Dates : June 30 to July 1, 2026
Total Distance Traveled: 9.2km
During a normal year, I would’ve spent around a dozen days in the backcountry by Canada Day.
This year, however, is different because I’m raising my new portage puppy, Momo. And while my previous puppy also went to Algonquin for her first backcountry trip, she was a year old compared to Momo, who was only four months.
Bringing a young puppy was full of risks, but at least I was able to bring Momo on two canoe day trips prior to this. Plus, I was in fairly familiar territory, having canoed and camped on Rain Lake three previous times.
Since it was just an overnight trip with my regular partner, Judy, we left Toronto at a leisurely 9:30am and arrived at the Rain Lake access point shortly after 2pm. While loading our canoes, we were quickly reminded that we were setting off during peak black fly and mosquito season. It was also then that I noticed I was missing my mosquito spray along with my paddling map. Thankfully, I brought my Thermacell and had maps loaded onto my phone.
Knowing how much Momo loved the water, I knew she’d make at least one attempt to jump out of the canoe. Since it was 30°C and she was wearing her PFD, I didn’t hesitate when she finally made her leap about 15 minutes into our paddle.
She quickly swam back and didn’t make another attempt for the rest of the trip. Once at our campsite, her fondness for digging holes combined with her wet fur turned her black in no time. Ironically, things were about to take a quick turn that would end up rinsing the dirt away.
“What is a Tornado?” was the question my (non native English speaking) partner Judy asked as she received an alert on her cell phone. After reading the alert, I calmly told her that this would likely be our last trip ever if a tornado hit our campsite. Being deep in Algonquin was probably one of the worst places to take shelter from high winds and a tornado!
A small glimmer of hope remained since the skies looked to be normal upon receiving that alert. But in less than an hour, a sudden weather front hit us like a wall of bricks. Winds went from zero to maybe 30 knots as the lake in front of us went from a mirror to white caps.
Thankfully, this happened at around 9pm which meant that we had already set up camp and had finished our dinner. Light rain started to fall as we were hanging our food bag and by the time we returned to camp, it turned into heavy rain. As I rushed to my tent, I only caught a glimpse of Momo as she ran towards Judys tent instead of mine. Perhaps because it was closer to our common area.
What happened over the next hour was pure mayhem. Lightning flashed every 10 seconds, followed by explosive bursts of thunder. The intervals between them became shorter as the storm neared our lake. My tent seemed fine, but I hadn’t chosen the best place to pitch it since water was pooling around me. But the biggest fear was having a tree fall on top of us. I could only lie there in the darkness and hope for the best.
By early next morning, the storm had long passed. The only evidence of that storm was the wet terrain and squeaky clean Momo.
But it was already quite warm at 7am and we knew it was going to be a scorching day so we quickly packed up and left. During the paddle back, Momo seemed to have found the perfect resting position. Her body was resting on the yoke with legs dangling below. The chin float on the PFD provided a perfect cushion for her little head.
Apart from the car sickness she suffers from, I think she thoroughly enjoyed this trip. The main concern now is getting her to eat. Her only meal during this trip was a huge helping of Montreal smoked meat. I can’t be feeding her that on every trip!