Canoeing, Across Algonquin Park, 10 days, access #2 to #20

So you're anxious to get canoeing after a long cold winter? What better start than a ten day paddle across Algonquin Park, west to east, Tim River to Barron Canyon, 45 portages and all.

Take advantage of early season high water and paddle your canoe rather than drag it across mud flats and beaver dams. Get a jump start on the May long weekend and get ahead of peak bug season.

Itinerary:

May 12, Tuesday morning, head for Barron Canyon via Petawawa to drop off the end point vehicle, then retreat to the start at Tim River via Kearney. Pickup rental canoes if required.

May 13, start canoeing. The route is based on a 2003 trip report by Adrian Smith who completed it in 10 days with a paddle partner. http://www.myccr.com/canoedb/routeDetails.php?routeid=666

May 22, The trip intentionally ends on a Friday leaving the weekend of May 23-24 as insurance if we don't make it on schedule, and leaving time to return.

Route Description by Paddle Day:

As per Adrian Smith with day one modification.

1 Tim River to Longbow Lake, 1 Portage
2 Tim River to Shippagew Lake, 6 Portages, Severe Meandering
3 Shippagew Lake to Blue Lake, Big Trout Lake to Merchant Lake, 3 Portages
4 Merchant Lake to Happy Isle Lake to Opeongo Lake - East Arm, 2 Portages
5 Opeongo Lake to Dickson Lake, 1 Portage - 5.3 Km
6 Dickson Lake to Little Dickson to Sundassa to White Partridge Lake, 3 Portages
7 White Partridge Lake to May to North Branch to Loonskin to Barron Lake, 4 Portages (total 7.7 Km)
8 Barron Lake to Greenleaf to Carcajou to Wenda to Little Carcajou to Upper Spectacle to Lower Spectacle Lake, 12 Portages
9 Lower Spectacle to Grand Lake to Stratton to High Falls to Ooze to The Cascades to Brigham Lake, 8 Portages
10 Brigham Lake to Exit via Barron Canyon, 3 Portages

note: access # 20 isn't the exact exit point along Barron Canyon Rd.

Difficulty:

The total distance is 170 km, including 35 km of portages.

River and lake travel require intermediate canoeing skill. Spring currents can make tricky going for a meandering river such as the Tim River. Its a good idea if at least one person per canoe knows what they are doing.

Multi day camping experience is recommended. Most of the trip is very remote. Night temperatures are cool in Algonquin in early May, its been known to snow. Ditto for water temperatures. The ice out is record late this year.

The difficult part is the portaging. The longest portage is over 5 km. You want to be in good physical shape.

No. of Portages : 45

Total Length: 35,445 m

Average Length: 787 m

Longest Portage : 5305 m

To quote Adrian Smith, "We had to double each portage - turning it into a total of 105 KM of hiking - you need good boots!"

Until proven otherwise, this meetup also assumes doubling each portage. Ten days worth is a lot of food to haul.

Cost:

10 nights of backcountry camping, 10 X $12 = $120

$100 shared gas. Remember the need to leave vehicles at both ends. As a rule one canoe per car, therefore, only two persons per car.

$120 camping + $100 gas = $220

There is no upfront cost at time of signup. Canoe rentals are your responsibility.

Add canoe rental if required, $28/day, split by two paddlers is $14/day each.

Canoe Rental:

Start point outfitter,

Canoe Algonquin (http://canoealgonquin.com/Rentals.html), Kearney, ON 1-800-818-1210

$28 per day.

End point outfitter,

Algonquin Portage (http://www.algonquinportage.com/canoes_and_kayaks.php), 1352 Barron Canyon Rd,
Pembroke 613-735-1795

It matters little which end you rent from since cars need to be left at both ends.

Note:

Both photos above are from KW-Backcountry Algonquin meetups in early May. Special thanks to the photographer of the top photo (the inspiration for this trip) whose name is lost.