While I mention it in the video, this trip was my first time ever paddling a pack boat and I have to say - I was pleasantly surprised. Mind you I was paddling it on a nice calm day, so I'd still like to find out what it's like paddling into a strong crosswind before I get too enthusiastic. But I could see kayak camper becoming pack boat camper... one day. Maybe. 

The last time I visited the Big Crow lookout area was in the late 80's or early 90's, when the tower was still there and you could climb up.  I went with two guys I had been in scouts with, we were in our early 20's, and the dad of one of the guys, who was late fifties I guess.  He loved Algonquin, and we thought the world of him.  

That day was a bit misty, so the rungs on the ladder were slick.  The three of us in our twenties had this hedging conversation geeee, that looks pretty slick, eventually working it up to a group decision not to climb the thing.  We had to build to it because nobody wanted to be the coward (Including me and I'm not exactly great about heights, ladders, etc.).  

Then Mr. K. comes over, enthusiastic as usual.  "You going up?"  The three of us: "I dunno, no I guess not, its pretty slick."  Mr. K: "Well, I'm going up".  And he headed straight for the ladder, leaving the three of us standing there looking down kicking stones, shifting our feet....and knowing that we were going up the ladder because we felt shamed by a fearless old guy (I'm in my mid-50's now, doesn't seem so old, but to a 20-year old, I'm a geezer).  Up we went.  If you have a heights issue, you know the feeling.  If you don't, your arms and legs feel like rubber on every rung, and since it was wet?  Ugh.  One section had round rungs, re-bar I guess (very slick-feeling), the other section had a flat edges (not as slick-feeling).  And the tower was about sixty feet off the ground?  Felt like a mile.  The entrance into the tower was nasty.  The ladder went right up to this square cut-out hole in the bottom of the watchtower, and stopped right there.  So you get to the tower, and there are zero handholds.  You just spraddled your arms out on this smooth floor and worked your way in, hoping your feet continued to get rungs and trying not to fall backward, and there's not a bone in your body.  Makes my legs turn to rubber right now thinking about it.  Coming down was a million times worse, because you were sticking your feet blindly down into oblivion, your arms with nothing to hold on to or to brace yourself, hoping you would find that first rung by feel (which was down a little ways more than you'd think).  The two times I ever climbed that thing I felt like Gumby.

BUT - the view was terrific.

MooseWhizzer Dave wrote:

Up we went.  If you have a heights issue, you know the feeling.  If you don't, your arms and legs feel like rubber on every rung, and since it was wet?  Ugh.  One section had round rungs, re-bar I guess (very slick-feeling), the other section had a flat edges (not as slick-feeling).  And the tower was about sixty feet off the ground?  Felt like a mile.  The entrance into the tower was nasty.  The ladder went right up to this square cut-out hole in the bottom of the watchtower, and stopped right there.  So you get to the tower, and there are zero handholds.  You just spraddled your arms out on this smooth floor and worked your way in, hoping your feet continued to get rungs and trying not to fall backward, and there's not a bone in your body.  Makes my legs turn to rubber right now thinking about it.  Coming down was a million times worse, because you were sticking your feet blindly down into oblivion, your arms with nothing to hold on to or to brace yourself, hoping you would find that first rung by feel (which was down a little ways more than you'd think).  The two times I ever climbed that thing I felt like Gumby.

BUT - the view was terrific.

This was great. Made my legs rubbery just thinking about it.

Last edited by AlgonquinLakes (3/09/2020 5:02 pm)

Is the tower still standing.  Haven't been to the area since 2014.