Thursday 15 September 2011

Big Trout trip July 22-25 2011


Trip report Canoe Lake - Big Trout Lake - McIntosh Lake  Algonquin Park July 22 - 25 2011

Day 1 Canoe Lake to Big Trout Distance Travelled 34km with 3.5km portages
I was originally planning on doing a solo trip starting on the 25th but my usual tripping partner Jamie called me up and was available for a trip. But it needed to be minimal driving for the last day. The closest access points were Canoe Lake and Smoke Lake and I really wanted to go to Big Trout so Canoe Lake it was. I was a bit concerned about starting a trip out of Canoe Lake on a Friday in the middle of summer but it surprisingly it wasn't an issue. I made a reservation a week out and had no issues getting the lakes I wanted. We got to the access point around 9 am and didn't even have to wait in line for our permit. By 9:20 we were on our way.
Canoe Lake
It's been a little while since I've paddled tandem and it's like having a motor compared to solo but we had a long paddle ahead and all the speed helped. As the morning progressed the temp increased. The forecast was for a high of 31 (37 for the suckers in the south) and it didn't take long to get there. After every portage it was time for a swim. Tilley hat,long sleeved shirt and all. Worked well for cooling in between the portages. Today was a portage fun day. 9 of them totalling 3500 m. Peaches and cake. Traffic wasn't as heavy as I expected but we did encounter groups at most of the portages up to Little Otterslide. We stopped for lunch at the start of Burnt Island Lake,which was a veggie Subway sub bought the night before. Big mistake. It was complete mush and difficult to eat.
Went for a swim and were back on our way. By about half way I was already dried off from the heat and wind so we stopped for another refreshing swim. I found keeping my clothes and hat at least moist thoughout the day and having the moisture evaporate was very effective in cooling in the high heat and being active. Didn't even feel close to overheating. Deerfly fun for the day didn't start until we hit Otterslide Creek and lasted until Big Trout. A couple of short sections on Otterslide creek needed to be waded. Today was the first time doing any significant portaging with my Eureka Canoe Pack and my friends canoe had a Hooligan yoke pad. With the combination of the pad
and the pack, the canoe had a tendency to slide if I tried to do hands free portaging the canoe. So I ended up not using the pad but then the yoke was really hurting the bone behind my neck. Just a problem I'll have to solve for my next trip. We made camp on the east side of the large island with 5 sites. Excellent summer camp. After eating and doing some more swimming it was time to hang the pack with the light disappearing. It was a challange in the dim light to find a suitable tree and while I was doing so the forest started to hum. It's been a while since I heard that hell. I managed to get the food hung just as they found me and chased me into my tent.

Burnt Island Lake
Otterslide Creek
Otterslide Creek
Emerging onto Big Trout Lake

Big Trout Lake

Day 2 Big Trout
This day was a rest and exploration day. Started off with fine breakfast of pancakes and bacon then a paddle over to the Merchant Lake portage. Very nice paddle through the creek. Saw lots of young fish. Thousands of them. I would catch deer and horse flies and drop them in the water and bam, somebody would grab the fly quick. It Was really gratifying to see. The water in the creek was crystal clear, very different from the Big Trout which is very smudgey. The hike on the portage was beautiful. Mostly hardwoods, some very old. Went for a swim on the Merchant end. Clear colourless water there. Saw some leeches but swam anyway. We hiked back and then had a strong head wind to paddle against back to our campsite. After lunch it was time for some more exploration. We went to the LaMuir portage this time. This hike wasn't as pleasant because of the mosquitos and deer flies. Deer flies don't care about deet and just laugh at you. We ended up seeing a pair of Martens in a tree who were not happy that we were there. Once we made it LaMuir and took some pictures it was rushed trip back to escape the bugs. For a rest day we still ended up paddling and hiking 27km. Tonight for eatins it was beef and bean burritos. New meal for me camping and it was excellent. I dehydrated ground beef and kidney beans that I put in a blender before dydration. I don't have dehydrator so I used a toaster oven on the lowest heat with convection. I brought a fresh green pepper and some Frank's hot sauce and it was probably the best camp meal I've had. Worth the effort over the packaged meals. Would have been nice to stay up later but the sunset hum started and in the tents we went.

Northeast side of Big Trout

Big Trout Lake

Big Trout Marsh

Along Big Trout - Merchant portage

Along Big Trout - Merchant portage

Along Big Trout - Merchant portage

Merchant Lake

Big Trout Marsh

Big Trout Lake

Marten

Along Big Trout-LaMuir portage

Along Big Trout-LaMuir portage

Along Big Trout-LaMuir portage

Lake LaMuir

Big Trout Lake

Pine Sawyer Beetle

Day 3 Big Trout to McIntosh Distance Travelled 22km with 1.26km portages.
Started off with a breakfast of pancakes and bacon again and were on our way. Very scenic paddle through Big Trout and White Trout and stopped for a snack at the start of Grassy Bay in a sea of small leafed water lilies. Made our way through the meander and came across four Sandhill cranes feeding. A bird I've never seen before. Through some sections of Grassy Bay we had to do some 4 wheel canoeing as there was no open channel. Parts of McIntosh creek were very shallow and needed to be waded. Ended up getting the campsite on the southeast part of the lake with the
diving ledge. Good times. Did a tour around the lake and hiked the portage to Timberwolf. Tried to stay out past sunset but once again got chased in our tents.

Big Trout Lake

Big Trout - White Trout Narrows

Sea of green at the start of Grassy Bay

Sandhill Crane

Grassy Bay

Grassy Bay

McIntosh Creek

Big Pine on McIntosh-Timberwolf portage

McIntosh Lake sunset

Day 4 McIntosh to Canoe Distance Travelled 19km with 2.58km portages
Woke up with a numb face. Had far too much salt the last couple of days. Bacon, Frank's hot sauce, Mr.Noodles, Dehydrated meal etc = salt overload. Have to be more careful on future trips. Crazy how much salt is in everything. Light rain/drizzle in the morning. Jamie slept in and as I was having breakfast there was a bunch of commotion with some seagulls. Turns out the resident Bald Eagle was around and they didn't like that much. Had to wake up Jamie so we could shoot some pics. Eagle sat in a tree for 15 minutes or so before it moved on. That's Bald Eagle number 2 for me now. We broke camp and made our way through Ink Creek which was absolute hell. Fighting deer flies and mosquitos through a meandering creek is not fun. Many of them found their way through the grommet holes in my hat so I had to smack myself in the head to deal with them. The 2320m portage was not enjoyable with the uncomfortable yoke setup and the mosquitos on the trail, but it got done. Tom Thompson Lake was a surprisingly nice looking lake. But it was busy. Pretty much every group we encountered on our way to Joe Lake was headed there. At the Joe-Canoe portage there was a young camp group with kids everywhere. It was crazy. I've never seen chaos like that at a portage before. Made our way to the access point and went for a tasty burger and fries at the portage store.

Bald Eagle On McIntosh Lake

Bald Eagle On McIntosh Lake
This was my first trip with amphibious shoes and it was great not having to worry about walking in water like with gortex shoes that don't drain but after days of in and out of the water the shoes and my feet started to smell like durty corn chips in a sewer. Nasty. This was also my first trip to Algonquin Park in mid summer and with all the swimming would have to be the funnest trip I've ever done. I knew that I would encounter lots of people on this trip and was ready for it so it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the park. After all the solo tripping I've been doing it was great to trip with good friend again.

Also on my trips I bring the spirit of Corey and Trevor from the Trailer Park Boys with me so I have someone to blame if things go wrong or I do something stupid and surprisingly they weren't needed. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to blame them for things in the future.


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