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I love this forum! Every time I post here and I get great suggestions! For the camping I'm doing in August, I got a great suggestion from here and have it booked. But now it looks like we'll be camping on... ahem, the Canada Day long weekend.
There are 6 of us. I've done this many times but wouldn't call myself an expert, so nothing too crazy, please. We would like to have a relaxing weekend, and knowing my friends, just like the last trip, they're going to bring a giant cooler with them (I kid you not). Last time, in thunderous weather conditions, it wasn't too fun going all the way to North Tea East on Labour Day weekend, paddling around for hours trying to find a camp site.
I've checked a lot of places and they're taken. Obviously everything in Killarney is out. In Algonquin, Pen Lake, Clydegale are all full. Bruce/Raven, Lost Dog, Booth Lake, and Burnt Island have some space. Littledoe as well, but it's 12km, so maybe we won't take it into consideration. Our last option is North Tea, but the West arm this time. It really was a beautiful lake.
If you can suggest something else, it needs to meet these conditions:
* So, two or three portages max, and no more than 10km in total (I think to North Tea lake east arm from Northern Wilderness Outfitters was about 12km). Around 75% canoeing and 25% paddling would be nice (mo' paddle, mo' fun).
* No more than 4 hours from Toronto to where we park the car
* Need an outfitter (or delivery)
* Maybe it's too much to ask for peace and quiet on Canada Day weekend, but somewhere that's not extremely noisy. North Tea was fully booked when we went there, but the lake was so big enough that it was ok, even though we were camping next to the hiking trail there and didn't mind it at all.
* I'm allergic to blackflies, though by then it should be ok. Mosquitos we all hate! So a campsite that ideally is favourable in terms of not having too much mosquito. I don't know how you select a site that might have less mosquitos, but I'm sure the experts know! Not near a swamp, favourable wind conditions, etc
* Also, ideally a beach or some flat rocky terrain that allows us to sit in the sun (because Algonquin does owe us a good weather after last year's fiasco... never seen such a thing in my life).
While I'm here, just out of curiosity.... can you canoe back to the outfitter/parking lot at night, especially if there's enough moonlight? I'm just saying this because on our last trip, it was thundershowers all day on the way back, but then when sunset came and we arrived at the outfitter, it suddenly turned into the most glorious sunset ever with clear skies. I keep wondering, what if we had stayed and left late in the evening instead of leaving at noon and dealing with flipped canoes? 
Last edited by Sepandee (6/08/2018 6:28 pm)
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I think galeiry lake might be to your liking. Two access points, either through rock lake, which connects to galeiry through a very short portage, or direct access from Whitney from the east gate. Coming from Toronto going through rock lake is mostlikely the shortest way in. Galeiry is quite a large lake, campsites a fair distance apart, there's a few on the adventures.com website under PCI project so that you can see for yourself. You can make a nice day trip into Pen if you so wish by taking a 1600 m portage, or, the booth trail of of rock lake is not far away either. The island site ( #2 on PCI map) is just large enough for 2-3 tents, is open, so wind may keep mosquitos away, lots of swimming and no close neighbours. There are motorboat a allowed on the lake. You can get a canoe delivered to rock lake from any outfitter. Check online.
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Tough conditions on a long weekend. Those ideal campsites are first come, first serve as you know, and you're likely competing with others with similar requirements (and thirst).
I'd recommend Louisa. Big portage scares away most, but it's almost entirely flat. There are a ton of great sites, and you don't have to go all the way to the West end to obtain them. Cooler is a big ymmv. Ask your buddies how far they'll go for a cold beer?
Another nice lake is Shirley. Quite sandy but doesn't have the"big lake" feel of North tea.
If portages don't scare you, Wilkins is also a decent destination. I've never had to make a reservation there, it's rarely occupied. The cart trail adds to the adventure (seriously).
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Avoid the campgrounds and drive-to lakes, a little bit of effort portaging will significantly reduce the traffic problems.... as for the cooler, some alternatives include cooler backpacks, available at your friendly neighborhood beer store and if your friends are REALLY committed, find an old frame-pack, take off the fabric and strap a cooler to it with bungees.....
....And although some will disagree; paddling at night (not portaging) can be much easier than day time, on a clear night you don't need a light till you get close to shore and the water is usually quite calm.....
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Sounds like you have received some good suggestions that fit your hard to satisfy criteria. Any other suggestions I would offer would have lengthy portages (Erables) and/or remote access points (14b) without canoe delivery. But paddling at night, especially with people who are prone to flip their canoes, is not a good idea. While it is certainly possible to travel at night you would need to be super careful of your bearing and obstacles in the water. It would be much more likely for something to go wrong and when it did the darkness would make it much harder to deal with the problem.
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Solos, what you said sounds pretty logical. Makes sense.
We're ok with portaging a couple or a few times. We just dont' want them to be too long (we're now considering up to 1.5km in total, 3 portages max). But sounds like the extra length may be worth it durin ga long weekend.
As for having a cold beer, not sure how warm the lake is at the beginning of July. I've done most of my camping in April/May and the lake's always been cool enough to leave some cold beer in it. But I guess in July it won't be too cold.
Last edited by Sepandee (6/10/2018 3:38 pm)
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where can you buy beers in plastic bottles?
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No need:
That said, bringing a cooler to keep beer cold is crazy, therefore bringing a giant cooler is crazy, but I guess that's already understood.
Last edited by nvm (6/10/2018 10:39 pm)
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Yes, it is crazy!
What's even crazier is that I still haven't booked a campsite and instead spent too much time searching on different lakes and campsites. TO make it worse, I've now discovered the Haliburton Highlands Water Trails, but can't find too many trip reports about it. Good thing about HHWT is that you book the campsite, not the lake, so even if we launch on the Friday long weekend at 10am, it's no worries about trying to find a decent campsite.
But still searching... :/
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Bruce isn't a bad option if it's still available. Nice to know you've got a lake to yourself on a long weekend and the portage could be considered cooler-friendly.
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nvm wrote:
No need:
That said, bringing a cooler to keep beer cold is crazy, therefore bringing a giant cooler is crazy, but I guess that's already understood.
I'll never forget the time we were backpacking in the Catskill Mountains in New York and we were on our way down the from the top of one of the mountains when we encountered a group of about 10-15 College kids that were on their way up. They were dragging ~3 full size coolers full of beer, cold meats, etc... they were maybe a 3rd of the way up and asked us how far they had to go to the campsite at the top, we told them and the looks on their faces were priceless!
They offered us some cold beers to help lighten their load!
When there is a will, there's a way.
I still always chuckle and SMH when I see people carting full coolers into the backcountry...
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Yeah, I not hauling a cooler this time. No way. Single trip portages.
Bruce lake isn't available 
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What about Opeongo? No portages so you can bring as many coolers as you want.
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Regarding HHWT, check out Big East Lake -- it's a great lake. The island sites are nice but expect to have to go to the main land for firewood. Additionally, Sherborne lake is nice but the road in may or may not be passable by your typical car depending on the year. Best to call ahead. I've only stayed on Sherborne once but it was a large lake with good swimming.
Best of luck!
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What about Opeongo? No portages so you can bring as many coolers as you want.
No coolers! And we have to do portages to get away from the Canada Day long weekend crowds.
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