Algonquin Park: Kawawaymog – Fassett Loop
ACCESS POINT START :  Kawawaymog Lake (Access point 1)
ACCESS POINT FINISH: Kawawaymog Lake (Access point 1)
# OF DAYS / NIGHTS:  4 D / 3 N                  |    DIFFICULTY LEVEL:  Moderate
TOTAL KM: 62.3 KM                                    |   # OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 16 (10.1 KM)
 
Overview:
It had been way too long since we spent significant time in the northern part of the Park. Several years ago we did a loop out of Kiosk to the Birchcliffe cabin, and last year we did a big trip in the French River… it was time to return.
We decided 2023 was going to be the year of Northern trips in Algonquin, with a 4 day loop from Kawawaymog being the first installment.
Good thing gas prices were so low… ouch!

None of us had ever used this access point before, and other than parts of North Tea and Manitou it was going to be uncharted territory for us.
We were also lucky enough to find another brave sole , Callum, to join us for the adventure. With large lake paddling on the itinerary it would be beneficial to have the extra body in the front of Evan’s boat.
It would also be helpful in case someone got injured on a portage … *Dramatic Pause *

We did our typical pre-trip routine. Drove up to Huntsville on the Thursday night, stayed at the Red Maple Inn (not the worst hotel we have stayed in), and hit the highway early Friday morning.
Rich hates the early AM wake up with a passion, but after years of being dragged out of bed he is getting accustomed to it.

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Day 1 : Kawawaymog Lake to Manitou Lake
TOTAL KM: 25.2 KM                       |                              # OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 3 (1.1 KM)

We arrived at Access Point 1 between 0730-0800 EST and parked out front of Voyageur Quest Outfitting. Before the trip we had considered using the alternate access point to shave off distance, but the rumour was you needed to pay for parking at that spot. Paying for four days of parking is certainly worse than skipping 2-4 KM of paddling round trip. Unless the wind was really howling of course.

Lucky for us the morning was sunny and warm, with a slight breeze from the S/SW. With our direction of travel for most of the day being N/NE we might be lucky enough to be wind assisted most of the day. We pushed off and made short work of K-Mog Lake (previously Round Lake). The lake itself appears to be on the shallow side with rolling hills surrounding a quite “round” lake. Cottages and boats are present, so we did not dilly dally very long on our way to the mouth of the Amable du Fond River.

The access to the river is sandy, but with water levels being high this spring we easily entered. If the water was a few feet lower you might have to navigate around some sand bars on your approach. After a few waggles of the river things started to feel a little more remote and “backcountry”. We paddled over a few small beaver dams, startled a few geese, and made it to the first portage of the trip. We were keeping our eyes peeled for the “street light” but did not manage to spot it. I don’t know if it still exists or not, but we made note to search again on our way out in a few days.

The first portage is short… shorter than the Canoe Routes map suggests. We had plans to possibly skip it in the high water, but a tangled mess on the river prevents that quite effectively. We quickly carried the portage, trying not to hold up the single group travelling behind us. The rapid on the down stream side of the portage is nice, with an excellent sandy put in to boot! Callum completed his first portage with some pep in his step. We fished the rapid at the bottom end without success but morale remained high.

The section of river between the P65 and P255 is significantly less winding than the upper section. The current was strong so we made it to the second portage promptly. You can hear the rushing water long before you get there, and the massive dock is something you don’t typically see in the Park. The portage starts and ends with large wooden staircases, and in between is a well worn canoe highway. Rich and Callum ventured down to the river side to capture some footage of the rapid. We also stopped to inspect the memorial cairn for two rangers who perished in a winter storm on Three Mile Lake. While getting our boats ready to depart we met some gentlemen coming out of North Tea that had enjoyed their trip with great success in the fishing department. This news was well received by Callum, clearly our most avid and eager fisherman.

