Algonquin Park: Tecumseh Lake to Gilmour Lake
ACCESS POINT START :  Tecumseh Lake (Access point 27A)
ACCESS POINT FINISH: Tecumseh Lake (Access point 27A)
# OF DAYS / NIGHTS:  3 D / 2 N                 
DIFFICULTY LEVEL:  Easy
TOTAL KM: 22.4 KM                                   
# OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 8 (7.6 KM)

Overview:
This trip was the third and final chapter of our 2023 Northern Algonquin experience. In June of 2023 Evan was going to take his daughter (Olivia) and nephew (Keelan) to Stratton Lake for a few days, but with the forest fires in the Eastern part of Algonquin this trip was cancelled. A 2023 trip was promised to the kids, so a late season three-day trip was delivered. While planning and completing the Cedar to Hogan loop in Aug of 2023 Evan checked out the Tecumseh Lake access point as a possible starting spot with the kids. With a little bit of research and map review it was decided, we would base camp on Gilmour for a few nights and do a day trip or two to see some old historical remnants.

Gilmour Lake is located in the Brent Crater, so a trip up the observation deck would be a must! The portage in would be downhill and easy, but the portage out would be a little harder. The water in both Tecumseh and Gilmour is reported to be crystal clear, with large beaches on Gilmour… the kids will like that! There are also large logging camp ruins located behind the campsite we were targeting on the Eastern shore, as well as an old rusting car at the Western campsite. Two fairly easy things to check out while not requiring a ton of hard work.

The other day trip we had planned was more robust, likely taking a full day to complete. We planned to paddle and portage our way from Gilmour to Cedar Lake via Gilmour Creek. The goal was to eat lunch on Cedar and check out the Kish-Kaduk lodge remains. Evan had visited these nearly a decade ago, and figured they were worth the effort to go see again. Hopefully the creek was passable and the P2140 portage was not a slog!

The trip was scheduled for the end of September, so the foliage change would be pretty epic (especially in the North of the Park). The only worry was the weather and temperature on a trip that time of year. The hope was for limited rain, and sunny days and cool nights and boy did this trip not disappoint!

Day 1 : Tecumseh Lake to Gilmour Lake
TOTAL KM: 3.6 KM                         
# OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 2 (1.5 KM)



 For the third time this summer we left home the night before the trip, headed to the cottage, and left between 0300-0400 towards the Ontario/Quebec border. A few less beers were drank on the cottage deck on this trip though… I guess that is expected when tripping with two 13 year olds. The drive up was dark and uneventful, with one last stop at the Tim Hortons in Deep River, ON. On the drive down the access road I was recounting our bobcat spotting from a month earlier to the kids, which they found exciting at the time… more on this later.
               
I am always surprised at how long the Brent access road is. It always feels extremely long when heading in to start a trip… all that anticipation. It felt even longer on this day, as I was excited and very anxious to start this trip. When taking minors on a trip, with varying levels of experience, there is a heighened sense of obligation and responsibility. Don’t get me wrong, when I drag Ryan and Rich all over Ontario I also feel obligated to show them a good time, keep them safe, and perform the trip planning and navigation. With Olivia and Keelan, these feelings were amplified. I wanted to show them how much fun and safe camping can be, planting seeds of potential future campers. I guess what I am trying to say is, the drive was long, the access road felt longer, and these thoughts were rattling around in my head the entire time.
               
Once we pulled up to the Brent Crater observation deck, we piled out of the truck and these thoughts fled immediately. Tripping has a wonderful way of clearing the mind and allowing you to live in the moment. We climbed several flights of stairs and spent 5-10 minutes reading the plaques describing the Brent Crater, and staring out at the basin we were about to climb down into. The foliage was awesome, with the sun starting to kiss the trees on the far side of the crater. We were in the shade, so it was a fairly chilly experience.



