My Ontario Outdoor Adventures: Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada: Three days camping and canoeing, September/October, 2007.

It was one of my first blogs and originally it was written over 10 years ago in the Polish language. Recently, using the Google Translator, I translated it into the English language and was amazed at how good was the translation! Of course, it did contain errors and it sounded ‘artificial’, yet it was perfectly understandable. After spending some time and correcting whatever I could, this is the final version.

This is a 20 minute slide show, with some videos, about our trip

GPS tracks of our three-day long canoeing trip

The map shows all the lakes we paddled on. Our campsite on Tom Thomson Lake is located in the south part of the lake, close to the letter "L"

Three Days Camping and Canoeing in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada, September/October, 2007

When we look at the map of the Canadian province of Ontario, we immediately notice the green outline of Algonquin Park, located about 250 kilometers north-east of Toronto, with an area of 7,725 square kilometers (15 times more than the area of Warsaw, Poland!). Before the arrival of Europeans, the area of today's park was inhabited by Indians, including the Algonquin tribe. French fur traders were the first white men to explore the park in the early eighteenth century, but it was not until the 1830s that the first more official expeditions took place. The rest of the nineteenth century is mainly associated with the timber industry - the territories there had impressive forests, which were logged, the logs floated down on numerous rivers and then shipped to Great Britain. There were so many trees that it seemed they would last another one thousand years (just as some people nowadays believe that oil will flow forever). Alas, it took less than 100 years to clear all the forest! To facilitate transport, in 1894 a railway line was built in the southern part of the park, stretching from Georgian Bay to Ottawa, and in 1915 another railway line was cut across the north-eastern part of the park (none is operational anymore). Farms were also built, but they faced enormous problems - the whole area is on the Canadian Shield and it is practically impossible to run successful farms where the soil is prone to erosion, its layer is very thin and the fields are strewn with stones and boulders the size of houses. Officially, the park was founded in 1893 and one of the goals was to protect the natural environment. Several well-known hotels and camps for children were established in the park, and tourists, who wanted to relax in the bosom of nature or engage in hunting or fishing activities, kept arriving in the park by train. The park has grown enormously since then and has "absorbed" much of the surrounding area. In the 1930s, the first road cut across the park (today's road no. 60) and thus began car tourism. There are almost 2,400 lakes and 1,200 km of rivers and streams in the park, and every year it is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists who either camp on the campgrounds accessible by cars, or set off on canoe trips deep into the park and cover hundreds of kilometers, staying overnight on hundreds of camping sites scattered all over of the park. Another attraction of the park is the "wolf howling" - people park cars on the side of the road and park employees start to imitate wolves’ howling. After some time, wolves call up from different places in the park - it is an incredibly original "concert", attended by tourists from all over the world.

Chris, Lynn, Nick, Christine and Jack (and Spark the dog-but he was behind the camera, taking the photo ;)

Day One: Saturday, September 29, 2007.

We left Toronto by seven in the morning in two cars; apart from me, the other participants consisted of Nick, Lynn, Christine, Chris and the adorable dog Spark, so obedient that he never needed to be on a leash. The weather was just perfect - temperatures were above + 20 C, not even one rain drop, always sunny... of course, we were very pleasantly surprised by the weather, because were prepared for and expecting much lower temperatures and frosts at night - October in Ontario can be quite cold. There was no traffic on Highway no. 400 and then on Road # 11. We quickly stopped in Huntsville for some last-minute shopping, and from there took Road # 60 that led straight into the park. The park has 29 so-called "access points", places from which you can start your canoe trip; after a few dozen minutes we got to access point no. 5, where the well-known Portage Store was located. You can rent or buy all the equipment needed for canoeing and camping trips - whether for a few hours or several weeks. We had already booked two canoes a week before - both were lightweight, made of Kevlar; one five-meter long, two-person, the other one longer (19 feet), for 3 people. They cost $43 and $50 a day, respectively, and $3 a day per person for a life jacket. In the next building was the park office - as we had made reservations in advance, we only had to pay and were given permits, which allowed us to spend two nights there.

Canoeing on Canoe Lake

The cost was $10 per person per night, as well as parking was included. On the topographic map of the park all canoe routes as well as camping sites were precisely marked. We planned to spend two nights on the same campsite, on Tom Thomson Lake—so upon arrival at the lake, we could choose any vacant spot. However, those who plan to change camping sites every day, must specify exactly when and where they intend to camp and they will receive camping permits for specific lakes. Sometimes this system can be a bit of a hassle, especially in a bad weather that prevents from reaching the next destination on time, but there are usually always vacant campsites—and worst comes to worst, just set up the tent on any suitable place. By the way, at the end of September, it not really necessary to book campsites, as there are very few tourists visiting the park, but it turned out quite a good idea that we had done so - we were told at the park office that all campsites for this weekend on Tom Thomson Lake had been reserved! Most likely the awesome weather had caused many people to come to the park, as well as there was a large group of several dozen young people who set off half an hour ahead of us and were just heading for the same lake. After unpacking our luggage - and it was quite numerous, considering the length of our trip - we carefully placed everything in our canoes and after taking a few photos, we departed and after 12:00 pm started our journey on Canoe Lake.

Our first (easy) portage, from Canoe Lake to Joe Lake

It is a small lake, very popular because of easy car access and the rental store. Its history is quite interesting: At the end of the nineteenth century there was a large sawmill there and on the shores of the lake was the settlement of Mowat, which at one point had 600 inhabitants and even side tracks, connected to the main railway line, reached Mowat. Cottage construction began on the shores of Canoe Lake, and the large Mowat Lodge was opened in 1913. Today it is even difficult to find the place where the settlement and the Mowat Hotel used to be, but there are still private cottages and there is a complete lack of campsites. People who own cottages were granted the right to use them for 99 years when the park was established; when the deadline expired, it was extended to 2017 (and recently until 2038). Of course, the park would like to get rid of all the private cottages, but probably many of the owners will try hard to win the right to continue using their buildings.

Lynn simply LOVES portaging!

There were relatively many boaters on the lake - many of them only came for a few hours. Our canoes turned out to be quite good and they moved quickly on the water. Since I am a rather strong paddler, I was sitting in the back (stern) and didn't even have to use the corrective J-stroke very often, because Nick and Christine were a bit weaker paddlers and when they were both paddling on the opposite side, I had no problem to compensate for their paddling. After a dozen or so minutes, the first large island appeared in the distance, Gillmour Island, on which the Gillmour brothers, who had owned a sawmill, built their summer cottages in the 19th century. Then we passed Wapomeo Island and a smaller island appeared, appropriately named Little Wapomeo Island. Looking at it, it was impossible not to think about what had happened near this island almost exactly 90 years ago—the most famous event that occurred on the lake - namely the mysterious death of a very famous Canadian painter, Tom Thomson.

Hayhurst Point-the Tom Thomson Cairn

Tom Thomson first came to this park in 1912 and sometimes was spending up to 8 months a year there, canoeing, visiting friends living on Canoe Lake and staying at the Mowat Lodge Hotel. Thomson was perhaps the first to discover the beauty of Canadian nature as an artistic theme and encouraged many of his friends, including painters, to visit the park; it was they, after his premature death, who created the famous Canadian "Group of Seven" - a group of painters who presented Canadian nature and nature in general in a very innovative and original way. His paintings, created in a very unique style, were often given away by Thomson practically for free to his friends; nowadays they are displayed in many leading galleries and fetch extremely high auction prices of over one million dollars. On July 8, 1917, Tom Thomson set out in his canoe from the Mowat Lodge Hotel, most likely to do some fishing. Two days later his canoe was found near Little Wapomeo Island; fishing tackle and his bag were missing, and a single paddle was never found. Intensive searches yielded no results. Eight days after his disappearance, his body was found near Little Wapomeo Island and taken to Wapomeo Island. The medical examination showed no water in the lungs, only a bruise on the temple (maybe with this missing paddle?); the doctor declared the death to be an accident. In addition, the fishing line was twisted a dozen times around his ankle, and the other paddle was attached to the canoe, but in a rather unconventional way. He was buried on the shores of Canoe Lake, but after a few days the body was moved to the town of Owen Sound, where he originally came from. In any case, 90 years later, his death is still not fully explained, and there are many different theories as to how he actually ended his life - only Canoe Lake knows the whole secret! As we were paddling, on the right, on the tip of Hayhurst Point, there was a cairn erected in memory of this artist, about which I will write later.

The end of the portage, Joe Lake. The road bridge used to be a train bridge, where the busiest railway line in the country ran - a train passed every 20 minutes.

Having passed Little Wapomeo Island, we stared at the left bank where the town of Mowat and the hotel used to be and tried to imagine what the area might have looked like over a hundred years ago, before the arrival of the lumberjacks... well, virtually all of the original trees had been cut down - they were several dozen meters high, ideally suited for masts for British ships - and it would take many generations for the park's nature to resemble what it had existed before the lumberjacks cleared the forest.

Chris likes portaging, too! The Joe Dam Portage can be a very busy place

Slowly the lake narrowed until we finally reached its northern part. There was a dam (Joe Lake Dam) and our first portage, i.e. transporting the canoe over a distance of 295 m. There are numerous portages in the park, from several dozen meters to over 5 kilometers and it is impossible to make a longer trip without at least a few portages. For some canoeists, canoeing without portaging is not an option at all; for others, portage is a necessary evil, which they accept but try to avoid as much as possible. We certainly belonged to the latter group and we chose our route to cover only this one portage. Usually, the length of portages has to be multiplied by three - first you carry the canoe, the second time you walk back to pick up the backpacks and the third time you carry them (although I know people who pack so that they can carry everything, including the canoe, in one trip; they often look like Christmas trees, festooned with various pieces of luggage and equipment!). Since we didn't expect too many portages, we didn't really care about the amount of luggage and we walked the portage 5 times. It turned out that at the other end the group of young people who had started out ahead of us and headed for Tom Thomson Lake, was just finishing their lunch. We decided that we would try to be the first ones on Tom Thomson Lake, otherwise they would probably occupy most of the better campsites and we would have difficulties finding a good spot. So we quickly had a grub, packed our things in the canoe and off we went!

The beaver dam just before Tom Thomson Lake. It was very solid and apparently very old

After a few minutes we passed under the road bridge—the traffic on this road was restricted to authorized vehicles only. Few people realized that the road was built in the old right-of-way of the "famous" railroad, built by one of Canada's richest industrialists, JR Booth, the timber "baron" whose operations pertaining to logging, transporting and processing timber were the largest in the world. It was he who built the railroad from Georgian Bay to Ottawa in 1897 to transport lumber from the area where Algonquin Park is now located. This railway ran through Wilno, the first Polish settlement in Canada, and at one time was the busiest railway line in the country - a train passed every 20 minutes. In 1933, the railway overpass collapsed, greatly reducing the number of trains on this route. The last train passed in 1959; after removing the railroad tracks, most of this route was converted into a hiking trail.

Old stumps-the water level was increased by numerous dams during the logging era

Leaving the bridge behind us, we entered Joe Lake, where private cabins disappeared and campsites began to appear (they had conspicuous orange signs, visible from a distance). We passed the large Joe Island on the right. The shores were completely forested and many leaves had already started to take beautiful fall colors. Often, huge tree trunks protruded from the water - a remnant of logging operations, their protruding sharp tips still presented a threat and we had to watch out for them. The lake then narrowed to a river, the Little Oxtongue River - and we quickly entered a fairly large lake pleasantly named Tepee Lake. On its west shore was Camp Arowhon, founded in 1932. From a distance we saw neatly arranged canoes - surely the kids who spent their holidays there had beautiful memories lasting a lifetime! The lake began to narrow, then it became wider again - as it turned out, it was already another lake, Fawn Lake and finally we entered Little Doe Lake from which, according to the map (and my reliable GPS) only a short isthmus separated us from our destination - Tom Thomson Lake. But an unexpected surprise awaited us: the isthmus was blocked off with a solid beaver dam! We didn't really know how to deal with this obstacle - was there a short portage around this dam, or we had to just walk over it and move or slide the canoes? Fortunately, a canoe with a couple of more experienced canoeists showed up. They told us that “the dam had been there since time immemorial", quickly stepped out of the canoe, and standing on the dam, pushed the canoe over and in no time were paddling on the other side. We followed their steps and indeed, it turned out that the dam was so solid that probably an elephant could have walked over it without any problems; besides, beavers certainly repaired any damage every day. After a few minutes we were on the other side of the dam and because a group of the young people had just reappeared, we decided to paddle as hard as possible to find the best place. After a dozen or so minutes we crossed the isthmus and found ourselves on Tom Thomson Lake.

Arriving at our campsite on Tom Thomson Lake, N45 37.400 W78 44.103

The lake was bestowed this name in 1958 in memory of the aforementioned painter, Tom Thomson; until then it had been called Black Bear Lake.

Our campsite on Tom Thomson Lake

According to our map, there were a lot of camping places around the lake, and two of them were located on an island - and these were of particular interest to us, because the dog could be let loose on the island and we would not have to worry about him getting lost. First, we saw a small, rocky island with a dozen or so impressive Canadian pines - a unique sight! It was such islets that were a frequent inspiration for Tom Thomson and the painters of the Group of Seven. A larger island appeared in the distance. After a few minutes we reached it and it turned out that one site was occupied; the couple staying there said the other one was still vacant, so we circled the island and checked it out... but we didn't like it: there wasn't much room to pitch tents and the view from it was limited to the west shore of the lake. .. There was another campsite nearby, which at least looked interesting on the map - in the very south of the lake, situated on a headland between two bays. Paddling very hard, we got there after a few minutes and that campsite turned out to be really perfect: very spacious and ideal for setting up our 4 tents, it had a beautiful view of the whole lake, the island and the coves, and there was no other campsite within a radius of a kilometer or two so it provided us with plenty of privacy! (According to my GPS, it was located 425 meters above sea level, N45 37.400 W78 44.103).

Our campsite on Tom Thomson Lake. I liked it!

After reaching the shore, we unloaded our canoes and hauled them to the campsite, and then set up our tents. Just in case, we brought some dry wood with us for the campfire, but it turned out to be unnecessary, we could easily find plenty of dry wood everywhere. Although the regulations say that a maximum of 9 people can stay on a campsite and 3 tents, we did not expect any inspection at that time and we pitched the 4^th tent, which was very small; in case of any problems, we were to say that it was... a kennel for a dog. A path stretched from our bivouac and some 50 meters further there was a very primitive latrine (called “thunderbox”), not fenced by anything - at least it provided a lot of fresh air and an interesting view; each time you went to use it, you had to make sure that no one else was going to use it. Around the campsite I found a dozen or so delicious mushrooms, resembling boletus. An hour later, all five of us were sitting around a fire, savoring red and white wine, grilling marinated steaks over the fire and sharing various scrumptious dishes (due to the ethnically mixed group, there were Chinese food and delicacies with a typical Indian flavor, as well as Polish sausage, kabanos sausages and the always attractive Polish marshmallows, “ptasie mleczko”), and a few people were brave enough to try my wild mushrooms which I fried (just in case you wonder: yes, they did survive!).

Around the campfire, having a tasty meal!

Since there were black bears in the park, we should hang our food between trees, but somehow we didn't feel like doing so; we trusted that no bear would visit us, and we hoped that the presence of Spark the dog would scare bears away. So we only hung the bag with food so that ubiquitous raccoons would not get to it. It is estimated that there are two thousand black bears in the park (about 1 bear for three square kilometers), but they are generally not a problem for campers and very few people actually get to see them at all. However, tragedies do happen from time to time: in 1978, three boys were attacked and killed by a black bear in Algonquin Park, and in 1991, two people camping on Bates Island on Lake Opeongo were also killed by a bear. In addition, there had been some cases of bears attacking children. The best place to spot bears in Ontario is in landfills, where you can sometimes see more than 20 bears - generally they stay away from people. Personally, I had encountered black bears on camping sites in Canada three times; fortunately, each time they had quickly run away—probably they had been as scared of me as I had been of them!

There is nothing comparable to sitting around the fire on a campsite and looking at the lake... simply priceless!

Soon it got dark, faint lights of distant fires on the opposite shores of the lake appeared in the distance and we heard some sounds, fortunately the group of young people must have settled in the far part of the lake. Spark the dog, on the other hand, was extremely interested in mice that came out from their holes in the ground to hunt in the evening, and he keep looking for hours at the spot where they had appeared. It grew colder as dusk fell, but the weather was still fine and the fire kept us warm. Overall, we were tired - most of had not gotten much sleep the previous night, and Lynn had just returned from Hong Kong in the morning, and the following day after the end of our trip, she was also going to fly to Hong Kong - but since she had been doing this for 11 years, she had already gotten used to it. At 10:00 pm we put out the fire, buried ourselves in our double sleeping bags, and soon we all were sleeping like logs.

The best things in life are free... almost!

Day Two: Sunday, September 30, 2007

We were up at seven in the morning, mainly to take photos. Chris lit a fire and it was nice to immediately warm up with it and have a cup of hot coffee. Morning mist was raising off he water, but since it was not too cold, it did not make a particularly good photographic subject., We noticed a gaggle of ducks on the water and a Canadian Loon. The breakfast consisted of a few slices of pan-fried Canadian bacon, scrambled eggs, and sliced tomatoes and cucumber. Nick offered me very tasty Indian coffee with milk; even though Sparky received his dog food, he was patiently circling around us, hoping to receive "human" food, which suited him much better. After breakfast, we unfolded the maps and began to wonder where we were going to go. Although, we tried to avoid portages, we were considering trying to paddle a route with portages, especially since we would not have any heavy luggage with us. After half an hour we chose a loop-shaped route, which according to our calculations, we should easily complete within 6 hours.

Our canoeing trip, according to my GPS tracks

So, having packed the most necessary things - food, drinks, additional clothes and cameras - we headed east towards Tom Thomson Lake and we reached Bartlett Lake (named after the park superintend, who held this function for a record period of 24 years at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th century). The lake looked very nice; we noticed several campsites on its shores. We made it to its northern part, where the first portage awaited us, 470 m. We met a couple who also carried the canoe, but in the opposite direction. We were able to move everything in one go; I found some beautiful mushrooms on the way and from then on I always looked for mushrooms during each portage. On the other side of the portage, we saw – well, it was difficult to define what: a lake? A pond? A swamp? This body of water was overgrown with rushes and only a narrow waterway was cut for the canoe. It was terribly muddy and shallow; although the whole route was not more than 150 m, we got quite tired, pushing, rather than paddling, the canoe, with the paddles against the bottom of that muddy pool. Falling into something like that would be probably worse than tipping in the middle of a lake! When we reached the "mainland", we had to get off the canoe and, walking in the wet mud, we pushed the canoe on the ground. After successfully completing this arduous section, we faced a second short portage, 130 meters, which we quickly did and ended up on the picturesque Willow Lake. We loved one of the mountainous rocky headlands where we stopped for lunch and also took a lot of great photos. The lake was completely empty, there were no campsites on its shores, and it would probably be a perfect place for painters; I would not be surprised if Tom Thomson or other painters from the Group of Seven had come here to paint.

Sunbeam Lake Portage. Christopher, Spark, Nick, Christine, Lynn & Jack, celebrating the end of the longest portage of our trip.

After lunch, we continued our journey and soon there was a third, 240 meter long portage leading to Aster Pond; having plenty of energy after lunch, we completed it in no time. Aster Pond, despite its name, did not resemble a pond, but just a small lake; when it comes to naming, it's probably a very subjective thing! The northern shore of Aster Pond also meant the longest portage for us, 670 m. We got a bit tired, but soon we reached Sunbeam Lake, where we took a commemorative photo at the signage marking the length of the portage.

We had to portage a lot! Unfortunately, I could not help-somebody had to take photos!

Sunbeam Lake had several extremely picturesque rocky islets and one had a camping site, as well as there were several other sites on the northern shores. We slowly canoed around two such islets, made of huge rocks, enjoying the view and the silence around us. On the east-south side of the lake we did a short portage, only 120 meters, and we entered Vanishing Pond. Somehow we had not given much thought about that name, yet we should have; as it turned out, often the pond did disappear or the water level was very low, even on the map there was a warning that we had not noticed. Paddling the first few hundred meters was problem-free, but the waterway gradually began to narrow until a solid beaver dam appeared. It took a while to get the canoe over it.

One of numerous beaver dams we had to traverse

Behind the dam, a different landscape has already appeared – we were canoeing on a very winding, narrow stream, we often had problems with making turns due to the length of our canoe, and from time to time the canoe settled on the shallows. We frequently encountered beaver dams, which we had to traverse; there were so many of them that we stopped counting them - it became almost a routine for us to get out of the canoe and then efficiently slide or carry the canoe over the dams.

Another damn dam!

At one point, the stream split and we nearly headed in the wrong direction, towards Baden-Powell Lake, but we quickly realized the mistake. We proceeded quite slowly and we began to worry whether or not we would be able to reach our campsite before dark. Finally, we reached a kind of marsh - we proceeded along a clearing in the rushes, here and there characteristic beaver lodges appeared. Finally we reached the beginning of the last portage. It was a bit hard to reach the shore due to many rocks and we had to try a few times - our canoes were light but not as strong as the heavier ones, so we had to be careful not to damage them. The last portage was 405 meters; sometimes the path was narrow and we had to be careful not to trip and fall down. After 5:00 pm we reached the end of the portage and were on Bluejay Lake. We had difficulties with launching the canoe into the water - it was shallow, with a lot of underwater rocks; in addition, the wind began to blow, making it hard to paddle. After several minutes, both canoes were on the water. We started paddling hard to reach our campsite as quickly as possible. Bluejay Lake narrowed and we navigated onto the already familiar Little Doe Lake.

A beaver lodge-there were plenty of them

There were several campfires on its shores and we could smell the unique aroma of the camp kitchen. We passed relatively close near a beautiful blue heron, which stood motionless hunting for fish. Often wading in the reeds, between tree trunks and branches sticking out of the water, blue herons become almost invisible from a distance, blending in perfectly with the surrounding landscape. After an hour we reached the beaver dam that we had encountered on the first day; another 30 minutes later we were at our site. It was still light enough for me to fetch a lot of wood while the others started the fire and were preparing dinner. Soon all of us were sitting around the fire, sipping red and white wine, sharing today's events and massaging the muscles that were sore from paddling and carrying canoes! The night was warmer than the last one, and we were generally well rested, so we sat until almost two in the morning, chatting and showing off the photos and videos we had taken.

Back at the campsite!

Day Three: Monday, October 1, 2007

On the last day, the weather was the same as the day before, only more windy. At eight o'clock in the morning we were already up; we had breakfast, took a series of photos and started packing. As there are no rubbish bins in the park, we were not allowed to bring metal cans and glass containers with us (actually, we had bought wine in paper packages), and all other rubbish had to be either burned or taken back with us. We had a plastic garbage bag, containing mostly plastic bottles and waste that we could not incinerate. Before 11:00 am we set off, following the same route as before. The blowing wind, especially on the larger lakes, made paddling quite demanding and we had to paddle very hard to keep the canoe moving towards our destination. We passed several canoes and kayaks, including two solo canoeists; from the amount of luggage they carried it was possible to deduce that they were going camping for at least a few days. Some people like to go on such trips alone in the fall, when they might experience solitude and seclusion from other people. Former Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, was an avid canoeist and often was canoeing alone.

Again at the Joe Lake Portage, Lynn and her new best friend!

Having passed the former railroad bridge, we reached the Joe Lake Dam where we had lunch. It was our last portage, this time we had to again cover its length several times, gradually bringing all the pieces of our luggage and camping equipment. A large group of 11^th grade students had just arrived at the southern side of the portage and they were going with their teachers to camp for several days. It was immediately clear that this was not their first such trip - they efficiently carried backpacks, tents and food containers, and with the canoes slung over their backs, they practically ran while portaging them! In all this confusion, it turned out that they accidentally took one of our paddles, but they found it and brought back to us. It was a good lesson for us to be careful during portages not to mix up the belongings with those belonging to others, as space is often limited since there are often a lot of people at such places, practically everything placed at the same spot and it was easy to grab other people's things.

At the Tom Thomson Cairn, Hayhurst Point

We were back on Canoe Lake, but there was one more place we wanted to visit before the end of our trip – the Tom Thomson Cairn. Upon hearing of Thomson's death, many of his friends - future members of the Group of Seven - came to the park. Without Tom Thomson, the park immediately lost its charm for them and they did not even want to create their paintings there. In order to honor him, they decided to build a memorial cairn on top of Hayhurst Point overlooking Canoe Lake; it was from there that Tom Thomson had often created his paintings. In 1930, a few meters from the cairn, an Indian totem was erected by children spending their holidays at nearby camps.

Christine, Nick and Lynn

Due to the increasing wind, we had a little trouble reaching the Hayhurst cliff, but we made it without any problems. After two minutes of climbing, we found ourselves at the cairn and totem pole. The cairn and the plaque embedded in it were directed towards the place where the body of Tom Thomson had been found. We spent almost half an hour there, taking a commemorative group photo (interestingly, 6 days later I would visit this cairn again, that time with a different group of people!). We talked once more about the mysterious death of Tom Thomson and the legends that had arisen since then: about a shadowy ghost canoe that some people see moving swiftly on the lake and then vanishing in the fog ... a canoe that very quickly moves on the water, then reaches the sandy beach and disappears, leaving no traces of landing in the sand… about a comet that flew over the lake on the anniversary of Tom Thomson's death...

Lynn, Sparky and Chris

We wanted to stay at the cairn even longer, but we had to return our canoes on time. After less than half an hour we reached the Portage Store, unpacked the canoes, took them to the rental shop and after a dozen or so minutes we were leaving the park. In Huntsville, we popped into a restaurant on the main street called "Louis II" for a very tasty dinner. At the parking lot, we saw huge paintings hanging on the walls of the buildings - reproductions of paintings by Tom Thomson and other members of the Group of Seven - what a coincidence! Well, another proof that the works of Thomson and his colleagues were still very well-known and appreciated in Canada.

Mural in Huntsville, Ontario: "Northern River" by Tom Thomson

Promising ourselves that we would try to organize a similar trip next year, we said goodbye and set off on our way back. The traffic on the highways was not bad and we reached Toronto by 10:00 pm.

Mural in Huntsville, Ontario: "The Pool" by Tom Thomson

Overall, it was an extremely successful trip. In three days we were able to see a lot, as well as experienced a total of 2,625 meters of portaging. It was not a lot, and besides, in most cases we didn't have to walk several time, progressively carrying our belongings; passionate canoeists often cover more and much longer portages in one day, and in addition are laden with all the equipment - nevertheless, we were glad that we tried portaging—it let us paddle on many lakes and see very scenic parts of the park. We enjoyed a perfect weather, a wonderful camping site, and explored places related to the history and culture of Canada. However, the most important thing that made our trip successful was the great, well-coordinated company, which is always the decisive factor in any such trip.

P.S.

Catherine and I went to Algonquin Park three years later, in May 2010, and we actually camped on that very same campsite! Unfortunately, Pumpkin was not thrilled with this campsite—she said it was too dark and the view was not very good, as well as she got lost in the forest while looking for a hot shower (or was it a hot tub that she wanted to use?). And probably in the morning, while I was still asleep, she was furiously paddling all over the lake, looking for Tim Horton's! (a very well-known Canadian chain of coffee shops, serving excellent coffee). Besides, a very violent storm took place while we were camping there, with thunders and lighting striking nearby. However, we did see plenty of moose, including some wading in the water. A few photos from that trip: