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Like many on these forums I've been tripping in APP for years, and it's getting harder and harder to find routes that cover much in the way of new territory. Don't get me wrong, I'm a long way from seeing everything Algonquin has to offer, but the obvious 'on paper' trips have long since been exhausted. So tell me about trips you've done that may not seem all that obvious when staring at the Algonquin map, but turned out to be rewarding experiences.
To contribute myself: the low maintenance trip into Clover Lake is well worth it: Clover is gorgeous and has a beautiful, elevated, eastward facing campsite on it. I'd suggest going either early or late in the season, as finding the portages once the leaves are out can be a challenge (as I discovered when I tried, and failed, to get there in August). The rest of the loop through the Tarns, and especially the 4.5 km portage into St. Andrews... I'm not sure I can recommend that quite as strongly. I'll remember it for the rest of my life and I'm glad I did it, but that Tarn to St. Andrews portage is brutal.
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You know what’s a really nice, out of the way loop? The Clove ... oh.
Ok, well, not quite as nice as Clover, but I really like the smaller lakes west of Canoe Lake (the Ahmek District). The portages can be a bit rough, but it’s surprisingly secluded given how close it is to Canoe Lake. Also, there’s a lean-to and a rope swing on Drummer and I’m a sucker for rope swings.
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My wife would often ask why I want to got to whatever new (to us) part of the park that I have in mind for our trip. The response is because I want to see something "different". Then she sarcastically says "oh, this lake is sooooo different and these trees are sooooo different from the other part of the park". And although I get a little annoyed, I can't but help to agree with her that many parts of Algonquin share a similar look. Still, I rather see new than cover familiar territory, and the more off the beaten path then the better.
Over the last few years it seems that I have started to enjoy exploring parts of the park on foot. Perhaps the inspiration was because it would be more active for my dog rather than canoe about or hang around camp. I have really enjoyed doing this and I'm continuing plan more opportunities to do this. Some of the on-foot adventures I've had include:
-Try to make it to the road about 1 km behind the nice NE campsite on Erables but be turned away by the thick bush after going a little over half way.
-Walk from Cranebill Lake campsite to the rail bridge ruins on Islet Lake, and back.
-Walk east to the "Very Poor" campsite, next door to my site on Burnt Island. Also, check out the next door site to the northwest.
-Tried to walk between the two campsites on Rence and discover a tarp and pile of some type of camping equipment/garbage nestled up to a large boulder.
-Use 2.5 km of old logging roads as short cut portage to North Raven Lake
-Started at Rain Lake and portaged to the only canoe campsite on Brown Lake ... saved the cost of renting a canoe and saved a couple of hours travel time.
-Started at Tim Lake and walked to a site on Big Bob.
I have several more destinations that will likely involve some combination of paddle and off-the-beaten footpath travel. There is something really fun about bushwhacking.
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There's a huge section south of Clydegale that rarely gets travelled through, and just below that is the tiny little area in the southernmost point of Algonquin, at the tip of the 'finger' that juts down from the main land mass area. The route is basically a pre-determined loop from Kingscote to Benoir, through High Falls. Nice beach sites and easy portages. It definitely doesn't feel like the rest of Algonquin because of how secluded it is from everything else. You're not "deep" into Algonquin, you're just in a much lesser common area. It's a nice weekend getaway for a last minute trip when looking to explore something new.
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Kakasamic, Fasset, and Shada NEVER get booked even on long weekends. This route sees VERY little traffic and I bet its a real gem. i want to do it next year for sure. Only problem is N.T. and Manitou can get busy.
Craig Lake is an amazing access point if you want seclusion.
I would also recommend Brain Lake access point but DO NOT go there during hunting season.
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I paddled in to Robitaille lake from Aylen Lake access a few years ago. Very quiet area of the park. The access Point office that is supposed to be there has been closed for many year but but the marina managers were very helpful with directions. Was a couple tough portages in but the Lake itself was very nice area. Didn't look like it saw allot of traffic.
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ATVenture wrote:
Kakasamic, Fasset, and Shada NEVER get booked even on long weekends. This route sees VERY little traffic and I bet its a real gem. i want to do it next year for sure. Only problem is N.T. and Manitou can get busy.
I went through the Kakasamic loop last fall. - North Tea - Biggar - Maple - Manitou - Lorne -
My advice is to do this in the early season. The water levels through Fasset Creek were extremely low, we had to portage/drag through a lot of mud where you should be able to paddle in the spring. The portages through there were also pretty rough, be prepared to removes full sized trees.
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Kakasamic, Fasset, and Shada NEVER get booked even on long weekends. This route sees VERY little traffic and I bet its a real gem.
Fassett is beautiful and we had it to ourselves on Labor Day but after all the hard work to get there we saw two different groups of lilly-dipping canoers come to enjoy the beach several hundred meters from our site. They used the road to the old Shad camp.
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Check out Devine lake, the island is such a cool spot and that lake doesn't get booked much. Check out White Gull lake. Oh yea and Birchcliffe. There is literally no way in to birchcliffe without getting punished by alder criks. How about the Coldspring lakes west of burntroot!
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There's a huge section south of Clydegale that rarely gets travelled through, and just below that is the tiny little area in the southernmost point of Algonquin, at the tip of the 'finger' that juts down from the main land mass area.
It's also a slog of beaver ponds save for maybe prottler and the cauliflower lakes. Still a cool experience. There are some beauty cliffs on one of the Dyer lakes that we hiked up. And enjoy the blackberries along the hydro line road... Just not at the same time as the bears!
Wilkins area is worth a gander. So is Round Island lake. The latter has very few large sites. Tenting space is at a minimum, and hammocking surprisingly wasn't much better. Fishing... Not so bad.
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