 

Dividing?

...just thought I'd chime in with a couple of additional creature comforts we like for longer trips...

A camp shower can be an awesome treat. The one we have heats up really well in the sun, so no additional heating required.
An extra large ziploc bag to do laundry - using biodegradable camp soap, and optionally some smooth pebbles to help agitate. Feels great to put on 'fresh' clothing!

 

Thanks for posting this. I wasn't even aware of the song and the story behind it.

As a huge Lightfoot fan, I was definitely saddened by yesterday's news and made sure to play a couple of his LP's in his honour (yes, vinyl lives here...). His ability to evoke so much feeling into a song's lyrics and in its delivery is unparalleled. I think Bob Dylan summed it beautifully when he said that every time he listened to one of his songs, he wished it would last forever.

RIP Gordon!