My last backcountry canoe trip of the year was to Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. This was my first time in the park. I started the trip on October 4–7. The trip comprised 43.51 km total, of which 13.6 km was portaging. I double-carried each portage, which meant I ended up walking each one three times. Day 1. I left Ottawa around 7 a.m. and drove to Madoc, where I charged my car for about 20 minutes. I got to the access point around 10:45 a.m. After unpacking the car and parking, I got on the water around 11 a.m. Long Lake is a very pretty lake and sure lives up to its name. You essentially go straight for a long time until you hit Loucks Lake. It would be impossible for anyone to get lost on Long Lake as it’s super narrow. Loucks Lake has a bunch more cottages than Long Lake did, which made finding the first portage a bit of a challenge. It ended up being right beside someone’s cottage which, as someone used to Algonquin, I found a bit odd. However, before I got to my first ...
The second hike of the day was in Charleston Lake Provincial Park. The write up of the first hike can be found here . This park is mainly front-country camping but has a few backcountry campsites along this trail. The trail is 10 km long, but due to how busy the trailhead parking lot was, I had to park 600 m away at a different trailhead and walk back to the trailhead. The first section of the trail is shared with the Quiddity Trail, which is a short 600 m trail that leads to a lookout. The first maybe 400 m or so is wheelchair accessible, as it is a bed of level, smooth gravel with two boardwalk sections. Once you get to the Tallow Rock Bay Trail, it splits in two as the trail is a loop—you can choose either side to go down. I picked the side closest to Charleston Lake to start with, for no other reason than the fact that a couple had picked the opposite side a short while ago and I didn’t want to follow them. I recommend you pick this side of the trail to start with first, as ...