Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park

  I have recently recovered pictures taken in September while on a solo week-end backpacking trip.
  The plan was to reach Victoria Lake, camp for a night and come out the next day.
  I entered the Ganaraska trail close to the boat launch north of Deep Bay. The trail is remote, pretty well marked but seemed to me more energy demanding when compared with the backpacking trails in Algonquin and Killarney.

           Typical scenery along the trail.


  Around 4:00 pm I reached a trapper's cabin on the shore of Victoria Lake. There was a campfire pit right beside the lake, and a small flat area to fit my tent. I decided to stay.
  During the night I heard noise that seemed to come from the place I left my backpack. I came out of the tent to realize that a beaver was chewing a tree far from my site.
  Next day was a perfect fall day. It was well worth the effort.

            Sunday morning on Victoria Lake

  This Park can also be accessed by canoe, but that will follow...

Poker Lakes in winter

 I have been waiting for a chance to get back in this area.Finally I got one.
 The plan was to travel on ice,bushwhack if ice was thin, explore a little bit.
 The ice on Bentshoe Lake didn't look to good so I opted for ice travel but close to the shore.

  On the way I found these tracks,probably wolf.

 
 At some point I bushwhacked my way to East Bentshoe Lake. Just to extend the trip I took the portage to Lower Crane Lake. There isn't a lot of snow on the ground, very odd winter.

 This must be a nice campsite in summer time,East Bentshoe Lake.

 I think I am done with ice travel this winter,looking forward to the March backpacking trip in Algonquin.

 Happy trails!

Magnetawan River loop (2011)

  Having done a portion of this loop 2 years ago I was ready to go for the full loop. Once again I had to go alone but I wasn't too concerned about that. Three years ago this seemed way too risky for me. I started at Wahwashkesh Lake dock. The wind was pretty much in my face till I reached Trout Lake. I found a nice site and I called it a day.

  Second day I was on the water by 7:30 am and it started to rain, not too hard. There was no wind and paddling conditions were perfect. So I kept going till 6:30pm when I reached the unnamed lake between Wilson Lake and Miskokway Lake. I couldn't have predicted that I can get this far and this is the advantage of camping without reservations. I knew the lake is a bit different than the rest of the Magnetawan system( the water is blue but not very clear). Nice lake but the campsite not special.

  On the third day I was planning to go all the way up to Maple Lake. Instead I had to stop at the first site on Bolger Lake, the wind making travel very difficult for me on Miskokway Lake. The wind was coming from North-East when usually blows from West. Good challenge though.

  Last day I was up at 5:00 am and on the water by 6:10am. I was trying to avoid the wind and it worked fine for a while. On Maple Lake I stopped at a camping site to take a break. A nice butterfly came and was sunning himself on the canoe. After a while I was getting ready to leave when I saw a frog stalking the same butterfly. He was sunning this time at the water edge and the frog was inching his way up to the prey. I stood still waiting. But the butterflies have almost 360 degree vision and he got away before the frog got too close. On Wahwashkesh Lake I had to battle the winds once again, ending the trip tired but happy.

Muskoka River - South Branch

  I was looking for an overnight canoe trip and this time I picked Muskoka River. Starting in Baysville I paddled all the way down to Fraserburg and then came back upriver looking for a campsite around Cooks Falls.

  I could have taken the campsite below the falls but the people camping at the falls invited me to join them and I couldn't refuse. They were actually boat/canoe camping having a lot of stuff that I would never carry on a wilderness trip. I enjoyed their company and hospitality.

Next morning I headed back to Baysville dam finishing a nice semi-wilderness trip.

Eels Creek

 Last year I hiked to High Falls following a trail close to the river and that made me return, this time with the canoe.
 I parked at the South side of the route, at the parking lot on Northeys Bay Rd. Early morning and the parking lot was almost full of cars. The weather was just perfect and biggest surprise - no mosquitoes. Actually I had seen one, besides few flies(no black flies either) that weren't too bad.

 En route I met many happy people with kids,some canoeing/kayaking, some hiking/camping. It was
not feeling too crowded though.
 It took me 4 hours to get to Haultain Rd.(lunch included), the end of the route. Another 3 hours to get back.

  Amazing area!

McEwen Lake

  I was ready to go canoe camping again, bug season or not, this time solo. But I picked a route that I was confident I could complete. And that happened to be canoeing to McEwen Lake and back in 2 days.
  I started on Little Wren Lake with the rain coming down steady and pretty hard. I had a feeling it would
not last but I couldn't just wait it out. By the time I was paddling Black River - Upper Marsh - it stopped.
  And never rained again for the rest of the trip.

 I portaged down to Lower Marsh (after seeing the moose crossing the river) and I decided to paddle it the whole length and take a hike down to Black Lake.

  After taking few pictures I turned around and following a short paddle, portage to Horse Lake. Next was McEwen Lake,with the best site on the lake.

  After setting up camp I went down to the South-West side of Dan Lake, in the process meeting the only
other campers in the area (going for Horse Lake). I came back and hiked the portage to Three Island Lake, you see I had to keep moving to get away from all the friendly bugs.
  Back at the camp I started a small,smoky fire, had dinner and turned in at 7:30pm. I slept till 6:00am next day, which turned out to be a glorious day. Nice area, will be back sometime.