Summer 2005 Trip Log  (4-day stay)  Aug 15th – Aug 18th, 2005  (Brent)   Petawawa River  Above you will find an extrapolated section of the Algonquin Park Canoe Routes Map©, blown up to easily show you where we camped.  This was our second trip for Kevin and me as a father and son team.   Therefore, after I picked him up from his mother’s, we decided to keep up another tradition.   We went to Pizza Hut and stuffed ourselves.   After dinner, we returned home and packed for the following day.   3:00 A.M the alarm went off and away we went with my own brand new canoe on the roof.   I had purchased a “Portage” – “Wapizagonk” a few weeks earlier and this was the trip when it would get its keel wet.   I splurged a little and spent the money on Kevlar.   My 42-year-old back isn’t what it used to be and the 44 lbs. is great for portages.   I love it.   Again, the drive from Pierrefonds (outside Montreal) to the gates of the park takes about 5 ½ hours, with an additional ½ hour to the shores of Cedar Lake.   We parked the car and loaded up the new boat for the trip across to the Petawawa.   Cedar was calm on this August morning and we had no problems navigating out way across.   Launching at Cedar  We pulled into the 715m portage on the Cedars’ southern shore.   As we did, three other canoes landed and two separate groups headed up the Petawawa along with us.   The canoes looked like a chain gang heading out for their daily workload as they bobbed one after another up the portage. The portage itself is relatively easy to traverse.   It is level with a few small hills to negotiate.   It puts back in on the Petawawa just above the first waterfall, which at this time of the year, is nothing more than a stream.   Earlier in the spring however, this area is a torrent of rushing water.   I snapped a few shots from the side of the river as we climbed the portage.   As you can see by the pics, the Petawawa is only a parody of its former self at this time of the year.   Petawawa as it empties into Cedar   Falls on Petawawa   Low water   More Falls   Rocky River  At the end of the portage, you put back in above the waterfall.   The river widens here and slows somewhat.   There is a short (5-minute) paddle to the next portage.   This waterfall again is nothing like the torrent of early spring, but I think it has its own charm.   Falls above Portage  This portage is steeper than the first, but travels less ground.   There is nothing here an average person cannot handle.   Again, as in the first portage, you put back into the Petawawa right next to the falls.   There is a campsite slightly above the put in, but someone had already laid claim to it, so I couldn’t get a look.   We had chosen the second camp for our stay so we headed across the river and up the far shoreline.  The campsite itself is open with just enough level room for one tent comfortably.   There is a general slope to the site, but we managed to find a semi-level place to set up the tent.   There were lily pads growing where we pulled in the canoe, so I was worried that a chorus of frogs would keep us up tonight.    Campsite on Petawawa   Looking up river   Looking towards the falls   Campsite visitor  We finished setting up camp and sat down for a small snack consisting of turkey sandwiches and juice boxes.   For dessert, we dined on pop tarts.   We headed out in the boat to try our luck at some fishing.   The canoe routes map lists his area of the Petawawa to hold both brookies and smallmouth bass.   We cast spinner-baits to sunken timbers for the remainder of the day with no luck.   We returned to camp at about 6 p.m. and sparked up the fire for a lasagne dinner.   During our meal, one of Algonquins’ smaller residents visited us.   A little chipmunk decided to come to see what all the commotion was about.   He skittered here and there around out camp for ½ an hour before coming closer.   It helped when we offered it a granola bar as a treat.   We lounged around the camp for the rest of the evening and later we roasted a few marshmallows over the fire.   I tried to give my son a short astronomy lesson once it got dark, pointing out several of the more common constellations and stars.   We hit the tent about 10:30 and played cards by flashlight until turning in shortly after midnight. The next day we woke up late and spent most of the morning exploring the Petawawa and the area around stacks rapids.   After lunch, we headed down below the second falls and cast small spinners into pools for pan-sized brookies.   We hit fish after fish all afternoon, but most of them were too small to eat.   We were averaging between ½ - ¾ lb. fish.   We kept a few of the larger ones for dinner and ate them with some fried potatoes and vegetables.  We relaxed for the balance of the evening and were treated to a wonderful display of the Aurora Borealis later in the evening.    The next morning we were up early.   We ate a quick breakfast of oatmeal and pop tarts and broke camp around 8:00 A.M.   It took us just over 2 hours to make it back to the beach at Brent.   We loaded up the canoe and started the 6-hour drive back to Montreal.  This trip was not an overly exciting one, but four days in Algonquin is heaven to me.   I live for these trips with my son.   Next year, my 10-year-old daughter Meaghen is joining us for the first time.   I really think she will fall in love with park as Kevin and I have.   Specs for supper