Dates : August 9 to 12, 2026
Total Distance Traveled: 62km Portages : 17 Total Portage Distance : 7.04km
Introduction
The Lake Louisa loop has been on my bucket list for a few years. Much like the popular Big Trout loop on the opposite side of Highway 60, it’s a classic portage heavy loop that takes you to a large, beautiful lake and back. And while it may not be as remote, it offers some interesting portages with names such as the Double Devil’s Staircase and Stairway to Heaven.
When a colleague of mine, Domenic, approached me in early August to express interest in joining me on a canoe camping trip, it didn’t matter that he never did a portage before – it made him an automatic candidate to do the loop with me.
August 9, 2026
Day 1 – Smoke Lake (Access Point #6) to Bonnechere Lake
Distance Covered : 18.8km
Portages : 3 (250m, 590m, 190m)
Total Portage Distance : 1030m
Total Time : 4:55hrs
The first day of our canoe trip started with a brisk departure from Toronto at 7:30am. Not only were the days becoming shorter, but the first challenge of the day was to cross Smoke lake, which can get windy and wavy at times.
After spending some time doing some last minute shopping at a Walmart in Orillia, we eventually arrived at Access point 6 at noon. Smoke Lake is perhaps the third busiest access point (after Canoe and Opeongo) and as such, it resembled a busy shopping mall, with a packed parking lot and people waiting in line to launch their canoes.
Since we had done most of our packing beforehand, it didn’t take long before we jumped into our canoe and sped towards the southern end of Smoke Lake to make space for the canoes behind us. About fifteen minutes later, we were passed by a canoe whose paddlers asked if we had left a rope bag and bilge pump back at the canoe launch. To our dismay, the answer was yes, so we turned around to retrieve those items before resuming our paddle southward.
Upon completing the portage into Ragged Lake, we were finally free of the cottages and motor boats and into real canoe camping territory. As we passed the campsites on the lake, it was quite apparent that this was peak season in Algonquin, since every campsite was bursting with tents, tarps and hammocks.
An hour later, we finally entered the South Bay of Ragged Lake, where we’d do our second portage of the day into Big Porcupine. Since this was Domenic’s first canoe camping trip, he was obviously energized and enjoying every moment. This was a good sign because he was about to face his first portage ever – the Devil’s Staircase.
Having done the Devil’s Staircase last year, I knew Domenic would have no problems completing it. After all, I have clothes in my dresser that are older than him. But it was interesting that his very first portage ever happened to be this one.
It was 4pm by the time we started paddling into Big Porcupine. This lake would’ve been an ideal place to stay on the first night, but the campsites were all taken. This was ironic because we passed several unoccupied campsites as we made our way to the portage into our final lake, Bonnechere.
Upon completing the short portage, we made a beeline to the first campsite on the lake. It was already 5:20pm, and we were happy to finally settle down for the evening.
Looking back, this campsite was perhaps the best one we stayed at during the trip. It had a decent view, good access to water and plenty of flat areas to set up a tent. It wasn’t a popular site, as evidenced by the large quantity of firewood scattered around camp, but Domenic and I agreed that this was a hidden gem of a campsite.
August 10, 2026
Day 2 – Bonnechere Lake to Lake Louisa
Distance Covered : 12.9km
Portages : 6 (170m, 70m, 690m, 20m, 450m, 500m)
Total Portage Distance : 1900m
Total Time : 4:20hrs
The initial plan for Day 2 was to retrace our route back into Big Porcupine and resume the loop in a counter-clockwise direction, but sometime during the previous evening, I realized that we could do the loop clockwise instead. This would save us some time since we wouldn’t have to double back, and it’d eliminate a portage. It would mean that our third day would be a little tougher, but that was ok since our packs would also be a little lighter by then.
Upon leaving our campsite at a leisurely 9:50am, we nervously paddled through a feature labelled the Devil’s Razor. We didn’t understand why it was called that until we noticed the very shallow rocks, which were smeared with the paint from hundreds of canoe hulls. Of course, we noticed this too late, as the Devil took a razor-thin slice off the bottom of my canoe.
The rest of the paddle up to Lake Louisa was relatively straightforward. The portages weren’t too bad, and we even managed to bypass a 450m portage due to the higher water levels. However, Domenic managed to get bitten by a leech as we got into the canoe at Phipps Lake, and his right arm nearly went to heaven while carrying the canoe on the portage aptly named Stairway to heaven. The combination of wearing a portage pack over his PFD was obviously cutting circulation to his arm.
Algonquin Provincial Park is home to over 1,500 lakes, and there’s obviously no way that I’ll come close to visiting all of them. But out of the ones I’ve visited, Lake Louisa is probably my favorite. It’s a very large lake, the waters are clean and blue, and it’s relatively hard to access. The campsites are well spaced, and many are located on a point with great exposure to wind and easy access to the lake.
Since we arrived at Lake Louisa at a relatively early 1:45pm, we had a selection of campsites to choose from, but we took one in the western half since our next day would start from the west end.
