BACKPACKING IN ALGONQUIN

Notes by Nancy Gaarenstroom; September 1996

"A Walk in the Wet Woods"

Saturday, September 7, 1996

The adventure began long ago with planning sessions together and individually, but today we loaded up Steve's Blazer and hit the road for Algonquin at 9:45 am. Our group this year consists of Linda Runyon, Tamara Ulicny, and Nancy Gaarenstroom. I have assembled everything at the last minute this year and feel not very organized. But we are on our way and I am looking forward to the break from our regular routine. The entire day of driving is in pouring rain. Going into Canada the customs agent asked our destination. When I laughingly responded that we were going to Algonquin backpacking for a week, he laughed and said, "Okay," and waved us on. We stopped for lunch, gas, and a drink before arriving at the Comfort Inn in Huntsville at 4:45 pm. We had a mix-up with our room reservation but finally got a non-smoking room. Had a nice dinner then started packing up our packs for the trip tomorrow, evaluting the merits of everything and trying to avoid duplication of items.

Sunday, September 8, 1996

Highway 60 to Ramona Lake (8.1 km in 3 hours hiking time)
We had a good breakfast and drove to the Ranger Station to check in. It was a good year for berries so there has been no reported problems with bears. We start out on the flat part of the trail and are told it is pretty up and down by Maggie Lake. Even though there are arrows on the map we are told it is not one way and choose to go the middle loop counter-clockwise. We have to drive three more kilometers to the trailhead and actually get going on the trail at 10:40 am. We stop at Guskewau Lake at 11:50 am for a half- hour break, but none of us are hungry enough to eat lunch. Met two backpackers coming from Ramona Lake where they saw two moose this morning. We are hoping not to see a bear, but that we will see a moose. The hiking is generally a walk in the woods on soft cushy dirt and hemlock needles. The trail is very well marked in our direction but even more so in the other. Even at the lakes the view is quite limited by the preponderance of trees. We arrive at Ramona Lake at 2:10 pm and take off our packs at the first campsite. We walked down to check out the other sites but decide to stay at the first one. We set up the tent, ate cheese and crackers, had some wine, and pumped water. Linda took a nap before dinner. We have an outhouse - small, smelly, but functional. There were loons on the lake to greet us. We split two freeze-dried meals between the three of us. Tonight's dinner entrees were beef stroganoff and peach pecan chicken, followed by a chocolate bar for dessert and tea. We spent a long time hanging the food bag. Modifications did make the job easier, but we are still experimenting. Linda Crandall had suggested the use of carabiners to quickly hook the bags to the rope and that worked out great. Tamara added small mesh bags to hold the rope. We had a small campfire. The walk was easy today, but we still went in the tent about 8:00 pm, read a short while, and were asleep by 9:00 pm. As usual I woke up often during the night, but never for long. Tamara actually got up at 3:30 am for a brief walk outside.

Monday, September 9, 1996

Ramona Lake to Rainbow Lake (10.8 km in 4 hours and 35 minutes hiking time)
I woke up at 6:30 am and just closed my eyes again for a couple minutes. Woke again at 7:30 and actually got up. Our food was okay. Our breakfast was oatmeal with dried cherries and almonds, shortbread, and tea. By the time we finished eating and got packed up to leave it was 10:20 am. The walk in the woods continued in not quite so humid conditions today. Shortly after we got started we passed the intersection where the first loop breaks off. It is very well marked with a "You are Here" sign on a posted map. We are now following yellow blazes instead of blue. Without the expansive views we are enjoying things in the smaller scale. We are seeing lots of Clintonia, Bunchberry, and Trillium all with berries. Does not seem that Algonquin has suffered the very dry summer we have had at home. There is also a plant like Great Merrybells, however it flowers differently. It has berries along the stem like Solomon's Seal. We did not see Solomon's Seal but some False Solomon's Seal. At noon we took a 45-minute lunch break at Lupus Lake. Lunch consists of peanut butter and pita, great beef jerky made especially for us in Sterling, and a variety of dried fruit and nuts. It is still very warm and we are drinking a lot of water. We took another break at the lookout on Susan Lake. Even the lookout had a limited view, improved only by cutting off a few lower tree branches by the lake. Passed two hikers with a small dog considering ending their three-week trip after one week. The last stretch of hiking was not difficult at all, but we were still all pretty pooped when we reached our campsite at 4:05 pm. After the tent was up we all went swimming and got cleaned up. It felt great! The water was a very comfortable temperature. This site has an open air toilet. I find it preferable to the walled in one. For dinner this evening we had wine, cheese and crackers, lasagna and turkey with asparagus, chocolate bar and tea. Our food-hanging technique was further refined (video soon to be released) by using Tamara's water bottle instead of a rock and whipping it over the branch by swinging it on the rope. We were in the tent by 8:30 pm. It is still quite warm out. It rained lightly through the night but not enough to have to close the tent up and the breeze felt really nice.

