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A friend is visiting from Germany this July and I'm taking her on a canoe trip. She's never canoe tripped before and I want to deliver the most quintessential Canadian canoe trip.
Considerations:
- we only have 3 days/2 nights
- I don't want to kill her with portages but she HAS to experience them
- there will likely be one tandem boat (with one novice and one beginner paddler) and me paddling solo (I am not fast)
- we're coming from Toronto area - East side or North side of the park is too far for a 3 day trip
- I'm not set on doing a loop. Would be fine with a there and back and not moving sites between nights
So far I have thought of the following:
- Tom Thompson - can't get more quintessential than THAT but it's July, will we hear lots of camp kids?
- Pen Lake - paddling Rock is nice, there is a Spring and there are pictographs (but I have never ACTUALLY successfully spotted them)
- Parkside Bay - can do an easy loop! will it be slammed with people? do we care about that?
What's your vote? Any other "can't misses" for the most Quintessential trip? It's July, so we'll get the bugs (can't be authentic without bugs!), I'm going to bake bannock, any other thoughts?
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If your take on "quintessential" includes starting close to Highway 60 noise and bustle (Canoe and Smoke), heading out through a cottage-ringed lake (Canoe, Smoke or Rock), or paddling past youth camps (Canoe) .. then you have chosen well.
However if your take on "quintessential" means "away-from-it" and if you can handle a substantially long dirt-access-road drive to ensure a real feeling of "being in-the-bush before you even hit the water", then I suggest Islet Lake or Daisy Lake, or even the west end of Ralph Bice Lake.
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As Barry mentioned in his previous post, what is your "quintessential" trip plan, i.e. wilderness and no people or easy access to lakes with lots of people, cottages and camps.
If it is wilderness and no people or few people, and realizing your canoeing skills, small lakes would be ideal for you with a portage or two. Another suggestion would be from Sunday Lake to Sproule Lake (two small lakes with one portage and some great campsites on Sproule. Also, you could do a day trip over to Titmouse Lake which is another small lake and a 500m portage. On your way out, you could also visit the visitor center as well as the logging museum to put a final touch on your trip.
Last edited by boknows (4/11/2018 1:41 pm)
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Three locations came to mind for me, all of them are "down-and-back".
Rain to Islet would be nice, because you've got entertainment built in - fishing and hiking trails very close by.
Casey via Rain Lake. There are only three sites on that lake, and bonus, there are some logging ruins nearby, so you've got a little day trip built in.
Magnetawan through to David or Mubwayaka. Three or four portages, none of them bad. David has a nicely situated (though small) island site, with good water access, and the camping area is well-protected from the prevailing wind. Mubwayaka has a rock-faced site that (I believe) is pretty nice, facing west. David Creek is nearby for a paddle in both instances, so you get some picturesque river travel as a day trip. Best - both David and Mubwayaka have two campsites, but only 1 reservation per lake, so you can get a pretty lake to yourself.
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Excellent suggestions! I really like the Islet suggestion so we can do a day hike as well.
I typically avoid hwy 60 in the height of summer because of the crowds. But I don't actually mind coming across people on trips so I was wondering if maybe it wasn't all that necessary to avoid those areas. Have the crowds gotten worse over the years?
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Ralph Bice Lake and Rain Lake access points (#3 & #4) can be really crowded in the summer too!
So I would say use HWY 60 and do the Pen Lake trip.
OR, drive a bit farther... to Shall Lake access, and spend two nights on Booth Lake, or Shirley Lake.
Less crowded still, and both lakes are beautiful with many nice campsites. (although you may hear logging trucks while on Shirley Lake).
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So few years ago I did a 2 night solo trip to Pinetree
It was a weekend in Aug and I had the whole lake to myself,saw no one the entire time. No other cars in the parking lot.
Pretty lake and the most southern site is quite nice.
2k portage in but it wasn’t too bad.
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Youth camps are part of the "quintessential ", Canadian landscape. Love them or hate them they are an Algonquin tradition. I don't really enjoy leaving from Canoe Lake but a tour of the Tom Thomson hitorical sites on the lake followed by a couple nights on the his namesake lake would be a immensely Canadian experience. Brush up on your Thomson history to add to the fun.Bring along some Tragically Hip and you've got yourself an epic weekend trip in my opinion. Daytrip options and don't forget the Labatt 50, (in an interior friendly container of course),to add to the Canadiana of it all.
Last edited by Shayne74 (4/11/2018 4:56 pm)
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I'd recommend Pen Lake. There's great anticipation as you drive across the park, and you pass the glittering waters of Lake of Two Rivers, etc. and onto the gravel road.