We hopped back in the truck, drove another 100 meters down the road and pulled into the Tecumseh Lake starting point (27a). There is space for a handful of vehicles, with the portage and Brent Crater trail markers off to the right. This trip was starting in a very unusual fashion… a 1km portage right off the bat! Olivia has been on several trips, and has previously done some portaging around this distance. On the other hand, Keelan had never been into the backcountry, and had essentially zero portaging experience. They both seemed a bit nervous as I unloaded the canoe and gear from the truck. I think they finally put two and two together… we had to carry all of this on our backs into and out of the Park.



We loaded up, with Olivia taking her pack AND the food. Some words of encouragement, and we were off! Lucky for us, this portage was going to be the longest / heaviest portage of the trip and it was downhill the entire way. The portage is wide, with great footing on a well worn path. Surprisingly, Olivia made it nearly halfway before the weight of the food bag became too much. We stopped for a quick break, and we resumed with Dad carrying the food and the canoe now… this is what I expected from the get go! Near the end of the portage the decent is a little steeper, and it ends at an observation platform and a very long boardwalk through a marsh.


  
The boardwalk takes you out to Tecumseh Lake, with a small dock just large enough to drop some bags and get the boat wet. One thing that wasn’t really considered, until this exact moment, was how were were going to load 3 bags, a food bag, and three human bodies into the canoe comfortably. Best we came up with was myself in the stern, Keelan in the front, and Olivia and the bags stuffed somewhere in the middle. Poor girl, my knees wouldn’t be able to handle the pretzeled seating arrangement she resorted to. While loading the canoe, I decided to toss my fishing rod into the canoe behind my seat. It was at this moment I realized three things about Tecumseh Lake. The rod didn’t make it into the canoe. It hit the webbing on the seat and splashed over the side into the lake. Luckily the lake is 1) shallow, 2) extremely clear, and 3) the bottom is mud. The mud was thick enough to stop the rod from sinking too far, but you can also stick a paddle several feet into the stinky depths. We call this beaver mud, and we are not overly fond of the smell. I cracked a joke to the kids… basically if you fall out I am not dragging you back into the canoe… you are on your own!

Tecumseh Lake feels like two small lakes. The first section of the lake is the smallest, and is very shallow. You pass through an even shallower, sandy bottomed narrows before the lake opens up a little more and gains some depth. On the second half of the lake you can find 3 campsites and the portage to Gilmour. The lake seems a tad small for three sites, but I doubt they are ever completely full. Personally I would not want to camp on this lake, the swimming would be awful and the much nicer Gilmour is close by. It took us about 20 minutes to paddle to the second and final portage of the day.


               
The P490 is even nicer than the P1060. It is very wide, and very flat. When canoe carts go to bed at night, this is what they dream of. We loaded up and completed this carry in short order. The portage ends on an awesome beach that covers the entire NE part of Gilmour lake. As I suspected, you can extend the portage and just walk your gear right to the nicest campsite on the lake. We had not seen a soul in the Park so far, so we were confident it would be free. Thankfully it was.
               
This campsite was going to be home for the next two nights. The highlight is the excellent view of the lake. The amenities also include a fantastic beach for swimming, lounging, and star gazing. There are also several tables and kitchen type facilities between the fire pit and the lake, and enough locations to hang our three hammocks. The cherry on top are 3-4 massive log cabin ruins found directly behind the site. Once we had everything set up around camp we spent a good chunk of  the late morning exploring these ruins. We found metal plates, leaf springs, bottles, buckets… the usual logging camp ruins that you would expect to find in Algonquin. We have seen many locations like this one, but none like this. The log building ruins are surprisingly large compared to most found in the Park.




     
We cooked up some homemade sausages for lunch and started to plan our day trip ideas. We decided to do a lap of the lake to check out the farthest campsite on the lake, which should have an old car rusting out somewhere on it. We also wanted to check out the entrance to Gilmour Creek, which would be the gateway for tomorrow's adventure to Cedar Lake. We packed some snacks and hit the water again by the early afternoon.
               
Gilmour lake is awesome. The lake is the clearest lake I have ever seen. It is not headwater lake "clear" (Whiskey Jack comes to mind)… it is CRYSTAL clear. I have no idea how deep the lake is. It is impossible to tell when you can see the bottom so clearly. The sun was shining, the leaves were vibrant, the temperature was warming slowly…it was decided, we would all go for a swim once we got back from our side quest.
               
