Ok..I'll try and be brief, I know I'm not known for briefness, but I will try...I am quite tired....busy week...
In no particular order;
A broken portable picnic table that someone left behind on a campsite near mine, on Cedar Lake.
I was disgusted, packed it up and brought it out of The Park.
Here's the complete package that was left behind...talk about travelling heavy!
My launch at around 8:50am on June 20th at Cedar Lake
Minutes after launch I turned around a point, and saw the expanse of the north end of Cedar Lake before me,
and this is just a little bit of it.
The last site on the north end of Cedar Lake, seagulls were nesting nearby,
and I was swooped down upon many times by both parents.
The last site, also had a chimney on it...another interesting relic from the older days in Algonquin.
Approaching the Islets & narrows that separates Cedar and Little Cedar lakes.
The buggy looking landing at the portage to Bug Lake.
A beautiful Island campsite on Laurel Lake - notice some of the blow-downs..suspected devastation form July 2006
Another view of the island campsite on Laurel Lake
Approaching the take-out to Little Cauchon Lake
Looking back at Laurel Lake after arriving for the take-out to Little Cauchon Lake.
This Painted Turtle on Little Cauchon was very co-operative with my lens.
I took the long way(paddle wise) to get to Carl Wilson Lake..to me it was the easiest..the shortest route over land.
The rain held off all day until, I was on my final pass on the trail and my subsequent launch onto Carl Wilson Lake.
After 20 minutes down the lake, it cleared up, and the paddle was joyous.
This is the second campsite on the east shore(down from the portage)..looking across to the west shore.
My canoe perched up on the rocks, with the northern end of Carl Wilson in the background.
camp
Darren(Canoeguy) and his son Kevin arrived on my second day on Carl Wilson;
Here, Darren watches as a thunderstorm approaches.
After the storm passed, another came close by us...we had three storms hit us that day..one of them at 2:45 in the morning.
Paddling into a marsh in the south end of Carl Wilson Lake, looking for elusive Moose.
"Swede" showed up a few hours after Darren and Kevin did, here all three of them are relaxing around the fire-pit
Although Coleman tents are good, their 3/4 flys are next to useless, Darren set-up an extra tarp to keep the rain out.
"Swede" "butterflying" a Speckled Trout. We had chicken fajitas and trout...Thanks Darren...very tasty!
Darren and Kevin, with the cliffs of Carl Wilson Lake, behind.
Sun setting on our camp
On Day 4, we had decided to Move onto Cedar Lake. We were scheduled to camp at the other end of Cedar Lake on Wendigoes Lake.
The bugs were so bad on Carl Wilson, we debated and decided to stay on Cedar Lake instead. I emerged at the top end of Cedar, 2:30pm,
I was immediately greeted with Thunder behind me. There was a massive supercell behind me. I paddled fast and bottomed out too many times, as I was practically paddling the shoreline. I had debated with myself many times on the way down the lake, to stop, land and set-up a tarp, but the storm was so slow moving, I thought perhaps I could outrun the storm. Well there's a first time for everything, I not only out ran it, it pretty much fizzled as it came upon Brent. By 4:15pm, I arrived art the docks, with black sky behind me, swirling winds..they were just starting to pick up. I saw a note on my windscreen. Darren and Kevin had to leave The Park, Kevin had an abscessed toot, and was in a lot of pain. I slipped into my car and decided to wait the storm out...I nodded off and woke to a crack of thunder and snapped this vortex like cloud over the SW side of Cedar Lake. Swede was no where to be found.
By 6:15pm, I launched back onto Cedar, passing Brent as I headed down the east shore, I came upon large beds of pollon on the lake.
At 7:30pm, I was at my new home for the next 6 nites. The sun was shining, the water was warm and great for swimming.
The longest days of the year, June rocks, except for the bugs of course!
As I came down the lake past Brent, another large storm threatened me, I ignored it, refusing to 'scared' off the lake, especially after the day's earlier silly storm. Mind you, I hugged the shoreline again. If your gonna tempt mother nature, best to be ready to get out of her way in a hurry!
The next Day Jim Cavers arrived. I had known Jim for a few years now, but only in the online world, never in person.
Jim is a fellow with a very busy lifestyle, and was glad to take a few days off to relax and soak in some Algonquin.
The next day, Jim and I decided to paddle over to the portage to Wendigoes lake and hike the trail to the lake.
With Darren's early departure, Jim was able to catch wind of my altered itinerary. On the way to Wendigoes, we stopped at Jim's favourite site. As it was, I also happened to camp there in 2003..I also shot some video from that campsite too..it is a nice site high up with great vistas of Cedar Lake.
Looking across Cedar Lake towards my campsite,(unseen) behind the large island in the foreground.
Looking around the sights at Jim's fav. campsite; lots of rock and pine
Art the campsite on Wendigoes Lake
Wendigoes Lake.
Jim hanging around the campsite on Wendigoes Lake
Some of the blowdowns on the trail to Wendigoes Lake...Park Staff had done a fantastic job in clearing the trail;
there was massive damage along the trail, in certain sections.
More damage from storms
Some of the blowdowns were more recent, and being a low-maintenance trail, wasn't completely cleared,
here Jim negotiates some fallen trees.
Te trail was well worn, but heavily overgrown, it is not a trail that sees alot of footwork.
An Island campsite on the lower SW portion of Cedar Lake
More storms passed thru, but not before Jim took a sunset picture
Another storm was blowing up to the south of our campsite
Another storm approached from the Northwest, then out of nowhere, this low hanging black cloud came in from the opposite direction a downdraft. It was creepy to watch this one cloud defy logic as it were.
At one point the clouds began to rotate, and thought perhaps a funnel cloud was going to form...it never did, but it sure looked like it was going to happen at the time.
After the storms were done, it was still overcast, except for this beautiful break where sunbeams streamed thru.
It was great meeting Jim, and I gotta say Jim prepared the most mouth-watering awesome steak I have ever eaten.
Jim mentioned he had imported some wine from Europe, to marinde the steak..good grief I'm used to rub marinades, I buy at loblaws!
But oh boy Jim, it was treat to meet you and to try your culinary delights..Thank you sir!
Shortly after Jim left, I followed him out onto the water. The bugs were getting bad, and the water looked inviting.
Late rin the Day, Sean(of ajax) arrived, with a letter posted on my windscreen. A message of Congradulations.
I had caught my first ever Lake Trout on Carl Wilson and word had been passed back to the forum by Darren.
Word got back to me that Darren's son had to have a Root Canal..ouch..smart decsion to take Kevin out when he did.
Sean and I went out fishing for a few hours, when we retrained, we found Jeff P relaxing on the beach, soaking in the sun, with loads of fresh COLD beer. You guys rock! Sean had..pork loin and burgers another night. It was a week of feasting!
A small islet that caught my eye on Cedar lake
Our second last day, it rained for pretty much of the day, and it was the kind of pouring buckets rain, non-stop for hours at a time...this didn't deter SEan, and I must thank him, for otherwise I would've sat around camp all day.
Instead we say 3 Null Moose, caught lots of fish, and saw a cow moose and a calf..a prosperous day indeed!
I have been learning how to fish the last few years, and with my first landed Lake Trout occurring on Carl Wilson, this lake will be a treasure of warm memories. With trips to Algonquin in Late June these past few years, this by far was the worst for bugs. All my long-legged cloths were soaked on Carl Wilson, and the black-flies had their way with me. Once on Cedar lake though, I'd say the bug intensity was down 50%. One night, to prove my point about the thickness of the mosquito density, I sat in my tent and counted the number of skeeters on my screen door. I counted 90. 90 little vampires...that's a lot on a typical late June night I've had 20 or 30..but to me 90 was too much...it was worse on Carl Wilson...So much so, I think this is why Swede left early. It's one thing to be outdoors in the fresh air, it's quite another to have to deal with the incessant attacks of the little blood-thirsty devils. I think they like me especially, as they could probably smell the 'taint of Toronto' on me
All in all it was a great trip, meeting new faces and linking up with familiar ones too.
I can't wait to go up to Algonquin again!
AS with pretty much every other trip to the north end of The Park, it was very quiet...just the way I like it
Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!
As such, I missed Jim, so to Jim I say next time. For those heading to Cedar, be warned that the office closes at 5:00 pm sharp Monday-Thursday and then at 6:00 pm Fridays. I forget the closing times on weekends but remembering them being much earlier then the access points off hw. 11 or 60