Algonquin Adventures / Trip Report: My failed trip

**Posted by fbeauregard** 8/15/2017 8:06 pm

Uppa, Algonquinlakes:

If you want company, I'm quite interested in a spring trip down to Clover. Been looking at that part of the map for some time. I have both a solo and a tandem canoe; could do either.

Fred

http://www.youtube.com/user/kayakcamper · **Posted by Uppa** 8/16/2017 8:25 am

Absolutely! I'll ping you both in a few months to see if you're still interested and if either/both of you are, we'll start sorting out the details.

**Posted by Methye** 8/16/2017 6:40 pm

AlgonquinLakes wrote:
it's really good to hear about the trips that don't work out as planned, probably more so than the ones that do.

I'm taking some of my co-workers (some novice paddlers) into the park in the rain on Friday. I expect I'll have something for you come Monday!

http://www.youtube.com/user/kayakcamper · **Posted by Uppa** 8/16/2017 7:08 pm

Methye wrote:
I'm taking some of my co-workers (some novice paddlers) into the park in the rain on Friday. I expect I'll have something for you come Monday!

Oh man. It was years before I ever even thought of writing trip reports, but here's what the title would be:

Blackfly season: how to make someone hate camping and damage a friendship in one easy step.

Last edited by Uppa (8/16/2017 7:20 pm)

**Posted by Abe Froman** 8/17/2017 5:43 pm

Uppa

Do you have any more trips planned for this year?

http://www.youtube.com/user/kayakcamper · **Posted by Uppa** 8/18/2017 12:51 pm

Not at the moment. Hoping to slip in a trip somewhere in October, but my job makes that difficult.

**Posted by Up_the_Creek** 8/20/2017 12:30 am

That's a real shame to hear about your experiences heading in to Clover, but it does sound familiar. Several years back (5+) some friends and I went into Clover. We also encountered near exact same problems and dilemma's as you. Trees down and difficulty in locating the portage route being the worst of them, snow and wind didn't help either.
Being with a group certainly helps. Look at it this way, you've already did some scouting of the area and will be better prepared to deal with anything that stands between you and Clover next year!

**Posted by AlgonquinLakes** 8/20/2017 8:21 pm

Hey Uppa, I'm down for sure. I want to go down that way and it'd be fun to join up.

**Posted by ATVenture** 8/21/2017 6:30 am

I would also be interested in tagging along for this trip if that's okay? It would be fun to tackle such a challenging route with some fellow AA members!

Last edited by ATVenture (8/21/2017 10:59 am)

**Posted by Lenny** 8/21/2017 8:35 am

Y'all are crazy! Unless it was an absolutely beautiful lake or had amazing fishing the route sounds like more trouble than its worth IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kayakcamper · **Posted by Uppa** 8/21/2017 6:49 pm

@Up_the_creek: If you've got any info to share about your trip to Clover I'd love to hear it. And yeah, I feel like I'll be in a better mindset to tackle it next time. If nothing else, I won't ignore the 6 hour drive when I'm planning my first day!

@AlgonquinLakes: Awesome - looking forward to it.

@ATVenture: of course - you're more than welcome!

Lenny: Does that mean you're coming? ;)

Last edited by Uppa (8/21/2017 6:50 pm)

**Posted by kenny** 8/23/2017 6:58 am

Uppa, same thing happened to my Son and I some 25 years ago on our first trip together, he was 13 at the time, I had taken a few years off from coming to the park and we came down Smoke Lake headed to Bonnechere in Snow Storm, onto Ragged and the snow was letting up, had trouble finding the portage from Ragged to B P, circled a bit and headed to a campsite on Ragged and got a fire going, dried off some, had a bite to eat, At that Point my son wanted to head back the truck and go home, eventually we found the portage and spent another 20 years exploring the Park together, so you have lots to look forward to.

**Posted by Up_the_Creek** 8/25/2017 1:38 pm

I wish I could supply you with more relevant and accurate info, but my trip into Clover was some years past. I do distinctly remember the difficultly with finding the portage route ( the one were you have to wade through the shallow water before you find it) and the many trees that had fallen across the trail. We stayed at Guthrie Lake and just portaged into Clover from there. Traveling after the 1950m portage was easier by comparison, but anything after Clover, I can't really say since we didn't go any further. Opening week of the park this year, we met two guys who said they were headed into Clover. I never saw them when we left to go home, but I don't think they had a good trip, they were having difficulty locating the portage route through Carcajou Bay to Carcajou Creek (using park map and not Jeff's map). I would suggest going in the spring to avoid low water levels further on past Clover, but that's only a concern if you intend to loop around through Pogonia, Grasspink, Little Tarn, Tarn and back into St Andrews. I hope this helps and I'm looking forward to hearing how your next trip turns out.

**Posted by Peek** 8/25/2017 5:51 pm

hmmmm.. I had no trouble at all on that portage - but, I was going the opposite direction as you (and this was over 4 years ago; spring 2013) so that could have made the difference. I even looked at my GPS tracks to see if there were any time delays, unexplained stoppages or off-trail travel - nope, so this has me wondering if the trail was obliterated in the past 4 years and needs some TLC.

I can say, Clover is a beauty of a lake and worth every drop of sweat (and tears) to get in there!

**Posted by ryanmorin** 9/05/2017 11:23 am

Hey dude,

On my way to paddle all of algonquins 875 lakes by next fall (https://morinryanj.wixsite.com/algonquin875), im going to need to do the loop you mentioned next year. The main reason I am not looking forward to it, is that none of those lakes have fish.
Anyway, I will let you know what weekend I am thinking of taking a run at it, maybe even later this fall. Trout closes sept 30 anyway so anytime after that I dont really care anymore. Maybe you wanna join.