Halfway through our paddle we did notice something in the lake than actually stumped me. Olivia noticed them at first, I was too busy enjoying the perfect reflection of the foliage near the shore. She asked me why the lake had jellyfish in it. She pointed to several semi-transparant, penny sized, jelly fish looking things floating in the water. They had little “X” patters on the top. I had never heard of fresh water jelly fish, but I was stumped as to what it could possibly be. Figured it might be some sort of frog egg sack… who knows. Once we noticed them we realized the lake was full of them! We made a point to check with the Park Office on the way out to ask them what they are. [The park attendant didn’t know either, which surprised me. A quick google search at home confirmed that they are indeed fresh water jellyfish. Who knew!]


The western campsite is also on a beach, albeit a much smaller and less appealing version. The campsite is still nice though and would be a nice consolation in the event the prime site was taken. We collected some dead fall from the site, and spread out to locate the old Pontiac Chieftain. I went left, Keelan went right, and Olivia headed out the back of the campsite. We all came up empty… it shouldn't be that hard to miss a full sized 1950’s car! Apparently it is, the car was 15-20 feet off the back of the campsite and Olivia somehow walked by it on her way out and back. To this day I don’t know what she was looking for when I said spread out and look for a car in the woods. This is a neat relic to see as it is still largely intact. You can poke around inside the entire engine compartment, interior etc. It is in great shape! Well, about as good as it can look while rusting out in the woods. They don’t make cars this robust anymore… newer cars are falling apart before they’re even out of warranty!

Pontiac Chieftain (1949-54)


CAMPSITE


We left the car campsite, and paddled back closer to the North shore of Gilmour. We saw the access to Gilmour Creek, and noted our trip tomorrow was going to start with a lift over a beaver dam. That will be a fun first for the kiddos. Why not start your day with wet feet! We finished our paddle back to our campsite, noticing even more jellies as we went.
               
The day had finally warmed up to a reasonable temperature to swim. The lake was ice cold, but after several minutes we were acclimated… or had lost all feeling. Either way, we stayed playing around in the water for 20-30 minutes, which was super refreshing. Afterwards, we sat in our camp chairs on the beach and dried off while soaking in the sun. The lake is clear enough that you can see the trails made by clams as they slowly move along the bottom. Not something you normally notice. We walked up and down the beach a few times, collecting wood and inspecting the animal prints in the sand. There appeared to be some canine and deer prints based on the size and shape. For giggles, I brought Olivia over to a particularly sharp print and showed her how large the “bobcat” prints were. She knew I was joking… or at least she should have.
               
The sun began to fall quickly towards the tree line, like it tends to do this late in the season. I got the fire set up, and the kids wanted to try and light it using flint and steel. I kept an eye on this while prepping for dinner. Tonight was going to be baked potatoes and pork souvlaki… an easy meal to make over the fire. The kids struck out at the fire starting… pun intended. It had been years since I started a fire manually… still got it first attempt though. We sat around the fire eating some chips while the potatoes baked on the coals. It was a neat experience explaining all of my steps and reasoning in the cooking process. It turned into more of a learning / bonding experience instead of a chore, which was nice. As we ate, the sun dropped and night settled in. We changed into some warmer clothing and sat around the fire for a few hours laughing and joking. There has been a clear sky all day, and the night was no exception. We eventually made our way back down to the beach and laid on the sand watching the stars. The summer and fall stars aren’t nearly as nice as the winter constellations, but it was still very relaxing.



