Hi Everyone,

I was hoping to get some information about nice sites in the west side of the park. I'm bringing my 4 year old for his first Algonquin experience and I don't want to do anything too extreme. Basically I'd like to find a site with a sandy landing that is just one (or two) portages into the park from Access points 1,2,3 or 4.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I only have experience on Access Point 1, but North Tea Lake has a ton of beach sites. There are two short portages to get onto North Tea. The only warning I would give is that the entry lake at Access Point 1 (Kawmakog? something like that) and North Tea can get rough. But you won't have to paddle far on North Tea to find a beach site.

To add to Lee's warning of Kawawaymog Lake, you can avoid paddling across most of it, by heading over to Northern Wilderness Outfitters. Just show up and talk to "Bill". I think his standard fee is to shoot him $20, and you can park there for weeks. Can save you a real hassle, worked out great for us in May, when the wind and waves picked up very quickly, which made for an uncomfortable paddle...was thankful I didn't have to paddle all the way across. The other problem with this lake, is that most of the time, the wind and waves seem to come at a un-healthy 90° angle.

Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

Markus

Perhaps you should write a book with all this great knowledge of
the park.. ( especially such tidbits as Bill at KL and Jake at CL)

Rac

Hi Racoon,

I cannot take credit for that tidbit of info(Bill at KL). Swede was the doood who enlightened me on that little gem of a short-cut.
Was just passing along, what I was told, and tried.

Manitou is right up there in my personal top 5 Fav. Lakes..it really is a nice lake. Bass, Specks(possibly Lakers too), creeks and beaches galore.
Lots of islands...LEt me know when you want to head there Racoon, I'd love to join ya, as I'd not want to miss the opportunity to hook-up with you again and any chance to re-visit Manitou.



Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

To answer the original question here....

Access#1 - North Tea Lake has loads of sandy landings and beaches. Even though there are two short portages, getting to North Tea Lake is the problem. Kawawaymog Lake can be notoriously windy. THe paddle down the Amable du fond might seem long(after crossing the lake first), then there's North Tea itself. This might not be the trip for you and your 4 year old.

There is a sandy landing at the first sight on the the south shore on Ralph Bice Lake, however as Barbara has mentioned before, she doesn't like the lake, as it can be very windy on that lake too.

I'm not sure about (#2)Tim Lake, as I was passing thru it only once, and the same with (#4)Rain..although I think the island site on Rain Lake has a sandy landing.

This is not in the realm of your request, but Lake Tanamakoon, has an island campsite, with a nice small sandy landing...a few meters from the firepit. You can launch from Cache Lake(Access#8)...no portages...take you about 40 min paddle to get there.




Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

I recommend this Tanamakoon island. It's entirely empty of firewood and I'd recommend not cutting anything from the island -- it's pretty sparse as it is.

However, it's not very private either. there's a camp on the lake with pontoon boats, and last time i was there there was evidence of partying on the island site (broken glass at one end, i think). it's not a bad spot at all, and the campsite itself is wonderful for swimming and tenting. i just want to warn of the bad things as we all know there's more good in algonquint han bad (at least from my standpoint) and it's easier to tell the bad than the good for briefness alone.

i guess this post wasn't too brief though :S

For Rain and Tim Lakes, I don't remember much in the way of campsites with sandy beaches / landings.

As Mark said, the site on the west end of the island in Rain has a sandy landing, and the water is very shallow there, but it's a lousy site should the wind pick up (which is common).

I would focus more on finding campsites that don't have landings that require mountain goat climbing to get to the campsite itself. Most of the campsites have rocky landings, so a tumble downhill might be unwelcome.

But going 1 portage from Rain into Sawyer....I seem to recall a campsite that has a sandy landing, and one that has a large smooth rock as its landing.


Barbara

Hi,
My suggestion would be Sawyer lake just beyond the Rain Lake entry point #4. It is only a 310 meter portage and is an exceptionally clear lake with a nice sandy beach. The 2 sites on the SW portion of the lake probably have the best beach, the NW site has a reasonably beach as well. I've stayed here when my own children were younger and it worked out well. While the lake is fairly hevily traveled with conoeists heading for the interior, this lake is often ignored because it is just to close to the launching point to "challange" most groups so they don't stop here. (See my rant on "What is your Hurry?"

