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Trip Info
Date: August 19th – 22nd, 2025
Route: Cache Lake > Head Lake x2 > Cache Lake
Total Number of Portages: 2
Avg. Number of Portages Per Travel Day: 1
Total Length of Portages: 10,020m
Avg. Length of Portages Per Travel Day: 5,010m
Total Travel Time: 5hrs
Avg. Travel Time Per Travel Day: 2.5hrs
Total Distance Covered: 10km
Avg. Distance Covered Per Travel Day: 7.5km
*The numbers above are based on double-carrying portages, since this is how I travelled. If you plan on single-carrying portages, you’ll want to divide the Portage Length numbers by 3, and subtract the estimated time saved from the Travel Time numbers.
Background
Just a few days before this trip, I was in Algonquin Park for a quick two-night trip. The purpose of that trip was to search for bears, and I had major success. But that was a car camping trip. Now it was time for me to head into the backcountry. You know, my happy place. I didn’t care that there was an active fire ban. That wasn’t going to stop me. Algonquin Park is amazing with or without campfires, and I was going to prove it with this trip.
I had a recurring theme with my 2025 trips… each trip was pretty easy and laid back, relatively speaking. This trip followed that same trend. I planned to spend two nights on Head Lake, which was only one long portage and a few hours of travel south from the Cache Lake access point. With double-carrying, it would be a total of 10km walking, including the return journey. You must be thinking “how the heck is 10km of walking, plus a bunch of paddling, easy and laid back!?” Like I said, relatively! Compared to my usual canoe trips, this was going to be a breeze.
But first, I had a choice to make. I could wake up super early, grab my canoe from my parents house (free storage, yippee) and then do the long drive to Algonquin Park. Or, I could drive to Algonquin Park the night before, book a car camping site, and search for wildlife. And by “search for wildlife”, obviously I mean look for bears. I figured even if the wildlife search was unsuccessful, an extra night in Algonquin Park is never a bad thing. So I chose the second option.
Day 1 — Pre-Trip Night at Pog Lake Campground
Even though I was heading to Algonquin Park a day earlier than planned, I still had to get real-life work done (it was a Tuesday, after all). I spent the day behind my computer and then got on the road at 2:30 PM. I still had to pick up my canoe and pack my gear, so with that short setback, plus some inevitable traffic on Highway 400, I made it to the park just before 7:00 PM.
I quickly went to my campsite at the Pog Lake Campground to pitch my tent while there was still some light outside. I was camping at Site 450 in Section C of the campground. It was a last minute booking—literally 1:00 PM that same day—but the site was amazing. The campsite was large, flat, and had a great tent spot area. There were some short paths behind the campsite leading to a small private beach and water access, which I planned on using to stargaze later in the evening if the forecast allowed. Plus, the site was in a small loop with only two other campsites, offering great privacy from the rest of the campground. Despite being a last minute booking, it had everything I could ask for.
After pitching my tent I immediately went looking for bears. I went to the same spot that I had success during my previous trip. I gave Elo some dinner in the parking lot, grabbed my camera and bear spray, and headed out.
While walking one of the trails someone said “Hey, I know you! I just subscribed to your website the other day. And I just watched your recent YouTube video.” I gave a very quick “Thank you so much!” and then continued walking. If you happen to be reading this trip report, I’m sorry if I came off rude! I just really wanted to search for bears while there was still enough light outside!
To my defence, I did find a bear less than 5 minutes after meeting that person. The bear was feeding peacefully in the blueberry fields, undisturbed by the rather significant number of people nearby. It was dark outside, I was keeping a safe distance, and there were constantly trees and branches in the way. Basically, it was terrible conditions for photography. My photos were enough to say “Hey, guess what! I saw a bear again!” But that’s about it.
Still, I was super happy with the sighting. I timed everything perfectly that day and made it just in the knick of time. Everything worked out just as I had hoped it would. My only complaint would be the mosquitos, which were out in full force. A blood sacrifice was made in order to witness the bear.
