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.
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| 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.
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| Burnt Island Lake |
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| Otterslide Creek |
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| Otterslide Creek |
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| Emerging onto Big Trout Lake |
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| 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.
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| Northeast side of Big Trout |
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| Big Trout Lake |
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| Big Trout Marsh |
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| Along Big Trout - Merchant portage |
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| Along Big Trout - Merchant portage |
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| Along Big Trout - Merchant portage |
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| Merchant Lake |
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| Big Trout Marsh |
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| Big Trout Lake |
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| Marten |
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| Along Big Trout-LaMuir portage |
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| Along Big Trout-LaMuir portage |
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| Along Big Trout-LaMuir portage |
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| Lake LaMuir |
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| Big Trout Lake |
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| 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.
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| Big Trout Lake |
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| Big Trout - White Trout Narrows |
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| Sea of green at the start of Grassy Bay |
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| Sandhill Crane |
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| Grassy Bay |
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| Grassy Bay |
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| McIntosh Creek |
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| Big Pine on McIntosh-Timberwolf portage |
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| 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.
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| Bald Eagle On McIntosh Lake |
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| 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.
