Our year end trip this year
will be to the Algonquin Provincial Park. We have made reservations and have
permits for a total of 27 people in one of the most remote areas of the Park.. We
may be able to expand this but the part of the Park that we are going is very
capacity limited to make sure the experience is kept wilderness.
We will
depart Thursday morning early from Simsbury and drive to the eastern end
of the park entering at Sand Lake Gate(About 9 Hours - 520 miles). We will pick
up canoes at an outfitter that is located right there and then drive an
additional 27 miles with the canoes to Achray Camp ground on Grand Lake
which will be our jumping off point.We will camp there Thursday night and cook
dinner . The sun sets at 9 PM and rises at 5 AM this time of year in the
Park.
On
Friday morning we will leave after breakfast and canoe from Grand Lake to
Stratton lake with a brief 30 meter portage. We will canoe the length of
Stratton lake about 3 miles and set up camp for the night across from High
Falls. We have three campsites reserved each of which can hold 9 campers.
Campsites are not designated ahead of time so we should get first pick for the
day. Only 7 sites exist in this part of the lake.We will spend the day
exploring and playing in the water falls. There are deep pools, cliffs for
jumping and rock water slides. There is also great fishing and hiking. The next
morning we will leave early and canoe back part of Stratton lake and then a
short 50 meter portage into St. Andrews lake. We will canoe the length of St.
Andrews about 1.5 miles and then portage along an old log flume 550 meters into
High Falls Lake.We will canoe the length of the lake , about one mile, and then
portage 300 meters into Ooze lake, canoe half a mile across the lake and then
our final portage of the day, 650 meters , into Opalescent Lake - a spectacular
lake said to be on of the finest in Canada. It is only accessible by
Canoe. Opalescent Lake is about a 1 mile long and we have 3 of the five sites in
the entire lake.
On Sunday we will portage from
Opalescent to Brigham lake , 740 meters and then begin our float down the Barron
River Canyon, a mini grand Canyon, which we will canoe down about 6 miles to
squirrel falls where we will pull out and load up the cars and shuttle the other
cars from Achray and then return the canoe to Sand Lake Gate Sunday late
afternoon. That evening we will stay in a motel in the area, get some hot
showers and eat at a local restaurant. The next morning we will head back to
Simsbury arriving late afternoon.
