In September Joan and I were invited to link up with Darren Dare aka "Canoeguy" in Algonquin Park's north end.
We went in thru Access#26, North River. Neither Joan or I had ever been thru this access point before. Logging noise outside the Park dogged us for 5 days on North River Lake. Darren didn't seemed to bothered by the noise, However I was infuriated by the disturbance. Despite the noise, It was great to meet up with Darren once again. After the 5th day, Darren headed out of the park, whereas we headed deeper in, to get away from the noise....more to come in a triplog in the future. Here are some pics;

Sunset the second night on North River Lake


Joan on the Rocks


Paddling North Depot Lake one fine September morning


Canoeguy with Butter Garlic Shrimp...mmmmm...goood!


A rare scene: An Algonquin First! - Markus makes breakfast for Joan!
(Blueberry Pancakes/Bacon/Eggs/Toasted Breakfast Pita/Coffee)


A relic from the logging days of old on North Depot Lake


For more images, feel free to visit the "photos' or "slideshow" pages on my blog site;

Mark's Algonquin Park Sampler - Blog

Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

North River is a great spring lake for fishing but getting
a reservation is more like a lottery unless you have
speed dial programmed . Likely easier to get Ceadr or Kiosk cabin!


Rob and I ended up on a campsite in South Bay as the only other
campsite was meant for billy goats and tents that could be set
up on a 45 degree incline

We did manage to catch a fine Speck after we completed our
longest(easiest) portage even done in the park.

Seems Rob some how donated my fishing rod and reel to
the fish gods with a fine cast that ended up using my rod
as an attachment to his lure. Portage later that day took
us back to Mattawa for new fishing rood/reel and a fine
lunch followed by a drive to North River creek entrance and
a sleepover at North River.

How are us amateurs ever to compete with you master photographers?
Especially those that find those gems sitting on the rocks


Rac n

heh, that "gem", is very precious.

The campsite we were on, is the last one on the south side of the lake, towards the east end of the lake.
It looked like a bomb had hit the place...but it had character..and two kitchens!

Sorry to hear your rod got feed to the fishies..did you seize Rob's rod in it's place?
or was that when you drove into Mattawa to buy a new one? Great story!

Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

Hi Markus,

How was the creek going into the lake? 2 years ago I went with my wife when it was very shallow, very overgrown (like we were canoing through a tunnel), with a few small beaver dams. It was quite the adventure. We stayed on the campsite on the south side that is accessed through the pond, very nice site with a great kitchen.

Looks like a nice trip Mark. Great shots.

Great shots Markus, especially the one of that good looking guy with the shrimp.
Had a great time.

P.S. The reason the logging noise didn't seem to bother me was....from where I'm from...that was 'silence' to me.

Hope we can hook up again next year.

Algonquin Rocks!

Canoeguy
www.canoeguy.ca

Hi Blair,

Yes I know what you mean by "Tunnel". I was surprised by the Alder madness, it reminded me very strongly of Maple Creek(One Mile Lake to Erables Lake area only). We had it easy though compared to what we saw on the way in; Two couples were coming out with rowboats!! No motor, just oars(good on them for obeying the regs). despite their difficulties in coming out, they were in good spirits.
It is really tricky coming out too, if you don't pay careful attention, it is possible to take a wrong turn and go up the wrong tributary while coming out. It is only the last 30 minutes or so that it was real hairy. North River Lake looks to be a nice lake, except for the logging noise. Using the AFA Harvesting map is no good, as I believe that the logging outside the park falls under a different logging authority(Not shown on the AFA map). Too bad really..although the logging takes place outside the border of Algonquin, the noise associated with it, can cross the border..We listened to it for 5 days ;-(

Thanks Jake!

Darren,

Silence? hmmm..ever been McIntosh Lake...now that is silence!!

Cheers




Markus
Etobicoke, Onterry-airy-airy-Ohhh!

Hey Markus,

Nice set of shots, as usual. You've gotten us spoiled and our expectations continue to be exceeded!

Was that a bottle of special coffee ingredients on the table??? It looks like a bottle of whiskey! I'm sure it's something like syrup but being somewhat hidden behind a piece of your kitchen makes it hard to tell!

Thanks for postin'!

Those alders seem to grow quicker than popular!
The time I did the North River trek they were fine but that was
at least about 4-5 years ago.

My immediate concern is the tunnel of alders on the Wp creek

Here's hoping somebody thins out the alder tunnel ( maybe mother nature)
from Wp to the forks
as I sure would like to do that loop as part of my last years of tripping

BTW:
Anybody heard anything about WP Express 2009.. Makes for a great
start of the Wp-Forks-Laveille-Dickson-LittleDickson loop

Here hoping the Wp Express is still a go and if there is no words I
might have to step up to the plate and contact Stewart directly as
he is also my cousin

Rac n

lol PA Paddler! That near empty bottle is Canadian Maple Syrup, something called Wiser's ... how do you think Markus gets me to the park so much?

He has a bunch in the barrel right now lol

Joan