Algonquin West
Dave and Helen Damouth
www.damouth.org
August 14-18, 1984
We entered Algonquin Provincial Park, in central Ontario, at access point #3 (Magnetawan Lake) on August 14. Driving time from Rochester, NY to access point #3 is about 6.5 hours, including almost an hour of slow gravel road between highway 11 and the launch point. Our route was: day 1: Hambone Lake, Petawawa River, Misty Lake; day 2: Timberwolf Lake, McIntosh Lake; day 3: McIntosh Cr., Trout Lake, Big Trout Lake; day 4: Tim River, Queer Lake; day 5: Little Trout Lake, Butt Lake, Hambone Lake, Magnetawan Lake.
This entailed about 5 hours per day of travel, except day 2 which was about 2 hours and day 4 which was 11 hours! This route is down-current on the Petawawa and McIntosh and up-current on the Tim. Next time, I would reverse the route since the current on the Tim is substantially stronger than the other two. The wind, of course, was always in our face no matter which way we were going. (We had three days of East and North winds, which seems quite unusual). The first two days were hot and humid with thunder storms, just like Rochester was during that period. We were drenched within 10 minutes after leaving the launch point. Then we had a day of nice weather, followed by a stormy front from the North, followed by cold dry clear air from the North. The Tim River is very nice. It feels very remote, and we only saw one other canoe in a long day. In a number of spots, a combination of current, narrow creek, and sharp bends gives interesting practice in canoe handling, particularly for our long-waterline zero-rocker canoe. The river goes partly through extensive swamp and partly through coniferous forest. Multiply the map distance by a factor of two or so to estimate distance and time - these creeks are the twistiest things you'll ever see.
Wildlife was abundant: We saw four moose, all of which seemed quite unafraid of people. We drifted the canoe to within about 75 feet of a cow and calf who were standing in a swamp eating pickerel weed and ignoring us. On another occasion, we rounded a corner on a portage late in the evening and found ourselves face to face with a bull moose, who was calmly standing in the middle of the path eating leaves off the trees. Seeing them in a zoo doesn't prepare you for this - those things are BIG! He ignored a variety of shouting, arm waving, etc. It eventually occurred to me to bang on the side of the canoe I was carrying, which finally induced him to leave - along the path ahead of us. We spent the rest of the one-mile portage wondering if he was waiting for us around the next bend.
On the Tim River, we stopped to investigate a commotion in the grass on the creek bank. When we got within a few feet, three otter exploded out of the grass, dived under the canoe, and came up on the other side with their necks stretched high out the water. They spent quite a while snorting and growling at us, as though to chase us away. One day we stopped for lunch at an empty campsite and discovered a grouse(??? pheasant-sized, chicken-shaped, mostly black-and-white spotted) sitting on a stump presiding over three little ones who were running around the clearing hunting for food. They didn't leave until after we had walked into the clearing, spread our food, and started to eat.
We also saw a couple of beaver, several large water birds (herons and ??), lots of loons, a raccoon who visited our campsite and seemed to expect a handout, and a very persistent mouse who kept trying to steal food while we were cooking after dark. The park literature says they have timber wolves. We saw some droppings that looked like dog, but didn't see or hear any wolves. We didn't take fishing gear. Everyone else seemed to be fishing, and some were having success.
We hit the peak of the blueberry season, although the crop is relatively sparse this year. Many of the blueberry bushes had been heavily browsed during the winter, so that in some places only the hidden and protected bushes were big enough to bear fruit. Blueberry pancakes made with lots of fresh wild fruit, served with warm maple syrup, is enough justification for the whole trip. (Easily dissolved granulated maple sugar is available - you don't have to carry syrup).
Mosquitos were only a problem on a few of the wetter portages. In a few spots, a persistent and aggressive deer fly was a problem (and I got a couple of large unpleasant bites)
All the campsites had fireplaces (informal piles of stones), most had metal cooking grates, and in the more popular areas the sites had a one-hole outhouse.
The park was crowded (this is undoubtedly the peak season). Every site on Misty Lake was full by 5 pm. Even Big Trout Lake, which is two days and several portages from the nearest access, had perhaps half of its 34 (!) sites filled. The small lakes, and the sites along the creeks, were usually empty
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