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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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Barbara wrote:
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
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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?
BarbaraThe 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.
Try clicking on the "current ice conditions" link...you will be taken to the most recently updated page, which is where I got that quote from.
Barbara
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The website is operated by the Friends of Algonquin, but note that these announcements are prefaced with
"Ontario Parks is reporting that the 2016 opening dates for some areas of Algonquin Park will be delayed until May 4 or 6, 2016 (subject to change) due to winter conditions, ice covered lakes, and inaccessible snow covered roads."
Barbara
Last edited by Barbara (5/04/2016 7:31 am)
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I called the park this morning about 10mins ago and they are issuing interior permits now. Only thing is Brent will be closed until Friday.
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OK so the park website was finally updated with some useful information about the status of the backcountry:
The only backcountry campsites that are closed outright are those on Dickson Lake and Hardy Bay, due to "public health concern" (I assume it's related to the summer's algae blooms).
However, all access points along the Brent Road are closed until tentatively May 6, along with the campground, ranger cabins and day hiking trails, due to snow conditions on the road. You can reserve campsites in that part of the park but you'd have to theoretically get to them from other access points.
4wd is recommended for getting to Basin, McManus, Brain, Tim, or Mag. It's also recommended for driving the Brent road, if you were to want to drive it notwithstanding that nothing on it is open.
For frontcountry users, the Centennial Ridges Road and the Whiskey Rapids Trail are closed. The Centennial Ridges Trail itself is also and separately listed as closed due to no road access, which doesn't really make sense if the Rock Lake access point is open, since you could access the trail off Coon Lake... and in the winter the trail is considered open for those who want to walk the road in.
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Craiger05
Yup
That was me
The one that dreamed of leaving with a belly full of trout and left hungry
It was a great Sat anyway 😊
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So…people were back country camping on Pen without permits? Or am I misunderstanding? On Saturday morning I was out walking the dog and went to the boat launch at around 6am. There were a fair number of cars there, which I thought was odd, but assumed people had just gotten up early to go fishing or something. We didn't even bring our canoe (which I was furious about…when we left, the pics all looked like there was lots of ice)
I spent most of the weekend walking with the dog. According to my Fitbit, I logged almost 30,000 steps on Saturday, about 18.6km. If anyone saw someone walking a Blue Heeler, that was us.
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So…people were back country camping on Pen without permits? Or am I misunderstanding? On Saturday morning I was out walking the dog and went to the boat launch at around 6am. There were a fair number of cars there, which I thought was odd, but assumed people had just gotten up early to go fishing or something. We didn't even bring our canoe (which I was furious about…when we left, the pics all looked like there was lots of ice)
I spent most of the weekend walking with the dog. According to my Fitbit, I logged almost 30,000 steps on Saturday, about 18.6km. If anyone saw someone walking a Blue Heeler, that was us.
I seriously considered going in the interior without a permit. I can't stand how controlling management of the park is. In every other park if the ice is out on a lake you can camp all you want. Should be the discretion of the paddler not the park. They obviously arent that concerned about safety because they say you can day trip all you want which could be more dangerous.
