Last weekend I decided I would head up to the North end of the Park and check out the Cedar Lake - Catfish Lake - Nipissing River Loop. I have not had a true solo trip in a few years, so since the usual suspects were unable to make it, I actually went alone.

3am Saturday morning, I found myself heading north from Ajax along Hwy 12. I hit the 169 to Washago then onwards through Huntsville and North Bay. Turning right along the north side of the Park, I pulled into the permit office as the first customers of the day were walking in. A 5 hour drive and I manage to show up within a couple minutes of the doors being unlocked, now THAT is timing. The only stops were for a Timmies on Muskoka Rd #2 in Huntsville (the off ramp before HWY 60) and a gas stop in North Bay.

By 8:13am I was on the road to Brent and 9am I was in the parking lot unloading the Osprey and my gear. By 9:27 I had loaded up the canoe and launched onto a calm Cedar Lake. I was thinking that I was happy to be launching before the winds kicked up, not knowing that it was going to be like this all weekend. The summer everyone was looking for arrived Saturday morning and I was celebrating with a solo canoe trip through some very rocky and hilly country.

By 10:16 I had made it across to the first portage of the trip / day, leading to the Petawawa River. This Portage circumvents a very nice set of waterfalls and rapids. At the far end is a white cross marking the spot where A. Corbeil died on a log drive in 1888.



Start of the first portage




First waterfall of the day




White cross for log driver A. Corbeil. Many a log driver lost their lives on the rivers while getting timber to the mills.




As the morning wore on, the sun was starting to get hotter. Even though there was a slight breeze at times, it did nothing to cool things down. The water, however, was cool and very refreshing to walk in.

I spent time taking some photos and shooting video, so it was not till 11:19 that I was back on the water and paddling the short distance to the next portage, which took me around a second waterfall. It was only a 20 minute paddle to this one. Again, I spent time taking photos and shooting video. Climbing down around the falls, I was excited to find some old spikes from the old logging days. Having history laying at your feet is a pretty neat thing to see, and this would not be the first time I was to see this during the weekend as I was planning a stop on the island on Catfish Lake that holds the remains of the old Alligator.



This waterfall is the reason for the second portage




There were rusted spikes like this laying all around. I do believe there used to be a long log chute here.




By 1pm I was back on the water and 30 minutes later I was on what was to become the worst part of the weekend. UNICORN HILL!!!!!! BE AFRAID, BE VEEEERRRRYYYYY AFRAID!!!! The only way you can get an idea of what this portage is like is to throw on a backpack, put your canoe on your shoulders and start to climb the stairs in the CN Tower. Honestly. The path is very steep, curves, still going up, then curves the other way, still going up, then curves, still going up... get the picture? You are climbing a change in of 66m over a short distance. When you get to the top of Unicorn Hill there are two big canoe rests and a set of benches, both which come in very handy. When I finally reached the top, there were 3 canoes there and a group of people. One of them looks at me and asked what I thought of the climb. My response? "".... I think you should take all the kids in juvey hall and make them climb up and down this hill all day, every day for a week and they will all be looking to enroll in seminary school. hahaha...

The bright side is that once you reach the top, there are some downhill sections in the rest of the portage. My calf muscles were cramping by the end of the portage and my knees were killing me. I rested a bit before heading back on the water to make my way to Narrowbag Lake and eventually Catfish Lake.



The majority of portages started and ended with rocks along the shoreline




This was some scenery along the way




I was planning on heading down towards Turtle Rock and grab a campsite, but seeing there were a few canoes already heading that way, and since I spent so much time doing video and photos, the hour was getting late and I decided to grab a site close to the north end of Catfish Lake. Since I wanted to check out the island with the Alligator on it the next morning, I took the site right across from the island. It turned out to be a good site with a tent pad custom made and wood left behind from previous campers (Thank You Very Much!). All I had to do was cut it and I was good to go.

