Trip 2 - Burnt Island Lake

Travel Date: July 26th - 28th, 2008

Location: Algonquin Park, Ontario

Price: Don't remember, but as of 2012-13 the current fee is $11.75/person/night, plus a parking fee.

Distance Covered: Approx. 30 km, not counting elevation on portages and wrong turns.

Links:
Parks Ontario - Algonquin
Friends of Algonquin 
Campsite 1: Teepee Lake

Campsite 2: Burnt Island Lake

Trip Photo Album

Trip Breakdown

Itinerary

This is the kind of camping I'm more accustomed to, back country camping by canoe. I planned a loop that would take us around to Burnt Island Lake staying two nights in the park. Being the first canoe trip I had ever planned I didn't know how long it would take us to cover the distance. So, by 10AM we were already at our first campsite. We had each been up since around 3AM, so at least we had plenty of time to rest for the next day. Early dinner and early to bed.


The following morning we set off to Fawn Lake, followed by Littledoe Lake. Then we had a awfully long 1140 meter portage followed immediately by a shorter 200 meter portage and we had arrived at Burnt Island Lake. We paddled around a bit looking for a site and set one up by about noon. We had time to have some lunch, fix up the fire pit, gather some wood, and chill a bit before starting dinner.


The next morning we headed out the same short portage we came in and quickly made our way through the Baby Joe Lake. Then we did a somewhat difficult 435 meter portage. Then a really short paddle followed by another 165 meter portage followed by... nothing. So, we portage more, through the woods until we found some water. This was Little Joe Lake which ran into Joe Lake, closing the loop. I believe we made it back to the Access Point at about noon.

Lakes & Portages

The water was pretty calm all through the park so the paddling was easy, and we didn't get turned around too much because they had plenty of signs pointing to the portages and/or lakes.

On the second day we finally made it to Burnt Island after that gruling 1140 meter portage I mentioned before. We were awfully tired and didn't feel much like scouting the whole lake to find a prime campsite. There were a few near the beginning, but then we just stopped seeing them. So, we did some poking around the official Burnt Island (at least I hope we were looking at the right Island) then headed back to a site we saw near the lake entrance.

The camp site on Burnt Island Lake was pretty good, except for a couple things. One, it was on an island (not Burnt Island though). The problem with this is that you have limited wood resources and scrounging for just the smallest amount of kindling can take some time or just be down right fruitless. Second, it was wide open to the wind. I mean, this can make a nice site, but when you're fire pit is right out in the open it can be a pain to get a good camp fire going. Either you can't get it started due to the excessive wind, or the wood burns faster because of all the air flow. Of course, on top of that, the people who previously used the fire pit obviously weren't using it for practical reasons. You could tell from the slightly charred tree branches above and a pit that was no more than a large circle formed with a dozen rocks. They made a huge huge fire, just for entertainment, and they burnt up all the wood they could find. There were even axe marks all over trees and they had obviously chopped down a few which I believe is prohibited under the park rules. So anyway, we spent a good 20 minutes or so building a new, functional fire pit.

Later that day we had some difficulty getting the fire going, due to all the wind. I remember we dropped a sausage in the fire too. It's not always easy or doable, but it's nice to have a level cooking surface, especially if your cooking things that are prone to rolling. That night we heard a suspicious sound while nodding off to sleep. The next day we discovered a chipmunk had eaten a whole into our garbage bag and pulled out a bunch of the garbage. We should have put it in the food barrel or something else overnight.

Encounters

Sailboat Pinball

Being the first time I planned a canoe trip I didn't really know how quickly we would cover the distance to our first camp site. At one point we were actually further ahead then I expected. So, we came around a corner to find the lake full of sail boats that were making their way back and forth across the lake in front of us. This... had never happened to me before, and I didn't know what to do. From looking at the map it seemed like we had to cross them diagonally. Truthfully, not a good approach. We weeved our way through all the boats and eventually made it without any mishaps or near misses. Once through however, a woman in a motor boat came zooming out from where we were heading and stopped to talk to us. I guess maybe she felt we were disturbing her sailing class, or whatever was going on. I don't know. She asked to know where we were headed. I point to where she came from and said, "Teepee Lake". She told us that we had to head to the right side of the lake, not the left. So, I guess we could have gone around all the sail boats and kept to the waters edge after all. Oops, we'll know for next time.

Lone Ranger

Later that day, after we set up our site and were trying to dry out some damp wood to get a fire started, we had a park ranger stop by our site. This was another first for me, and started to wonder if we were in the wrong place. Turns out, he was just doing rounds to make sure campers were registered. So, he was on his way after showing him our registration and having a quick chat.

Sightings

The Plane

Not long after we had set up the camp on day 2 we were taking a nap when we heard the roar of a nearby plane. After we heard it fly by a couple times, then continue to make some noise we finally left the tent to see what was up. Luckily, we got out just in time to see the plane taking off from the lake. That was pretty cool to see, it's just too bad we didn't have time to snap a picture.

Canada Geese

There were so many geese all over this section of the park. I don't know if it was because of the time of year. Maybe it's because that area gets lots of traffic and more people feeding them, or leaving food around. They were everywhere though, and they weren't too worried about keeping their distance either. We had several fairly close encounters, but check out this video on the right. Almost looked like one of them was going to attack Nick.