We pushed off on to North Tea with a growing breeze at our back. Just enough to give the canoes a little boost and to keep the heat of the day down. The West Arm of North Tea is massive. The number of campsites is impressive. We didn’t have much time to explore though, as we had many more kilometers to go before reaching our desired campsite on Manitou. We did make note of a few nice island campsites in the middle, as well as a fine looking beach on the North shore. There is also a neat campsite right in the narrows between the two arms. Who knows, we might need an emergency site in the near future… best to be prepared.

We rounded the corner and entered the equally impressive East Arm of North Tea. We had previously paddled this part of the lake on our way out from Birchcliffe, but we only really remember trying to keep the boats straight and the rolling waves from swamping us. The East Arm also feels a little smaller since there are numerous islands in the middle. We decided to stop for lunch on one of the first islands we encountered, and all agreed it would be an awesome spot to spend the night. It was a small island, with a single campsite on the SW side that is elevated from the water. What a fantastic view and a nice breeze to keep the bugs down. We ate lunch while Callum circumnavigated the island, fishing as he went. Still no fish caught for Callum… he was starting to get a little dismayed. The young buck tends to be on the impatient side.

After lunch we decided to take the P585 out of North Tea, instead of the P455. On our previous trip we had wanted to see the waterfall on the P585, but with the crashing waves we decided to just follow the wind and settled on the P455. Comparing the two portages, there is no contest. The P455 is steeper, and does not feature a beautiful waterfall. We carried the portage easily, and Callum decided to fish the end instead of walking back to the falls. His loss. To access the falls you head to the campsite on the portage, and follow the trail right to the base of the falls. We climbed around and took plenty of photos and videos. This waterfall is worth seeing, especially in the high water conditions of Spring.

We entered Manitou on the secluded Southern bay, but quickly swung the corner and caught the prevailing wind again. We had originally planned to venture to the Eastern bay of the lake to investigate the Stanforth Lumber camp remains, but by the time we cleared the first big island we decided as a group to push on. Manitou is a beautiful lake. We passed what appeared to be many excellent campsites, especially the island sites. Some were on nice rocky points, but our hearts (read “Evan’s heart”) were set on one of the beach campsites closer to the Fassett Creek portage. Callum was pretty keen on trolling all the way to our camp, hoping for a nice Lake Trout to snack on later. Sadly, Callum was skunked. Evan did manage to hook into a nice little Laker off the island in the middle of the lake. Not the largest Lake Trout we have caught, but it was the first of the year and would do nicely as an appetizer. We stopped at the smallest island campsite we have ever seen to clean the fish and to scope out the beach campsites farther north. No sense pushing on if they were occupied.

We were in luck, both campsites appeared to be vacant. We bagged up our aquatic snack and quickly rode the waves to a fantastic campsite. The beach is nice and sandy, with a great view back down the middle part of Manitou. The campsite itself is massive, with a good firepit and ample room for our four hammocks. There was even a reasonably new thunder box tucked in the cedars towards  the rear of the site. Only downside, though it was not an issue for us, is the proximity to the neighbouring campsites. On such a large lake it is unfortunate to have such close company, but the group that arrived later was very quiet. We hardly knew they were there until we saw their fire.

We cooked up the trout, some fresh beef kabobs, and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We handed out the obligatory Single Malt and Maps hat to our latest camping buddy (he wasn’t that surprised, he had watched some of our other videos and was expecting it). A bit of rain rolled in around supper, but it did not dampen the mood. Another tradition we have is making the newest member toss the first bear hang… and this one was memorable! We found a suitable branch down by the beach, and with a mighty throw Callum was able to toss the rock BACKWARDS. The rock ended up landing squarely on to Rich’s canoe. Thankfully no harm, no foul, and on the second toss we had our food hung for the night. We were set up nicely to enter Fassett Creek the next day, with the only downside being the eventual rain storm that was forecasted. Not a camping trip without a little rain… another great birthday for Evan in the Algonquin interior.