I set up my Eureka Spitfire solo tent, got the fire started, filtered some water and got dinner ready. After dinner I sat and enjoyed the fire for a bit and watched the sun go down. The lack of clouds made for a very non-spectacular sunset, but hey, I was in Algonquin Park and managed to live through a very long and hard day. The Loons were beginning to gather and the last I saw there were 8 Loons swimming together in a group. They were calling all night long. All was good with the world.

The weatherman had called for 25 degrees during the day and 5 degrees at night. Well, I am not sure what exactly that weatherman has been smoking, but it felt more like low 30's during the day and definitely more than 5 degrees overnight as I had to keep my tent fly open and sleep on top of my sleeping bag. As I said, summer has officially arrived. I had a great sleep that night, interrupted every now and then by loon calls.



My solo tent on the built up tent pad. This site has 2 good spots for tents.




Catfish Lake in the evening.




The next morning I awoke to the sun already coming up and it looked like it was going to be another hot day. That was not a big deal as I had two portages to do and that was it (or so I thought). I slowly packed up, had breakfast, pumped more water, took some video and photos and decided it was time to get on with the day's adventure. At 9:06am I was on the water. The first stage of the day consisted of paddling 5 minutes to the nearest island and see if I could find the Alligator remains. I circled the island looking for the 'No Camping' sign that is supposed to be there according to Jeffrey's map, but could not find it. I looked at the map and the surrounding islands and knew this had to be the right island, so I got out on the north side at what looked like a path and as luck would have it, the path lead to the Alligator. I shot some video and took some photos before leaving the island. I did another quick circle and still did not see a 'No Camping' sign.



Catfish Lake in the morning. The moon was still up and the lake was like glass.




Remains of the Alligator. Again, history laying right in front of me. Just thinking that living breathing young men were once working with this tug and now it is just a pile of rusted metal and how many of those men are still around?




I left the island and headed through the narrows to the southern part of Catfish to take a peek at Turtle Rock. I could see Bo Knows' Shangri La Island in the distance as well. I turned north and headed to the first portage of the day into Luckless Lake. This portage goes up a hill the first half and then down hill on the second half. A fairly easy portage to do. A quick paddle across Luckless brought me to the big portage of the day, the 2835m beast. After killing myself on Unicorn Hill the day before, I had reservations about this one. I had heard that this portage was all downhill and once I was on my way, I found the reports to be true. This portage was a dream compared to Unicorn Hill. It was mostly flat, wide and down hill. A large part of it followed an old logging road. Beautiful! At the end of this portage I rested, had some water, granola bars and trail mix. A couple canoes went by as I relaxed in the shade and they seemed to making some good time.

After a short break, I decided it was time to get my butt moving so back on the water I went. By 1:30pm I pushed off onto the Nipissing and was immediately hit by a hot sun. The river is wide and moves well, but there is no shade at all. As I paddled down the river, I came to the first campsite and there was no shade at all. Not a good campsite at all. I headed on to the next site as I had seen it was a good one in previous reports. Unfortunately, the canoes that had passed me earlier had landed there and were unloading their canoes. CRUD!

This meant I had to do the next couple portages to Cedar Lake and grab a site there. These portages are not too bad and at 4:52pm I had finished the last portage and was paddling up the river to Cedar Lake. I remembered this part of the river from last year as this is where I caught a nice trout and my buddy Kevin and landed a big Catfish.

As I made the final trek through the marshy area into Cedar Lake, all I could see and hear were motorboats buzzing back and forth. This is not what I was wanting to listen to all night so before I knew it, I had made the decision to paddle across the glassy lake and head for my truck. I could not believe the lake was so calm. I was at the truck at 5:47, packed up and on the road to Brent by 6:20.



Along the Nipissing.




End of the last portage of the trip




The marshy area leading to Cedar Lake




It took me just over 9 hours to get from the north end of Catfish Lake to my truck. THAT was a good day of paddling and portaging. It was a good two day trip. I saw what I wanted to see. I have now been to an area I have been wanting to get to for a while now. I had a good solo trip with my Osprey. I got some good photos and some good video.

