Iain Leitch Photography

I spent a day hiking a cluster of trails off of the Basin Depot Road in Algonquin Provincal Park. My day started at the Charles Lafleaur Homestead trail and ended at Buck Lake, which is a drive-in backcountry campsite. In between, I hiked three more trails and stopped to check out a historic building at Basin Depot.  The Charles Lafleur Homestead The first trail of the day was a short 0.88km round-trip trail, accessed just off of Basin Depot Rd. There's a small grass parking lot right off the road,  the trail itself is cut grass that runs from the parking lot to the historical homestead. At the homestead, there are a few decaying buildings alongside two log cabins that are being maintained. The buildings are locked, and there isn't anything to see through the windows. A few dozen signs scattered around the homestead, telling you about the history of the place.  Historic homestead building. Whispering Winds (Egg Rock) The second trail of the day was Whispering Winds (Egg R...

During the month of March, I went out twice to take photos, though only one trip produced anything worth posting. The second trip was more of a bird identification outing. I was hoping to add some new species to my life list, but came up empty.  The first trip, however, was more successful. The opening photo was taken at Rideau Falls in Ottawa. I've visted before on my bike in the summer, but this was the first time visiting in the winter and with my camera. It would have been nice to have my ND filter and a tripod along, but made do with what I had.  The remaining photos in this post are from Bates Island, which straddles the border between Ontario and Quebec. It is a well known spot for surfing during the summer, due to the standing waves, which is what the second photo is of. The third photo is of a Bald Eagle. I had been scanning the water for birds and the trees for owls, when my wife spotted a large bird perched at the top of one of the trees. After circling the tree for...

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 ...