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Fall 2009 Trip Log
(4 days)
September 14th - 17th, 2009)
Tim River (Access 2): Tim River - Tim Lake (with sidetrips to Tim River South & Shaw-Shaw).
Above you will find an extroplated section of Jeff McMurtrie's Digital Algonquin Map that has been expanded to show the route I took. Our campsite is marked with a black circle.
September 14th and I was on the road again, through the night to Algonquin. As was usual before a trip into the park, I could not sleep and was itching to head out on the road. Usually scheduled to wake and hot the highway around 2 A.M. , on this particular trip my internal alarm woke me at 12:45. Knowing I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep for the lasthour and a half, I pullled myself out of bed, packed up the cooler and began that long, boring drive through the night.This trip would see me in the park for one reason and one reason only....relaxation. There would be no looping, no portages, no heavy pack on my shoulders and nocanoe yoke leaving marks on my shoulders. I was headed into Access 2 (Tim River, as I did this spring, but on this trip I was basing on Tim Lake and doind some day adventures from there. I was also taking this opportunity to meet up with a Facebook friend of mine and fellow AA'er, Julian Andean from Ottawa.
I kept an eye on my speed as I drove the 6-1/2 hours to the western side of the park. The last time I drove this way I was stopped and fined over a hundred dollars for accessive speed. I had the luxery of leaving early and I could relax and enjoy the drive through the night. Good tunes and plenty of Timmy's coffee is all you need and it doesn't seem so long. By the time I reached the Huntsville area, the sun ha risen but the land was covered in a thick fog, making advanced direction finding difficult at the least. I missed the exit for Keirney and almost drove right passed the permit office because of it. When arrived at the permit office it was only 7:30....I still had half an hour to wait until it opened (isn't it always the way?).
The sign at the permit office.
I shared a small conversation with a fellow tripper who was also waiting for the office to open. He was headed into Magnetewan Lake (Access 3) to do a solo loop for 10 days. I knew I should have written his name down. When the permit office opened I allowed him to register (first come, first served) and he jumped into his kayak carryingautomobile and headed off ahead of me. I payed my fees forparking of the car and also headed off down the long road to the access point. The road into the access point is usually pretty good, but there were areas of the dirt road section that were thick with loose gravel, making the car want to slide off the side. With a little coaxing and some off-road driving I was finally at the put-in.
The put-in
Invasive species warning
The fact that I was basing on Tim Lake this trip allowedme the joys of having no portage to my campsite. Thus, I took the oportunity to bring in a few added luxeries.....cooler, extra food, both rods, extra sleeping pad (why not?), and a telescope. A good friend of mine had allowed me borrow his 6" relflector telescope for my four days in the park and I hoped I would be putting it to good use. I loaded up the boat as I had done so many times before andsnapped a couple of pics before heading out down the Tim River.
The limo is ready to go. (Notice the telescope occupying most fo the bow? The joys of no portages.)
Both sides of the Tim River put-in. Notice on the right picture youwill see a canoe left by one of the outfitters of the area. They offer a drop off service for your rental canoe. As I understand it, you stop to pick up the key and then drive to the put-in, where your canoe is waiting for you.
I kept the camera out and around my neck as I paddle downstream towards Tim Lake, but the forest was quiet and there was no wildlife in the immediate viscinity. All of the song birds that usually frequent Algonquin had already left for warmer climate, leaving only a few chickadees, some sparrows and of course the ever-present blue jays. Water spiders skated over the surface of the river as I paddled along the winding path through the river, perhaps the only bugs present with any population. All of the mosquitos and balck flies had died off and only the occasional deerfly made its way within earshot. I was hoping this would be another productive moose trip, but so far there was no sign of the famous park resident.
I paddled about half the length of this section of the Tim, when I noticed a fellow solo paddler approaching from the opposite direction. At first I figured this to be someone heading out fo the park after a week in the interior, but it soon became apparent that this was Julian heading up to meet me as I paddled in. Julian and I had never really met in person. We had commented on each others posts on AA and had chatted back and forth on Facebook, but had never met face to face. I greeted the Ottawa native as our boats slipped together and we made small talk for a few minutes. He told me that so far, the fishing wasn't good and no moose had been seen, but the weather was good and the temps warm. He turned his canoe around (one of those rentals), and we headed down the Tim parallelling each other. We talked about who was on the lake and what he had already seen until we finally emerged onto Tim Lake itself. The water was covered in small ripples and the sun was shining as we made our way slowly across to where Julian had set up camp.
