Weekend in Ottawa

A couple weekends ago me, my girlfriend, and my roommates went to Ottawa for the weekend. The reason for the trip was to see one of my photographs in the Museum of Nature. The story behind why one of my pictures is in the Museum of Nature in Ottawa dates back to September 2016 when I found out I had won the youth category for the Canadian Geographic Wildlife Photography of the Year contest. The prize pack for this contest included among other things that my photo would be on display in the Museum of Nature. Due to the Canada 150 celebrations, my photo wasn't displayed until the beginning of January 2018 and is on display until May 2018. The photo that is on display is the first photo in this blog post. The title of the photo is Slow and Steady. The photo features a snail moving along a rusty pipe. The second photo is of the outside of the museum before you walk in the main doors. The museum is known to look similar to a castle and is known to have a giant jellyfish, both of which you are able to see in that photo. The third photo is of the beautiful stained glass that the museum has in most of its windows. The stained glass throughout the museum all have an animal theme too them. The fourth photo is of the staircase guests take to reach the upper floors of the museum. The photo is meant to show off the architecture of the museum and to show the jellyfish. The last photo is a butterfly. The museum currently has a live butterfly exhibit going on which you are able to walk through, I had a large number of butterfly's land on me as I was walking through.

A Wildlife-Packed Weekend at Murphy's Point Provincial Park

Our latest camping trip was to Murphy's Point Provincial Park on June 19–20. We stayed at site 197, which we'd stayed at before back in 2021. Murphy's Point is great as it's about a 1.5-hour drive from my home in Ottawa, and it's a well-managed and well-kept park. I find there are always people around, but it never books up fully, and the sites are spread far enough apart to make it feel private. We like site 197 as it's a bit on its own, and is right beside a water tap and a short walk to the vault toilets, or a bit longer walk to the comfort station if that's more your style. Once we had camp all set up, we wanted to go for a hike before it rained, as it was calling for scattered storms later that evening. Since my wife and I had been to this park before, we had done most of the trails except for Loon Lake (which is a loop) and McParlan House Trail (which is a there-and-back trail that branches off the Loon Lake Loop). My wife is pregnant, so we wanted som...

Godda and Booth Lake Trip Report: Algonquin Provincial Park Solo Trip

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...

Four Days, Ten Lakes, and a Thunderstorm: My Fall Canoe Trip in Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park

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 ...

Six Days Alone in Algonquin: Canoe Lake to White Trout and Back

Six Days Alone in Algonquin: Canoe Lake to White Trout and Back My first back country canoe trip of 2025 was to what is normally the busiest part of Algonquin. I left on May 4th from Canoe Lake and returned on May 9th to Canoe Lake. In between, I stayed on Rainbow, McIntosh, Misty, White Trout, and Sunbeam Lakes, each for one night. The total distance for the trip was 99.07 km, as recorded on Strava. The way I recorded my days on Strava didn’t differentiate between paddling and portaging, but I did roughly 36.03 km of portaging. I double-carried each portage, so I did each portage length three times. Waterfall between Timberwolf and Misty Lake Day One – Canoe Lake to Rainbow Lake: 12.18 km, 4 hours 17 minutes I recently got a new car this winter -a Chevy Equinox EV. Since this was my first time traveling with a canoe on the EV, I was interested to see how much it would affect my range. I left Ottawa at 98% and got to Bancroft with around 30%. From there, I charged ...

Oram Lake-Algonquin Park

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...

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