Algonquin Provincial Park: August 9-13, 2017

Intro

This is the most recent canoe trip I've been on in Algonquin. I used to work with these three guys at a restaurant I worked at during high school. From left to right, their names are Connor, Mike, and Grant. This is the third and fourth trip for some of them. I took them out for the first time two or three summers ago, and not only did they get hooked, but it was probably hands down the best trip I've ever been on (despite the 5 days of rain and high waves). I can write about that trip another time though!

This trip was on the Eastern side of the park, around the Barron Canyon vicinity. Usually I try to plan trips that end in a loop, in order to end up back at the cars. This trip though, we payed for a car transfer service from a local shop that would pick out cars up the day after we departed with spare keys, and have them dropped off at our end point. I had done this trip once before three summers ago maybe. This area offered the beauty of the Barron Canyon, that when paddling through it, made you realize how small we really were. In my last post, I took a photo of the sunset on Lake Opalescent during my first time there, which is one of the lakes we'd be staying at on this trip. There is also a natural water slide somewhere along the way that I wasn't able to locate the last time I was there. I was pretty disappointed when I couldn't find it, so I was determined to locate it this trip.

Night Paddling

The start to this trip for me, was unlike any other beginning to a trip I had ever experienced, but always wanted too. Connor and I were the only two working at the same, and so we had to book off Thursday and Friday. But to get an extra night out of it, we decided to head up Wednesday after work. But some careful planning would have to take place. The problem was, by the time Connor got to my place after work, we wouldn't be leaving until around 5p.m. Now to get to the part of the park we had our trip planned for, it could take 4-5 hours. So we wouldn't be arriving at the starting lake (Grand Lake) until maybe 10p.m. with a gas and food stop. The permit office closed at 6p.m. however, which was the major issue. When you pay for your permit, you receive a slip that you take camping with you, and a slip for each car to put on your dashboard so the Ontario Parks employees don't ticket or tow your car.

Since the office closed at 6p.m., and Connor and I weren't going to be arrive until much later, we had to devise a plan. Mike and Grant would have to drive up earlier in the day and pay for the permits. They would then have to attached one of the two car parking slips underneath the front bumper on their car, for me to get when I arrived. After Mike and Grant sorted out the permits, they would load up their canoe with the tent and other essential gear they would need, and head out to an a pre-planned area of that starting lake where they would set up camp. They would then set up the tent, and gather firewood to last the whole night.

The plan to meet up was simplistic in nature, but left many possibilities for something to go wrong. Once Connor and I arrived at the access point and found the hidden permit for my car, we loaded the canoe up on the beach. I'll remember that night for a long time. It was pitch dark out, accompanied by near pure silence. The water was calm, and every little sound we made seemed to travel across the entire lake. Grand lake isn't exactly a small lake, if you couldn't have guessed from the name haha. With a compass, we headed in the general direction of the agreed upon area that Mike and Grant would set up camp. As we glided across the lake and starting getting within a few hundred meters, we turned on our headlights, and started looking for a fire that they were supposed to have going all night. Without their fire, we would have had no idea where they really were. What if there were no camping sites available in the agreed upon area? They would've had to go to another part of the lake, without being able to communicate that to Connor and I. There were more campers on that lake on that night than I anticipated, and we could see many different lights around the whole lake. But without knowing, we just kept pushing closer to the original area, and as we got maybe within 100 meters, we noticed the flare of a fire. We headed for that light and made it to the rocky granite shore, only to find the signal fire to be obscured from anybody on the lake by a large rock. I'll admit that travelling like this by night isn't safe, and I wouldn't advise anybody on doing it. But Connor and I felt comfortable doing so. We wore our life jackets, and know how to flip an overturned canoe in the lake. My navigation skills are also strong, so we were confident in being able to safely make it.

The rest of the trip went well, I was able to take a couple of good photos of us. It only rained one or two nights while we were already in the tent, and there was a drizzle on the last day of paddling. We ended up finding the natural waterslide that I couldn't find on my first trip to the area. It was one of the coolest things ever. I really wish I brought my camera, but I left it in the canoe we docked up. We knew we were in the area of it, so we pulled our canoes up on to some rocks. We then had to climb up a small hill, and jump off a cliff into the river below. Then, we swam across the river, and climbed up the steep banks and hill to find the water slide on the other side. After we arrived I was just to tired and lazy to go back for the camera, but I regret it every time I think back to it. I'll have to do this trip another time though, and I'll know to bring my camera everywhere I go, no matter what.