Pillow to Paddle in 270 Minutes
Our original plan was a two-night trip in Algonquin Park, starting at Brent and staying both nights at Laurel Lake. I picked this route as a good introductory trip because it has only one portage of only 275 metres. Also, William has decided that he likes island sites, and there is one on Laurel.
However, Covid-19 pushed back the school start date so we got excited and decided to replace that nice easy plan with more time in the park. The new route started in the same way, but continued to Carl Wilson Lake, then back through Bug Lake.
The route we chose was:
- Day 1 - Cedar to Laurel Lake, one 275m portage.
- Day 2 - Laurel to Carl Wilson Lake, two portages (130m and 1070m).
- Day 3 - Rest day at Carl Wilson site.
- Day 4 - Carl Wilson to Bug Lake, two low maintenance portages (410m and 760m).
- Day 5 - Bug to Cedar Lake, one 820m low maintenance portage.
Compared to the original, this added more than 3km of portages, almost 2km of which was along low-maintenance trails. For our skill level (a nine year old first time tripper, a ten year old second time tripper, and an old dude), I would rate this as an advanced trip. It worked out great though, so we're glad we took advantage of the extra time. It also means that next year we don't need to work our way through routes of increasing difficulty, we can just jump to whatever routes we want. This was a rare COVID-triggered win.
Getting Ready
It took several days to get prepared, most of which was driving around Ottawa for various supplies. For example, we had planned the two-burner Coleman stove for the short trip, but now we needed a proper lightweight tripping stove.
We packed up the day before, and put most things into the car the night before. The exceptions were the refrigerated food and some of Katherine's sleeping things (blanket and stuffed animal). We had a healthy fear of forgetting these things at home. So, in order to remind ourselves, we put the food barrel and Katherine's backpack right in the doorway.
The SPOT Device
Another thing that we decided to take was a SPOT device (a GEN3 unit that we bought used).
This device has a GPS unit and a satellite transmitter. There are different ways to use it, but we came up with the following. The unit sent its location every 30 minutes. Additionally, we triggered a way-point at interesting locations, such as the start and end of each portage. We also used the "We're OK" button at the start and end of each day.
The main reason was to help reduce worry for Mom, who was staying at home. However, we really liked looking at our track afterwards. I think that next trip we'll set the device to record more frequently. Battery life wasn't a problem for us, so the more detailed the better.
In Day
We woke at 6:00 AM and were on the road by 6:15. We started the SPOT track at home, so our collected route includes the drive to Algonquin Park.
We made a quick stop at the Tim Horton's drive through and ate breakfast on the road. We all had bagels, the kids had juice and I had coffee. We ordered hash browns, but they were not delivered ☹.
Check-in at the Park took a bit longer than normal because of COVID rules. They allowed only one person in the office at a time. Fortunately, there was only one person ahead of us.
The Brent Road was in better shape than we've ever seen (this was our second time on that road). We soon learned the reason, as we passed two graders between the office and the lake.
We got to Algonquin Outfitters at about 10:15 AM.
The Brent store was also operating in a different method. We found our order taped to the door, and went to collect our canoe and paddles from the racks. We had canoe #603, a 16-foot kevlar Swift Algonquin.
A note about the rental paddle — I found it heavy again. This is something that I noticed the previous fall, but had forgotten about. The only time I notice is when I lift the paddle out of the water. It seems that I lift my paddle on every stroke ☺ so hopefully I'll remember to get my own paddle before the next trip.
Jake and the Other Dude
We also had a chance to talk to Jake and the other dude before heading out. We learned that the dog's names are Max and Gus, and at the time, they were about a year old. Super friendly dogs! We learned that these dogs still like to pee on camper's things, but this time we planned ahead and avoided the wet lifejacket from the previous year.
Jake described his favourite site on Carl Wilson and we planned to try to get it the following day. It is the site in the northwest part of the lake. It has a view of the cliffs and a nice swimming area as well.
He also described an alternate route back. Once in ten years, Cedar Lake can get too choppy to safely return. He said that we could beach on the north shore and walk the "6 mile" rail bed all the way to the store. He would then drive us back for our bags and the canoe.
On the Lake
We said goodbye to Jake and the other dude and were on the lake by 10:30, which meant it was 4.5 hours from bed to water.
