Trip Report – Mother’s Day 2009

Today marked the 4 month anniversary of my mom’s death but instead of moping about all day…I went to Algonquin to enjoy a place her and I both loved.

It was a cool day in the park and this morning the campers woke up to snow on their picnic tables! Yes…I said snow! After stopping at the park gate to get my day pass I headed to the Visitor’s center…and I hoped to see a moose on the way through. No moose but a nice visit to the museum none the less.

After the museum I headed to the lookout trail which is one of mom’s favorites. Be warned…the trails are still quite boggy due to the spring run-off. The view as always is gorgeous and you can see things starting to turn green! The trail itself was in pretty good condition and lightly travelled.

After the lookout trail I headed to the Hemlock Bluff trail. This trail should be named the Hemlock Swamp trail. There is tons of wet muddy areas that you have to go through. I had forgotten how long that trail is. The trail takes you to a lookout overlooking the Madawaska River and then down beside a lake. It really is a gorgeous trail.

All in all it was a great day in the park and I look forward to doing more as the summer progresses. The bugs are just starting to come out now but they aren’t that bad yet because it has been too cold.

I took a ton of pictures and you can find them at : http://tinyurl.com/pvr8ra

Happy Mother’s day to all the mom’s out there!

~Enjoy your trip

Alcohol Ban

Just a reminder before you go camping on the May long weekend, there is an alcohol ban in effect!

Follow this link for more: http://newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2009/05/c8593.html

In other news…I’m off to Algonquin for my first day trip of the season. In honor of my mother (who passed away in January) I’ve decided to spend the day with my brother in the place that she loved! We spent many a summers there and I know that if she could join us she would!

Happy Mother’s Day

~Enjoy your trip

Ice Update 2009

As of April 25th all of the lakes along the Hwy 60 corridor (including opeongo) are open and accessible! Not to sure about the interior lakes but most should be open! Be careful when accessing some of the access roads though as they are pretty muddy! So take the opportunity and go canoeing!

~Enjoy the trip!

Spring is here…but so is the snow!

Well it may be April but we are getting one heck of a snowstorm right now!  Some of the lakes around the Kawartha’s are starting to thaw but it will still be a good couple of weeks til the canoes can go in.

I know its been a while since I posted last but there has been a lot of tragedy in my life lately.  My mom passed away in January suddenly so I’ve been taking time off for that.  I also started school in the fall so that has kept me pretty busy.

I only know of 1 trip that I’m taking this year but the route hasn’t been planned yet.

Have you planned your trips yet?  If so where are you headed?

~enjoy your trip!

Canoe Trip 2008

We went on our canoe this week from Smoke Lake to Parkside Bay.  We had 8 people 5 kids and 3 adults.  It was crazy but fun!  Let me tell you teaching kids how to do a canoe trip properly is an interesting task.

We left Monday at around 11am.  We were able to put in at Smoke lake by 1pm after lunch at the Portage Store.  Paddling up smoke lake wasn’t that hard…the wind was with us.

When we got to the portage we had to make a couple of trips(first timers always pack to much).  Just as a side note…the portage to Ragged Lake from Smoke lake is a steep climb.  If you are going that way you should plan to do it in two trips…one for the canoe the second for the packs.  When we got to Parkside Bay we got an awesome site.  We had a whole Island to ourselves.  The site was nice and big up top and there was a great swimming area.  Lots of firewood was available as well.

We had 3 benches and table and a prep table on our site.  There was a grill left as well.  Parkside Bay ended up being quiet area.  There was hardly any canoe traffic.  It was a really pretty spot.  On Tuesday we got a huge thunderstorm after dinner which made it impossible to do anything.  I ended up in my tent reading the hobbit.

All in all it was a good trip….a little windy on Smoke lake on the way home.  That was very frustrating but I got through it.  Next year we are looking at doing Rain Lake to Jubilee.  I’m a little sunburnt but I had a great time!

~Enjoy your Trip

First trip of the year!

I have just come back from my first camping trip of the season. I went to Canisbay for a nice quiet time with just my ipod, sirius radio and a good book or two. It was quite relaxing.

While there I have discoverd that there is a new type of pine tree growing along Hwy 60. Particularly at the Whiskey Rapids trail. I took a photo so that you can see this new type of tree….

This is the Cell Phone Tower Pine tree. I’m only showing you this so that you don’t drive off the road from laughing too hard!

I did see two female moose this trip which was nice….hopefully my moose count will rise higher than last year.

A word to the wise…..the bugs are horrible!! If you are going camping make sure that you are well prepared with bug spray. I was dousing my self every couple of hours. The water at Canisbay is nice…not sure about the rest of the lakes.

Just as a side note…it is the Friends of Algonquin’s 25th anniversary this year. Check out the special section in the Algonquin Park Paper which you can find at the park gates.

Thats it for now
~Enjoy your trip

Spring is finally here!

Over the last couple of days the Algonquin region has finally welcomed in the warmth of spring!  The snow is melting and the rivers are running high.  The ice has not yet gone out on my lake but I will keep you updated that way you can get that canoe finally in the water.  Don’t forget the reservations line is officially open for back country reservations!

Enjoy your trip!

Spring is Here!

Its struggling to start to get warm but its coming!  Yesterday we got a bit of snow up here but we were able to melt it away today.  The sun is expected all weekend and that is good news for those of us who are looking forward to the canoeing and Hiking in Algonquin.  I can’t wait til I can go camping again!  Just a reminder that you can reserve your campsites starting April 1st.

Enjoy your trip!
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Now playing: Carly Simon – Carly Simon – Its too late baby
via FoxyTunes

New Website!

Ok so the website is up and running.  The whole thing is built.  I have to wait a bit til I can get a domain name but feel free to browse the site and input your route suggestions!  There will always be changes and updates so keep posted and check in often!

http://awalkinalgonquinpark.bravehost.com/home.html

~Enjoy your trip

Blogged with Flock

The Website!

Last post I told you that I was building a website.  The bare bones of the site are up and running.  I’m constantly working on the site so updates are often.  Some pages aren’t working yet as I haven’t built them yet.   The site is located at:

http://awalkinalgonquinpark.bravehost.com/Home.html

I’m hoping to get my own domain name soon…..just waiting on finalizing the site a bit more!

~Jenn