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2/25/2020 1:10 pm  #52


Re: new reservation system

I agree with 5 hours as my travel time target. Plus or minus an hour is ok by me. I like to leave early though or at least go for an early paddle before packing up especially if there is a marsh to explore nearby or a side creek to navigate.

 

2/25/2020 1:26 pm  #53


Re: new reservation system

I'm not travelling as far as I used to in a day, at least not on most trips. It used to all be about the 'go go go' for me, but I'm starting to appreciate more and more having time to relax and enjoy my campsites. I'm still generally on the move every day though. 

My single longest day was Catfish (Shangri-La Island campsite) to the Opeongo parking lot, after which I drove home. I was supposed to stop at Big Crow for the night but just decided to keep going for no clear reason. 

 

2/25/2020 1:29 pm  #54


Re: new reservation system

I’ve paddled beside people in sea kayaks before and they’re way faster than a canoe. How much quicker do you go in yours?

     Thread Starter
 

2/25/2020 1:48 pm  #55


Re: new reservation system

A sea kayak's cruising speed is definitely faster than a canoe (with two paddlers). As to how much faster, I don't know exactly. Certainly I've taken on travel days many canoeists would find unreasonable. While camping isn't a race, I like having the mobility to plan trips that might not be doable otherwise. 

 

2/25/2020 2:04 pm  #56


Re: new reservation system

Some impressive distances covered.

I once drove 23 hrs from Orlando Florida to Barrie ON in one shot only stopping for food and gas. Does that count?  


We do not go to the green woods and crystal waters to rough it, we go to smooth it.
 - George Washington Sears
 

2/25/2020 2:21 pm  #57


Re: new reservation system

I once drove to Achray (from Toronto), paddled and portaged my way to the 1950m low maintenance to Turcotte, got lost and tired and discouraged, and rather than finding a campsite somewhere to try again the next day, I was a big baby about the whole thing and instead paddled and portaged all the way back to the car and drove home. That was somewhere around a 16-18 hour day. 

The best part was waking up on the 401 two lanes to the left of the one I had been in a moment earlier. 

 

2/25/2020 4:36 pm  #58


Re: new reservation system

First of all, how many do you really believe travel that far and cover those length/difficulty of portages in a single day during a routine canoe trip? (My personal best is Plumb to the second Rolling Dam campsite on Nip R - completed in the pouring rain and suffering hypothermia)  I've traversed Cedar to Plumb many times but have never been further than Snowshoe Raps in one day - and that was single portaging. I could go further but certainly not to Plumb.  In fact, the last portage before Plumb alone takes over an hour and half single portaging - and that's moving.  I'm a fairly experienced and efficient adventurer and can move at a steady pace, single or double carry.  But there is no way that many of you have traversed this route of over 7 kilometers of land with relatively tough portaging, plus put-ins and take-outs along with paddling Cedar, Petawawa River system, Narrow Bag, entire length of Catfish, both rapids systems, North Cuckoo, and ALL of this with the potential of wind and rain..ect......in one day.  As I mentioned, I've done this many times always leaving after I receive my permits from Brent Access Rd office. So I usually begin around 9/9:30am at Cedar Lake.

To be crystal clear, I'm not referring to some heroic cross country adventure race where the tripper is wearing sneakers, bicycle shorts, and carrying only a day pack filled with water purification tabs and energy bars to simply prove a point and complete the route.

 

2/25/2020 8:39 pm  #59


Re: new reservation system

Uppa wrote:

I once drove to Achray (from Toronto), paddled and portaged my way to the 1950m low maintenance to Turcotte, got lost and tired and discouraged, and rather than finding a campsite somewhere to try again the next day, I was a big baby about the whole thing and instead paddled and portaged all the way back to the car and drove home. That was somewhere around a 16-18 hour day. 

The best part was waking up on the 401 two lanes to the left of the one I had been in a moment earlier. 

 
Yowza! And you went back to scratch that itch the next year.

 

2/25/2020 9:29 pm  #60


Re: new reservation system

Swift Fifteen wrote:

I've traversed Cedar to Plumb many times but have never been further than Snowshoe Raps in one day - and that was single portaging. I could go further but certainly not to Plumb.  In fact, the last portage before Plumb alone takes over an hour and half single portaging - and that's moving.  I'm a fairly experienced and efficient adventurer and can move at a steady pace, single or double carry.  But there is no way that many of you have traversed this route of over 7 kilometers of land with relatively tough portaging, plus put-ins and take-outs along with paddling Cedar, Petawawa River system, Narrow Bag, entire length of Catfish, both rapids systems, North Cuckoo, and ALL of this with the potential of wind and rain..ect......in one day.  As I mentioned, I've done this many times always leaving after I receive my permits from Brent Access Rd office. So I usually begin around 9/9:30am at Cedar Lake.