Rock Lake is beautiful with Booth Rock Hill looming over the east side and the river entry into the lake is exciting, as the hill reveals itself. The paddle down Rock is lovely, if cottagey, it's not too far for novices to paddle. Just one portage, hard enough to show them what it's all about. But on the portage they can check out the beautiful waterfall for entertainment.
Pen Lake is likewise beautiful, many of the sites are decent (though a few are horrid), and there's great fun threading the needle through the rocks that almost link the peninsula to the island at the north end. For entertainment, head down to the stream from Clydegale, or check out the little waterfall on the Gallipo as it exits the wetland (along the route from Welcome).
I've taken my work colleagues here two years in a row (mostly novice paddlers) and they have handled it and loved it. Just long enough and hard enough for noobs to make it feel like a "real" trip.
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Ja, ja... fotos...
Maybe the best way to have this sort of quintessential Canadian canoe experience with only two nights available is to take the Opeongo water taxi to Big Crow (although the foto looks like Grassy Bay... too far).
Other attractions include loons, the old growth forest trail, the fire tower lookout trail, and a Canadian river with rapids, that may or may not be runnable.
The water taxi, although not the quintessential wilderness canoe experience being sought after, still can offer a thrilling adventure over the blue waters of a wind-swept Canadian lake. And maybe a stop into Hailstorm creek for even more moose and possibly beaver. Other hardy Canadian adventurers may be seen at this location - camping, canoeing and portaging in the traditional way done over hundreds of years, by aboriginals and voyageurs of old.
Maybe the biggest return in terms of time invested, and don't forget the campfire and skinny dipping.
For 2-nighter I'd go to Wolf lake in Chiniguchi. Terrific lakes, short portages, beautiful swimming hole by the falls, view points.
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Agreed with the Opeongo Water Taxi to Big Crow. The water taxi is a fun ride, especially on a windy day!
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I did the exact same thing with a relative from Germany a few year ago. We started at Canoe lake, spent the first night on Burnt Island Lake and second night on Tom Thompson. He loved it! He even welcomed the heavy rain we had on the paddle out because there were no bugs. The horse and deer flies drove him nuts! Make sure you have good bug protection.
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I don't love going north from Canoe Lake in the summer... it's too crowded, motorized, and developed for too long, even when you've done some portaging. I like the Pen and Parkside ideas better. Yes they'll both start out on cottage/motorboat lakes but the first portage will put that behind you, and teach your guest the value of portages... indeed, almost every crown-land trip (other than really remote ones) starts on a cottage lake, and without park rules to control motorboats, the only way to get away from them is to carry your canoe where they can't be carried. I picked Parkside Bay in a similar situation with visiting relatives (report here) and although the lake was at capacity and I was worried about it feeling crowded, we found a site that felt surprisingly secluded. It was at the entrance to Parkside (still Parkside for reservation purposes) and the sites in Parkside Bay proper might feel a little more clustered, so maybe the main Ragged Lake is a better option? Pen Lake is a classic beginner destination and doesn't get as crowded as Ragged since there aren't as many sites.
Having said that, west side access points would give you a better wilderness feel right off the bat than Highway 60 and aren't a much longer drive from Toronto. The main reason to do a Highway 60-based trip would be that a jumpoff night would be very convenient using the car campgrounds, and you could even do an interpretive trail if you have time on jumpoff day. If you're not planning a jumpoff night then I'd lean towards something like Ralph Bice, Daisy, McCraney or perhaps Islet. Rosebary could be a good there-and-back if you're prepared to make them deal with lots of beaver dams.
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I like the water taxi from opeongo idea. It's a cool experience on an iconic lake and good bang for your time budget. Good chance at spotting a moose along hwy 60 in the early morning too.
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A quick vid of a trip to Big Crow (not mine but I'm sure I camped at the exact same campsite in August after paddling up the Crow river onto the first view of Big Crow and a most inviting site on the south-facing shore, ready and waiting for a refreshing swim).
Unfortunately no whitecapped wave spray to add to the excitement on the water taxi on historic Lake Opeongo, Algonquin Park's largest lake. And no majestic moose dwarfing the canoe on the Crow river linking Proulx and Big Crow lakes, the wilderness destination of the interior paddler.
The pre-contact state of Algonquin's forests may be seen in the scenes taken at the virgin Big Crow white pine stand which provides some sense of the forest landscape as it evolved in response to fire, blowdowns and forest succession over millions of years, the superstory white pine towering over the lower tolerant deciduous sugar maples. Also, some history in visiting the abandoned fire tower where ever-vigilant fire lookouts kept their watch from a high point after Algonquin was made a protected park during the late 1800s.
Last edited by frozentripper (4/15/2018 12:04 pm)
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