Shortly after my wife and I graduated university, we wanted
to learn to canoe and to do a canoe trip. We had no idea how do to any of this,
but since we just graduated, we decided to learn how ... from books. We read up
on canoe tripping, gear needed, and etc. We had heard of Algonquin Park and
thought that would be an exciting place to go.
On our very first canoe trip, we set off from Canoe Lake and
I had a book on the bottom of the canoe and I read how to do a J-stroke as we
weaved down the lake. Our first little trip was a success and the next year we
bit off a bigger challenge. We would take a week’s vacation and paddle the
popular route from Canoe Lake up the Burnt Island and onto Big Trout Lake. We
would return via to 2.5 km portage to Tom Thompson Lake.
This route took us 7 days to complete. Not being overly
familiar with portaging, we tandem carried the canoe across all the portages.
We cooked off of fires, because that’s what you did back then (as well as drink
right from the lakes). The misery and agony of the 2.5 km portage has been
blocked from my mind.
This year is 30 years since that trip. We, hopefully, have
come a long way in our tripping ability since that trip. Our skills in
paddling, portaging, planning, and packing developing over the years through
courses, paddling with others, and experience. We decided to do the trip again
to commemorate its 30th anniversary.
This time we would do it in 4 days. We did not want the
crowds of the summer so we decided on June, though we knew the bugs would be
bad. That’s ok. We have toughened over the years. We knew we had the skills for
the trip, the question was, do we still have the stamina? We both turned 54
this year and although we keep in good shape, there are frequent and long
portages along this route.
We left early in the morning and drove to the Canoe Lake
access, got our permits, had lunch and were on our way. The day was sunny and
warm. We paddled the 13 km to Burnt Island Lake, doing the 4 portages to get
there, without much problem. Easy peasy! We got into camp around 5 pm, set up
the bug tent, had dinner, and relaxed.
Day 2 had us covering 21 km to Big Trout Lake. This involved
6 portages for a total of just over 2 ½ km. This we seemed to do with surgical
precision. We moved along at a good pace and were quite good at banging off
each portage. We arrived where we had planned to camp at 4 pm and felt so good
we decided to keep going. We paddled another hour into White Trout Lake making
our distance for the day 25 km. We were rewarded by seeing 2 moose. We didn’t
have a reservation to camp on White Trout Lake, but we had seen no one else all
day and saw no activity on any campsite. I’m over it. We felt good about the
day and were now anticipating a big day tomorrow.
Day 3 was the big challenge, the 2 ½ km portage from Ink
Lake to Tom Thompson Lake. It had started to rain in the early morning but
thankfully stopped by the time we were loading the canoe. We warmed up for the
big portage by completing 2 portages of 660m and 490m, had lunch and then arrived
at the 2 ½ km portage. Our plan was to do it in 4 sections with rests in
between. We put on some fresh bug juice, zipped up the bug jackets and started
our trek.
We were pleasantly surprised at our pace and our ability. We
finished the portage in 2 ½ hours. Not bad at all for 2 aging paddlers. We felt
good when we finished and paddled past Tom Thompson Lake and camped on Little
Doe Lake. Though overcast all day, it never did rain on us. An omen of good
luck?
We arrived in camp at 5 pm ending another 25 km day, tired
but feeling pretty good that after 30 years we still had some spark. The next
day was an easy 10 km paddled back to Canoe Lake and our car.
It was nice to know that we still had the ability to do a
more challenging trip with longer days and longer, more frequent portages. This
certainly opens up a world of possibly for future canoe tripping routes.
Wayne
No comments:
Post a Comment