THE SHUTTLE

I drove from Kingston. Crazy Old Coot drove from Owen Sound. We met at Pine Grove Point campground on Benoir Lake just below the Algonquin Panhandle.

Here we picked up a no charge vehicle permit to leave in one of our cars. You need a no charge permit because you get your interior camping and vehicle permit at your starting point. In our case, this was Kiosk, 325km away. We decided to park one of our vehicles at the bottom of Algonquin Park at the High Falls Trail parking lot. The other alternative is to leave it at Pine Grove Point. You would have to pay a daily parking fee but your car would be more secure.

From there, we drove counter clockwise around the park. Passing east through Maynooth, Combermere, and Petawawa where we picked up HWY 17 and continued around the park. The drive over the top of Algonquin along the Ottawa river is beautiful.

We ended our day at the Valois Motel in Mattawa. The dining room has a great view of the Ottawa River. My Club sandwich and beer really hit the spot. We wandered around town and had a couple more beers while sitting beside the river watching the sun go down. The hotel room was passable at best. But at least it allowed us to get a quick fresh start in the morning.








DAY 1 - KIOSK TO LITTLE OSLER

I woke up at 5:00am after a crappy sleep and felt awful. I had a sore throat, stuffed up head and a bad feeling this wasn't just a morning thing. We did at pit stop at Tim Hortons for breakfast and I picked up some Halls to help sooth my throat.

It was a 40 minute drive from the Valois hotel to the Kiosk Access Point. We launched from the beach at 8:30. The morning was beautiful and calm. Other than a sore throat I was starting to feel OK. It wasn't until we were nearly at our first portage going up Maple Creek that I realized I didn't have a water bottle. Shit I must have left it in my car or on the beach at the access point. Rather than paddle 2km back to the car I decided we could just share Scott's bottle for the trip. Why wouldn't you share a water bottle with a sick guy as you set off on a punishing trip across Algonquin Park. The trip we planned was 175 km and included 43km in portages in 7 days. I am sure Scott was in complete agreement about sharing a water bottle.

The trip up Maple Creek to Maple lake was pretty, a few blow downs on the trails and lots of mud. The 805 metre portage has a good steep bit but the other portages are all OK. Maple is a nice lake and Erables is even nicer. We stopped for a late lunch and a snooze at the south end of Erables. The portages started to get a bit more real once we left Maple Creek. From then on it's all hills for the next two days. I've never heard or read any mention of the portage between Skuce and Little Nadine but it had me sucking wind and I wasn't carrying the boat. You never hear about that portage because the very next one is god awful. It starts after a measly 5 minute paddle across a pond and it is one of the steepest and most challenging portages in Algonquin. It was the only port on the trip that we didn't single carry.

By the time we drifted into camp on the north shore of Little Osler Lake it was 6pm and I was feeling like a wreck. It was a very physically challenging day and it was clear that I was sick. Feverish, raw throat and head that wanted to explode. But at least we were at camp. Our site was very rough and dark but in a beautiful way. It felt remote and wild and we hadn't seen anyone all day. Despite feeling under the weather the song of a Hermit Thrush, the crackling fire and a few belts of Whisky made for a beautiful evening.


















DAY 2 - LITTLE OSLER TO ROBINSON

I did not sleep well. Woke up at 5:30 sick as a dog. Got out of bed so that my hacking wouldn't wake Scott up. Popped some drugs for my head and my back and sucked on a Halls. As the sun came up Scott showed no sign of waking so I decided to paddle around the lake. Caught 2 nice Brook Trout and kept one for breakfast.

We were going the right way for the portage between Little Osler and Osler. After a short uphill climb it is all down hill towards Osler. Osler is a beautiful lake that I would like to return to for a few days. The portage between Osler and Nadine pretty much killed me. I puked half way through it. Scott really picked up the slack and carried the boat for most of the day. If he didn't we would have had to come up with a Plan B. Turn round, or maybe put in a rest day and end the trip at Lake Opeongo. Even with Scott doing most of the heavy lifting it was still a brutal day with 7+km of hilly portaging. Pretty sure he was feeling bushed too.

We camped for the night on an Island on Robinson Lake. I had no appetite for dinner. But it was shaping up to be a beautiful evening. We sat out on the rocks and had a few cocktails before the sun went down. Scott found some 5 year old Sudafed in his 1st Aid kit. That combined with some Robaxacet and the whisky had me in a fine and somewhat delirious state.


















DAY 3 - ROBINSON TO HAPPY ISLE

Woke up to a cold rain and north wind. Miserable outside like I felt inside. Actually that's not true I was feeling better but sounded worse. I had a hoarse voice and barking cough but no fever, nausea or headache. 

Not wanting to face the wretched looking morning we decided to have breakfast in bed. Coffee and morning rounds with peanut butter. They say never to store food or eat food inside your tent in bear country. Luckily it wasn't my tent, it was Scott's, so I felt I should be fine. I'm not sure Scott was in complete agreement.

6 portages and 33km to go today, Yippee! Scott singled the first Kilometre of the portage out of Robinson. Swapped over to me for the last 300 metres. I was back! I was feeling better and started pulling my weight on the portages. We would split up the canoe carry trading the boat off every 750 metres or so. The portages were all much easier than those along the route from Erables to Robinson.  

Our first portage of the day ended with a beautiful expansive view of Burntroot Lake. Yay no more hills! Water, water everywhere! Unfortunately, there was wind to accompany the wide open spaces. This made for some pretty scary moments over the next 8 hours or so as we paddled and portaged through Burntroot, Red Pine Bay, Longer, Big Trout, Merchant and Happy Isle lakes. The wind was frequently quartering from behind. We tried to paddle in the wind shadow of shorelines where we could and island hop across the lakes for protection. In the open fetches we found ourselves surfing waves with the canoe occasionally trying to turn into the wind and broach in the troughs between wave crests. This would coincide with me shouting no No NO! followed by a long stream of expletives. For the most part Scott just hunkered down and paddled. Not much bothers Scott.

We saw one moose on Burntroot, two more on Longer Lake and a fourth on Big Trout. Also a Bald Eagle on Big Trout. We set up camp on a point on the north shore of Happy Isle. Had an awesome fire and witnessed a beautiful sunset light up the sky in crimson red.

Last edited by MartinG (11/08/2019 8:43 am)