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Hello All, We are an experienced group of canoeists in our 60's, coming back to lake paddling from white water for a mellower experience this time. Recent trips have included the French, the Noire, the Coulonge. It's been a long time since Algonquin was on our horizon but I myself am a victim, er, veteran of a double carry Bonfield-Dickson portage two times in one Thanksgiving weekend back in the day. Learned a few things since then. Now because of hip replacements, back issues and lack of younger folks on this trip, we are looking for help planning a route that includes:
- avoidance of the Hwy 60 corridor put-ins if possible to minimize crowds
- 3-5 night trip in early July
- either out and back .... or a circuit.
- one or two days along the way as rest days, to fish, to hike....
- portages under 1 kilometre
- camping room for 4-8 people
- good fishing somewhere along the way
- no lakes with motors, unless just a quick paddle through en route to somewhere quieter
Fitting this recipe, we did a trip on your recommendation: Access 17 :Farm, Kitty, Booth and back which was amazing.
Also have twice done: Access 1: Kawawaymog-Amable River-North Tea and back.
And many trips from the Hwy 60 corridor access points.
Thanks for all your thoughts. Have found the advice on this forum excellent every time.
Best wishes, Megan
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How many campsites do you want to stay at total?
3-5 nights with 1-2 rest days means anything between 1 and 4 sites... 3 night 2 rest day = 1 site, 5 night 1 rest day = 4 site)... which makes a very big difference when recommending a route.
A (good) route with 4 different sites, away from hwy 60, with portages <1k, is going to be somewhat hard to find
If you're ok with doing 1 portage a little bit over 1k, look into the southern tip of Algonquin: Kingscote (launch) --> Scorch (x1 or x2 nights) --> Byers (x1 or x2 nights) --> Benoir Lake (return). If that interests you, give my trip report from last year a read:
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Hi Megan, my padling friend and I fall in the same age category, and a few years ago we started from the west side, Tim river to Rosebary lake, for a 6 day trip. Ours was a linear trip, so in and back the same way. The trip report for that is on the algonquinadventures.com website, titled Tim River trip. It took us 5 hours to get to Rosebary, but many can do it a lot faster. We had a very stiff headwind all the way in.
One thing though, some campsites on Tim lake could handle 3 or so tents, but not all. We found the same for Rosebary Lake. The beach at the north end of Rosebary is fantastic, beautiful to swim from with nice hard sand underfoot. We travelled in September and had no troubles with leeches at that time.
If you like adventure, unexpected beaver dams, long twisting and narrow River after the portage, consider this trip! We had a ball, were dead tired, loved Rosebary, ( you can travel further from there ofcourse) and it was not a busy route for us, only one short portage and definitly doable.
Wanda
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Thanks, 'Trippythings' and Wanda, for your ideas. Kingscote to Benoir return.... and Tim River to Rosebary trips both sound intriguing. Will do some detailed research on those.
I didn't specify number of sites and nights, not wanting to limit recommendations from other paddlers. Open to anything....and thank you! Best of all is that you love the routes you recommend.
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I'd consider Grand Lake to Barron Canyon. Make it a one way and take out at Squrrel Raps, that way you are avoiding most uphill climbs. There is 2-3 sites on Opalescent that could fit 8 people easy, if you decide to go though Ooze Lake.
As for Fishing, I haven't had great luck in Algonquin yet.
Early July my group is going north to North Depot Lake around the same time, looking forward to that one
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THanks, Mulder. Have always wanted to go to Barron Canyon. I'll take a careful look at that route too.
Megan
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