Since Rain lake is a bit long for a 4 year old to sit still I suggest a break at the 1810m portage to McCraney lake. There is a portion of the Western Uplands Backpacking trail along that side of Rain lake that provides a good opportunity to streach your leggs. If it is not occupied check out the back packer campsite there as it is in my opinion an exceptional site.

Another good streach point is the 700m portage to Hot Lake. The path starts off quite steep and will challange a 4yo. but is not that long before it levels off.

If you set up on Sawyer lake, a real nice day trip would be into Jubilee lake which is in my opinion one of the prettier small lakes in the western part of Algonquin.

Best wises for a great trip and starting another generation of Algonquin voygers.

Thanks for all the great feedback everyone. Unfortunately, there wasn't much left when I called to book my trip. We're going to be on Casey lake for 2 nights. I figured that we can take a stroll down the Portage to Daisy lake if we want to play in the sand, and we might try to head over to Salvelimus Lake to check out the old log cabin there.

Has anyone been through Casey before? Is one of the sites there better than the others?

Thanks again,

Shawn

For my 6 year old boys' first trip, I took him into Tim, which requires no portages. We camped on the northeast corner of the island, and it was a terrific site-lots of room, an easy landing, a good drop off for swimming, a bear tree close by, a great fire pit, and to top it off, someone had brought in a padded toilet seat for the thunder box. This site was not quite an hour from the access, which is great on windy or rainy days. My son was also able to catch rockbass and sunfish right off the campsite, which kept him busy while I set up camp, etc. There are at least two other sites on the island, and they both looked great, the sites on the mainland were not very good. One day, we paddled down to the dam, and he spent a couple of hours catching chub in the pools just below the damn. We had a great trip, & I highly recommend this lake for taking in first timers. Make sure you take a dozen worms with you, as that is the only bait the chubs, etc would take.
Regards,

Skeeter

My memory of Casey isn't such a good one. LOL The portage from Rain to Casey is a bit of an uphill / downhill affair. When you get to the start of the portage, and realize that the trail isn't going to go around that hill in front of you.....and we were hauling a full cooler back then. Oy vey.

Casey is small, so checking out the campsites won't take any time. Seems to me that it was the "second from the portage landing" site that is the one we stayed on. I don't remember much about it, being a few years ago. All I do remember is getting mixed up, directionally speaking, when trying to get back to the tent after a night-time visit to the privy. LOL

The portage from Casey to Daisy is long, but much flatter, IIRC. And you do come out at the sandy / shallow end of Daisy.

Hey, it should all be good. Little kids, water, crawling critters, dirt...what more do they need?

Have a great trip, and don't forget to post a report with pics. We're looking forward to it.


Barbara

The first trip with my 4 year old daughter & 5 year old nephew was on Rain Lake(18 years ago). the primary attraction was no portages. In those days the access was closer to hwy 11, so I'm not sure what the drive is like now.

The 4-laning of the highway didn't really affect the logistics of reaching Rain, Tim or Magnetawan Lakes.

You need to go to Kearney to get your permits for these lakes, and the only change is that you get off the highway a bit further south than you used to. In the process, you can bypass Emsdale now.

The biggest change in our routine is that the gas station in Emsdale closed. Was a good place for topping up the vehicle, and then the run across the road to the variety for a bag of chips or cheesies.

Check out the Ontario Road Map pdf...it's up-to-date, and shows the new cutoff. (Southern Ontario, map #9....increase the zoom to 200%) You will be looking for exit #244. Even if you miss it, you get another chance not much further up the road, and can work your way back.


http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/traveller/map/southindexpdf.htm



Barbara

Thanks Barbara,

You truly are the Link-Master!

I paricularly like the Ontario Road Map on-line, as it is updated frequently, and therefore more reliable than the paper copy.

Same thing with the Ontario Fishing Regulations....paper copies are good, but the website is more up-to-date.


Oh, the links, the links....if only I was an organized person!



Barbara