Algonquin

Algonquin

Late August 2000(5 days)
Route	Opeongo - Crow - Lavielle - Dickson - Opeongo (access point #11)
Distance	85km (9.5 km of portages)
Trip Details	Camped on Big Crow, Lake Lavielle, Dickson Lake, Opeongo.
Comments	Big Crow lake is the best place to spend extra time. There is a fire tower (that can be climbed), and a cliff top view, along with a short hiking trail into some virgin White Pine stands. The Crow River is great for wildlife viewing, but has many more twists and turns than it appears on the map. The second section will take the good part of a day. The 5km portage is not as horrendous as it might seem. It's fairly flat with a number of places to lean the canoe against along the way. The portage that ends on the East Arm of Opeongo is a great place to go swimming with a sandy beach. It is here that we spotted a red wolf. There were loons on every lake

May 2001 (3 days)
Route	Opeongo - Proulx and back (access point 11)
Distance	2x20 km approx (2x1500m portages)
Trip Details	Camped on Jubilee both nights. Side trips to Cranebill and hike along the portages and trails there.
Comments	Although not as scenic as some parts of the park, this was a trip full of wildlife. We saw dozen moose, a bear chasing a baby moose, loons, turtles, etc. There were no loons nesting on Jubilee unfortunately.

June 2001 (3 days)
Route	Rain - Jubilee and back (access point #4)
Distance	2x8 km (2x760m of portages)
Trip Details	Camped on Jubilee both nights. Side trips to Cranebill and hike along the portages and trails there.
Comments	Although not as scenic as some parts of the park, this was a trip full of wildlife. We saw dozen moose, a bear chasing a baby moose, loons, turtles, etc. There were no loons nesting on Jubilee unfortunately.

Early July 2001 (3 days)
Route	Access point 3 to Mubwayaka Lake
Distance	2x7 km (2x1130m portages)
Trip Details	Camped on Mubwayaka both nights. A long day trip to Tim River, Misty and back up the Petawawa
Comments	Both David and Mubwayaka lakes are perfect for a weekend trip, and the farthest site on Mubwayaka is the better campsite. The day trip was too long (about 13 hours), however Little Trout and Misty are both very scenic lakes. The mice in this region tend to be particularily active. When I slept outside I had one crawl into my sleeping and across my head numerous times.

Late July 2001 (4 days)
Route	Access point 22 -Stratton-St.Andrew's lakes and back (included a day trip to the Barron Canyon)
Distance	Distance: 2x7 km (2x75m portages)
Trip Details	Camped both nights on St. Andrew's lake, on the farthest site from the portage into the lake. Probably the best site.
Comments	One of the best trips of the year, with my sister Susan and her boyfriend Aron. High falls area was great fun, with a natural water slide, and small (natural) pools to swim in, but it tended to be a high traffic area. St. Andrew's lake, where we camped each night, did not recieve much traffic, and is a very scenic lake. This lake also has a portage that connects to the abandoned railway track (now just gravel), which is great for hiking or running. Barron Canyon is also very scenic, with 100m cliffs surrounding the river (which had a negligable flow at the time). Not much large wildlife, but I enjoyed watching my sister scream every time she saw into a snake (4 times!).


My sister and I above Barron Canyon	Sliding down high falls	My sister and I returning from a run

Late Auguest Hiking Trip (3 days)
Route	The whole Western Uplands Trail
Distance	75 km
Trip Details	Camped at Rainbow and Clara lakes.
Comments	Each day was a long hike. Most of the hike was through decidious forest, although it did skirt a few marshes. Not a particularly scenic hike, but I did encounter a pair of moose on the trail and lots of beary pies.

October 2001 (3 days)
Route	Access point 17 - Farm- Booth lakes and back
Distance	2x8 km (2x640m of portages)
Trip Details	Camped on the campsite closest to the marsh on Booth Lake.
Comments	At this time of year the colours of Algonquin were reaching their peak, however, the weather begins to turn nasty by this time. The temperature on this trip never went above 5 C, and with the wind and snow/rain, it made for a cold weekend.

New Year's Eve Snowshoe (2 days)
Route	Highway 60 to Blackfox (along the 5km portage)
Distance	2x5km
Trip Details	Built a quinzee and slept in a quinzee at Blackfox lake.
Comments	A mild winter made the use of snow shoes almost questionable, considering the trail had been hiked recently. The route is fairly flat, going first through picturesque spruce forests and then open deciduous forests.


The trail head	Blair in our quinzee	At the side of a lake

May 2002(6 days)
Route	Cedar - Catfish- Burntroot - La Muir - Hogan - Catfish - Cedar (acc point 27)
Distance	~75 km (13km of portages)
Trip Details	Camped on Catfish, Burntroot, Hogan, Luckless, Cedar
Comments	An early spring trip that proved to be a bit colder than expected. The island campsite in the southern part of Burntroot and the on the island in Hogan lakes are particularly nice. Note however that Hogan lake is frequented by motorboating fisherman, so the campsites are picked clean of firewood. It is possible to hike up to the top of the cliff on Hogan lake, which offers a great view of the park.