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June 29th I returned from The Park, from a ten day semi-solo trip in Algonquin Park’s north end. This is by far my favorite section of The Park. It is vast and I still have many, many areas of that section to explore. I had been warned online by folks connected to the net near the park, by folk artist Mendelson Joe over telephone(lives just outside Algonquin), and Park staff that the bugs were “really bad”. Arriving at the launch point at access#27, I was greeted to grey overhanding cloud, and a dampness in the air. The bugs were just as ‘friendly’ as I remember, both blackflies and skeeters were out and greeting me warmly. I loaded up and waiting almost 30 minutes to see if my friend “Swede” was going to show. No show, so off I went, paddling up Cedar Lake, planning to Camp three nites on Carl Wilson Lake. Read more

So. Earlier this week, Environment Canada predicted a hot summer for much of Canada in 2008. I say bring it on! Right from the get-go, the very first day of summer, I’ll be kicking off a 10 day trip in Algonquin Park’s north end. In July, I have another two trips planned, three more in August and one long one in September, to the tune of 16 days solo, or there abouts. I love the heat and look forward to this summer. Then there is Autumn…hopefully, we’ll have an Indian summer as well.

 

Yesterday, I returned from a 10 day trip into Algonquin Park’s north end. The North end is my favourite area of The Park, however I was about to experience a section of that area, that I had never been to before. Many pleasant surprises were in store for me and my friend Mike B. What was really great, was that we were staying in a restored ranger cabin, The “Birchcliffe Cabin” on Birchcliffe Lake. It is not easy to reach the cabin and suspect that it would be near to impossible to reach it in a hot summer. My friend Mike B & I spent two days getting to the cabin. First, launching from access#1, and paddling down the Amable du Fond River to North Tea Lake, then thru a few portages and into Biggar Lake for one night. The next day, we paddled up the Birchcliffe creek to the cabin on Birchcliffe Lake. We found that even paddling tandem, there were some sections that were extremely difficult to overcome thru simple canoe navigation.

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A good Algonquin friend of mine, Jeffrey McMurtrie, has released his own version of a Canoe Map for Algonquin Park and the surrounding region. Jeffrey urges anyone who would download this map to continue to support the Friends of Algonquin Park, either through donations or continued purchases of their map. I have set-up a mirror of the larger JPEG version of the map for download from my main website. Great for viewing online at home. You can download the file here(right-click to save to your desktop). For more information and legal stuff, visit Jeffrey’s website here.

Last weekend, I was at Rock Lake(In Algonquin Park of course). I had the opportunity, to meet up with some friends both new and old, who share a love of Algonquin Park. Bo Knows and Sheila, were there, and if you take a peek at the photos or slideshow section, you’ll see the mess of Brook Trout they caught. There is nothing in this world, like fresh, and I mean FRESH trout, cooked over an open fire. “Stainless” was there too, and he filleted Dave’s catch, which was also a brookie. “Jeff P”, a newcomer to our fellowship, was content to remain on the island, while we fished(I had no luck..as usual!), although he did go for a spin in his bright and shiny new Langford canoe….ahhhh Langford…okay back to writing; The Swede dropped by for another one of his famous late night drop-ins. This is becoming a habit for Swede, a dangerous one, but one that he is exceedingly good at. Paddling at night, with overcast conditions and just after ice-out, makes me squeamish thinking about it. We were all concerned for him, and although he is an adult and can make his own decisions, we couldn’t help but wonder if he was OK, and that maybe we should’ve just clunked him over the head, and put him to bed for the night, safe on solid ground. No clunking occurred and Swede made it back okay. I took another friend of mine, “Jeffrey”, who was just as excited as I was, to be back in The Park. I must admit though, that I’m a little jealous of his upcoming trip, which is a 31 day affair. Oh to be tucked away, deep in the highlands for a month straight! Watch out for the blackflies at the end of May! I’m off later this week myself on another trip, a 10 day trip with my friend Mike Burns and with Swede. Swede planned this upcoming trip, and invited us along. What is really unique about this trip over any other trip I’ve done in Algonquin Park, is we will be staying for 7 nights in a back country cabin! Yeah that’s right, a cabin, spoiled or what? Hey we deserve a relaxing trip for once…one where we can sleep at night and be warm and dry and comfortable, and bug free…should be fun! HA HA

With exactly one week to go until the first Algonquin Park canoe trip of 2008, I thought I had better get off my butt and get moving! The weather was an awesome 24°C and nothing but pure sunshine. I jumped in my car and went shopping. New tacklebox, lots of lures, leaders, swivel-snaps, fishing line, etc. Fresh batteries, bailey’s(for morning coffee), etc, etc. I then spent the afternoon, crimping my new lures, making them “barbless”, sorting thru my new tackle box. Checking the yoke and thwart on my canoe, I discovered the thwart that I reach out and hang onto while I portage the canoe, was loose. Tightening one nut, I moved onto the next one…*snap!* It was a steel bolt, and rusted and it broke(why the original canoe manufacturer didn’t use brass…I don’t know!), luckily, I had some spare bolts, and was able to fix it in a jiffy. Next I inspected my paddles, and the foam pads & tie-downs for the canoe. The foam pads were still pliable, and the stitching on the tie-downs was still intact. I replaced the batteries in my back-up flashlight in the bailer kit. Last week I had my vehicles’ tires rotated and the oil changed…….With all the safety checks and gear preparations for this year’s travels, I am good to go! Seven more days…the long wait is almost over!

  

 

 

 

 

Spring is here! Yup, in my books, it is now spring. This past week has seen sustained gradual warming temperatures, and when I stuck my head out the window this morning, for the first time this year, I smelt that earthy, dewy, fresh smell of spring. The first real sure sign that things are growing again.

Hooray for Spring!

Here is another vintage Algonquin Park Map. Produced by Canadian National Railways in 1922. This map is one of the better quality old maps out there, showing not only old roads and portages, but phone lines as well, as they existed at that time. Under sections 6.1 and 12 of the Canadian Copyright Act, this map is deemed public domain and is free and available for download on the main website, in the “Extras” section. On the back of the map is a travel-guide produced by CNR, to compliment the map. Both the map and travel guide are available in actual size and half size downloads. Please feel free to mirror any maps, to help reduce the load on the server hosting markinthepark.com.  Read more

Although this blog entry about becoming smoke free isn’t about Algonquin Park, it is because of Algonquin Park, that I write this entry. One year, and one week ago, I was winter interior camping in Algonquin Park with three friends. We snowshoed in about 4 or 5 km’s, set-up camp, and for the next four nights, had The Park to ourselves. We explored the surrounding forest, a couple of lakes, some falls, built an igloo, and had an otherwise great time,while camping out in our hot tent. During all of this, I smoked cigarettes. I had been smoking for about 25 years, minus a 10 month break in 2004. I’m definitely not proud of smoking for such a length of time, and can’t imagine the amount of damage I have done to my lungs. It was during our trip last year at the end of February, that we would be sitting in our hot tent, with the temperature a stifling +30°C inside, while outside it was -27°C, and I would sneak outside for a quick smoke. The amount of hacking I was doing, just for a few drags of that smoke was enough to make anyone cough up their kidneys never-mind their lungs! My urge to smoke amid the hacking and coughing in the cold temps got so bad, that I was hacking and coughing much more than I was smoking. I’m sure I looked the pathetic sight standing there in the cold killing myself.

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Blahhhhhh. Bring on March!

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