Dogbyte, Jake, Mike B & myself, headed to Whitefish Lake for a 4 nite interior stay.
This was my 2nd taste of interior winter camping, and was Mike's first. Both Jake & Dogbyte had done winter camping many times, yet this was a new area of The Park for all of us, to explore during the winter.
We had originally intended to camp near the falls where Pen Lake empties into Rock, but this proved to be too ambitious, so we settled for whitefish lake in the vicinity of the old saw mill ruins, along the old railway bike trail.
Keep in mind the pics are un-processed RAW images converted to JPEG...busy, busy, busy;
On with the pics(In no particular order);

Heading to Rock Lake on foot(snowshoe)


Dogbyte checking the Ice thickness on Rock Lake


We encountered an ice thickness of almost 14 inches


Jake, Mike B & Dogbyte pictured here, passing by the cliffs on Rock Lake on our way to the falls


Ice build-up on the falls at Pen/Rock Lakes


Dogbyte in the distance, as we head back up Rock Lake to our campsite on Whitefish Lake.


Mike B making breakfast...yummy!


Our campsite; heavily protected from winds, and approx. 40m from shore, hidden behind a ridge


wandering the Algonquin landscape near Speckled Trout Lake


We un-expectedly came upon the ruins of an old vehicle


Arrival at Speckled Trout lake(Daytrip)


Dogbyte explaining the unusual properties of the ice layering
on Speckled Trout Lake(More than 8 inches of ice thickness was discovered)


Heading back to our campsite, heavy snow began to fall


Minutes later the snowfall became extremely heavy, and very beautiful to traverse in.


A space is cleared in preperation for igloo construction


Jake getting ready to chronicle the event(Jake also took an amazing 18 minute night exposure...look for his beautiful shot soon!)


The first half hour...


after an hour...


after 90 minutes or so...


another shot...


Sunset...still going at it


After almost 3.5 hours the igloo was complete. Derek had reminded all of us, that he has done the same with less people, in a mere two hours. This time around, the snow was quite difficult to work with, as it was mostly ganular, and we had to work with only the top 3 or 4 inches of fresh snow. It was quite a time consuming task this time around.


Eating a hot meal in our "hot tent" after a long day of bush-whacking and igloo building.


Looking up Whitefish Lake, the cliffs to the right, are part of the Centennial Ridges trail


Mike B playing frisbee on Whitefish Lake


Dogbyte and Mike B on Whitefish Lake tossing the frisbee around


That'a an LED frisbee Dogbyte has there...cool


Playing "Wizard" one snowy night on Whitefish Lake


The finished product!


The gang in front of our creation


Would you believe the igloo held up under our weight? Over 700 lbs!!


Our site after take down...notice the boughs that lined our tent "floor"


Heading out via the old railway bike trail


Getting ready for our trek at Pog Lake campground


Arriving at the old sawmill ruins on Whitefish Lake


Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

Hey Markus,

From the photos I would have to assume you guys had a good time... Did anyone actually sleep in the igloo?


Sean (of Ajax)

Well done on the igloo boys. Spent last night sleeping in a quinze. Great sleep - so quiet.

Looks like you had a great Algonquin Adventure.

Cheers, Ben from the Wolf Den

Nice pictures, Markus! Looks like you guys had a great time and were quite active. That photo of Dogbyte explaining the ice layering looks like a field instructor of sorts:

"You will be tested on this material!"

I missed the class...can I copy your notes?

PaPaddler

Looks like you guys had a blast.

Thanks for sharing this with everyone.

very nice Markus and company

the igloo looked great, well done, soon you guys can charge for guide and survival courses

I had never done so much snowshoeing in my life. It was very tiring, but I felt great for the most part.

To answer your questions;

Sean of Ajax: Yes, Mike B and Jake slept in it one night. I'm a hot tent suck now, so no igloo for me, at least that time around, and yes it was a blast!

Ben: Yup we did have a great time, Dogbyte was the igloo commander and the rest of us were the grunts....he had brought his igloo building tool along and the rest was hours of shoveling and packing of snow.

PaPaddler: Dogbyte is a pretty knowledgeable person, as is everyone else in the group. Often when we go bushwhacking together, Someone will find something of interest, and we gather together to share our knowledge, question, discuss implications upon certain aspects of that subject, wheather it be a tree species, fish & wildlife, logging, etc. I myself feel fortunate to have met such knowledgeable and interesting people, it makes tripping all the more enjoyable from the education I receive while in the presence of great company.

Ryan & Julian: The credit for the igloo goes to Dogbyte, he was the one that organized and got us into gear to do the igloo thingy.
It was hard work, but fun. Just as we had taken down our tent, Dogbyte was joking, "let's stay another night." I think we would've, if we had the time to.

Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

Nice report! Looks like you guys had a great time. I gotta try this winter camping thing! Next year!!

Marcus

my favourite winter activity in the park is skate skiing on the lakes, ten days ago could not do this on Smoke, snow was deep and under the snow the ice was soft and slushy, no good, for my particular addiction

in your pictures the ice looks solid with a shallow amount of snow on top, is this true?

this would be perfect for me if it were

Hi Bruce,

not true, your first observation is correct though.
There is quite a bit of snow on the lakes. Whitefish, Rock & Speckledtrout Lakes had lots of snow...mostly 6-8 inches of snow & 1 foot in places.
sometimes 2 feet or more...especially on WhiteFish.
A few weeks ago, I encountered the same conditions on Opeongo, in Sproule Bay.
We just picked a spot where there was bare ice, on Rock lake, to dig a hole. There werne't many of them either.

I know what you mean though, Last year we could've skated anywhere in The Park, not so this year.
I hope to bring my skates next year! Would make travel a little quicker.

Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

I might also add, we snowshoed across the lakes.
more than enough snow for that! We tried doing it in just boots...too cumbersome..the snowshoes worked out much better.

Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

Marcus,

From the photo of breakfast it appears the woodstove you are cooking on has no hole to accomodate a cookpot. Is this true? How efficient would you say the stove is for cooking?
The reason I ask is that I have built myself a woodstove and am pondering whether I need to cut a cook hole in the top or not for better cooking.

Did you guys walk in from Pog along the bike trail, or did you end up using the Rock Lake road afterall?

I'm going up for a 3 night solo next week, and am still contemplating driving the Rock lake road.

Plan on staying somewhere near the Barclay estate.

PS, hear any wolf howls??

Bruce - The top layer of snow is definitely windpacked enough that you should be able to skate ski. Like Markus said, there is still about 6" of snow.

Dale - Cooking hole's a must have. I put two holes on my stove (which you can't see on the pics) and with the combo of a damper and a sizeable draft opening, I have no problems cooking on it. It does take longer to cook everything but in the winter, you're never in a rush. Boiling water can take as little as 7 minutes at peak efficiency.

Btw, how big is your stove and what size of pipe are you using?

Kevin - We took the railway trail from Pog to the southern tip of Whitefish Lk (public access is not allowed on Rock Lake Rd). On our day trip, it was apparent that people still drove to the campground though and did day-trips from there.

If I were you, I wouldn't risk driving the Rock Lk road with the logging truck traffic on that road. As a matter of fact, I'd go as far as advising you against that area coz there is active logging. You will hear loggers and logging trucks if you set-up camp near Rock Lake campground, like we did. We didn't really mind it but for some this can ruin your experience.

If you do decide on camping on the Barclay Estate area, that is indeed a nice area (did that route last winter). From Pog lake (you pulling a sled?), this is a sizeable hike at almost 13km one way. From the Rock lake campground, it's only about 5-6km.

And no, we didn't hear any wolves.

Great trip report. It looks so peaceful and quiet up there this time of the year.

Thanks

Jkr, thanks for the stove info. My stove is a 10 x 12 x 18" with a 3inch pipe. I use it in a 10 x 10foot tent made by Atuk that I bought last year. It is efficient enough in that size of tent but with the lack of snow around here last year I didn't get a chance to get to the cooking stage with the stove. Haven't done any winter camping this year either.

Dale

So where do you get the hot tents? And the small stoves?

Any info is appreciated

Thanks in Advance

Chris

Thanks for the info Jake.

I heard there was logging going on the area, but didn't realize the road was officially closed, I thought it was more of a use at your own risk thing, cause we won't save you if you get stuck...

I was planning on bringing a light sled, but will be cold tenting so the weight won't be that bad. If I do end up going in at Pog lake (never thought of entering that way actually!) it looks like I might have an already made trail to follow, courtesy of you guys!!

I'm still undecided on the route, I guess I'll wait and see what the forcase is calling for before deciding for sure. Gotta make sure there will still be snow!!

How come you guys decided against Opeongo? Too much slush?

Gentlemen:
I can't tell you how many times I've looked at Marcus' pictures over the last few days, particularly the igloo shots.
Anyway, a couple of questions came to mind about your experience:
1. Where and how did you store your food ? I know that bears can poke their heads out of their hibernation sports once in a while.
2. An earlier post had mentioned the possibility of skate skiing - I have classics, and was wondering if the lakes you travelled on were smooth enough for them.
3. How long did it take to get a supply of wood for the stove together ?


Foxco
Somewhere in the
Georgian Triangle
Ontario

Chris - google wall tents...

Kevin - Yeah, we decided against Ope due to slush. We also didn't want to limit our day-tripping options by going there.

Foxco
1) Most food was stored in the tent. No need to worry about bears, they are sleeping. They are indeed not true hibernators (as in they don't shut down their metabolism completely) but they also don't walk around looking for food this time of year. There is a small chance you could run into small critters this time of year, but I've never experienced any problems in all of my trips.

2) Classic skiing would work (75mm and wider).

3) Between the 4 of us, it took anywhere b/w 30min and 1hr to gather wood. It all depends on how long and how hot you want the stove burning AND also how big of a reserve you want to have available. We usually got enough wood to cover supper and breakfast.

bump..BRyce wanted to see the hot tent set-up.
From a trip in end of Feb/March 2007.



Mark Rubino
Mark's Algonquin Park Sampler - Blog
Mark's Algonquin Park Sampler

http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry

Hey Markus .... Thanks for the Bump!

I had read Mike's trip log on this account, but not read your account of the trip. The hot tent looks great, and I am anxous to try it out. Just let me know when and where, and what to bring! I'm off to Mew this weekend, still deciding on the trail to try. Looks like SBA, Jeffrey and Andrew will be joining me. Interested?

Jeff P
http://algonquincanoeing.blogspot.com/

That looks like a lot of fun. Just tell me when we're going and I'm there . Btw I haven't seen Jkr around much.. what's up with that?



Jeff

--

Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry - abrweb.ca

My Algonquin Park Map - Accurate, Detailed, Free

Thanks for the offer, Jeff P, but I have too much too do this weekend. I will keep in touch.
Jake is a busy guy. I'm sure he'll be back...he is around, just a busy fellow.
I saw him last week, as he gave me his 'old' stove. He is nearing completion of his new 'lightweight' stove.






Mark Rubino
Mark's Algonquin Park Sampler - Blog
Mark's Algonquin Park Sampler

http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry

me here....just nuttin to post as of late so i'm quiet

and yes, i've been working on a new stove. i'll post some pics once it's done in hopes of inspiring your summer go-ers to try out winter tripping.

mark mentioned doing a trip this winter. yeah, i'd be interested. just gotta work out dates. i have already a bunch of trips set up for the winter, though they are outside of algonquin.