Iain Leitch Photography

 McManus Lake was glass calm on my most recent canoe trip. There wasn't a single bit of breeze, but yet it wasn't too hot either. It was the perfect canoe tripping day.  I started my most recent canoe trip from access point 21: McManus Lake. This was going to be a short trip, with just one night day on Smith Lake before heading home again.  I made to the access point around 10am after a brief 15- minute stop in Pembroke to add a little extra range to my car. The road in was delightful to drive on as it had just been graded recently, so it was smooth sailing. I made the mandatory stop at the Sand Lake Gate to register and was on my way again in no time. After turning off of the Barron Canyon Road onto the McManus Lake road, the road quality went down slightly. The road itself was fine for the most part with only a few washboard sections, but the biggest change was how narrow the road got at times, only wide enough for a single car.  Once I had everything loaded into t...

 My brother and I would always go camping as a family when we were kids. Since we've grown up, we still try to go camping together when we can, which averages out to about once per summer. However, this had all been front country camping (car camping). We had never been back country camping together before, so it was time.  When we were planning, we wanted something in the middle of where we each live. Because I'm in Ottawa and he is near Kitchener, we figured that Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park would be a good bet. It's a bit more developed than Algonquin and was only about a three-hour drive for each of us.   I left home around 7 am and got to the EV charger in Madoc around 9:20. I charged for a bit up to 88% and then made it to the access point on Long Lake around 11:20. My brother showed up around 11:50 as he hit some traffic going around Toronto.  We loaded up the boat and were on the water by 12. Our campsite for the night was on Sparkler Lake, it's a ...

 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 ...