|
Spring 2010 Trip Log
(4 days)
May 21st - May 24th
Access 3: (Magnetawan - Hambone - Daisy (May 20th – 24th) – with side trip down the Petawawa)
Above you will find an extrapolated section of Jeff McMurtries's Digital Algonquin Map that has been expanded to show the route I took.
May 24 weekend means only one thing….ALGONQUIN! This year was of course no exception. I wasn’t going in alone however…..I would be making this trip with some very old friends that I had not seen in years. Thanks to the social network of Facebook, I have managed to hook up with a lot of old high school and even elementary school friends that I have not heard from in years. One of these friends was my old buddy Martin, who now lives in Huntsville, Ontario…. …Just a stone’s throw away from the park. It had been close to 25 years since I had seen my old buddy and I was looking forward to hooking up with him again and meeting his wife Ilana. Along with Martin and Ilana, we were meeting up with a mutual friend of Martin’s and mine from high school named Connie. The plan was to go into the park together and spend the entire 24 weekend catching up. As it turned out, plans just didn’t go the way we wanted them to.
I arrived in Huntsville on Wednesday, the 19th around 9P.M. and checked into my room at the Comfort Inn in town. There wasn’t much time to do anything, so I decided to call Martin the next morning and I settled down for a comfortable evening in my room after the long seven hour drive from Montreal.
The next morning I was up and at it early…as I always am…and headed over towards Algonquin Outfitters to see my friend and fellow paddler Randy Mitson. I was also going to pick up my new food barrel that I had asked Randy to put aside for me (I couldn’t find a single food barrel in Montreal…..and that included MEC!). We talked for a bit as he showed me the barrel and I congratulated him on his recent marriage to long–time girlfriend Lynn. After about a half an hour at AO I gave my old friend Martin a call and we arranged to meet up near the docks (behind AO) and head off to get some breakfast. It was good seeing my old friend again and we each were a little misty eyed on the reunion. We walked off to a close restaurant for some old fashioned breakfast food, talking about old times and catching up on 25 years of being apart. It was here that Martin informed me that he and his wife wouldn’t be able to head in with us. Martin had to work Thursday and Friday night. This meant that it would be just me and Connie. I was taking a rookie into the wilderness…..all by myself. Oh joy! Wait until Connie heard the news…lol.
After breakfast we headed back to his place to meet his wife and then we headed off again to a great little nature trail near his house.
Note: Everything is within walking distance in Huntsville.
As we were walking back from the trail, I received a call on my cell. It was Connie…she was just entering Huntsville (from Georgetown) and wanted to know where we were. We arranged to meet her at one of the corners in town and soon saw her white VW pull into view. We all jumped into her SUV and headed back to Martin’s place where we picked up Ilana and headed off to get some lunch. Martin decided now was a good time to tell Connie about his cancellation. She was understandably disappointed, but none the less agreed to go in with just me…I guess she trusted my familiarity with the task at hand….foolish girl (just kidding…I wasn’t worried..I just wanted her to have a good time so she would want to come back again…Isn’t that what it’s all about?)
After eating, we walked over to a local sporting goods store where I picked up my fishing permit (conservation, of course). We decided to then head back and pick up Connie’s car and head up the highway to Kearney, where the permit office is located. I wanted to pick up our permits today, so we didn’t have to wait for the permit office to open in the morning and we could be on the lake bright and early. With that done, we spent the rest of the day laughing and reminiscing about old times. We ordered in that night (a really good pizza I might add) and then settled down to watch some playoff hockey (Habs vs. Flyers)…which the Habs won!
It was during the first period, when I was performing the final pack that the clamp on my newly purchased food barrel broke! The weld had broken clean off, leaving the food barrel rather easy to open. Oh no!
Martin and I ran back to AO as fast as we could (which seemed a lot easier when we were 25 years younger), but found the store had closed only minutes before. What were we to do? When we got back to his house, I eventually jury-rigged and way to close the barrel with a bungee cord. It wasn’t perfect, but it would hold. Murphy’s Law I guess. With that taken care of, I headed back to my motel room and tried to sleep (which is never easy for me before a trip…I guess I’m like a kid on Christmas Eve when it comes to knowing the next morning I will be back in what I call heaven.
My old pal Martin
Ilana and Connie open wine for supper
Day One
I was at Martin’s place at 6 A.M sharp to pick up Connie and we headed up to the put in at Magnetawan Lake. We arrived to find the parking lot almost full of cars, but empty of people. We unloaded the gear and loaded up the boat and were ready to head out. I gave Connie a quick lesson on how to get in and out of the boat and then told her of the little trick I had to point out things to the bow paddler as were went. I use the clock to point out things to whoever is in the bow of the boat. Instead of requiring the bow paddler to turn and look at what I am pointing to, I just tell the person what time on the clock I am referring to...e.g. “Hey look at the moose at 3 o’clock.” It makes sure that the bow paddler doesn’t make any jerky movements while we are on the water.