To be crystal clear, I'm not referring to some heroic cross country adventure race where the tripper is wearing sneakers, bicycle shorts, and carrying only a day pack filled with water purification tabs and energy bars to simply prove a point and complete the route.

 
To each their own. 24 km including 9 portages, totaling 7495m. Downhill, with the wind, with the current, not crossing Cedar. 4 hours of paddling at a very reasonable 4km/hour. 3 hours portaging at an even more reasonable 2.5km/hour. 1 hour messing about and arguing whose turn it is to carry the boat. No bicycle shorts required. Hope the weather cooperates. If not we will enjoy cocktail hour on Catfish!

 

2/26/2020 8:23 am  #61


Re: new reservation system

MartinG wrote:

Yowza! And you went back to scratch that itch the next year.

Sucker for punishment I guess, but I had company the second time - Drew (aka AlgonquinLakes). We had our own grueling day on that trip. After slogging from Clover to Tarn we decided we didn't like the look of the campsite, and so carried on over the 4.5 km portage to St. Andrew's. That portage is just brutal - you're constantly climbing for at least the first two kilometers. We took over four hours to complete it. 

 

2/26/2020 9:44 am  #62


Re: new reservation system

MartinG wrote:

Swift Fifteen wrote:

I've traversed Cedar to Plumb many times but have never been further than Snowshoe Raps in one day - and that was single portaging. I could go further but certainly not to Plumb.  In fact, the last portage before Plumb alone takes over an hour and half single portaging - and that's moving.  I'm a fairly experienced and efficient adventurer and can move at a steady pace, single or double carry.  But there is no way that many of you have traversed this route of over 7 kilometers of land with relatively tough portaging, plus put-ins and take-outs along with paddling Cedar, Petawawa River system, Narrow Bag, entire length of Catfish, both rapids systems, North Cuckoo, and ALL of this with the potential of wind and rain..ect......in one day.  As I mentioned, I've done this many times always leaving after I receive my permits from Brent Access Rd office. So I usually begin around 9/9:30am at Cedar Lake.

To be crystal clear, I'm not referring to some heroic cross country adventure race where the tripper is wearing sneakers, bicycle shorts, and carrying only a day pack filled with water purification tabs and energy bars to simply prove a point and complete the route.

 
To each their own. 24 km including 9 portages, totaling 7495m. Downhill, with the wind, with the current, not crossing Cedar. 4 hours of paddling at a very reasonable 4km/hour. 3 hours portaging at an even more reasonable 2.5km/hour. 1 hour messing about and arguing whose turn it is to carry the boat. No bicycle shorts required. Hope the weather cooperates. If not we will enjoy cocktail hour on Catfish!

Sounds like a perfectly good average day on a great many of my canoe trips over the years. I can't wait!!
 

 

2/26/2020 12:13 pm  #63


Re: new reservation system

Swift Fifteen wrote:

First of all, how many do you really believe travel that far and cover those length/difficulty of portages in a single day during a routine canoe trip?

Swift, you're on an Algonquin canoeing website full of well seasoned paddlers. I personally know and have tripped with many members of this and other paddling forums, and the distances/portage frequency you speak of, though on the tougher side, are completely doable - even if solo.

Some of my personal longer/est days include:

(Solo) Mallic to Radiant, 24.6km, 16 Portages totalling 7,410m. That right there is pretty much Plumb to Cedar or vice versa. Only a hell of a lot more put in's and take out's.

(Tandem) Rock to South Galipo (Day 1, full food load), 31.1km, 4 portages totalling 7,415m. Good, tough day.

(Tandem) Madawaska to Hay Lake, 24.3km, 1 portage totalling 7,550m (took the road instead of Cauliflower Creek)

(Solo) Rainbow to Gravel Falls, 39.0km, 7 Portages totalling 2,270m

(Tandem) Eustache to Crooked Chute, 27.6km, 8 Portages totalling 7,280m. Another Cedar to Plumb day.

(Solo) Luckless to Osler, 27.1km, 6 Portages totalling 6,985m. Another up river / Cedar to Plumb day.

(Solo) Burntroot to Philip, 35.2km, 5 Portages totalling 3,240m.

Or the countless times I've paddled up or down Opeongo, solo and tandem, in all directions (except to/from Annie Bay, that's still on my to do list).

These are just a few, all measured with GPS.

All I'm saying is, don't be so sure of what other people can or cannot do - just be sure of what you can do (which, it seems you are). You have no idea what people on this or any other forum are capable of when it comes to paddling and portaging. You may know the averages - but the members of AAF aren't your average paddlers (for the most part anyway).

 

2/26/2020 1:58 pm  #64


Re: new reservation system

MartinG wrote:

To each their own. 24 km including 9 portages, totaling 7495m. Downhill, with the wind, with the current, not crossing Cedar. 4 hours of paddling at a very reasonable 4km/hour. 3 hours portaging at an even more reasonable 2.5km/hour.

One can't safely reason with unmaintained portages and there are some on this route if I'm not mistaken. It might be 2.5/hr, but it might be a wee slower than that and require an extra day and some tools to negotiate. I remember unmapped logjam on the Nip - I was lucky that someone before me cleared a rough path through alders around it, but it still took me about an hour to negotiate less than a 100 meters.
 

 

2/26/2020 2:39 pm  #65


Re: new reservation system

Uppa wrote:

MartinG wrote:

Yowza! And you went back to scratch that itch the next year.

Sucker for punishment I guess, but I had company the second time - Drew (aka AlgonquinLakes). We had our own grueling day on that trip. After slogging from Clover to Tarn we decided we didn't like the look of the campsite, and so carried on over the 4.5 km portage to St. Andrew's. That portage is just brutal - you're constantly climbing for at least the first two kilometers. We took over four hours to complete it. 

Ugh, yeah. That’s got to be top 5 on my least favorite portages list. And right now I’m struggling to come up with one I’d put ahead of it. Great overall route though! I really liked Clover.

 

2/26/2020 6:02 pm  #66


Re: new reservation system

ShawnD wrote:

...

That said there are tons of silly restrictions. ...

Thing that bothers me the most...
If the distance is too far for whatever lawyers/liability, why do they let you book it over the phone?

My suggestion is a very prominent warning when you book online (more than the warning for 'sort of far' days). The other consistent solution would be they publish a list of what they won't allow (and that's a nightmare in the making).

 

2/28/2020 11:43 am  #67


Re: new reservation system

Peek wrote:

Swift Fifteen wrote:

First of all, how many do you really believe travel that far and cover those length/difficulty of portages in a single day during a routine canoe trip?

Swift, you're on an Algonquin canoeing website full of well seasoned paddlers. I personally know and have tripped with many members of this and other paddling forums, and the distances/portage frequency you speak of, though on the tougher side, are completely doable - even if solo.

Some of my personal longer/est days include:

(Solo) Mallic to Radiant, 24.6km, 16 Portages totalling 7,410m. That right there is pretty much Plumb to Cedar or vice versa. Only a hell of a lot more put in's and take out's.

(Tandem) Rock to South Galipo (Day 1, full food load), 31.1km, 4 portages totalling 7,415m. Good, tough day.

(Tandem) Madawaska to Hay Lake, 24.3km, 1 portage totalling 7,550m (took the road instead of Cauliflower Creek)

(Solo) Rainbow to Gravel Falls, 39.0km, 7 Portages totalling 2,270m

(Tandem) Eustache to Crooked Chute, 27.6km, 8 Portages totalling 7,280m. Another Cedar to Plumb day.

(Solo) Luckless to Osler, 27.1km, 6 Portages totalling 6,985m. Another up river / Cedar to Plumb day.

(Solo) Burntroot to Philip, 35.2km, 5 Portages totalling 3,240m.

Or the countless times I've paddled up or down Opeongo, solo and tandem, in all directions (except to/from Annie Bay, that's still on my to do list).

These are just a few, all measured with GPS.

All I'm saying is, don't be so sure of what other people can or cannot do - just be sure of what you can do (which, it seems you are). You have no idea what people on this or any other forum are capable of when it comes to paddling and portaging. You may know the averages - but the members of AAF aren't your average paddlers (for the most part anyway).

Those are certainly some tough days. But I assure you, not many folks are able to complete those distances on any given *day. I've met several people from this site and only one of them could move like the wind and run this route in a day without any point to prove.  (*Day = begin in the am and set-up before dark in May)  The transparent truth is, my furthest personal best "day" was unplanned. It's a long story but I got caught in the rain and pushed forward. I never really measured the total distance but it's perhaps close to 40kms. However, it was approximately 8pm by the time I stopped.

Anywho, I checked out your site, Peek. Thanks for sharing some of your interesting adventures.

 

2/28/2020 12:20 pm  #68


Re: new reservation system

Swift Fifteen wrote:

my furthest personal best "day" was unplanned. It's a long story but I got caught in the rain and pushed forward. I never really measured the total distance but it's perhaps close to 40kms..

Funny how that works out, eh? That's also how my solo personal best came to be. I was supposed to stop at Uppertwin Falls, but it was only 12:45pm (I was on the water at 6:15am that day). I figured I could get a bit further down river, ended up going 39km from my starting point. I slept well that night!

Perhaps I didnt read your post closely enough - in that, sure, the average day for the average user (including myself and the others I've tripped with on this forum) isn't always in line with days mentioned above, or days such as Cedar to Plumb - but I guess my point is days like this do happen and are completely doable. 

I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to the site. The Scenic Algonquin and Wildlife photo albums get me through these loooong winter months. We're almost there!

Are we campin' yet?

 

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