Introduction
After doing a short but long backpacking trip the previous weekend in Point Grondine, I decided to take it easy and paddle a popular loop in Alqonquin Provincial Park. Any serious paddler would scoff at the idea of paddling this loop but it was one of those trips you had to do just once. My partner for this trip was my colleague Cagla. This would be her first time visiting Algonquin and it’d also be her first time canoe camping.
Day 1 – Canoe Lake to Burnt Island Lake
Monday, August 11, 2024
Distance : 18.2 km
The hardest part of the day was getting away from the clutches of traffic in the GTA. Despite picking up my partner at 7am in Brampton, it still took us some time to escape the city.
Around 5 hours later, we finally pushed off from the put-in at Canoe Lake and headed north. The weather was overcast with very intermittent showers and cooler temperatures. I brought along my semi-dry Kokatat dry suit just in case but one thing was certain during this trip. The rain would almost always start when I wasn’t wearing my suit and disappear the moment I finally put it on.
Despite it being mid August, the temperatures were fairly cool during this trip. Too warm for wearing a dry suit all day but quite chilly, especially in the evenings. Perhaps because of that (and our departure on a Monday), we didn’t encounter too many people during the day. The portage from Canoe Lake to Joe Lake is typically a popular chokepoint and resembles the Don Valley Parkway in the summer but we only saw a few other canoes and didn’t have to wait for our turn.
Once on Burnt Island, we had a few sites to choose from but eventually settled on a site across the bay from the portage which continued into the loop. It was around 6pm which gave us enough sunlight to dry some items before settling in for the night.
Day 2 – Burnt Island Lake to Little Doe Lake
Tuesday, August 12, 2024
Distance : 14.9 km
August is typically among the warmest months in Algonquin but the first evening was surprisingly quite cold. Despite bringing a quilt rated to zero degrees and a warm sleeping pad, I had to wear a light down jacket and toque to keep warm. I almost regretted not bringing my -9C bag.
Just like the previous day, day 2 was full of intermittent showers, light winds and portages. The first day involved 6 portages which were relatively short but day two had 8 which were noticeably longer but manageable.
Since I didn’t want my partner to miss out on the canoe camping experience, I had her participate in the fun by doing a few portages.
The last 3 portages of the day were pretty much one long portage. To our surprise, Kooy pond which was sandwiched between Willow and Bartlett lake had dried up. Thus making it 3 portages in succession. Of course Hana didn’t know and thought she could run across the smooth muddy remains of the pond and nearly got stuck.
The winds picked up quite a bit as we entered Tom Thomson Lake but it wasn’t long before we entered Littledoe Lake – our destination for the night. Unlike the previous day , we spent quite a bit of time looking for an open campsite and possibly took the very last one on the lake.
Upon arriving, we had a brief window of open skies to set up our tents and collect firewood before before it rained for most of the evening.
Day 3 – Littledoe Lake to Canoe Lake
Wednesday, August 13, 2024
Distance : 11.5 km
In order to try and beat Toronto rush hour on the drive home, we woke up at an early 7am so that we could start driving back by noon. Waking up early was fine because like the night before, it was quite cool and we didn’t get the best sleep. Hana wandered off and slept in my partners tent for both nights so I hope she was able to provide my partner some warmth.
I noticed an unusual and slightly infuriating trend on my canoe trips where the weather was usually great on the paddle out and this trip was no different.
By the time we reached canoe lake, the waters were fairly calm but at least it made for a quick paddle back to the put in.
Here’s a final pic of Hana with her favorite canoe pose. She loves the padded yoke pad just as much as I do on the portages!