Magnetawan was like glass at this early hour (around 7 AM when we hit the water), so the canoe sliced its way silently across the lake to the nearby portage on the far shore. We made two trips on the portage (one for packs and the other for the canoe and the food barrel), with little time and effort and soon found ourselves on Hambone Lake. This lake was also quiet and calm. It was here that I saw my first loon of the year, but when I asked it to call it denied me. I know I’m back in heaven when I hear that sound. We paddled along the shore of Hambone until we arrived at the end of one of the lakes small fingers…here we were supposed to make another portage. On Jeff’s map there is a question mark beside this 55 meter portage, meaning that in high water it is possible to navigate this section instead of walking it. We were fortunate enough that there was just enough water to allow the boat to pass down the small steam and onto a small pond that is actually part of Hambone. We had to make a few sharp corners to avoid fallen timber, but it was better than unloading the boat and walking. The pond wasn’t big and took only a few minutes to cross.
The take-out for the next portage was a shallow, sandy area which made landing easy. We unloaded the boat for the first trip. It was then that Algonquin’s most common resident decided to show itself….BLACKFLIES! They weren’t bad at first, but as we walked the 15 minute portage they became excessively worse. Before making the return trip to get the canoe, I made sure we were properly protected with Deep Woods Off.
The put-in on Daisy is located in a small stream that leads into the lake. There, the park officials have constructed a small wooden dock, making it incredibly easy to put the boat into the water. Water levels were very shallow, but still enough to allow the loaded boat to pass easily.
Looking towards Daisy from the end of the last portage
Looking back upstream
I had already made up my mind to head for one of the campsites near the eastern end of Daisy Lake, but as we paddled along the shoreline I noticed the campsite on the island was unoccupied. I said to Connie that we should check it out, so we pulled the boat up to the landing and I got out to check the site. It was huge! There was plenty of room for tents and the fire area was a huge formation of granite slabs jutting out of the ground. We decided to take this spot for the weekend and we began unloading the boat. Connie was amazed that this site was all ours, as she walked around exploring it. I picked a nice level spot free of roots and stones and began erecting the tent. I had brought my big Coleman 4-man tent with me for two reasons….the portages were small and the heavy tent wouldn’t be that much of a burden to carry…and my 2-man backpacking tent is too cozy for two people to sleep in (nice for 1, but a little too tight for two people). After the tent was set up I began setting up my tarps around the kitchen area. I like a good tarped area to cook under, so I always bring all my tarps with me when I come into the park. With ropes running between trees, I set up a nice roomy area under which we could cook in case of rain. As I set up camp, Connie roamed around the site exploring her surroundings. There were piles of moose droppings everywhere on the island…the most I’ve ever seen in the park. Obviously the moose like this spot….
Hopefully it meant we would see a lot of moose on this trip. Connie had been suffering from a case of laryngitis just before coming on this trip, and still had an annoying cough when she arrived in Huntsville. I suggested she relax and let me take care of things….and she did. Once I finished I joined her on a rocky ledge near the water and sucked in the clean Algonquin air. She asked me what was next on the agenda and I said, “Nothing, just sit back and enjoy the peacefulness that is the park.” Connie is a workaholic, so doing nothing doesn’t come easy to her. Just then that familiar song came wafting across the lake. The high pitched call of a loon broke the silence and I knew I was home.
 
 
Four shots of our campsite
Looking down Daisy from our campsite. The other site is visible on the right
As I usually do on the first day of a trip, I relaxed for the rest of the day and took in the sounds of the park. We had macaroni and cheese for supper that night. I always bring something like this for my first night in the bush. My mom (bless her soul) always pre-cooks me a lasagne or macaroni and freezes it for me. By the time I drive from Montreal and make it to my first campsite, it is thawed out enough for me to cook easily in the frying pan….with lots of butter. Yes, I know, it’s not very healthy, but boy is it good! Also, because Connie is somewhat of a vegetarian, lasagne was out of the question. After supper Connie wanted to relax and get some rest because she was still feeling the effects of her illness, so she insisted that I go out do some fishing…there was no reason for me to stay around a baby-sit her. I’m not one to leave a rookie alone, but since we were on an island I figured it was ok. There were several areas of shoreline near camp that were steep cliffs, so I decided to troll around them to see what I could catch. I wasn’t out for long when the rod bent over and line began pulling out. The fight was short, but exciting and I soon had a 4lb. Laker in the boat. Just then I noticed Connie on the shore of camp watching. “It looks like we’re having fish for supper tomorrow”, I yelled over to her. I paddled the boat back to camp and soon began cleaning the trout. I wrapped it tin foil and placed in my little cooler bag I had in the food barrel. The ice pack I had in there would keep in fresh enough until we could have it for supper the next night.
When I finally finished cleaning the fish Connie told me she had made a friend at camp when I was gone. It seemed the only other resident of the island was a cute little red squirrel who was skittering around the camp looking for scraps from out camp. I took some shots of him as he explored his new neighbours and then began getting the fire ready for a nice peaceful evening. We sat around the fire for about an hour after sunset and then headed off to the tent for a good sleep.
Our little camp friend
Spring 2010 Trip Log - Part Two
|