Eventually the night’s chill crept into our bones, so we hung the food and headed to bed. Olivia and I were off one side of the site, and Keelan was off the other. Not planned this way, more just the best spot for the size of our hammocks. Keelan had not slept in a hammock while camping before, so I needed to check and make sure he got into his sleeping bag and hammock. The problem was, my headlamp was packed away somewhere and I had yet to find it!! I asked Olivia if I could borrow hers, but instead of getting into her hammock she just handed me the headlight and said she would wait for me to come back. I didn’t think anything of it, while I walked over and helped Keelan for 5-10 minutes. As I walked back, I realized that I had inadvertently left Olivia standing in the dark with near zero visibility. When I approached her eyes were like saucers! I apologized and she said it was ok, but the moment I left all she could think about was a BOBCAT sneaking up on her. Apparently Olivia has been stewing on this subconsciously… bad Dad. After quickly explaining to Olivia that Bobcats are very rare, she may go her whole like without seeing one in the wild, we both jumped into our hammocks and everyone slept warm and toasty. Olivia is a seasoned hammock camper now, so I was not worried about her during the night. Keelan on the other hand had never backcountry camped, or camped without his Dad. He did just fine and slept through the night!

DAY ONE VIDEO: 


Day 2 : Gilmour Lake to Cedar Lake and Back
TOTAL KM: 15.2 KM                     
# OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 4 (4.6 KM)


Woke up to a chilly morning, heavy fog on the lake. We did sleep in longer than usual, knowing we did not need to do a full pack up today. What a nice change. We should incorporate more days where camp is not moved more often! I got the Keelan to collect sticks for the morning fire, and Olivia started making a bacon and egg breakfast. We sat around the fire, drinking coffee and hot chocolates, and fueled up for our big day of exploring. I gave a quick lesson to Olivia and Keelan on how to properly extinguish a fire, stirring and adding plenty of water, before we prepped to leave camp.
               
We loaded up our lunches, topped up the water bottles, hung our bear hang, and loaded into the canoe. I had never travelled on Gilmour Creek before, so we were not sure of the level of difficulty for the route. The plan was to travel to Cedar Lake, check out the Kish-Kaduk lodge remains, eat lunch, and then return the same route. I figured it would take most of the day, would give us something to do, and hopefully tire the kids out. There would also be two portages that we would need to complete on each leg of the journey, with one of those portages being over 2km in length. What an excellent way to challenge my tripping partners. Creek travel with potential for beaver dam lift overs, and nearly 5KM’s of walking.


We made it to the start of Gilmour Creek in short order, with Olivia planning her effort to capture one of the lake jellyfish on our return paddle. She even brought an extra water bottle for the task! As you approach the creek mouth the lake becomes really shallow and sandy bottomed. To enter the creek we rammed up on to the beaver dam, stepped out of the canoe, and lifted over. Neither of the kids were excited to get their feet wet in the cold water, and they were further dismayed to learn this would likely not be the last lift over of the day. Gilmour Creek is not very deep, and the first section is clogged with many fallen trees. We were able to navigate around most of the obstacles without too much effort, lifted over another dam or two, and eventually paddled into Brant “Lake”. This is a tiny body of water, only a few feet deep, that also has the beaver mud bottom. I made sure to note where we entered the lake, so we could find this same small creek on our way back. We swung south (left) and made our way to the first portage of the day. The P210 is straight forward, an easy downhill walk on a surprisingly nice trail. I was not sure how much travel these portages would see, so it was reassuring to find zero blow down or obstructions. We were travelling light, with Dad on boat duty and the kids slugging the lunch, water, and paddles.


 
Once done the P210 you enter back on to the creek right before a marsh. We followed the current, twisting and turning through the tall grass and lily pads. Olivia worried about getting lost in the “dead marsh”. I told her to look for landmarks to assist our travel on the way back, and to not follow the lights... super proud of my LOTR loving daughter, set me up for a great reference! The marsh ends at another large beaver dam, with a bit of a tricky lift over. The drop is 3-4 feet which is fine for full sized humans, but is trickier for small legged hobbits. We managed just fine, with only feet getting wet. The kids were getting more and more efficient with the lift over concept. Which was fantastic for the next section of creek. Between the two portages the creek has between 6-8 beaver dams, all requiring a lift over. We slogged our way down the creek (with me knowing full well that we would need to lift back over these in a few hours!) and right before frustration set in, we reached the portage!
               
This P2140 was a bit of a worry when planning the day trip. 2+ km portages are never “fun”, but this one seemed relatively flat on the map and we were full of energy. Both kids did excellent on this hike! The landscape is beautiful, especially the first section where you are walking through a birch forest. Olivia said it reminder her of the enchanted forest scenes from Frozen 2… as the father of two I sadly knew exactly what she meant… and would have to agree with her. The foliage was vibrant orange, the ground was littered with leaves.... just magical. Olivia also wanted to try her hand at carrying the boat around the halfway mark. Who am I to say no?


The trail itself was wide and flat and we only stopped a single time to take a breather. When you approach Cedar Lake you cross over the old railway, with a steep gravel drop down to a sandy beach. The view from this beach, looking across to the hills on the South shore of Cedar, was a splendid backdrop for our lunch break. We chatted, ate, skipped rocks, and poked around the beach looking for signs of life. Eventually we saw another canoe making their way up cedar, which was our queue to push off and explore the first campsite on the North shore.
               


Thankfully no one was on the campsite, so we pulled up to shore and began snooping around the Kish-Kaduk Lodge remnants. There is an old marine rail in the lake right at the take out, plus various other artifacts. We headed off behind the site, moving leftward as we went. I had been to this site in 2016 or 2017, so I roughly remembered the path to the lodge itself. We found the remains of the multiple buildings without issue, and spent the better part of an hour walking in and around the buildings. The fireplaces are impressive! The largest building has a basement, with a small entrance on the backside. We climbed down and peaked in as safely as we could. We returned to the campsite, and took another trail off to the right which leads towards what appears to be a root cellar. There are various artifacts (bottles, food cans, oil cans etc) in a small depression in front of the cellar. The doorway is collapsing, but you could likely squeeze your way inside if you were small. We did not have a headlamp with us, and Olivia (the smallest of the group) had absolutely zero interest in climbing inside. If I ever return to this spot I will bring a light, and an eager/small framed person, and report back on what can be found deep in the Kish-Kaduk cellar… likely animal droppings, old cans and a bucket with a hole!


               
Eventually old rotting logs become boring for teenagers, so I read the room and we loaded up and started our trip back. Now that Keelan and Olivia knew the way back, they put their heads down and crushed it! The walk back on the P2140 was even faster than the way there. We stopped once, but for a shorter period of time. We were heading up stream on Gilmour Creek (making the lift overs and paddling harder) but I was with two seasoned veterans now! Like a well oiled machine, we slammed up on the beaver dams, everyone hopped out either side, Dad pushed the canoe over and everyone piled back in. We had a nice little rhythm going up until Keelan got a little cocky. On the final dam before the P210 he was a little too eager to get into the front of the canoe, and no one was holding the the boat. As he stepped in with one foot the canoe slowly started moving away. In slow motion Olivia and I watched him attempt the splits… before giving up at the last possible moment and gracefully tumbling head first into the water. We all had a bit of a laugh, spirits were relatively high knowing most of the travel was behind us.
               
We worked our way back through the marsh, Olivia calling out her landmarks. We made it back to Brant Lake, and both kids had their eyes peeled for the tiny creek back to Gilmour. With three people looking for the entrance, we still almost missed it. The urge is to keep heading into the northern bay of the lake, and the entrance to Gilmour Creek is pretty non-descript. We paddled up the creek, and with two final lift overs for good measure, we were back on Gilmour Lake. It was approaching 4pm, and we had successfully completed our goal for the day. The sun was out, and everyone was feeling accomplished! The only thing left to do was paddle the lake to our campsite, with Olivia hanging over the side of the canoe attempting to scoop a jelly! After many, many failed attempts she finally caught one. Once you have the jelly in a bottle, you realize they are hard to see through the plastic… so back into the lake it went and we did our investigating from the canoe instead.

 

Supper for night two was a simple affair. We had some left over sample meals from OTG, requiring only some hot water to make. We collected wood and started the fire while we ate snacks and waited for the pot to boil. The sunset was nice, the conversation was pleasant, and the meals were filling. The kids were pretty tired from their big travel day, so we headed to bed shortly after the sun went down. Both kids settled for the night a lot faster on night two… fresh air and hard work does the trick again! I sat around the fire for a bit, enjoying the peace and quiet. This was going to be the last trip of the year, and so far it had worked out better than expected. The only obstacle left on the trip was the 1KM slog out of the crater to the truck, but that is a worry for another day… well, tomorrow!



DAY TWO VIDEO: 



Day 3 : Gilmour Lake to Tecumseh Lake
TOTAL KM: 3.6 KM                        
# OF PORTAGES (DISTANCE): 2 (1.5 KM)



We woke up on day 3 to another chilly morning. Everyone was a bit sluggish getting out of their hammocks. I think the kids had slept a little too soundly on night 2, being more acclimated to their surroundings. Waking up on the final day of a trip is always a weird feeling. It is nice knowing that you are going home to your family, friends, and creature comforts. It is hard knowing that you WON’T be surrounded by the peace and tranquility of nature, and likely returning to the rat race of modern life. The last morning of the last trip of the season is especially hard. I won’t get to feel this way again until next May at the earliest.
With these thoughts and feelings tumbling around inside my head I sat on the beach and enjoyed a nice hot cup of strong coffee. Olivia wanted to learn how to make a pot too. I don’t know why I didn’t teach her this skill first… service with a smile! Once I had soaked up as much morning sun as time allowed, we set to making a small fire and making breakfast. For the sake of time, I made the breakfast wraps this time. We packed up our gear slightly slower than normal as the kids were still trying to figure out how to get everything neatly back into the many smaller bags. As I waited for them to finish I walked around camp making sure nothing was accidentally left, tossing found pieces of gear to each of the kids and reminding them to take better care of their gear. We also found a massive fist sized spider on Olivia's backpack, much to her dismay.

We started our day with the P490 back to Tecumseh Lake. It is maybe 50 meters longer due to our portage down the beach. Olivia wanted to try carrying the canoe with a back pack on for the first time. This portage is quite easy so I enthusiastically agreed. She managed to carry her bag and the canoe about a third of the way to our next lake. By the time I helped her dismount the canoe she was breathing hard and exhausted, but she was quite proud of herself. I offered the same opportunity to Keelan, and he politely told me to pound salt. I hoisted the boat, and with an increase in overall pace we made it back to Tecumseh without issue.
We paddled the small lake, talking about the highlights and lowlights of the trip as a group tends to do on their last day. No noticeable wildlife other than frogs and the occasional bird croaking and tweeting respectively.

We reached the end of Tecumseh and had one final obstacle before reaching the car. One I expected since day one, and at this time I enlightened the children on how hills work. In their excitement (and struggle) completing this portage on day one, they had failed to really comprehend that the portage was declining the entire length. When I told them to expect the exact opposite for the next kilometer, I could see the realization finally sink in. I told the kids to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and if you need to take a break to do so. However, I was not waiting around with the boat on my head if they stopped. I would get to the truck and then come back if I needed to. Olivia kept up with me and pushed herself hard toward the end (trying to impress me I assume), reaching the vehicle first! I was proud of her. She was tired but felt accomplished. I started to load the canoe and stow gear and gave Olivia my final piece of advice. Every group is as slow as the last person. Sometimes you are the strong one, mentally or physically, and sometimes you are bonking and need someone else to pick you up. She agreed, it made sense… so when I told her to head back down the trail to help Keelan with his pack she couldn’t complain too much! After about 20 minutes both kids came trundling up the trail (Olivia had indeed taken his pack), to finally complete our trip.

It was an excellent long weekend in Algonquin with my daughter and nephew. Both kids enjoyed themselves, and everyone learned something. Hopefully they picked up some good camping habits and have the seed of exploration planted.
I learned that Gilmour would be a great spot to return with the rest of my family, especially my 5-year-old daughter. Easy enough to get to and she does enjoy beaches as much as her father.

I also learned that there are freshwater jellyfish in Algonquin Park.

DAY THREE VIDEO: