Participants: Andrew, Sonia Bardy
Dates: 2000-08-13 to 2000-08-17
Level of difficulty: Moderate
Total portages: 7330m
I took this trip with my friend Sonia. We were discussing vacation one day on ICQ and were both interested in taking some time away around the same time. A canoe camping trip interested both of us, so we took this trip together. I planned the itinerary and we discussed food needs. Of course, as with any trip where multiple people bring food, we had far too much food. But, its always better to have too much food than not enough, and in the future, I'll know to do a better job in co-ordinating the food plans.
Sunday, August 13, 2000 - St. Catharines to Algonquin via Parry Sound and Toronto, Canoe Lake, Joe Lake
Portages:
1. Canoe Lake to Joe Lake - 295m
Sonia and I meet at our friends apartment in Toronto early in the morning. We all drive to Parry Sound to pick up the canoe we've borrowed from our friend's parents. We discover an interesting problem at this point. My Audi doesn't have anywhere for us to tie the ropes holding the canoe on the roof to. We manage to improvise a method to attach the canoe to the car by running ropes through the tiedowns in the trunk and some gaps we find under the hood. We drive off to the Canoe Lake access point, pick up our permits, paddle across Canoe Lake, portage onto Joe Lake and set up camp on the western shore of Joe Lake, just across from the northern point of Joe Island. This is still close enough to the highway that the campsite is well used, and firewood is hard to find. It has also rained recently, so the fire isn't especially great tonight.
While we're picking up our permits, we are told that there is a lone black bear that has been marauding in the area that we'll be in on Tuesday and Wednesday. Goody! Something to make the trip more interesting.
Monday, August 14, 2000 - Joe Lake, Teepee Lake, Little Doe Lake, Tom Thomson Lake, McIntosh Lake
Portages:
1. Tom Thomson Lake to Ink Lake - 2320m
We wake up early, pack up and decide our route for the day. We have two choices, either take the route through Potter Creek which involves a lot of short portages, or we take one long hard portage (over 2km) and be on our site earlier in the day. We opt for the longer portage and arrive at McIntosh Lake before noon.
At the portage, we come across a group from one of the local boy's camps starting the portage. There's an amusing incident when the boy carrying the food box topples over onto his back and is stuck like a turtle in the path. Unfortunately, we have the canoe over our heads and our packs on and one of his counsellors arrives to help him before we can. The portage is long and tough, but manageable. Initially we try to both carry the canoe, but this proves more difficult than me soloing the canoe, so we opt to use that method for the rest of the trip. We pass a group carrying Gruman alumninum canoes, not my idea of fun, at the swamp midway through the portage. The final hill to the end of the portage makes life interesting as it is a steep climb to the top and a steep drop down to the edge of the water. But we finally arrive at the end of the portage and get back into the water.
At McIntosh Lake, we find an absolutely stunning site on an island with a beautiful rock on the south shore that slopes into the water. After lunch we spend the day relaxing and lying about in the sun with a few swims in the comfortable waters. While Sonia is taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon, I'm visited by a small garter snake on the big rock at the south edge of the island, out hunting for something to eat no doubt, although I'm much too large to be of interest. This lake is far enough away from the highway that its not so crowded or busy, and we manage to find enough wood for a nice fire to enjoy in the evening.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 - McIntosh Lake, McIntosh Creek, Grassy Bay, White Trout Lake, Big Trout Lake, Otterslide Creek, Otterslide Lake
Portages:
1. McIntosh Lake to McIntosh Creek - 510m
2. McIntosh Creek to McIntosh Creek - 745m
3. Big Trout Lake to Otterslide Creek - 105m
4. Otterslide Creek to Otterslide Creek - 730m
5. Otterslide Creek to Otterslide Creek - 265m
6. Otterslide Creek to Otterslide Creek - 390m
7. Otterslide Creek to Otterslide Lake - 250m
Total for today: 2995m
This will be our longest and most brutal day. We get onto the water early as our site is exposed to the morning sun, which wakes us up early in the morning. The paddle to the first portage goes well and is quite short. Once at the other end of that portage, we discover that the wind has picked up. This is going to make for an ugly paddle, as we have a lot of ground to cover as it is, let alone padding into a headwind, which is what it winds up being for most of the day.
This is only compounded by a navigation error I make. As we come down McIntosh Creek, just past the portage to Hawkins Lake, I have a choice to make regarding which arm of the river to follow. I pick the wrong arm, and while it becomes clear we've gone the wrong way, its about a 30 minute paddle further down the river when this fact becomes clear rather than right away. So, after an hour of lost time, we're back where we started making the right choice. Unfortunately I also take a couple in another canoe along for the ride. Fortunately they aren't too put out by this, but I still feel bad about it.
We make it to the entrance of Big Trout Lake around lunch time, so we stop and grab a bite to eat. After this, we then move on to what is the toughest section of the day as we paddle south across Big Trout Lake, hunting for any shelter from the wind that can be found, which isn't much at all. We make it to the entrance of Otterslide Creek exhausted, and glad to be done the longest stretch of paddling. At least on the river we'll have some shelter, but there's a long way to go yet, and a number of portages to get through. Its here that we meet the first people who've had encounters with that bear we were warned about. We meet a family that had them on their site for breakfast that morning, unwelcomed of course. We head down Otterslide Creek and a relatively relaxed paddle, despite the fact that our direction of travel is upriver. It is along this creek that we have our most significant wildlife encounter of the trip as we come across a lone bull moose feeding in the creek by the bank as we round a corner. We paddle carefully past, snap a few photos and continue on our way. We finally arrive on Otterslide Lake. The hunt for an unoccupied site looks to be a long one, but we find one before it gets too dark. Too tired to even bother looking for firewood, let alone building a fire, dinner is a quick affair and we collapse into our sleeping bags for a well earned rest.
Wednesday, August 16, 2000 - Otterslide Lake, Little Otterslide Lake, Burnt Island Lake, Baby Joe Lake, Little Joe Lake, Joe Lake
Portages:
1. Little Otterslide Lake to Burnt Island Lake - 790m
2. Burnt Island Lake to Baby Joe Lake - 200m
3. Baby Joe Lake to river - 435m
4. river to Little Joe Lake - 165m (bypassed due to higher water level)
Total for today: 1425m
After the long paddle the previous day and the sheltered nature of the site we're on, we wake up a bit later in the morning. After our breakfast, we head back out onto the water. At the entrance to Burnt Island Lake from the portage, we meet another couple of groups who have had encounters with the bear. One older couple paddled across the lake to help a solo camper who had been visited by the bear in the evening, and another couple who were chased out of their site by the bear at breakfast. So, we count ourselves lucky to not have had any encounters with the bear. As cool as it might be to see a bear in the wild, I'm not sure I want to see one quite that close to me.
We set off onto our paddle. Unfortunately, the wind has picked up again, and is coming from a different direction. We are headed into a headwind again, and the day is also overcast with brief periods of rain. Not the most fun, but we manage to find some shelter from the wind occasionally behind islands and points of land. We the portage onto Little Joe Lake, thankful for the break from the wind. From here its pretty easy until we get onto Joe Lake. On the lake between Baby Joe Lake and Little Joe Lake, we bypass the final portage as the water levels are high enough to allow us to paddle over the rocks at that location. Once we get onto Joe Lake, we're again headed into the wind, but its a shorter paddle than across Burnt Island Lake, and we reach a site with a large south facing rock just on the east side of the north point of Joe Island, and set up camp here. We're again near enough to the highway that firewood is impossible to come by, so we again make do without a fire. Fortunately the rain has stopped so its warm enough that this isn't a major problem.
Thursday, August 17, 2000 - Joe Lake, Canoe Lake, home to St. Catharines via Parry Sound and Toronto
Portages:
1. Joe Lake to Canoe Lake - 295m
We wake up to our final day in the park. The weather today is better than the previous two with only a light breeze and a few clouds in the sky. We paddle our way back out of the park via Canoe Lake, load up the car and head off to Parry Sound to return the canoe. We're amused by the group of tourists learning to canoe at the Portage Store by the Canoe Lake access point, but simply want to head home, so just paddle on through to the beach to load up the car. After this is done, its back to Toronto where Sonia will catch a train home, and I will drive back on to St. Catharines and my own home.
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