Finally gave it up and made my first reservation. May 19-21. Guess I'm holding out hope this year won't be much worse than 1972!

Trillium16 wrote:

Finally gave it up and made my first reservation. May 19-21. Guess I'm holding out hope this year won't be much worse than 1972!

Yeah... I wouldn't get too worried about those dates. Except as ATVenture says, you'll probably have the bugs out by then. I'm booked for May 4th and have no concerns.

Also heading in May 5th weekend, and feeling pretty good about it being ice free! It will be nice for a change over the last couple of years. I had plans last year but they got changed as many others did and I wasn't able to go into the park until the long weekend and the bugs where not too bad. I would think that it will be a different story for the long weekend this year!
I will be in the park next weekend, hopefully we will see some open water. I will post some pics.

Well I was feeling confident about the ice clearing out until I looked at the web cam at the visitor center and saw the guy clearing it off with the snow blower! LOL
Winter just doesn't want to give up with out a fight. Hopefully back to spring tomorrow!

Whether it's the beginning or middle of May makes no difference to me. It sure as hell isn't happening in April, which is what I'd been hoping for a change. The forecast is only barely making it into the double digits this coming week. It's going to take a sustained period of temps like that to weaken the ice enough that the wind can do the rest, and I don't see that anywhere in the forecast. And don't forget that the interior will only be opened up when it is deemed "safe" (whatever that means), or when the access roads are considered to be in decent shape. As others have lamented in previous years, gone are the days when we could be held responsible for our own safety and be in control of our own travel decisions. I'm not at all optimistic at this point that any of the interior will be open by the first weekend in May.

As for bugs, meh, they're part of life in the Park. At least I can have a four-day trip without having to take more than one day off work!

ATVenture wrote:

You really don't think the ice will be out in April?

Don't listen to me -- just feeling particularly pessimistic at the moment. I hope I'm wrong.

Last day to submit your vote in the Algonquin Outfitters #IceOut2017 contest for Algonquin Park's Lake Opeongo - http://algonquinparkiceout.pgtb.me/K7zTdp

Be sure to get your vote in before midnight tonight - April 9th 2017

Campsite just East of One Mile Bridge on the North Shore. This is the second of the two sites. The firepit on the closest site was full of hot coals, so someone had a fire there earlier today.



Watching the Geese after a cold swim..



They are predicting a low of 11 degrees tonight with a high of 15 tomorrow and tons of rain. I suspect Kiosk will be 100% ice free by the 20th for sure.

Last edited by ATVenture (4/09/2017 5:15 pm)

Was out there again today.. the open water goes out at least 5 feet further from the beach today,but between the land and solid ice there is floating chunks which my dogs were sitting on while floating around the shore, it was absolutely hilarious to watch but I forgot my camera memory card at home.
It was +23 and sunny when we got there, but when we left it was +11 and a torential down pour of warm rain.. perfect for melting snow/ice.. While we were gone a few small lakes on the side of the highway lost their ice (dark black on the drive in, open water 2 hours later on the way home).
Oh and yesterday there was no way I could drive my car through the campground, but we lost at least 6 inches of snow in 24 hours, and now its no problem!

Last edited by ATVenture (4/10/2017 2:46 pm)