Iain Leitch Photography

My most recent trip to Algonquin Provincial Park was a short one-night stay on Oram Lake. This was my third back country trip of the year, but what made this trip important was that it was my wife’s first time going back country camping. We left Ottawa around 6:45 and, after a quick stop at A&W, hit the road to the park. We got to the Shall Lake access point just before 11 a.m., including a quick stop in Bancroft to charge our EV. The parking lot at the access point was full, so full that there weren’t any spots, and I had to make the trek up to the overflow parking lot. We got on the water around 11:20 a.m. and made it to the portage around 11:45 a.m. The landing for the 480 m portage into Oram Lake is nothing but mud. My wife sank up to her knees, and I managed to sink up to my mid-calf. The thing with this landing is that the ground looks very solid, but it’s far from it. After a lot of work freeing ourselves, we scrambled onto some rocks and made quick work of unloading the c...

 With Canada Day falling on a Tuesday this year, I figured I would make the most of it and take the Monday and Wednesday off to make myself a nice long weekend to go paddling in Algonquin Park. To me, there would be no better way to celebrate being Canadian than being eaten alive by bugs and getting sun burnt deep in the back woods. I had planned a five day trip for this long weekend staying one night on Pen Lake, two on Madawaska Lake, and then the final on Cyldegale Lake before heading back on Wednesday. Before I left, this seemed like a great plan but it was just not meant to be. Day 1  My first day of my trip started out great. I was on the water by 11am and only had a short 380 meter portage until I was on the lake I had booked for the night. I started off at the Rock Lake access point and had a nice paddle down the lake until I needed to turn West and was hit by a wall of wind and 2 foot high waves. I tried to battle through this, as all I needed to do was get around a p...

 My longest back country camping trip this year was into Algonquin Provincial Park. I went from September 16-19, 4 days and 3 nights. Originally my plan was to stay until the 20th but circumstances forced me to change my original route. Originally, I had planned on going from the Shall Lake Access Point(17) to Godda Lake for one night, then head down to Boot Lake for two nights, up to Booth Lake for one night, then home. However, during my first day, I realized that I had overestimated my capability to portage with a 75 pound canoe, and I had planned too long of a route. I altered my plans and instead spent two nights on Godda Lake and one night on Booth Lake.  Day 1: I got to the access point at 11:10am and had everything unpacked and loaded into the canoe by 11:25am. I made my way through Farm Lake (which has super clear water) to the first portage into Kitty Lake. The portage was only 100M and was the first of the trip. It took 10 minutes to double carry. I was able to do t...