Hi Jeffrey
Sorry for the delay in responding; some other issues came up.
Portage from St. Andrews Lake to Rouge Lake: The portage as shown on your and the FoA map is probably as it was while the railway was still operating. My lack of certainty is because there is almost a 30 year gap between Diana and my previous visit to St. Francis Lake and our most recent visit. Looking at old park maps only confuses the issue further. (I note that the Chrismar map, at least the edition I have, doesn't show any portage at all.) I wonder -- perhaps you know -- whether there is any issue with the park not wanting to officially route any portages along the old railbed while the discussions with the CNR continue.
What to include on the map: I don't intend to get into a drawn out discussion of this issue because I don't think there is a rigorous, objective, logically consistent answer to the question; it boils down to a series of judgment calls, perhaps guided by some loose overarching principles.
I am not surprised that the general response is that people want to know. Everyone, myself included, believes that their knowing is harmless and the knowledge will be safe with them. Unfortunately, real world experience indicates otherwise.
There are many sensitive issues that are within (the potential) purview of your map. Some of these include: interior roads, historic sites, access points other than the numbered access points, first nation cultural sites, fishing hot spots, sensitive wildlife and botanical areas, etc. I'm sure that there are others, but these come immediately to mind. Implicitly or explicitly, you have made your judgment on these issues. Can you imagine the response that you would get if you decided to accurately report on the fishing quality in the various lakes?
I commented on the pictographs because it is my belief that the location of these is not well known even though it is in the public domain. I did not comment on the campsite where the Barron exits Grand Lake because I believe that location is much better known.
Anyway, I believe the issue comes down to arbitrary judgments My judgments would differ from yours but it is your map. We each follow our own way. I have a picture of the
Pictograph on my website, but without the exact location. Similarly, I have several pictures of sensitive orchids and other wildflowers in Algonquin but without indicating their exact whereabouts.
Montgomery / Wylie Fire Tower: A few years back there was an article in the
North Renfrew Times about a couple of summer students spending their summer up the Malone Tower. Whether and why the Malone, Wylie and Highview Towers are still used, I don't know. Perhaps it has to do with the valuable experimental plots within the Petawawa Research Forest -- you don't want to accidentally burn an experiment of many decades duration -- and the army's propensity for setting their ranges on fire. However, to be fair to the army, in the last several years,they have been proactively burning their ranges as appropriate and I believe that the incidence of unplanned fires has been reduced.
I have a recent map of the area which shows the Malone and Highview towers as shown on your map. It shows the Wylie Tower on the hill between Cartier and Montgomery Lake. It does not show a fire tower at the location of the Montgomery Tower as shown on your map, but it does show something there. My Petawawa Research Forest Map from 1978 shows the Montgomery Tower where you indicated. Here's what I THINK happened. The Montgomery Tower (located within the military training area) was decommissioned and replaced by the Wylie Tower which is located within the Petawawa Research Forest. The Montgomery tower is located
here . Clearly there is something still there. Zoom out, walk yourself down the access road to the main road, head back towards Cartier Lake, pick up the road / trail on your left and walk up to the Wylie Tower located
here .
Here is a picture of the Wylie Tower
![[linked image]](http://www.mcelroy.ca/images/10d-0581.jpg)
taken from the access point on Cartier Lake
here .
For your interest, here's a couple of pictures of the
Malone Tower and its
ladder .
Downstream of McMannus Lake The prudent action is not to go downstream.
Forbes Creek: The parts of Forbes Creek that you can see from the Lake Travers Road look explorable by canoe (at least in the spring when the water is cold!). However, there may be some impenetrable alder thickets or other hazards away from the road. As a day trip with several vehicles available to provide varied bailout points it might be a fun day of exploring; but it also might be a complete bust. Perhaps it would be similar to my
Exploration of Young Creek -- that is, no practical way through.
Lone Creek:The unnamed creek in my bushlog page
A Spring Walk in Algonquin Park is Lone Creek. My analysis at the time was that, logistics aside, it would be a fun ride if it worked but it is simply too dangerous. In its lower section, that creek really flies. And it is narrow and twisty, impractical to scout. The danger issue is not so much rapids, but sweepers. Come around a corner and find a tree down across the creek and you could easily drown; It flows too fast and there would be no manoeuvering room. My advice is to stay away.
Regards
Bob
. Every piece of advice I receive makes the map better!