I went back to my campsite at 9:00 PM with a huge smile across my face. I hadn’t eaten dinner, so I stuffed my face with a protein bar, a bagel, a piece of chocolate, a slice of banana bread, and of course, a few sips of whiskey. And then I gave Elo a snack because she was such a good girl and stayed silent while we were watching the bear.
There was still a fire ban in the park, so I sat at the picnic table at my campsite and relaxed for a few hours before getting into my tent at 10:30 PM. But first, I needed to deal with the daddy long legs. They were everywhere! I spent 10 minutes moving them off my tent, and just when I thought I was finished, I found another one. Despite my best efforts, one still made it inside of the tent. I’m not scared of daddy long legs, but I definitely don’t want one crawling on me while I sleep.
Day 2 — Cache Lake to Head Lake
I woke up shortly after 6:00 AM to see the mesh of my tent surrounded with daddy long legs. They were EVERYWHERE! Packing up was a two-step process. Step one, make sure I removed every daddy long legs from the tent. Step two, pack up the wettest, dirtiest tent ever. It rained all night and my tent must have weighed 2x its normal weight from how soaking wet it was.
I debated doing a quick morning search for wildlife, but after the success I already had with the bear the previous night, I went straight to the launch point instead. I wanted to spend as much time as possible in the backcountry.
It was a gloomy, overcast, and surprisingly chilly morning, with the occasional light drizzle. I got onto the water shortly before 9:00 AM and paddled towards my one and only portage for the day. The low water levels made the portage landing more accessible than usual. The portage is almost 1.7km and is marked as orange (medium difficulty) on Jeff’s map. I don’t think it’s as difficult as the map would make it seem though. It’s very flat, has boardwalks to cross most of the muddy areas, and it feels much shorter than 1.7km. It only took me 20 minutes to walk the entire trail, and I didn’t feel like I was particularly rushing either. Of course, then I had to double back for the rest of my gear, so the whole thing was around 5km and took me a little more than one hour to finish.
I met a few different groups on the trail. The first was a large group from Camp Tanamakoon. Surprisingly, one of the counsellors left their boat in the water at the canoe landing, while doing a double carry. This is a long trail, a popular one too, and they left their boat right in the middle of the landing for about 45 minutes. I would think a camp that’s physically located in Algonquin Park would be familiar with basic portaging etiquette and would know that gear should be left off to the side when double-carrying!
Two of the other groups were coming from Head Lake and they were both very friendly. One of the groups was a family who had just left the campsite I was aiming for. They told me there was some garbage left behind from previous campers that they didn’t have room to pack out. They also told me they were visited by a fox! I was already interested in that campsite, but the news about the fox was the cherry on top.
The last group I met was an older gentleman with his off-leash dog who came running up to Elo. I immediately put my body between Elo and his dog and told him to get control of his dog. He was apologetic and said he has his dog on an e-leash, to which I responded “That’s not the same as an actual leash”. For anyone reading this trip report that thinks I might have been a jerk… I’m sorry, but it’s incredibly inconsiderate and potentially dangerous to let your dog off-leash in any shared space.
Anyways, I had a very short paddle from the portage to my campsite. The mosquitos were out on the trail, and they were present at the campsite as well. It was supposed to be 25 degrees and sunny all day, but it ended up being 18 and I don’t think I saw the sun once. It became so chilly without the sun that I had to wear my rain jacket as a wind break. And even with all my layers, I still managed to get what felt like 728 mosquito bites throughout the day. Bugs are supposed to get better as the season goes on, but the mosquitos were even worse than my trip to Ragged Lake a few weeks earlier.
The campsite was beautiful though, just as I remembered it. I’ve stayed at this site a few times before, and I really love it. I was specifically aiming for this campsite because of its wide open shoreline offering gorgeous panoramic views. If the clouds disappeared, it would be an amazing place to stargaze in the evening. With the fire ban in place, stargazing was pretty much the only thing I could do after the sun went down.
I had gotten to my campsite well before noon so I had all day to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet of the backcountry. I did have pretty reliable cell service from this site, just as an FYI for people reading this, in case that’s something you like or dislike about a campsite.
I hung my wet tent and gear to dry, which took a long time without any sunshine. I had camp fully set up by 2:00 PM and then went for a quick nap.
I lounged for a bit longer, cleaned up some garbage that was scattered throughout the site, made myself dinner, and then headed out for an evening paddle. Even though it was chilly, overcast, and occasionally windy, I wasn’t going to let any of that stop me from my evening paddle.
I went to visit the waterfalls at the opposite end of Head Lake. I was surprised to see the nearby campsites empty. The entire lake was actually empty, with the exception of one campsite far away from mine. The waterfalls had more flow than I expected, given the low water levels and fire ban and everything. It was dead calm in that little section of the lake, which provided beautiful shoreline reflections onto the water. It was a nice place to relax for 15 minutes before continuing onwards.
I arrived back to my campsite after the overcast-blocked sunset. The mosquitos were out in full force. They legitimately might have been the worst I’ve ever experienced during an August trip. I got EATEN! I sat at the front shoreline of my campsite, donating blood, hoping for the stars to make an appearance.
There were no stars. No appearance from the fox. Just an overcast day with a zillion mosquitos. But I was in Algonquin Park, so I was still happy. I was sitting at the front shoreline of my campsite, beginning to write this trip report, when I heard a loud sound. It was coming from the shoreline directly behind my campsite, and it sounded like a moose. The loud grunt was immediately followed by splashing and branches breaking. It was 100% a bear or a moose, and I think (I hope) it was a moose.
I tried taking photos with my camera but it was a futile attempt since it was pitch black outside. I actually saw a moose in that exact same spot 10 years ago, when I stayed at this same campsite with some friends. After investigating the mysterious bear-moose, I spotted something swimming right in front of my campsite. This was different. It was much smaller. And it was right in front of me. It was still too dark to tell what it was, and I made another futile attempt to take pictures of it. I’m fairly certain it was a beaver though.
I didn’t see any wildlife throughout the day, and then immediately after it got dark outside there was a mysterious bear-moose and a maybe-beaver at my campsite. I also think I found the foxes den behind my campsite, when I went to hang my food barrel (no sign of the fox itself though). The Algonquin wildlife gods were teasing me today.
Day 3 — A Rest Day on Head Lake
My plan for my rest day was to visit Harness Lake, with the goal of documenting all of the campsites. Based on the data from SiteScout, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone staying on the lake the previous night. So, if I was able to get there early enough, I should have the entire lake to myself.
I woke up shortly after 6:00 AM and there was zero visibility outside of the campsite. A thick fog covered the entire lake. I lay in my comfy sleeping bag for a little while longer, waiting for the fog to clear. When I finally got out of the tent I enjoyed the calm, glass-like reflections on the water. It was a very quiet and peaceful morning on Head Lake, with stunning views from my campsite.
I got onto the water at 8:30 AM. Those glass-like reflections I mentioned were even prettier while admiring them from my canoe. The paddle to the 1km portage—leading into Harness Lake—had a few setbacks. The first setback was a young bald eagle perched on a rocky shoreline. It was stationed at the entrance of the creek that I needed to paddle through. I spent a few minutes taking photos from my canoe, in awe of its massive size. I had never seen an eagle up close like this. It was staying perfectly still, patrolling the water for its next meal. I had only seen a bald eagle once before this, while it was flying overhead. Seeing it now, sitting still, with objects surrounding it for scale, I realized just how damn big eagles are!
It was actually a little bit scary, being in my canoe with Elo, in the middle of the water, completely vulnerable. The eagle was no more than 20 feet in front of us, and we locked eyes a few times. I was really hoping it didn’t fly over and pay us a visit. But thankfully, it never moved from its spot on the rock.
I slowly and cautiously paddled past the eagle, into the narrow creek that leads towards the portage entrance. Then came the second setback. There were three beaver dams that I needed to lift over. The first beaver dam was a steep three-foot incline, but I somehow managed to lift my entire canoe, with Elo, over it. The next two lift-overs were much easier, but they still tested my strength because carrying over my fully loaded canoe, with Elo, was no easy task. Before I even arrived to the portage I was hot, sweaty, and had wet, beaver-dam smelling feet. Just how a canoe trip is supposed to be.
I packed strategically so that I could single-carry this portage. I only brought my essentials… bear spray, Nalgene, day pack, camera, PFD, paddle, and of course, Elo. It was still pretty difficult to single-carry. The weight of everything wasn’t an issue, but rather figuring out how to carry everything at one time was a challenge. It was awkward, but I made it work.
This 1km portage is like the harder version of the 1.7km from Cache to Head. This portage has one really steep section, and a few overgrown boardwalks. It’s generally more hilly and challenging than the Cache to Head portage. The canoe landing on the Head Lake side of this portage is a bunch of ankle-rolling rocks, but the Harness Lake side is a much friendlier beach landing. Ironically, this portage is marked as yellow (easy) on Jeff’s maps, while the 1.7km is marked as orange (medium). I would personally reverse those colours.
I headed out onto Harness Lake shortly before 10:00 AM. There was no one in sight. Every campsite that I could see was empty. The first campsite I visited was the nearby campsite on the northern shore. It wasn’t a very nice site, possibly my least favourite on the lake. Next, I visited the western island campsite. I had seen this campsite before, almost a decade ago. It was worse than I remembered. Small, no shoreline to enjoy the weather, and no good tent spots. Then I visited the eastern island campsite. If people were camping on Harness Lake that evening, this would likely be the first campsite taken, so I wanted to document it while it was still vacant.
Next, I went to the huge rocky cliff campsite on the eastern shore. This is probably the second most popular campsite on the lake. Personally, I don’t like sites with this type of shoreline (and total exposure to the elements), but the elevated view was pretty epic.
Before visiting the next campsite I saw a mother and baby loon on the water. I was able to get relatively close without disturbing them, so I took my second wildlife photography break of the day. Between the bald eagle and the cute loons, it was a pretty great day for wildlife so far!
The next campsite I visited was another small one, but it had a very welcoming and comforting feeling to it. And then finally, I visited the last campsite on the lake, the one just south of the island. This is tied for my least favourite campsite on the lake.
The entire campsite tour took about 1.5 hours, including the break to watch the loons. It was a hot, sunny day, but not in an uncomfortable way. There was a gentle breeze that would occasionally gust to stronger winds, but again, not in an uncomfortable way. It was honestly the perfect forecast and a perfect day to be on the water. To top it off, I had Harness Lake entirely to myself the whole time.
As fun as the adventure was, the campsite tour had come to an end and it was time to head back home. I did the portage, crossed the three beaver dams (slightly easier going down, but still annoying), and paddled back to my campsite with a gentle tailwind guiding the way. I arrived back at 12:45 PM and immediately went into the tent for a nap with Elo. We both needed it.
I went for my usual evening paddle at 7:00 PM. My first stop was the bear-moose area behind my campsite. There were no bears. No moose. But I quickly spotted something swimming in the water, in the faraway distance. I had a feeling it was a beaver. I slowly, and quietly paddled over.
It was indeed a beaver. And a huge family of mergansers. They were hanging out in a small secluded area, tucked away from the main body of the lake. This area was free from the wind, free from the noise, and free from other people. Just me, Elo, a beaver, and a family of mergansers. It was perfect. I put my paddle down, grabbed my camera, and got comfortable.
And that’s basically how I spent the next two hours. The mergansers only stayed for a short while before swimming away. But the beaver kept itself busy, circling around my canoe, dropping below the waterline and back up again. It was in that moment I decided someone needs to invent a swivel seat for canoes, because it’s a real struggle when I’m tracking the beaver with my camera, while the beaver swims around my canoe, and I’m attempting (aka, failing) to turn my body into positions that bodies are clearly not meant to twist into. That evening gave me a newfound appreciation for contortionists.
The beaver was totally comfortable with me and Elo. We paddled silently, following it while it wandered off in the direction towards my campsite. It was getting dark outside, so I needed to head back anyways. Thanks for leading the way, Mr. Beaver. While taking photos of Mr. Beaver, I heard some noise right beside my canoe, and lo and behold there was a second beaver munching on some grass! I quickly switched to photograph the second beaver while it enjoyed its dinner.
There were no bears, no moose, and no mysterious hybrid bear-moose, but I’ll never be disappointed with a good old Canadian beaver sighting. It was a very satisfying wildlife experience to end the day. After the Algonquin wildlife gods teased me the previous day, they truly rewarded me on this day with the bald eagle, the loons, and then the beavers.
I made it back to my campsite at 8:45 PM, just as there was barely any light left in the sky. The mosquitos were back with a vengeance. They were even worse than the previous night. It didn’t make any sense! My DEET shower did nothing! I even wore double layers to make it harder for them to reach my skin. Nothing worked. There were clouds of mosquitos circling me. It was hands down the most mosquitos I’ve ever seen during an August trip. Maybe even worse than any July trip I’ve ever done. It was crazy.
The clouds dispersed (I’m talking about the clouds in the sky, not the clouds of mosquitos) so I was treated to a clear sky full of stars. I stayed at the front of the campsite until 11:00 PM, getting swarmed and eaten by mosquitos the entire time. At least the stars were magnificent, especially with the wide-open view from my campsite. There was even some faint northern lights on the shoreline opposite of my campsite.
Despite being a “rest day”, Day 2 was quite the adventure. It was a major success in terms of campsite reports, wildlife sightings, and astrophotography.
Day 4 — Head Lake to Cache Lake
On the first morning of this trip, my gear was soaking wet and it was gloomy and rainy outside. On the second morning of this trip, I couldn’t even see outside of my campsite because of the thick fog covering the lake. But on the third morning of this trip… well, it was something special.
I woke up just in time to catch the early pre-sunrise colours in the sky. There was a thick mist sweeping across the lake. The temperature was perfect. The water was calm. The wide panoramic view from the front of my campsite was spectacular. The mosquitos were out and biting, but let’s just ignore that part for now.
I set up my GoPro for a timelapse, my Canon for a regular video, and then I relaxed with Elo and admired the view. I only had a two-hour journey back to my car, so I was in no rush to get going. I watched the sunrise and then went back into my tent for some more rest before double-carrying the 1.7km portage.
Speaking of the portage. I didn’t see anyone during my first carry. It was peaceful and quiet. But right before I started my second carry, three older woman with an off-leash dog appeared from the trail. The owner made a comment “Is she ok to come?” and I said no, get control of your dog. The dog didn’t have any harness or collar on it, and the owners didn’t even have a leash with them. It was next-level entitlement and disrespect. The dog didn’t listen to the owner’s commands either and had zero recall. I quickly got out of there.
At the Cache Lake end of the portage, I ran into one more group, with two more off-leash dogs. At least this group of gentlemen brought leashes and used them when asked. After I helped show one of the gentleman how to attach his yoke to the canoe (it was his first time in a solo boat), I warned them about the other dog on the trail, and then loaded my gear and went on my way.
I was moving slowly all morning, so by the time I launched onto Cache Lake it was already noon and the sun was at its peak strength. It was a hot one outside. Thankfully there was a breeze to offer some relief from the heat—a gentle tailwind, guiding me back to my car.
I had one more loon sighting during my final paddle. It came really close to my canoe and started calling out repeatedly. It was a fun little experience to end the trip!
The Aftermath
I wasn’t expecting too much from this trip. It was an easy there-and-back to a place I’ve been many times before. But nevertheless, this trip turned into something special. From the bear sighting on my first night, to the awesome loon and beaver encounters, the mystery animal behind my campsite, and of course, paddling past the bald eagle. It was all pretty amazing… especially the bald eagle, that was pretty dang epic. Having Harness Lake completely to myself while I documented all six campsites was just one more awesome part of the trip.
Top it all off with some great stargazing, a hint of the northern lights, gorgeous scenery, a beautiful campsite, all types of weather, and an adventurous day trip crossing several beaver dams. This trip literally had a little bit of everything. A little bit of everything. And a LOT of mosquitos. I know, you’re tired of hearing me complain about the mosquitos. But I’m including it anyways as a warning to my future self, even mid-August can be pretty gnarly.
But the most important takeaway of this trip report is that yes, even during a fire ban, Algonquin Park is still a magical place! If anyone in your group had doubts about camping during a fire ban, just send them this trip report.