Day One: 



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Day 2 : Manitou Lake to Fassett Lake
TOTAL KM: 10.1 KM                       |                              # OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 5 (3 KM)

Woke up to a wet foggy morning on Manitou. Eerily quiet. Evan started the coffee and breakfast, then gave everyone’s hammocks a gentle kick. Everyone was a bit sluggish getting up, dreading the day of rain. Rich was especially grumpy due to his poor sleep from a sagging hammock in the night… he tends to struggle more than most on the art of ridge line set up.
               
The plan for today was to make our way W/NW up Fassett Creek, through Shada Lake and into Fassett Lake. We had our hearts set on the middle campsite on the lake, and in reviewing logs and PCI updates we had noted the location of the campsite was incorrect on multiple maps. The campsite itself is located just past the tiny island on the North shore, right before the turn to Shad Lake. We expected this to be the best campsite on the lake.
               
We pushed off and headed towards the P195 portage. The lake was very calm, with a slight drizzle keeping everything soggy. As the bay narrowed towards the portage Callum decided to try his luck at fishing. After being skunked on day one he was exceptionally happy to land a nice Smallmouth bass and then a beautiful Brook Trout on back-to-back casts. Bass were out of season, which we would rue later this trip. Callum wanted to keep the Brook Trout for a snack later. We didn’t have much of a choice, the fish had decided to swallow most of his lure, so the fish was dispatched and bagged.
               
he portage was in good condition, just a small amount of easily maneuvered blow down and swampy sections. This is a maintained part of the park, but we assumed it was not a heavily used route, especially in the early spring. We paddled upstream and were pleasantly surprised to find the creek was wide and relatively obstruction free. There was one jack pine that had fallen across the creek, but Rich and Callum hopped out and easily moved it out of the way. The hardest part of the day was landing at the P1325. We could see the portage sign over the river grasses, and decided to follow the creek to the left in the hope that it would loop back around to the landing. We found the river veered farther and farther west away from the landing. We tracked back to where we could see the sign, and tried our luck down a small offshoot to the right in the hopes that it bent back to the left eventually. We thought we were on to something, but then it ended at a cascade with very little water. The portage sign was still 50-60 feet to our left. We back tracked once again and after some head scratching, we decided to just pull the boats up onto the swampy shore and drag all our gear to the takeout. It was not an overly long drag, but the footing was very sloppy with the high water and the constant rain we were experiencing. It was a good team building exercise, plus an excellent way to warm up the body before the longest portage of the day. We ate lunch at the bottom end of the P1325, then made the long soggy march.
               
The P180 was a simple carry, but the upstream put in was more difficult due to multiple semi-submerged logs choking out the landing and mouth to the creek. We passed the boats over each log and stood on the largest ones to disembark. While Callum and Evan waited for the others to launch they decided to toss lines into the water. The next 30 minutes were spent bringing in decent sized smallmouth bass one after another. Evan caught his personal best bass during an exciting double header moment. We were hoping to catch brook trout on our loop to Fassett, but based on the sheer number of bass on Shada we decided not to fish this lake any further and just push to Fassett, hoping for some Trout luck.  The lone island on Shada shows significant wind damage from a past storm. We read about this in a “Mark in the Park” trip log, but he was into this spot many years ago. This was not recent damage. Evergreens were starting to regrow and push their way through the mangled site. The campsite on the North shore appeared to be the nicest on the lake, but we just gave it a passing glance. If you ever want a quiet lake to smash bass when in season, this would be high on my list.
               
We trudged through the final P1080, happy to be on our final lake for the day. We would be able to get a tarp up and get into dry clothes. It had been a chilly day and after spending all of it in wet clothes our body temperatures were low. We paddled to our desired site, found it empty (along with all the other sites on the lake) and set up camp. Callum enjoys getting a fire going as soon as we arrive at camp, but after a day of rain it was harder than usual that night. Eventually we were set up, in dry clothes, with a roaring fire, and everything was right in the world.  Evan caught another small mouth bass while casting from shore. We listened to some comedy and spent the night huddled by the fire. Young Buck wanted to get up before the sun on day three, so we headed to bed early. Just in time too! The rain started to fall a little harder as soon as we settled into our hammocks.

