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Very well said Dan and Mandola.
This was posted sometime this evening,
All lakes in Algonquin Park are now presumed to be ice free. A flight over Algonquin Park, now rescheduled for May 3, 2016, will be used by Park Staff to confirm this assumption.
Guess ALL the lakes need to be ice free before you can go in
Last edited by Bob (5/02/2016 9:07 pm)
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My impression is that they really didn't want to move the start date ahead from May 4. By delaying the flight to May 3, a flight they freely admit isn't likely to find any ice, they get what they want.
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I just heard a rumour that someone in parks management just realized that there is ice present on north facing cliff faces sometimes well into June, so now they are considering a July 1st opening.
Moonman.
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Moonman wrote:
I just heard a rumour that someone in parks management just realized that there is ice present on north facing cliff faces sometimes well into June, so now they are considering a July 1st opening.
Moonman.
I heard that the park heard that there might be ice in someone's drink in August and have now decided to shut down the whole season.
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This is certainly the most oddly handled "late" opening. The last few years felt like as soon as even some points could be opened they were within reason. I fully understand Brent and Kearney roads being shutdown, no issue there, but the corridor? Spent Fri - Sun at Rock Lk campground, day trip up to Pen, still snow, ice and mud on the portage, but people lots of day trippers getting through no problem. No reason Rock/Pen and presumably Clydegale couldn't have been open.
Worse yet, as we were leaving Pen Saturday afternoon, we passed multiple canoes loaded down with gear so asked "oh did they open up the back country permits?" to get a consistent response of "nope, we're going anyways!"
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They're doing the flyover right now. So far on Twitter they've only posted a single photo of Galeairy, but if it's anything last like year we'll get another dozen photos in the next hour. 
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Oops, they actually already have photos up for Louisa and a shot of snow in a conifer forest.
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Looks like the ice out flight is coming to a close.... Guess we'll be getting the news any moment now?
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I saw zero ice cover on any of their photos, so I'm sure the official ice-out announcement isn't far away. If you're not already packed, time to get on it!
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Yup, the ice seems to have gone away.
However....
Snow-covered gravel roads with muddy sections continue to restrict travel to backcountry access points. As a result, they are currently closed to public travel, with many gated or barricaded to prevent infrastructure damage.
Many facilities in Algonquin Park remain closed, including some campgrounds, backcountry access points, snow covered and/or muddy roads, plus several inaccessible trails. Most of these areas are scheduled to open on May 4 with the Brent area on May 6, 2016.
This has to be the weirdest "opening/not open" announcement yet. Are the roads in good shape or not? Are they going to be miraculously driveable by tomorrow?
Barbara
Last edited by Barbara (5/03/2016 4:33 pm)
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At Craiger05
I was at Rock Lk campground Sat/Sun, and also ventured into Pen on that beautiful sunny Sat, wishing I had defied the authorities and gone backcountry. I also saw people on Pen and assumed they were doing what I wished I had done, but I'm cursed to follow the rules so I just pouted by my campfire on Sat night and plotted further adventures in the park.
Did you have any luck with the fish? I only talked to one man who saw a group get a couple of Brooke's. I got nothing 😡
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This has to be the weirdest "opening/not open" announcement yet. Are the roads in good shape or not? Are they going to be miraculously driveable by tomorrow?
Barbara
The primary notice on the park website hasn't been updated since April 29 and there is no acknowledgement of Tuedays flight over the park on the website. I suspect this relates to the fact that the park doesn't actually manage the park website -- it appears to be the Friends of Algonquin Park who manage the website.
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Okay, this is nothing short of poor management--sorry but it has to be said. It's now May 4, the date that almost all the Park is supposed to be opening yet still as of this moment, the Ice Out page on the Park site is exactly the same as it was 2 days ago. . . or is that 3 days ago. Can't figure it at this point, since so much of the content hasn't changed, regardless of the "Updated May 4" claim. Is it open or isn't it??? What were the results of the flyover? Are they not going to post the pictures and tell us what's happening? Come on!! What about everybody who set their start date for today? Let's keep the suspense up and see if people actually get issued backcountry permits or not! Wouldn't want to make anything clear for the visiting public after all. That would be too obvious!
I'm still planning to go in at North River on May 6 as the road is supposed to be open by then. But I can see we won't know until we turn into the Brent Road!! Wow, the suspense is killing me. Thanks for making my trip all that much more exciting, FOAP!
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The primary notice on the park website hasn't been updated since April 29 and there is no acknowledgement of Tuedays flight over the park on the website. I suspect this relates to the fact that the park doesn't actually manage the park website -- it appears to be the Friends of Algonquin Park who manage the website.
The website belongs to FOAP and to be honest I don't know the nitty gritty details of how these kinds of announcements are updated, but the fact is that in previous years the website was a great source of realtime updates on ice and reservation status, and this year it isn't.
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Oh and by the way, when I go on the online reservation system and enter today's date (May 4), the whole of the backcountry appears to be reservable, including all 3 backpacking trails. So I'm not sure what if anything is being held off until the 6th.
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Kellycamps were you in the teal/white Swift Pak canoe? I think we exchanged greetings up on Pen late afternoon actually, we were in the white Winisk. We to were lamenting all the great unoccupied campsites on Pen that the less abiding would have prime choice of . . .
Fishing seemed slow everywhere, we did get the one we mentioned right where we ran into you but that was it for Pen, nothing on Rock.
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Hey Craigson.
My Dad said he got 2 on cache a few days ago but hard work. Full stomach.
Already gorged themselves. Might be slower going for a little bit now.
Shawn
