My 12 year old kid and I are planning a trip to Algonquin Park for about 4 days over the September Labor Day weekend. We will be taking our own canoe (Wenonah Heron 15 ft. 57 lbs. or Nova Bob’s Special 15 ft. 52 lbs.). We have lightweight backpacking equipment, and a fair amount of backcountry backpacking experience, but consider ourselves to be canoeing novices. My daughter would like to see a moose. We like to fish. Would be willing to do multiple, short portages and/or one or two portages of about a mile. I’ve been considering the north or northwest part of the park, in an effort to avoid crowds (is this even possible on that weekend?). How about Cedar Lake to Carl Wilson Lake? Any ideas?
i love Algonquin
i always go after labor day and enter from the west side of the park … there have been trips when i’ve seen not a single other boat. entry at Butt Lake (3) affords a great area of the park.
another excellent weekend trip (flatwater) especially for early Spring (May) trip is from the Tim River at (2). Later, there may be low water level problems. The most beautiful part of trip is Tim River between Longbow Lake and portage to Queer Lake. Expect to see some interesting animals (we managed to see 9 moose and one black bear). Note that P 90 on Tim River before big portage to Queer Lake is easily runable in early spring - stop there and check before you go.
Route Description: Access point 2 of Algonquin Park - Tim River
Carpool one car to Access point of Algonquin Park 3 - Magnetawan Lake
East by Tim River to Tim Lake
Set a camp at Tim Lake
East by Tim River
P 120 on Tim River
East by Tim River to Rosebary Lake
East to West side of Longbow Lake
P 230 South over the old dam
South-east by Tim River
P 90 on Tim River (easily runable in early spring)
P 1330 to Queer Lake
Set a camp at Queer Lake
North-west on Queer Lake
P 175 to Little Trout Lake
South-west through Little Trout Lake
P 435 to Butt Lake
South-west through Butt Lake
P 295 to Hambone Lake
West through Hambone Lake
P 135 to Magnetawan Lake
a little West on Magnetawan Lake to the pier
Try either Tim Lake or
Rain Lake. It would be a shorter drive by a few hours. Tim Lake and Rain Lake are about the same distance from Toronto, along Highway 518.
The trees are just starting to turn around Labour Day weekend, so you should be able to see some very nice sites. I know there are moose in this area so your daughter should be able to see some if you get up early enough in the morning.