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| Canoeing | 25.00 Miles |
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| | Canoeing | 25.00 Miles | 5 Days | | |
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| no partners | | Having enjoyed many of Michigan's rivers in day-rental aluminum canoes, my brother suggested we try something new. He had recently inherited a slick red "Old Town" fiberglass canoe and had done a little research. Algonquin Provincial Park - 2,955 square miles , 2,400 lakes connected by 745 miles of possible routes, and only one paved road. Formed by the same glacial activity that finished sculpting the Great Lakes 11,000 years ago, the land lies untouched, save for a few areas logged early in the century. Rolling ridges of bedrock, covered on the high ground with stands of Sugar Maple, Yellow Birch and Beech, slope down to the waters edge, upon which the Pine, Spruce and Balsam Fir thrive. By going late in the year, we would hopefully see some fall color and avoid the infamous black fly and mosquito season.
I was sold.
Our first day consisted of mostly driving, entering the park at Rain Lake and paddling 3 miles to the far end where we would spend the first night. The weather was perfect, no bugs and fall colors in the hardwoods - a great start.
The next morning was our first portage. I had fashioned brackets on our external frame packs for our paddles to act as yokes upon which to rest the upside-down canoe. It had worked O.K. in John's front yard before we left, but the trail was a combination of slope, mud, slippery rocks, and tree roots polished by years of foot traffic. I don't think we made it 100 yards before we ended up in a pile of packs, paddles, 1 canoe, and numerous expletives.
Plan B. Two trips per portage. Much better.
Once we got into the rhythm the process went smoothly. We had 7 portages that day, and canoed across 5 more lakes and a stretch of the Petawawa River before reaching our destination at Misty Lake in the evening. On a large island we found an awesome bluff facing the sunset for camp and put our feet up, exhausted. As far as we knew, we had the lake to ourselves, and the serenity was incredible. The gentle lapping of waves was joined by the haunting call of the Loon as twilight softened the view.
The next day was spent exploring our island on foot, as well as circumnavigating it in the Old Town. We had lunch on one of the two tiny islands across from our camp, checking out the enigmatic Inuksuk. Roughly translated, Inuksuk means "something that does the job of a human" in the Inuit language. Cairns often shaped like a person, they mark routes and locations in many northern countries. For a stack of rocks, some can have an amazing amount of personality.
After a light rain at night, we woke to find ourselves in deep fog. We packed up camp and pushed of into the white on water like glass. The shoreline and islands slowly materializing, then fading behind us. 
We traced our route back to Rain Lake, but camped on the opposite side this time. The fog was gone but the mirror remained, doubling our view of a nice sunset on our last night. |
| _____________________
The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar.
It was tense. |
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