Happy New year.
The weather where I am has now turned cold and the canoe has been cleaned up, repaired and stored for the winter. I will now spend the next few months planning for the spring and watching YouTube videos of other peoples trips to help me get through until the spring arrives.
In August of 2020, I was able to spend 6 days in Algonquin park. The trip was approximately 130km with an estimated 19km of portage. The weather was great. We took a water taxi to the North Arm of Opeongo where the portage entrance to Proulx lake is located. This was the first time I had ever been on a water taxi and it was a neat experience. It sped up the start to our trip. We also had the opportunity to hike the Giant Pines trail which is located in a protected old growth Pine forest and climb to the Big Crow lookout where an old Fire tower still stands. (It’s blocked off so you can’t climb it) but the views from the base of it are still quite breathtaking. During the trip we stayed in the McKaskill cabin which is only a few years removed from having a beautiful and extensive renovation completed. It was by far the nicest Ranger cabin that I have had the pleasure of staying in. The portaging required to get into McKaskill and out of McKaskill is quite intensive so if you are planning to make a visit be prepared for the hard work required. There were moments I was convinced the portage trail was never going to come to an end. To complete our loop we made a paddle up Opeongo river into Annie bay. I have never heard much about the river but travelling it made the most sense to complete the loop. I was surprised at how beautiful it was and it was certainly a highlight of the trip for me personally. We were able to paddle up or line many of the suggested portages and the portages on the river we did use were very well maintained.
We have posted some video of the trip if anyone is interested you can find it here.
https://youtu.be/PSOHXMyG2jw
If anyone has any questions about the route or a story about travelling on any of those lakes I’d love to hear them.
The weather where I am has now turned cold and the canoe has been cleaned up, repaired and stored for the winter. I will now spend the next few months planning for the spring and watching YouTube videos of other peoples trips to help me get through until the spring arrives.
In August of 2020, I was able to spend 6 days in Algonquin park. The trip was approximately 130km with an estimated 19km of portage. The weather was great. We took a water taxi to the North Arm of Opeongo where the portage entrance to Proulx lake is located. This was the first time I had ever been on a water taxi and it was a neat experience. It sped up the start to our trip. We also had the opportunity to hike the Giant Pines trail which is located in a protected old growth Pine forest and climb to the Big Crow lookout where an old Fire tower still stands. (It’s blocked off so you can’t climb it) but the views from the base of it are still quite breathtaking. During the trip we stayed in the McKaskill cabin which is only a few years removed from having a beautiful and extensive renovation completed. It was by far the nicest Ranger cabin that I have had the pleasure of staying in. The portaging required to get into McKaskill and out of McKaskill is quite intensive so if you are planning to make a visit be prepared for the hard work required. There were moments I was convinced the portage trail was never going to come to an end. To complete our loop we made a paddle up Opeongo river into Annie bay. I have never heard much about the river but travelling it made the most sense to complete the loop. I was surprised at how beautiful it was and it was certainly a highlight of the trip for me personally. We were able to paddle up or line many of the suggested portages and the portages on the river we did use were very well maintained.
We have posted some video of the trip if anyone is interested you can find it here.
https://youtu.be/PSOHXMyG2jw
If anyone has any questions about the route or a story about travelling on any of those lakes I’d love to hear them.
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