Dates : August 23 to 27, 2026
Total Distance Traveled: 65.8km Portages : 16 Total Portage Distance : 14.12km
Introduction
Last September, my friend Kevin and I completed a 7-day paddle in Killarney Provincial Park, which we both enjoyed, so we decided to do another long trip during the summer of 2026. Our initial plan was to do a 7 day route in La Vérendrye, which then became a 7-day loop along the Nippissing River in Algonquin. Later in the summer, Kevin informed me that 5 days was the best he could do since he was busy at work and renovating a new home he had just purchased.
Having never paddled the northern end of Algonquin, I set my sights on Access Point 29 – Kiosk. Kevin had paddled it in the past and commented on how beautiful the big lakes, such as Kioshkokwi and Manitou, were, so I decided on a 5-day loop which would have a little of everything. It’d start and end on big lakes, with rivers and medium sized lakes in between.
Although this isn’t an established route, I called it the Kiosk Erables loop for this report. Kiosk-Maple-Six Mile Lake loop would be more accurate, but that’s too long of a name for a route.
August 23, 2026
Day 1 – Access Point #29 (Kiosk) to Club Lake
Distance Covered : 15.6km
Portages : 3 (640m, 390m, 1160m)
Total Portage Distance : 2190m
Total Time : 3:36hrs
Much like a lot of my recent trips to Algonquin, the first day started quite early as I picked up Kevin at his home just before 7am. The paddle and portage to our first lake of the day wasn’t long, but the drive to Access Point 29 (Kiosk) was quite far, and the first lake of the day, Kioshkokwi was very big, which meant it had the potential for large waves.
Despite several stops to pick up breakfast, lunch, and some forgotten items, we managed to arrive at the Kiosk access point and depart by 1pm. As expected, we encountered some moderate waves coming in from the west, but they seemed to diminish by the time we started paddling west.
The forecast for this trip was less than ideal. It called for steady rain until day 3, followed by a day of sunshine before reverting to rain again. Temperatures were cooler than normal, so I ended up wearing my semi-dry Kokatat drysuit. This felt like overkill, but shortly after passing under the railway bridge on Kioshkokwi Lake, the skies opened up – thus vindicating my choice in outerwear. Kevin wore his jacket and rain pants and remained relatively dry, but as is often the case, Momo the portage puppy bore the full brunt of the weather. At six months of age, she was still learning to regulate her temperature and was shivering.
Several portages later, we made it to Club Lake – our home for the night. The lake was actually composed of two bodies of water, at least from a reservation standpoint. The northern portion had one campsite, which was taken, and the southern side had two. The better one on the southern side was taken, so we were left with the last site near the portage. My last campsite two weeks prior was near a portage and was one of the worst sites I’ve stayed on. This one wasn’t nearly as bad, but it wasn’t great either. Water access could’ve been better since the untreated water I collected was quite murky and green. But the worst part was the noise from the other campsite, which was occupied by some young rambunctious campers who played music all afternoon.
On the positive side, the skies started clearing up to the point where we saw patches of blue. An InReach weather report I pulled indicated that the weather forecast had improved significantly. The report now included patches of sunny periods throughout our trip, which was great since it’d allow us to dry out our gear.
August 24, 2026
Day 2 – Club Lake to Erables Lake
Distance Covered : 11.6km
Portages : 4 (590m, 1670m, 180m, 1520m)
Total Portage Distance : 3960m
Total Time : 4:00hrs
The second day of our trip was relatively short and involved canoeing to Erables Lake, where we’d spend the night.
After a leisurely departure at 10am, we portaged into Mouse Lake, which we agreed would’ve been preferable to Club. It was much larger, with a good selection of campsites. One of them, according to the map, had a natural source of spring water. That would’ve been a huge upgrade over our tannin-drenched water from the previous night.
A few portages later, we were at Erables Lake, where we met a large group of young Torontonians resting after completing that portage. One of them asked us if we had any cigarettes, to which we replied that we didn’t. From there on, Kevin and I nicknamed them the Cigarette Boyz.
Erables had a few different sites, but since all of them were vacant by the time we arrived at the lake at around 1pm, we grabbed the best one, located on a point on the northwest corner of the lake. It had a nice rocky outcrop from where we could observe canoes traversing the lake in both directions. The boyz told us they were staying at Maple Lake, which was one lake to the north, so we watched as they crossed the lake.
As we set up, the sun made a prolonged appearance, which allowed us to dry our clothes and gear. Since we had over six hours of daylight, we had a lazy afternoon basking in the sunlight. Kevin even went for a short swim.
The campsite was very well maintained and even had a large selection of firewood available. Of course we did our part by collecting more to pay it forward.
During the evening, while hanging our food, I spotted a huge snowshoe hare which immediately leapt out of view. Thankfully, Momo didn’t see it or she probably would’ve freaked out.
August 25, 2026
Day 3 – Erables Lake to Three Mile Lake
Distance Covered : 14.1km
Portages : 5 (170m, 400m, 1450m, 680m, 540m)
Total Portage Distance : 3240m
Total Time : 4:22hrs
Day three was another portage-heavy day that took us west into Three Mile Lake.
Since we knew the Boyz were ahead of us, we decided to start a little earlier and departed at 9am. We figured they were probably aiming for Three Mile Lake as well, since anything further would require over 6km of portaging in a day. We also weren’t sure how many good sites there were on the lake, so we wanted to get there earlier.
Once we portaged into Maple Lake, we passed the Boyz, who were just getting up from their campsite on the first island on the lake. From there on, we blazed through the portages and were at Three Mile Lake by 12:30pm.
