French River Provincial Park

  First time on French River!

 The timing wasn't perfect, being a long week-end. Since we had only 3 days I opted for the figure 8 route.
 The waterway itself wasn't busy but we had trouble finding a camping spot. We got to a place close to  Dalles Rapids just in time.

  Next day we continued down river and after a break on a very nice spot we looked for the portage into Bass Lake. It seems that the Bass Tramway is dismantled and replaced by two short portages around it. I was really looking forward for this portage.

  Getting closer to the starting point (Hartley Bay Marina), we kept looking for a campsite with no such a luck. We camped on a pebble beach, it was too late to go anywhere else. Mosquitoes were bad so we turned in pretty early.

                  Leftover from the lumber harvesting era

  Next morning, after some rain during the night, was quite spectacular (if not for the mosquitoes that were still chasing us).

Eastern Pines Backpacking - Algonquin P.P.

  I came back solo to this part of Algonquin after a 7 years break. At that time it was my first backpacking trip with my son and now this was like a time travel for me. A time when my son was just a kid, playing with the bullfrogs in the lake.
  First I stopped at the Barron Canyon Trail, it's a short hike to a very steep & deep (100m) canyon.

 
After reaching the campsite next to the High Falls area I went to see the falls, some of it still new to me. It's an area of such a beauty...

  Come nightfall, the moon was rising behind the forest.

  The next morning I had breakfast next to the pools, far less bugs than at the campsite.

  Crossing on the other side of the pools, I followed a trail to the bottom of the big falls.

  Nice area, too bad it is kind of far for me.

      Happy trails and more bugs like the one above, not the biting kind.

Western Uplands Backpacking - Algonquin P.P.

  Quick backpacking trip in Algonquin, stayed at Panther Lake for one night.
  First time I was backpacking with a tripod, I wanted to try some low light pictures.

  On the way in I saw a big moose on a marsh and by the time I set up the tripod he was gone.
  At some point I was charged from behind by a grouse, and at first I couldn't believe my eyes. I could see it but I couldn't tell what it is. When I talked to her she just ran away through the bushes.

 

                               "The camp sentinel"
        
  At nightfall the birds and the frogs were very vocal but I had no trouble falling asleep. Early morning the concert started again.
  The way back was more of a race to me, got out in a record time. Mosquitoes were bad, especially this time of the year.

  I'll be back soon!
  Adrian

QEII Wildlands 24-25 May

 Another lesson in QEII Wildlands. I started out to camp on Clear Lake, knowing that it's not going to be crowded. And there is a good reason for that.
 After crossing Head Lake, portaging into Fishog Lake and portaging the short 90m into a small pond I was looking for the difficult 290m portage toward Red Boat Lake. I couldn't find it. Instead I found a way to a dead end pond East to the actual portage.
 Being pretty late in the day ( I started unusually late) and feeling out of shape I decided to turn back to Fishog. I found a windy site on the big island in the center of the lake (it looks like a peninsula on the map).

 The mosquitoes and black flies are out and biting, so the wind was really helping.
 Not having much to do around the campsite, I bushwhacked around for awhile and in the process I startled a duck. It was nesting close to shore.

 The sun was going down and I saw this bush, living on the edge.

 Whip-poor-wills sang the whole night but I slept good nonetheless. I could say that this is one of the reasons I come back to this park.
 Next day I woke up to a beautiful sunrise.

 I will have to prepare more seriously, if I want to get any deeper into this park.

Cheers,
Adrian