Tuesday, September 10, 1996

Rainbow Lake to Gervais Lake (4.7 km in two hours and 50 minutes hiking time)
We were up about 7:00 am. The food okay. After our encounter with the bear last year at Killarney it is always nice to see the food hanging undisturbed in the morning. We had a leisurely breakfast and still packed up and got off to an early start at 10:10 am. VERY HUMID! We pass the other campsite and discover a dry spot where a tent has been. So we must have had neighbors. Shortly after we got started our middle loop breaks off and we are now following red blazes. We were at East River by 11:05 am, Otterpaw Creek by 11:40 am, and the first campsite at West Otterpaw Lake by 12:40 pm. We took a 50-minute break there for lunch. There is a very slight bit of rain. I am missing my contact lenses, because my glasses seem to be steamed up a good deal of the time. Even though we have not yet seen a moose we know they are around because of all the droppings we see. We continue on checking out campsites as we go along and ending up at the last one which is not on West Otterpaw Lake but Gervais Lake. After setting up camp we discover the site's toilet, one with walls and a roof, has been knocked flat. Apparently a moose tried to use it. There are droppings everywhere on this site. Still no luck in spotting a moose, but we are overrun by chipmunks. We are constantly chasing the bold little critters away from our things. We set up the tent quickly because it looked like it was going to rain, but then the sun came out. The lake was too shallow for swimming, but we all bathed and washed hair. Three hikers passed by from Rainbow to Tern Lake. They must have been our neighbors. For appetizers tonight we had gouda melted on pita with wine. The main course was pasta primavera with garden vegetables. We got the food hung swiftly and well tonight. It was a beautiful, peaceful night. We stayed up until sunset. The lake was so calm it would have reflected the stars beautifully if it had not been so overcast you could not see any stars. Twice a great blue heron flew by and you could hear the wings flapping. We were into the tent by 8:05 pm. It is our intention to go in and read, but I don't ever seem to be reading much before falling asleep. I definitely have a cold. For awhile I was trying to convince myself I didn't. Luckily it is not too bad. We're thinking of changing our planned route making tomorrow a longer day so we have a shorter day on Saturday. We'll see...

Wednesday, September 11, 1996

Gervais Lake to Clara Lake (8.7 km in 4 hours and 10 minutes hiking time)
We are up at 7:00 am again. We are attempting to break camp earlier today. I spilled the water just as it was beginning to boil. We still had a 9:10 am departure, our earliest by far. It is mostly overcast with just a patch of blue sky here and there. The temperature is a little cooler. By 11:00 am we have our first sighting of Pincher Lake, our original destination for today. At 11:30 am we stop for an hour and ten minute lunch break at the second campsite. The area we are hiking through now has many more ferns and mosses. Our lunch break included a fern identification tutorial. We are all enjoying the woodland scenes with ferns, mosses, lichens, mushrooms, and assorted groundcovers we can't name. Although it is cooler today, I still get plenty sweaty on the uphill stretches. The trail is quite easy, especially along the canoe portage between Tern Lake and Pincher Lake. After lunch we pass another intersection and are following yellow blazes again. It began to rain at 1:30 pm. By 2:30 pm we were at the Clara Lake campsites and it is raining hard. Two hikers in ponchos passed us on their way from Maggie Lake to Pincher Lake. Luckily it was still quite warm. We did get our rain jackets on when we stopped hiking. Our tent was up in fairly good shape with dry bedding in it by 3:30 pm. We stood around in the rain laughing and making jokes about our misfortune. We drank the last of our wine and once again ate pita with melted edam cheese. It tasted even better tonight. There was no sign of the rain letting up, so we hung the food before dinner. Our dinner entree tonight was Polynesian chicken, soupy but tasty. We did get a fire started and enjoyed hovering around it. When we went to bed at 8:00 pm it was still raining. I took a sleeping pill before going to bed. A good night's sleep ought to speed my recovery. It rained throughout the night off and on but not hard.

Thursday, September 12, 1996

Clara Lake to Maggie Lake (10.5 km in five hours and 35 minutes hiking time)
Woke again about 7:00 am. Everything that was wet still is wet. I am most concerned about my boots. We did moleskin, rearranged our packs, sat through a short downpour, and finally got out of the tent at 8:30 am. Our boots are wet but with dry socks on they seem okay. I am now coughing, but don't feel too bad. The tea and oatmeal are especially good this morning. We pack up the wet tent and are on our way by 10:40 am. Hiking is not too bad. We pass five hikers headed for Clara. Bean's Boulder is marked on the map as a massive isolated glacial erratic. Sure enough in the middle of the trail is this huge boulder. The walking is mainly on dirt still, but there are a few more rocks. I picked up a walking stick along the way today to help with the few times we are forced to take a large step. The day is cool but very humid. This side of the loop seems to have more boggy wet areas. They look perfect for moose, but we still haven't seen any. We have lunch at the East River at 1:40 pm and break for 40 minutes sitting on the bridge. By 3:30 pm we have reached the intersection of the trail from Norah Lake and are once again following blue blazes. We reached Maggie Lake at 4:30 pm and pass up the side trail to the first sites. The next stretch must be the up and down we heard about and is the most difficult section. We reach our site by 4:55 pm and immediately set up the tent to dry out. Even though it is not raining, there is a roar of distant thunder. It was a long tiring day. We were carrying a lot of extra weight because of all the wet stuff. We managed to swim and clean up before climbing in the tent at 6:30 pm to avoid a thundershower. By 7:30 pm we had eaten cheese and crackers and a chocolate bar for dinner, hung the food pack in light rain, and crawled back in to our cozy tent to read. It continues to lightning, thunder, and rain, but we are warm and more dry than last night. At 7:35 pm it is really pouring out. Read a little and then to sleep.

Friday, September 13, 1996

Maggie Lake to Highway 60 (11.5 km in 5 hours and 15 minutes hiking time)
Woke at the usual time, about 7:00 am. Everything soaked. It rained most of the night. Twelve and a half hours in the tent is enough. I got out of the tent quickly, but it seems everything I do is in slow motion. It is not raining but cool and overcast. Loons are calling, then flap, flap, flap, running across the lake. We were moving pretty slow, but are leaving a little earlier this morning and a little drier. We are on the trail by 10:00 am and by 10:10 am it is raining. It gets worse and worse and we keep on walking. I would not have wanted to do this trip without my Vasque boots. Although they were damp this morning, they are still very comfortable with just dry socks and liners. The new high-tech fibers really do wick the water away and keep your feet dry. All three of us have Duofold T-shirts too and they are wonderful. Even hiking in rain they do not seem soaking wet. They dry incredibly quickly. If it had been a little colder we would have put on our rain jackets. We debated the pros and cons of rain ponchos. The weather could have been better, but it also could have been worse. By 1:30 pm we are at the second set of campsites of Maple Leaf Lake where we had intended to spend the night. The rain is coming down hard and cold. When we stop we get chilled. We take a fifteen-minute break standing there eating beef jerky. After some discussion we decide to just keep on going and hike on out to the car. It rained the whole way. The trail was very pretty along this stretch with a couple of beautiful, rocky creeks that we crossed over. There are more maple trees along this stretch, with many of them already dropping red leaves. We are back to seeing more of the wildflowers while continuing to see lots of ferns and mosses. Along the trail we've also seen lots of what we think is Indian cucumber root. Tamara predicts we'll be at the car by 3:30 pm and we are there by 3:40 pm. We passed a couple hiking with a very large dog straining on his leash. Then at the parking lot two Medieval looking characters started on the trail wearing leather and burlap. I can't imagine hiking like that. Give me my Coolmax and Goretex. I left my hiking stick on the bridge by the parking lot along with two others. We drive to the ranger station to check out and get our refund for our one unused night of camping. Weather predictions for the next three days are rain, rain, and rain. We drove back into the park further to go to the Visitor Center. It is a beautiful park. We see our first moose, unfortunately stuffed and in a display. After buying some souvenirs, we drive back to Huntsville to the Grandview, where we have fortunately been able to switch our reservations from Saturday to Friday. We all take showers. Maintenance comes to disconnect the fire alarm that will not stop its shrill wine. We have a leisurely, delicious meal at the Inn. For the first time all week we are up past nine. Back in our suite we all called home, talked for quite awhile, then went to bed.

Saturday, September 14, 1996

Even though we were up late I still woke at 6:30 am. We packed up, had breakfast at the Inn, and tried to buy three- berry jam. We had to stop at an antique store on the main road to get the jam and Linda ended up buying an antique pottery funnel. We drove all the way home with the parking brake light on, although we were sure the brake was not on. Further refined our list of backpacking supplies, especially amounts of food to take. Stopped for gas, lunch at a Fifties Diner, shopping at the duty-free store in Sarnia and were home by six.

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