From the portage, we were able to spot a good-looking campsite on a point to the south, so we immediately started paddling towards it, only to find it occupied. We then paddled around a bay to look at an island before settling on a different island site, which had both east and west exposure. While it made the site very windy, it also meant there were fewer insects.
As expected, mosquito activity was noticeably lower than on my earlier trips, but the mosquitos came out in full force during the evenings. Although I was wearing extra layers at night, they’d find a way to bite through my long pants and socks, as well as my face, hands and neck.
Speaking of nuisances, Momo seemed to have picked up a bad habit from our last trip: she’d “steal” anything that fit in her mouth and run away with it. Luckily, she wouldn’t hide anything, but she’d scatter socks, stuff sacks, tent pegs, etc. all over the campsite. On one occurrence, Kevin looked over at her in disbelief – Momo had run away with my Hungarian salami, which was my dinner for the next two evenings. Thankfully, I was able to retrieve it in one piece. If we didn’t grab it in time, I’m sure she would’ve taken it somewhere she could consume it in peace.
Sometime in the early evening, we could hear the Boyz nearby. We thought they may have grabbed the other campsite on the island, but figured they moved on when their voices disappeared for the night.
Note from after the trip : Legend has it that the island we stayed on in Three Mile Lake is supposedly haunted. I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary but I’m glad I read about this after I stayed on that island.
August 25, 2026
Day 4 – Three Mile Lake to Manitou Lake
Distance Covered : 9.7km
Portages : 1 (2790m)
Total Portage Distance : 2790m
Total Time : 2:05hrs
Day four was when we’d move away from smaller lakes and rivers and into some of the bigger lakes in the park -the kind that could have you windbound for days in rough weather and waves.
The InReach weather report from the previous night didn’t show any significant wind, so we left our campsite at 10am. Upon arriving at the portage at the northern end of Three Mile Lake, we ran into the Boyz again. They had stayed at the campsite located right on the portage to make the 2,790m portage a little easier. They had already completed one carry and had come back for their second load as we arrived.
Since Kevin and I were single carrying, we leapt in front of them and completed the portage in under 40 minutes. Well, at least Kevin did, since he was the one carrying the canoe.
By the time the Boyz were loading their canoe, we were already paddling towards the northwest of the lake.
This was my first time on Manitou, and it brought back some memories of sea kayaking off the west coast: big water dotted with islands and sandy beaches. Although I’ve been on big lakes such as Opeongo, Cedar, and Big Trout, Manitou felt a little different.
After paddling for around 20 minutes, we rounded a corner to head north and immediately spotted an island campsite. Much like the way a prospective home buyer “knows” that a certain house is “it”, we had an immediate connection with this island and headed straight for it.
The island site was stunning. The whole thing was essentially an isolated campground with a large kitchen area, sleeping area and even a bathroom which consisted of a traditional outhouse rather than a thunderbox for privacy. Of course it had a beach with views to the far end of the lake.
Since we arrived at 12:15pm, we had over eight hours of daylight to relax in the sunlight. I set up a tarp, dried out my gear and explored every inch of the island while Kevin stuck by the beach and even went for a swim. As usual, Momo grabbed every piece of gear she could get her jaws on and spread it all over. Thankfully, it was an island, so it’s not like she could go far.
One of the biggest drawbacks to staying on an island is the lack of firewood. Since we had time, Kevin and I jumped into the canoe and went to shore with my Silky saw to bring as much firewood back to the island as we could.
Ironically, we barely used the campfire that evening since a strong south wind caused the smoke to blow straight back onto us. Instead, we had a seat on the beach and watched the night sky until we decided to go to sleep.
August 26, 2026
Day 5 – Manitou Lake to Access Point #29 (Kiosk)
Distance Covered : 14.06km
Portages : 3 (1330m, 320m, 290m)
Total Portage Distance : 1940m
Total Time : 3:02hrs
During the previous evening, we had some serious concerns about the strong winds, which never let up – even by the time we went to sleep. If the winds got any worse, we would have to wait until they died down before leaving the island. According to the InReach, the winds would die down late the next day, which would mean we’d have to spend an extra day on the island.
Thankfully, our fears were put to rest in the morning as the winds seemed to calm down significantly.
Interestingly enough, just as we were about to leave, we had a visit from a park ranger who was checking permits. Of all the times we’ve camped in Algonquin, this was the first visit we’ve ever had.
We ended up leaving shortly after 10am, and within 30 minutes, we were at the portage which eventually led into Kiosk Lake. By the time we arrived at Kiosk, the rain clouds finally caught up to us and soaked us during the paddle back to the access point.
This was Momo’s fifth trip and her 16th day in the backcountry. She’s making great progress as a portage puppy. She’s now able to make the drive without throwing up, and she’s eating some food on each day of the trip. I’ll have to teach her not to pick up gear and maybe pack her toy as a diversion.
Notes from the Field
Platypus Quickdraw – The 1L dirty reservoir developed a leak during this trip. This was my fault since I left the empty reservoir attached to the filter and simply rolled it instead of detaching it and storing it separately. But in my defense, it’s a nuisance to detach the reservoir and then attach 2 separate end caps to the reservoir and filter each time.
After suffering two Kadadyn Befree leaks and now a Quickdraw reservoir leak, I’m really looking forward to the 2027 Hydrapak Flux+. It’ll essentially be a Befree with a nearly indestructible flex bottle and a larger filter with prefilter. It looks like it’ll use the same filter and prefilter as the Seeker+ 6L Gravity filter O tested a few weeks ago and if that’s the case, the new Flux+ could be a worthy successor to my Quickdraw.
Keen Newport – As of this trip, I’ve done over 21km of portages in these sandals and they’re amazing. My partner Kevin also uses Newports and I’ve noticed many others in Algonquin wearing these as well. I just wish I had gotten a different design/color than black.