We will be canoeing this time with everything we might need in one canoe. This has meant a little more planning but it will be well worth it to let our sons get a taste of true wilderness camping.
I have canoed through Algonquin on four other occasions: In the early 80's, I tripped on my own and covered almost the whole distance that I planned on completing. My route: Canoe Lake - Portage 260 m - Joe Lake - Tepee Lake - Little Oxtongue River - Little Doe Lake - Tom Thompson Lake - Portage 2.3 km - Ink Lake - Macintosh Lake. I retraced my steps to return to civilization. (If you click on the picture above you should get a larger image).
This first time, I carried way too much stuff and suffered for it. I saw moose, heard loons, carried my canoe for several hundred metres, camped solitary and survived to tell about it. I must admit that I was stumped when I arrived at the 2.3 km portage between Tom Thompson Lake and Ink Lake. There was no way I could have carried the canoe and then my bag of food/equipment and clothing.
Several years later, probably 1986, I revisited the route I took on the first trip with my friend, Rob. We did the long portage and rested on Macintosh Lake for several days of swimming, fishing and exploring.
In the early 90's, I took the same route but this time with my wife, Marshalin. A fantastic trip, with lots of learning on Marsh's part about canoeing. At the dreaded 2.3 km portage we managed to carry our clothing and food bags to the end of the portage and returned to the beginning point to pick up the canoe and yet another bag.
The terrain along this portage is/was rocky, with endless hills and boulders and, of course, bugs. Once we hoisted the canoe onto our shoulders, I heard Marsh say, "I can't do this, I can't." And she started crying. So we took 10 minutes to gather our energies and talk. We were in an impossible position. Half of our stuff was at the head of the portage and the other half was at the tail end of the portage. We would either have to make the trip to retrieve our bags or carry the last of our stuff and canoe to the destination end of the trail. The canoe and bag won because it would mean only doing the portage one more time.
The feeling of elation and accomplishment was powerful when we finally got to the Ink Lake side of things. We took a well deserved break, snacked, watched other people as they came off the trail huffing and puffing. We parked ourselves on Macintosh Lake and luxuriated for three days, after which we took on the portage again to head back home.
My third trip entering through Canoe Lake was the same as those above with the exception of a black bear ambling into our campsite at breakfast time. It didn't take much to scare him off and then we got all our belongings together as fast as possible and finished breakfast in the canoe.
I chose to enter the park from Whitney this time because the paddling looks a bit easier for the first day than Canoe Lake, which is massive and often windy.
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| The arrow points to our entry point |
The above screen capture shows one of the islands we hope to camp on Rock Lake after a second day of canoeing. We will stay on either Rose (Jean) or Jean (Rose) Islands. No clue as to why they are identified with alternating names on the map.
Needless to say, we are all excited and looking forward to our 'wilderness' trip.
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