After spending most weekends at our trailer on the Madawaska River near Griffith, we did a three-day interior trip out of Shall Lake with my in-laws. But I wanted more of Algonquin, so we went to my favourite lake for Labour Day weekend – Opeongo.


(Shirley Lake, August 2024)

As the largest lake in the park, I know it doesn’t hold much value for a lot of people; but my earliest childhood memories are pulling up to the boat launch with my family and towing grandpa’s 16-foot boat with a 20 HP Johnson and cruising up (usually) to the east arm for a week or weekend of camping. While my grandpa has been gone for several years now, I hold those memories close and have a soft spot for Opie. And the lake’s history is so interesting! I’ve yet to explore the area where the Dennison farm was.

As an adult I now recognize and better appreciate the work it took my mom to prepare and pack everything for my dad, sister and me. From food to clothes and everything in between. And she was good. We never went without and that included amazing meals that did not consist of rehydrating anything. We definitely took advantage of fishing and enjoyed some Opeongo lake trout and bass on many occasions.


(Me as a 5 year old  - summer 1990)



(Fresh fish! Pic from Labour Day on Opeongo 2021)

Fast forward about thirty years. Reservations were booming post-covid still (or Instagram era, whatever you want to link it to) so I had to book a different arm each night in order to get four consecutive nights on the lake (Thursday to Monday). While it wasn’t a big deal to tear down and move each day, we did bring everything and the kitchen sink in the boat, so it would’ve taken some time and effort, which wasn’t high on my priority list for the weekend. Thankfully my constant refreshing of the Ontario Parks website paid off and I was able to secure the east arm for all four nights (this is important for later on).

We got to the boat launch around 3:30 pm on Thursday and I was surprised to find it fairly quiet. I can’t describe the feeling when you turn the corner out of Sproule Bay and you see Opeongo in all of its beauty straight ahead. It still takes my breath away every time.


(Fully loaded and ready to go)


(Heading out from South Arm)

We set off for the east arm, targeting the sites towards Annie Bay as we’ve stayed there before and it’s ideal for the boat. Those were occupied, and I was hesitant to take the sites by the portage into Wright because they’re so open. But after cruising every nook and cranny of the east arm, we had no choice, and took site 16 (according to Maps by Jeff). While there was definitely some traffic over the weekend, this worked out really well for our base camp.


(Home)

When we tied off around 5pm, we got to work unloading the boat and setting up. We were enjoying the sweet and sour pork I made the night before in no time. Mosquitoes were around but they weren’t terrible… ish.
The sunset was spectacular, and bed came early after a day of travel and set up.




Friday, while sunny, was cooler and incredibly windy. We lazed around camp, walked the portage over to Wright Lake and chatted with a father son duo from Pennsylvania who were on their way back from a ten-day interior trip. We went for a jaunt in the boat but the waves were big and the fish weren’t biting so back to camp for cribbage and some campfire steaks.



Saturday, we ventured into Annie Bay and watched a cow and calf for nearly an hour. We caught a couple small bass, but the wind picked up again so we headed for camp and hung out on the beach reading, playing cards and just enjoyed watching the world go by.


(Cow and calf in Annie Bay)


(Relaxing)

As we were preparing supper, we had some people come by our camp – a group of four from Toronto in two canoes ventured up from the south arm with a permit for the east arm but said they found no open sites. I was super relieved I followed the rules and secured a valid permit for the east arm for each night – as clearly there were folks camping off permit if they had one and couldn’t find a site. They ended up setting up at the portage into Wright, and we were happy to offer them our bbq and platypus so they could set up as comfortably as possible given the circumstances. And access to the thunderbox. They were gone the next morning, back to the south arm to go home. I was disappointed for them. Don’t camp off permit, especially on a long weekend. I understand stuff happens, and it was windy and wavy, but this is just an example of the domino effect.



On Sunday, September 1, we woke up to overcast skies and wind. It was definitely a camp day. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs and a few games of crib. Given it was our last day, we did want to explore a bit and fish more, so later in the afternoon we did some campsite hunting. I forgot how nice the sites by Lucky Strike Point are. Great views, big sites and perfect to pull the boat up to. And the beach… oh the beach. I’m definitely considering that stretch for this year.


(Moody Sunday)


(I lost by one!)

We stayed up a bit later to enjoy our last night in the park, and it paid off. It was a beautiful evening. 




On Monday, we were in no rush to get going, and it was windy as heck again. We got loaded up around eleven and headed out, wearing our rain gear as we got soaked from the waves heading back to the boat launch.  It was still fairly quiet for the Monday of a long weekend, especially the last long weekend of the summer, but that suited us just fine.


(Packing up)

Going back to Opeongo is a no-brainer. I’m sure we’ll head there for the trout opener (if the ice is off by the last weekend of April) and at least one weekend of camping. I’d like to explore the north section of the park out of Kiosk and get to Manitou and North Tea at some point too.




We ended the trip with a stop in Whitney to visit my family, and the Wilno Tavern for some Polish grub. While I look out the window from my office in Ottawa wishing the rain would stop so I can go snowmobiling this weekend, it’s also a sign that spring is around the corner and I’ll be thinking about ice out while buzzing along on my Grand Touring.