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Background
When I created Algonquin & Beyond, I did it for two reasons. The first reason was so that I’d have somewhere to document and archive all of my trips. It was originally meant to be a resource for myself to look back on. Even small details like what time I woke up and the temperature outside can be helpful references when planning a future trip. The second reason was for the camping community. The information became useful in helping other people plan their own trips, so I made sure to always include details in my reports that other people would like to see.
Confession time… this trip report is largely focused on the first reason. I did a quick day trip into Algonquin Park to work on the Developed Campground project for my website. My plan was to visit the Lake of Two Rivers campground to take 360-degree videos for each of the individual 241 campsites, as well as the entire campground in general. It wasn’t the most eventful trip and I don’t know how interesting this report will be to the average person reading it. But hey, maybe you’re an Algonquin & Beyond super-fan, in which case, keep reading!
Normally, I’ll only document a campground once it’s closed for the season, to ensure that no campsites are occupied. It makes my workflow way more efficient, both onsite and the digital work when I get back home. However, Algonquin Park made a last-minute decision to extend the opening dates for certain campgrounds. Lake of Two Rivers was one of those extensions. It really threw a curveball into my plans. Luckily, even though the campground was technically open, I noticed that it was completely empty on one of the extension days. I guess most people don’t like to plan spontaneous camping trips at the end of October. The forecast was also calling for it to be 22 degrees (seriously, at the end of October), so that made it all the more tempting to do a quick day trip into the park and finish documenting Lake of Two Rivers.
Day 1 — Documenting 241 Campsites at Lake of Two Rivers
I woke up at 5:00 AM and arrived at the park a few hours later. The first batch of campsite videos that I tackled was the East Campground, Site 1 through Site 82. It took approximately 1.5 hours and I was feeling really tired by the end of it. The lack of sleep from my early-morning wakeup was catching up to me. I took a quick nap in my car and felt surprisingly refreshed afterwards.
The second batch was the Northwest Campground, Site 83 through Site 160. My energy levels started off great, but slowly depleted with each passing campsite. There were a few corporate staff walking around, checking out some of the campsites. I was curious what they were looking for, but I didn’t want to confront them to ask. This batch of campsites took another 1.5 hours to complete, and once again, I took a short micro-nap in my car afterwards.
It was the early afternoon and I had already walked close to 20,000 steps. I drove to the nearby Mew Lake campground for a little lunch break. I gave Elo a snack, had a few snacks myself, and looked for some wildlife. A pine marten showed up for a few minutes, but he moved quickly and I didn’t get any good photos. But I finally got photos of a blue jay! I know that blue jays aren’t particularly rare, but they always seem to evade me. Whenever I see one, by the time I point my camera, it’s gone. I finally had my moment and I was really happy with how the photos turned out!
There was one other photographer in the area. She had mentioned that it’s easier to take photos of blue jays when you feed them. People often feed birds, but I don’t like having any human interaction and I still consider feeding birds “baiting”. The photographer left a few peanuts on top of the campground’s garbage dump, presumably for the blue jay, but the pine marten happened to be inside of the garbage too. It quickly could have turned into a pine marten baiting situation. I didn’t want to associate with that, so I promptly left.
I thought I would need another nap before walking through the final section of Lake of Two Rivers, but my energy levels were still pretty good. At 2:00 PM I got started on the Southwest Campground, Site 161 through Site 241. I had the most energy of the day while doing this section, but I was still exhausted from being on my feet for more than 4 hours. By the time I finished, I had reached 30,000 steps. And not just a regular 30,000 steps, but 30,000 steps with a loaded backpack, my camera and harness on my front chest, and Elo tethered to my waist. My legs and the soles of my feet were definitely feeling it. Elo was a trooper the entire day; she did slow down at times, but not in any capacity that made me concerned. I could have left her in the car, if I felt like it was necessary, but she powered through and was amazing.
Even though the day was exhausting, it was a beautiful day to spend in the park. The 22-degree temperature was perfect to walk around comfortably, with the cloud coverage and the breeze preventing it from being excessively hot.
It was 4:00 PM by the time I finished all three sections at Lake of Two Rivers. I wanted to get some video content at the Mew Lake campground, but that was a laughable thought after already hitting 30,000 steps. Plus, at this time of year, the sun goes down early, and I didn’t want to do the entire drive home in the dark after such an exhausting day.
As a compromise to myself, I mounted my Insta360 through my sunroof and drove through the entirety of the Mew Lake campground. Just that alone took roughly 20 minutes. I wasn’t able to get videos of the individual campsites, but at least I got a 360-degree video of the entire campground for reference of layout and space.
At 4:45 PM, I began my drive home. I was utterly exhausted, but I wasn’t sleepy. Those are two different things. My “exhausted but not sleepy” meant that I didn’t need any more naps, but I was still very happy to get home, take a warm shower, and cozy up on the couch beside Elo.
The Aftermath
I lucked out by being able to get videos of every single campsite at Lake of Two Rivers while the campground was still technically operating. The 22-degree weather was very lucky as well. And getting good photos of the blue jay was the lucky cherry on top.
The thought of walking through 241 individual campsites, along with the rest of the campground, was a very daunting thought. I knew that it was going to be a super tiring day, and I wasn’t wrong. Driving to and from Algonquin Park in the same day is tiring in itself, let alone walking 30,000 steps in addition to the 6 hours of driving. But at the same time, it felt incredibly rewarding to get this done and cross it off my Developed Campground project checklist.
This wasn’t my first day trip to Algonquin Park, and I’m sure it won’t be my last.
Campground Information & Campsite Photos
To see all of the campground information collected, including photos for every individual campsite, click on the page below.