Julian paddling slightly ahead of me on Tim Lake
Julian had mentioned to me that some youngsters had taken up camp across the lake and were making quite a bit of noise during the night before, but all was quiet on the lake as we paddled through. There was one couple on the island campsite as we passed, but other than that the lake was peaceful. We managed good time cutting across the center of the calm lake and were soon at our campsite. Julian had grabbed the campsite at the mouth of the Tim River that led to the portage to Rosebary (on my suggestion) and had already set up camp for himself. He had arrived the day ealier and had already enjoyed a full day in the park. I had some catchin up to do. He helped me unload the boat and bring my gear up to where he had chosen to pitch the tents. It was a roomy area up a small hill where the trees protected us from the wind. There was a small kitchen set up in the area and the privey was placed well back into the trees, but still easily accessible. The fire pit area was down, closer to the water and gave a great view of the eastern side of the lake.
 
A shot of the tenting area and a shot from our camp, looking down the lake
Behind our camp was an outcropping of rock that allowed a higher vantage point, but several huge trees blocked the view of the lake from here that would have been spectacular.
Two shots of the outcropping
After setting up my tent and gear I decided to look around the campsite and see what I could spot. Within moments I came upon a piece of rock crystal laying on the ground. It was completely clean, so I assumed that it had been unearthed some time ago and had time to clean in the rains. It was a large piece, free of any other rock except for the crytsal.
Julian relaxing on his hammock
Julian had taken up a position in his hammock for the time being, so I decided to head out for a paddle and do some shooting. I hopped in the canoe and headed down the Tim River towards the Rosebary portage. The wind was at my back as I paddled downstream, making it easy progress. I was hoping that I would get a lot of moose pics on this trip and the Tim River in thi area was a great place for it. The water levels were considerably lower than they were when I paddled the Tim earlier in the year and water plants choked areas that were easily paddled in the spring. I paddled down the winding waterway for about 20 minutes before coming to my first obstacle. As in the spring, a beaver dam blocked the Tim here, but a large sand bar allowed easy traversing over it. I snapped a few shots of both sides of the dam and then headed downstream to continue my exploration.
Looking back up the Tim from the beaver dam
The beaver dam on the Tim
Beyond the dam the Tim widened out and was again filled with all variety of water plants. Lily pads and arrowheads were abundant, but no moose could be seen taking advantage of the buffet. Disappointed, I continued to paddle along the river, quietly and with anticipation. Rounding one corner of the river I came across a massive pine tree that had taken root on top of a large outcropping of rock. Apparently the hold that it had on the cliff was sufficient, because it had obviously been there for many years.
No Moose
Standing lumber
Pine tree growing out of the rock
Earlier in the year when I did my big loop, I had noticed a small lake located on the map and only accessible from this part of the Tim River. The map had noted that there were speckled trout in the lake, so I wanted to try to get to it and give it a try. In the spring I had paddled towards it, but the access was full of fallen timber so I decided against it. I had discussed this lake with Julian before leaving the site and decided to try to get to it and see if it was worth the effort, but this time of year was more of a obstacle than anything else. As I paddled up the small stream that led to the lake the vegetation wass steadily getting thicker and thicker, until finally I was stopped just before the final turn to the lake. The water had lowered so much that the entrance to the lake was nothing more than a small trickle of a stream choked with all sorts of vegetation and fallen timber. There was no way I was getting in there without wading through it and pulling the canoe behind me.
The way to the hidden lake
Choked with water plants
I decided against that idea and turned the boat around and paddled back upstream towards camp to let Julian know we weren't going to get any fish in there. It was a bit of a chore fighting the wind back up the Tim, but after some effort I was back in camp and relaxing beside Julian. He was disappointed to hear about the choked access, but we were still hopeful we would land some fish before the week was over. We stoked up the fire later in the evening and watched the sun go down on Tim Lake. I had been on the road since 1AM, so I decided to hit the sleeping bag early while Julian stayed up for awhile beside the campfire and enjoyed the quiet of Algonquin.
Sunset on day one
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