The only bad things to say about the trip:

1. The dreadful climb up Unicorn Hill
2. Missing out on the last campsite on the Nipissing
3. Having the retaining pin from my water filter fall out of the bag, bounce off my knee and over the side of the canoe
4. The heat of the sun

What a great trip.








Sean (of Ajax)

http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry

Hey Sean, I'm salivating here, I need an Algonquin fix quick!! That is one fantastic looking trip.

How do you like your Osprey? I've always been partial to the shearwater myself but they are both great boats.

Glad you enjoyed yourself

James

Thanks for the report, Sean. Too bad you felt the need to shorten it. I had to cut my trip one day short too. Too bad you didn't get the site you wanted on the Nipissing. Would you agree that the other site you looked at might warrant a black triangle instead of a red one? We stayed at the end of the 2835 to Luckless, and found it adequate for 3 of us. But I know it was still early afternoon when you arrived there. It wasn't the best site of our trip, but it arrived at the right time and had flat spaces for two tents. I enjoyed your pics of the falls on the Petawawa. I definitely want to hit that stretch next time I'm up by Cedar. Also, I've never done Unicorn Hill, and my curiosity wants to find out if it's as bad as everyone says it is. I hope you get that Osprey back in Algonquin waters again soon. (Might as well hope for others, since my chances are slim)

Sean-

Thanks for the beautiful photos. Your shots of the blue skies and still water are stunning images. And there's nothing like the depth of experience you get traveling in the Park alone. You've rekindled memories of some of my favorite places.

The old photos below are of the logging chute on that second waterfall. You can see them first hand at the Park logging museum. If you look closely, you can match up rocks in the waterfall to the left of the chute in the first picture with rocks in the shot of the remnants that we took last year. I remember when much of the superstructure was still in place when we first passed that way in the early 60's. Enough of it was still there in Jake Pigeon's youth that he tells stories of riding down that chute in a canoe.







Mark S.

http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry

WOW Sean!
Great pics and nice right up of your trip.

I do not think I would have carried your Osprey on Unicorn Portage....well, perhaps for a drink!

Cheers

Mike B

James... I am loving the Osprey. You always shop around for a canoe and wonder if you are making the right choice and so far I must say that I absolutely made the best choice. I have not had a single regret buying this beauty.


Rory.... I think that the 2nd site should have a black triangle or something. Another thing I was going to send our pal Jeffrey a note about is maybe collecting data on campsites that are on the end of a portage and changing it on his map to a red triangle with a letter 'P' on it or a completely new colour triangle. There are a few of those type of sites on the route. I think Unicorn Hill would be fine if day tripping with a small daypack, but when you add all your gear plus all the video / photo gear I had, it is killer. The Osprey will be hitting the Maple Lake area come Thanksgiving weekend.


Mark... I have really gotten bit by the history bug over the last couple years and to see bits of the past laying on the ground in front of me is absolutely fascinating. Thanks for the pics, after being there, I can totally see how it all fit together and how things would have worked with the log chute. Unfortunately, some of us will never see things like this in person, only in historical photos, which is a shame.


Mike... I think you would LOVE Unicorn Hill... yeah, that's it, you should go there.... hahahaha....





Sean (of Ajax)

http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry

Great pics as always Sean.
Thanks doood!




Mark Rubino
Mark's Algonquin Park Sampler - Blog
Mark's Algonquin Park Sampler

http://www.ABRweb.ca .. Algonquin Backcountry Recreationalists - Caring for Algonquin's Backcountry

Great mini report and super photos. The posting with the chute pictures makes me want to save a little time on our next trip to mosey through the museum.

PaPaddler

Great trip report and photos Sean. And no flat tires to contend with at the take out!

Stainless

Tks for the trip photos Sean - looks like someone has been taking loving care of that cross, poor soul.

I've never made or had the time to visit the logging museum off Hwy 60 either - hopefully next year.