The campsite we stayed on was downright amazing. It sits up there with Nellie Lake in Killarney as one of the best campsites I’ve ever stayed on in Ontario.
However, popular sites like this have one major drawback, and that has to do with litter due to overuse. Much like Nellie Lake, the site was scattered with garbage. There was even a sheltered area behind the main area which was scattered with toilet paper! It was obviously being used as a toilet, which doesn’t make sense because there was a Thunderbox just 20m away. Sometime in the late afternoon, Momo started digging a hole at the base of a tree, and when she dug deep enough, she started to uncover trash which some campers had previously hid.
Despite the beauty of this lake, the litter definitely put a dent in the enjoyment I felt when I arrived at this campsite. If that weren’t bad enough, an alert came through on our cell phones at around 3pm stating that there was a tornado warning in effect.
Having gone through a similar warning on my first trip, I didn’t take any chances and immediately set up a tarp to provide some shelter in the case of a downpour. Thankfully, the only effect we felt was a brief rain shower, after which we started a fire to enjoy some s’mores before moving to a rocky outcrop to observe the ever-multiplying stars of the night sky.
August 11, 2026
Day 3 – Lake Louisa to Big Porcupine Lake
Distance Covered : 18.8km
Portages : 6 (1490m, 130m, 790m, 430m, 930m, 220m)
Total Portage Distance : 3990m
Total Time : 6:14hrs
We knew Day 3 would be the toughest of the trip since it’d involve around 4km of portages. But at least we’d get the longest portage out of the way right at the start. If we stuck to our original plan, we’d be doing a 1490m portage at the end of the day, which could be quite tiring.
After an ultra leisurely departure of 10am, we made quick work of the longest portage and continued our way westward. Just before the portage from Lemon Lake to McGarvey Lake, we met our first group of paddlers of the day, who told us there was a moose on the portage. Unfortunately (fortunately?), we never came across the moose but there were fresh moose tracks in the mud.
Before long, we were at the Double Devil’s Staircase where I gave Domenic the honor of carrying the canoe. He seemed to enjoy the single version two days before, so it was only fitting to give him double the fun. But in all honestly, it was one of the tougher portages I’ve done. Distance wise, 930m is not long, but the steep trail made it feel like a portage twice as long.
The final portage of the day came with a twist. Although it was only around 220m, the end of the portage at the Big Porcupine end was very muddy. Domenic was an interesting guy. He didn’t complain about the steep, technical portages, and he didn’t complain much about the mosquitos, but he had a great dislike towards mud. Nearly losing his crocs to the mud probably didn’t help, but making his way through this 3m section of mud seemed to be the low point of the trip for him.
Once free of the mud, it was supposed to be smooth sailing to a campsite. We could even see some vacant campsites on the island in front of us – just 15 minutes away. But we knew there was a better site to the north, so we continued on, only to find it occupied. So we kept on moving northward from site to site to find them occupied as well. Each successive site with no vacancy put a dent in our morale, and we even discussed the possibility of paddling out to the access point that afternoon.
We finally found a vacant site just a few hundred meters away from the portage into Ragged Lake. By this time, we were just happy to find an open campsite ,and we unloaded our canoes without even scouting the site.
Our campsite on Lake Louisa was like staying at the Royal York hotel, albeit one that wasn’t properly cleaned. The one we’d stay in on this night was like a shady motel with hourly rates.
The site was completely void of any firewood due to overuse, and what it lacked in firewood, it made for with litter and uneaten food scraps. Even the one bench in front of the fireplace was drenched in some unknown red liquid. Domenic suggested it might be blood, but I told him that was unlikely because Momo would’ve taken an interest if that was the case.
Either way, we were tired, both physically and emotionally, and probably wouldn’t have started a fire anways. Instead, we brought our chairs to the edge of the water, placed a Thermacell between us and silently ate our final dinner of the trip. Momo kept us entertained by standing up on her hind legs and barking whenever a loon passed by our site.
August 12, 2026
Day 4 – Big Porcupine Lake to Smoke Lake (Access Point #6)
Distance Covered : 11.5km
Portages : 2 (590m, 250m)
Total Portage Distance : 840m
Total Time : 2:40hrs
The final day of our trip started relatively early. The culmination of mosquitos, fatigue, a desire to get off this campsite along with the thought of a hearty celebration meal had us leaving our site by 8:20am. Of course we also wanted to hit Smoke lake before the winds picked up.
By the forth day, we were like a well-oiled machine. We had our put-in and launch procedures fine tuned, and we even synced our paddling strokes as we motored across Smoke lake to arrive at the parking lot in just over 2.5hrs. (Ironically, in true Toronto traffic BS, it took me 2.5hrs just to get from Barrie to my home in Toronto!)
Here’s the last pic I took of Momo, the portage puppy, on Day four.
This trip marked the forth backcountry trip she’s been on, and she did very well. I could tell that she’s slowly becoming comfortable in this environment by the way she ate some of her food and even jumped out of the canoe by herself upon landing.
Her next trip will be the biggest to date as she joins me on a five-day canoe trip in the northern end of Algonquin Provincial Park.
You can do it little buddy!