Algonquin Provincial Park

We departed Ottawa on Monday morning and arrived at Canisbay CG in Algonquin Provincial Park in mid afternoon.  The only prior reservation I could get was for site 141, a non-electric site, for only 4 nights.   When we arrived we were able to switch to a non-reservable electric site.  We paid up for 6 nights on an electric (or hydro site as they say here) which included a clear view of the southern sky for DirecTV.  We enjoyed keeping up with all of Donald Trump's foot-in-mouth moments for the week.

Algonquin Provincial Park is a primer hiking and paddling destination.  Like the Boundary Waters, it is one of the last remaining bastions of the open canoe.  The back country paddling seems to be managed much like the Boundary Waters, although looking at the maps, it appears the portages are generally longer.  We didn't plan on any canoe camping, but hoped to do a few day trips.

We had no internet access in the campground, but when we left the campground and drove about 5 miles, we could acquire a decent 3G signal.  The signal was great at the cell tree (see below).

Our home

Canoes in the Cafe

View from the Visitor Centre

Lots of portaging going on around here

Mr. Canoe Hat is a common site in these parts

A walk in the woods

Canoes weren't the only boats on the pond

A view to the north at Canoe Lake

The Canadians recycle everything

Taking a precarious sip

Canoes galore at the Portage Store

At the trail head for the Whiskey Rapids Trail we noticed a small brown building with some obvious electronics and a generator.  It looked like the support hut for a cell tower, but there was no cell tower in site.  But wait!  About 15 feet away there was an odd looking pine tree, like no tree I had ever seen.  It was a camo cell tower!  Very cool!

Dorcas and Matilda under the cell tree

It was pretty tall

The cell tree is the pine on the right, standing above the canopy

The Oxtongue River above Whiskey Rapids

We attended a naturalist program on snapping turtles.  They are common in this area.

The snapping turtle guy

Remember these?  Or is it really an outhouse with a view?

We also attended the Algonquin Public Wolf Howl.  Wolf Howls are held on Thursdays in August and only when a pack has been located.  A Wolf Howl will only be held if wolves have responded to naturalist's howls for the 2 nights prior to the scheduled Howl.  The wolves will gather for a rendezvous near a meadow or bog in August, the month after the pups are born.  They will stay there for several days while adult pack members will hunt.  The first Howl was held in 1963.  There have been 117 Howls since then, but none in the past 2 years, due to lack of cooperation with the wolves.  The Wolf Howl is a big deal.  Generally 400-500 cars and over 1200 people attend.   There is an hour-long presentation about the Algonquin Wolf (generally a hybrid of the eastern wolf and the western coyote) prior to departing to the Howl site, which is kept secret until we depart for the Howl venue.  The logistics of moving that many cars from the amphitheater to the howl site are a nightmare.  Historically the success rate of hearing the wolves is 70%.  Our good luck for this trip must have run out.  The only howling we heard were the naturalists, who actually did a very good job.

Lots of folks out for the Howl

Wolves have not always been loved in Algonquin.  The Algonquin Park Act of 1893, which established the park, placed a bounty on "wolves, bears and other noxious or destructive animals ..."  The bounty also included loons because they ate the fish.

Many things in Algonquin are large, but the Post Office is rather minuscule.

We only paddled one day while in the park, that on Canoe Lake.  We found a memorial and totem dedicated to Tom Thomson.  Thomson was a prominent and influential artist who died on Canoe Lake in 1917, under suspicious circumstances.

Remember that milk in a bag we bought in Ottawa?  It has apparently been sold in Canada for over 30 years.  There is a small pitcher, sold in the milk cooler, designed to dispense the milk.  You simply set the bag in the pitcher, snip a corner off the bag and pour away.  We didn't buy the pitcher, but a blender carafe seemed to work just as well.  Dorcas didn't like my idea of running the blender to open the bottom of the bag.

Look Ma, no more spilt milk!

We finally found a wolf

Canada is legally bi-lingual. but the province of Ontario is legally uni-lingual.  While much of the signage in Ontario is bi-lingual, not all is.  Apparently Ontarions (?) either don't care if French Canadians bump their head, or think they are too short to be at risk.

We would love to spend more time in Algonquin.  We only got in one day of paddling, primarily due to unfavorable winds and chasing the internet (I do have an obligation to my faithful readers).  

Next we continue our way westward across the Canadian Shield north of the Great Lakes.  We need to cross back into the US and arrive at Ely MN on Monday August 15.