Sep 10, 2009
ALGONQUIN PP – INTERIOR CAMPING
Day 0
We decided to drive up to Huntsville and stay at Travelodge for the first night. Ate at a restaurant called Cottage Waterfront Grill facing a small river, it was not good at all and tasted worst than the pubs in Pickering. Nasty. In Huntsville, we were seen as outsiders as everyone knew everyone there. Main Street was identical to Toronto’s Yonge Street. I did notice, the stores had very unique names, very cute.
Day 1
Woke up at 5:10 AM to shower and went to Metro to pick up fresh water and eggs. Got to Algonquin Park Access Point #5 (Canoe Lake) at 8:00 AM to pick up our 18′ canoe. It was cold and chilly. I should of brought a toque. Ears were cold. Paddled out on Canoe Lake to portage (300m). I did my first ever 150m portage and ended up dropping the boat. Ouch. That boat was heavy and my poor shoulders were hurting afterwards; I did have my backpack on already. And it’s an ultra-light, makes me wonder how the other ones would be? JS ended up finishing the portage for me; I’m quite impressed with myself already if you think of my conditions. We paddled to Joe Lake and into Tee Pree Lake (Camp Site). As it was the long weekend, I was worried we will get a bad site. However, when we found a family just leaving and took their site. It was very cute and big, a bit trashy but there were wooden “chairs” next to the fireplace. Very cute. For lunch, we ate our wraps with tomato, beef jerky and avacado. In the later afternoon, we decided to go around the area. We paddled up to Little Doe Lake, Tom Thomson Lake and Bartlett Lake. Tom Thomson had a lot of good camp sites and it quiet and beautiful. Lovely. Bartlett Lake had a short portage, that we ended up doing a short hike around the area. In the meantime, I learned how to steer a canoe and different canoeing strokes. Steering required effort and focus; I am not good at that. Kept bringing PM crashing the ends, opps! We paddled back, and then made dinner. Rice with bacon, yummy! I had asian sausages but we were worried with the lack of fuel, so we skipped out. My ladies had an entertaining moment putting the rope on the tree. Quite funny. JS started our camp fire. I saw some wood; not the best work but I tried with that small saw. The site was a bit noisy; but watching the moon raise was absolutely amazing. We slept around 11 PM; I wore too many layers and had a stuffy nose. So not sure my ladies enjoyed me sleeping around them. Sorry! I bought a new MEC sleeping pad last week, and really liked it along with my sleeping bag. All red/pink, it all matches even my water bottle, camping bag, tent ,etc.
Day 2
Woke up at 8 AM. Had omelettes for breakfast. Yummy. Love the bacon. Packed up everything and paddled up to Little Doe Lake and surrounding areas to find a camp site. Streams are quite nice to paddle in. We went into practically every site to find a decent site as we had more options and wanted a decent one. At the end, we went back to the original site we saw and stayed there. The ground was really hard with rocks/tree steams at the bottom. I had major issues pegging the tent, and ended up putting rocks on the pegs to ensure they stayed. We ate lunch (wraps again), and headed out for a 2.5 hour paddle from Little Doe Lake to Joe Lake and to East Arm Lake, and back. We saw many loons and beavers. The water was very nice because we can see the reflection of trees and cloud on the water; beautiful. Like glass! JS had a lot of fun with fire starters; and we had fun maintaining the camp fire. For dinner, we had pasta in a bag. Alfredo Fett. and Mac ‘n Cheese. I have to admit, Alfredo was disgusting. I had to drank a lot of red wine to get rid of the after taste, eww! I really liked this site as the view at night was very relaxing. Did not have a chance to do my moonlight paddling as our docking area was very steep. There were a lot of stars on the clear sky, and it was not as cold. I’m amazed at how people can do solo trips for long days as I never travelled myself not to say camp?
Day 3
Woke up at 5:30 AM to make breakfast and pack up. I’m sure there were wild animals near our tent at night, as there was some fresh crap on the ground. Left at 8:00 AM We had omlettes for breakfast, I can’t remember the last time I had that.. 8-9 years? We packed up everything and paddled from Little Doe Lake, Tee P6ee Lake, Joe Lake, and back to the portage area. PM and JS did the short portage and I had to make two runs in carrying everything back as stuff was not tied properly. We got back to Canoe Lake – Portage Store at 11 AM. Not bad for time. But canoeing on Canoe Lake was not the best as motor boats created horrible waves making it difficult to continue straight. Took a shower at the access point and drove back to Huntsville – first stop – Timmy’s. I had to drink my first coffee in 5 days. My arms were so sore and tired, as I had bug bites on my paddling arm it’s all swollen now. Got majorly tanned and face felt so hard.When I got home, my royals missed me so much that they decided to kick me to do gardening pulling up small treess and plants. As if I did not have enough of nature? I spent a lot of time washing all everything; took so long.