Day Two: 



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Day 3 : Fassett Lake to North Tea Lake
TOTAL KM: 14.6 KM                       |                              # OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 6 (7 KM)

Early morning fishing plans always seem like a grand idea in the evening, when under the influence of a nice scotch. Waking up warm and toasty in the hammock at 0530 and convincing yourself to get up and seize the day is another story. Begrudgingly Evan got up, kicked Callum awake, and headed out on to a very misty Fassett Lake. The sun was just rising above the tree line in a blaze of red glory… truly a memorable sight. We made our way up to Shad Lake, fishing the shore as we went. A bald eagle swooped down through the mist close to the canoe, and then followed us from branch to branch until finally settling on the Eastern point on Shad. We fished our way to the Eastern creek, and then back to Fassett without even a nibble. The campsites on Shad are not overly appealing, but the lake itself is nice and peaceful. Waking up early to go morning fishing isn’t fun. Returning empty handed is even less so. At least the views were breathtaking.
               
We made it back to camp with hopes of breakfast being cooked and coffee on the boil. Much to our dismay, we found a quiet campsite and two sleeping beauties. Callum started the fire, Evan made breakfast and kicked hammocks. Our plan for the day was to bump our way through several small lakes, fishing as we go, to eventually settle on Sisco Lake. It was not supposed to be a very long day, but fate had other plans…
               
At this point it should be mentioned that Evan was nursing a strained calf from a rugby game the week before the trip. In his infinite wisdom he had decided to start playing men’s rugby for Belleville after a 12-year hiatus. So far on the trip it was manageable, but the P1530 started to tighten up the calf. The portage is decently long, with a very gradual incline for at least half of the length. The portage itself is very straight and easy to follow. The incline would not normally be a problem, but by the time we reached Mattowacka Lake his calf was tired.
               
Callum and Evan tried their luck fishing the Mattowacka side of the portage, and again they each caught large bass. One of the largest bass Evan caught had a fish tail hanging out of its gullet! Not looking promising for trout on this lake, these bass are greed. We quickly paddled the rest of the lake, swung into the narrows by the second campsite and reached the second portage of the day. The P190 starts with a bog landing, the ground sinks as you walk. At any moment you think you are going to be plunging to the depths below… it is likely shallow, but you honestly have no idea. Rich described it as “walking on a waterbed” and he is not wrong. The portage starts with an incline, so we decided to just double all the gear and boats to the top. The portage then ends with a gradual decline into a pond that is generously named O Lake.
               
We crossed O Lake in what felt like microseconds, and immediately started the P420 into Kakasamic Lake. During this portage, while walking through a mud patch Evan stepped on a rock, slipped off the side and all his weight (including bag and canoe) loaded up his calf. Instant pain shooting up from the calf behind the knee and into the hamstring. Evan hobbled to the end of the portage and used the cold water to try and calm the pain. This was going to change the rest of the trip plan, but Evan was not quite in the mood to talk about it yet. We had no choice but to keep moving, so we decided to plan our escape route when cooler heads prevailed…

Kakasamic Lake is really nice. It is marked on Jeff’s map as a Brook Trout Lake, but all we caught was more Bass. Fun to catch, but frustrating when out of season and when trying to catch Trout. The two Northern campsites on the lake would be good spots for our group, especially the site near the creek. It was early in our day, but we decided to stop at this site for lunch and a stretch. The site has a small beach, with a large incline to an elevated main site. The view from this site was excellent and we will likely camp here at some point in the future (during Bass season!). By this point, Evan’s leg was very swollen and starting to stiffen to the point where walking was painful. We were staring down the barrel of a P1530 into Lorne, and a P690 into Cisco to stay on our original plan.  We would then need to do the P1820 and P160 the following day to get to North Tea. The worry was that Evan’s leg may swell up and become even more stiff and sore overnight. Things were looking dire at this point.
               
The decision was made! Depending on how the P1530 went, we were going to push on straight from Lorne to North Tea via the P1940. It would mean two large portages back-to-back, but once on North Tea we could quickly cover a lot of kilometers back towards the truck. North Tea has plenty of campsites, so finding one to use “off permit” would be easier. We completed the P1530 without major incident, but the large hill in the middle of the portage certainly buckled Callum. He had carried the boat very little on the trip to this point, and the 0.3KM of incline was a trial by fire. After the worst of the hill was over Evan took the canoe again to give Callum a break, and as long as Evan was moving and not twisting or turning too much, he could peg-leg his way through the carry. Slow and steady we made it to Lorne, and the view from the end of the portage was impressive. The sun was finally shining, and the water was crystal clear. This was also the first time since Manitou that we ran into other trippers. Nearly all sites were occupied plus there were 2 or 3 canoes on the water trolling around. They had all picked a nice lake to be on, that is for sure. We paddle straight through the middle of Lorne and headed towards the P1940. Based on the lake heights we assumed this would be a long but easy downhill portage, and we were correct. For being nearly two kilometers in length this portage was surprisingly enjoyable. It would be a leg burner coming the other direction, but we had no plans on doing that any time soon. Callum carried the boat halfway through this portage, and Evan took over again. Our newly formed portage system was getting a little faster, and before long we had made it to the shore of North Tea.
               
It was late afternoon, and we were all looking forward to finding a nice campsite on the West arm of North Tea. We would have a morning paddle to the Amable Du Fond, a couple of short portages, and an easy paddle back to the truck… out before noon sort of thing. All the campsites we passed by on the Eastern arm were occupied. Not a big deal, we were aiming for the West side anyways. As soon as we entered the West arm, we started seeing canoes all over the lake. Every campsite we passed was occupied, so we were starting to worry! We followed the North shore after the narrows and did find a vacant beach campsite by the “L” of North Tea Lake on Jeff’s map. Once on shore we realized it had a large clearing for a site, with essentially no good options for hammocks. We pushed westward on North Tea, paddling into the quickly falling sun. Every campsite on the islands was taken as well. In one hand we were glad to see people out enjoying the park on a long weekend. On the other we realized we would end up having a very long day. Once we cleared the last island on North Tea, we just decided to put our heads down and make it to the truck. No sense settling on a mediocre campsite tucked into the North/West shore at the very end of the lake when we could be back at the truck in a couple of hours.

ALTERNATE Day 3 : Fassett Lake to Kawawaymog Lake
TOTAL KM: 27.2 KM                       |                              # OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 7 (6 KM)

We made it to the P280 and quickly climbed our way back up to the river. The stairs on both ends of the portage were a bit of a struggle for Evan. Bending his leg and loading up to climb them was painful, especially after sitting in a canoe with a straight leg for so long. With the sun getting low in the sky the portages were gloomier than when we first entered on Friday. The river was quiet, with thankfully little wind to add to the current we were paddling against. The P70 was an even quicker carry, and it must have killed Callum to not fish the bottom end on our way out.
               
As we waggled our way back up the Amable du Fond, looking for the streetlight (didn’t see it again!), it dawned on us that our trip was coming to an end. It had been a long, hard, whirlwind day. It is amazing how quickly your trip plans can change. We talked amongst the boats, reminiscing about the fishing, campsites, and the weather. Just soaking in the last rays of sunshine and moments of a good trip. Once we arrived on Kawawaymog Lake we enjoyed a leisurely paddle into the setting sun. What a stunning last view to take with us! The conversation turned to what we would eat on the way home. Callum and Rich decided on “juicy” Dave’s Doubles from Wendy’s in Huntsville, so that was our next goal. Make it to Huntsville before the restaurant closes!
               
We landed at the access point, loaded up as quickly as we could in the fading light, and hightailed it out of there. We did end up getting to Wendy’s in time, and the 5-hour drive home was uneventful. We enjoyed a good trip, sadly cut short by injury (surprisingly not Rich this time!) and started discussing our summer trip plans on the drive. We would be returning to the North end of Algonquin in early August, this time on a 7-day loop out of Cedar Lake. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any additional rugby injuries between now and then!

Day Three: