My brother John and I took a walk in the Park last week. Where did we end up? Hint: Bo knows (at least he would have us believe).

hahahaha...Bo Knows knows this lake, but I won't spoit it for others.
How long of a walk did it take to get there????


Bo

I had no doubt you would recognize it, Bo. It really is a beautiful lake and it was a wonderful day for a walk in the woods last Friday. The bugs didn't show up in any numbers until on the way back to camp as the day warmed up, and even then they weren't serious about biting. It took us about two hours to cover what we estimate was something over two and a quarter miles one way (counting ups and downs).

We knew of an old logging road on a 1987 topo that we have, but it was getting pretty alder choked when we checked out the start of it in the early '90's. At that time, around fifteen years ago, it looked like the only thing keeping it open were the moose. Strategizing about it now, it looked like that old logging road would take us about twice as long, about 4 miles or so, to get there. So, we chose to take our chances on the shortest line from the nearest official canoe route and bushwack in.

Most of the way turned out to be pretty easy going through lovely, open hardwood forest, although we did have to navigate around an old beaver pond and scramble through some spruce blowdown in places. Along the way we discovered another, even older logging road that followed a valley route that would be a likely candidate for an alternate if it wasn't so choked with alders, spruces and deadfall at this point (I suspect this older road may be the route others have taken in the past, unless they opted for the 4 mile hike along the more recent logging road).

In any case, now that we know the way, I hope someday to get back with some fishing gear and give it a try. We saw a mess of fingerlings and baitfish working the shoreline. What kind of fishing did you find there?

-Mark

Of course, there's a tale behind our destination that we know Bo knows.

Have any other AAers ever been there? If so, how's the fishing. Is it worth our trekking back with fishing gear?

-Mark

hmmm.....stab in the dark....Axton Lake?

Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

It is not Bluff as far as I can remember ( nice lake though)
so perhaps it is Leaf lake ?

Rac n

I believe I know I'll send you a e-mail !

Wow, finally got Markus to miss on his first try! Great choice, though. Axton Lake looks like it would be worth the effort some day, but it's not the one here. Getting close, though. You're in the right quadrant.

-Mark

I know it's not much help, but this was my first view of the lake, kinda Tom Thompsonie, if you squint and don't look too close.

Chris M.

Please do.

-Mark

Fun place to xcountry. Got stuck up to my armpits trying to retreave a ski pole in four feet of snow, but I've never been there this time of year.

-Mark

Got an e-mail from Chris, who recognized the lake, although he did not quite make it himself on an earlier bushwacking effort.

Hint: The last hill we traversed at the end of our hike and the lake shore we came to, shown in the picture below, is a huge rubble field of large boulders, evidently part of the extensive glacial moraine that the nearby reserve is noted for.

-Mark

Coldspring.

Mike-

Coldspring looks like a wonderful destination for bushwacking another day, but it's not the one we went for. Actually, I think I saw someone on this forum mention a trail into Coldspring, but then, again, people have referred to a trail to this lake as well, and we found no sign of a trail, other than the old, overgrown and grown-over logging roads.

You've got the reserve right, though. I didn't know the purpose of that reserve until this winter when we started doing some research on the lake we were headed for.

I'm sure you have it figured out by now, especially when you know that you are looking at the north shore of an island in the background on the right.

-Mark

Loontail?

Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

I'll second that Markus

I would be interested in reading about that reserve, if you could point me in the right direction .

Mark (et al):

Loontail is an excellent lake for specks. I've caught many in that lake. The last time I was there, (many years ago) we (my brother-in-law and I) came down from the Nip across country fishing Creation, Yellow Birch and Beaverpaw on the way (also speck lakes). No canoe and no tent, just fishing rods, tarps and a few lures and worms and spinners with some food in a small pack.

My brother-in-law told me that back in the late 1970's, that his friend
caught a 9 lb. speck in Creation on their way to Loontail. Definitely the biggest speck I have ever heard of being caught in Algonquin, except for Booth Lake where I have also heard of a 9 lb. speck being caught also back in the 1970's.


Bo

What a great story, Bo. I wish I had the gumption to do something like that again. My first experience in the Park came in 1963 when my brother John and I and a couple of other guys canoed up the Madewaska from Arnprior (after the dam was in at Calabogie but before the dam went in above Arnprior), up the Opeongo River from Booth Lake, through the Park, down the Petawawa to Traverse, where we flagged down a train to Pembroke, then down the Ottawa back to Arnprior . . . all without a tent and in canvas cedar strip canoes that weighed a ton when wet. What a great time that was, when the world was new, and so were we.

About the reserve, I’ll be darned if I can find the page I had Googled earlier that spoke about the extensive moraine in the Coldspring Lake Reserve east of Loontail Lake. However, Jeffrey McMurtrie must have come across a similar reference, since he uses “Moraine” as an identifier in the Coldspring Reserve area on his map. Certainly, the rockiness of the landscape we found near the lake fit the description of moraine to my untrained eye.

The MNR Natural Heritage site, http://nhic.mnr.gov.on.ca/areas/areas_report.cfm?areaid=4789,
also refers to the glacial moraine features in the area, and describes the area as being “perceived to be the wildest portion of Algonquin Park,” although there was clearly evidence of logging within the last 30-50 years or so. We had expected to see signs of more recent logging, since the area west of Loontail was supposedly logged last year, but so far what we traveled through was otherwise undisturbed.

I have used Jeffrey’s map to place the approximate location of the logging road we found on our walk and its connection to the one described on the 1987 topo that we used. My memory failed me when I said that the logging road on the 1987 topo began in the High View cabin area. It is shown on the topo as starting much further upstream on the Nip. Unfortunately, the logging roads are pretty well overgrown and will pose a challenge to anyone trying to follow them as their primary guide. We actually found the topo map to be as valuable as our compass bearings, since the hills in the area are pretty prominent and the contours fairly easy to follow.



Interestingly, we came across an old cabin site just above the rocks near the shore, with barrel hoops and a large, very heavy cast iron pot. Finding sites like that in such remote areas always sets me to wondering about all the story’s that lie forever lost in the remnants that those lives have left behind.



-Mark

On my to do list someday, good for you guys, must have been a great time.

I thinks me saw that place behind the beer store in Whitney eh?

You got it, Yogi. You can almost see the place from there if you squint just right while looking to the north through the bottom of a 2L bottle of Wells.

-Mark