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Trip Info
Date: July 18th – 23rd, 2024
Route: Kawawaymog Lake > North Tea Lake (East Arm) x2 > Manitou Lake x3 > Kawawaymog Lake
Total Number of Portages: 6
Avg. Number of Portages Per Travel Day: 2
Total Length of Portages: 5,220m
Avg. Length of Portages Per Travel Day: 1,740m
Total Travel Time: 7.5hrs
Avg. Travel Time Per Travel Day: 2.5hrs
Total Distance Covered: 40km
Avg. Distance Covered Per Travel Day: 13km
*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
This was going to be my second trip of the 2024 season. The first trip was a quick one night car-camping trip in late-April, so I kind of don’t count that. This was going to be my first real, proper canoe trip of the season. I was kicking things off with six days in the backcountry with Elo. It was also going to be my first July canoe trip since 2021 (and the previous before that was back in 2017). Mid-July can still be quite buggy, so I typically like to wait until August before starting my adventures, but this year I made an exception. Given that mosquitos were likely going to be out in full force, particularly during dusk and dawn, I decided to book a trip with large lakes and small island campsites. This would let me use the wind to my advantage to help keep the mosquitos at bay.
My first time camping on North Tea Lake was September 2023 and I loved the lake so much, I went back again a few weeks later. And Manitou Lake, well, it had been almost a decade since I last camped there! I was immediately drawn to the idea of booking those two lakes together for this trip. I actually had an additional night booked on North Tea Lake at the end of the trip—to split up the long travel day from Manitou Lake back to my car—but there was some pretty brutal weather in the forecast so I decided to push forward and end one day early. I like finishing a trip with dry gear!
This trip was super last minute. I did all of my packing the day before I left, and I only committed to the route and booked my permits at 10:30 PM, shortly before going to bed. Despite being last minute, I was extremely excited for my first backcountry trip of the season.
Day 1 — Kawawaymog Lake to North Tea Lake (East Arm)
My day began with a 5:00 AM wakeup. After my morning routine, picking up my canoe, and taking Elo for a quick walk, I was on the road shortly after 6:00 AM. I felt so tired and groggy the entire drive. If you’re familiar with my Trip Report “The Island MEGA-Site on North Tea Lake” you may remember the gas predicament I had at the end of the trip. Well, I learned from my mistake and made sure to fill my tank before venturing down towards the access point.
It was a beautiful morning to start the trip. The sun was warm, but not too hot. There was a gentle breeze and some clouds in the sky. It was perfect. There were lots of canoes heading back towards the access point, and a few heading in the same direction as me. At the end of the first portage I met a group of girls from a Polish summer camp; they must have had 7 or 8 canoes between the group. They covered a lot of distance over three nights, doing the loop up through Lorne, Fasset, and Manitou. Plus, they were already at their final portage pretty early in the morning after coming all the way from Manitou Lake!
At the next portage, I saw a family with an off-leash dog. I got the classic “don’t worry he’s friendly!” but it still bothered me. Very few people follow the leash rules in Algonquin Park, and I’m guilty myself of letting Elo off-leash sometimes at the campsite, but I’m a big advocate for keeping dogs leashed while walking on any shared ground (eg. portages, hiking trails, parking lots). Here are a few reasons why:
i) you can run into other people who may be scared of dogs; you never know when you’ll encounter someone in the backcountry, even in less-travelled areas or during the shoulder seasons, someone can always show up
ii) other dogs may not be friendly, even if yours is
iii) when I’m portaging a canoe over my head and I have Elo tethered to my waist, it becomes a safety concern if an off-leash dog approaches us and gets Elo worked up
iv) you may not see where your dog poops unless you’re walking side-by-side the entire time (I witnessed this last year with a separate off-leash encounter)
v) everyone’s dog is friendly until aggression happens and then it’s always the same response “that’s so unlike my dog, they’ve never done that before!” and having a dog attack in the backcountry is not ideal
vi) if you encounter wildlife on the trail, you will not have control of the situation when a canoe is over your head and your dog is off-leash; you may know how your dog reacts to certain wildlife but until you’ve come face-to-face with wolf, bear, moose, fox, etc. you don’t know how your dog will react to that specific animal
… there are more reasons, but you get the idea.
I finished my two portages of the day and launched onto North Tea Lake just past noon. I had a big tailwind with decent swells and small white caps. It made the paddle quite easy. Some of the sites in the West Arm were occupied, but many were empty. In the East Arm, the first site I checked out was the small island campsite that I stayed at during my “6 Day Heat Wave” trip in 2023. It’s hard to explain but something seemed off with the campsite. There were some large tent and tarp structures set up but no signs of humans and no canoes visible. I didn’t see anyone out on the lake for a paddle either. There was also no official orange campsite marker. My initial thought was that someone left cheap shelters set up to ‘save’ the site so that they could return back to it later. But my theory will develop further, stay tuned.
Next, I visited the adjacent island to the east, with one campsite on it. The western tip of the island, where the campsite is located, is an elevated and completely exposed narrow point. It was exactly the type of campsite that I was looking for to catch the heavy wind and keep the bugs away. I pulled ashore to look around and I immediately knew that this would be my home for the next two nights.
The campsite had a small but well-built fire pit. There was only one small bench for seating, but I travel with my own chair so I didn’t mind. There were two good tent spots to choose from, one that was exposed and by the shoreline, and the other sheltered inland. There were a few additional options too, but I decided to set up at the exposed shoreline spot. The thunder box was far inland and there weren’t good branches to hang my food, but I was willing to make-do with both of those things. The two rocky shorelines on the north and south sides of the island—providing limitless swimming, suntanning, and stargazing opportunities, not to mention panoramic views of the lake, sunrise, and sunset views—made it all worth it.
I arrived at 2:00 PM and took some time to relax. I pitched my tent and went for a nap from 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM. I found a peg deep in the ground from a previous group and immediately thought of Dale from my “7 Days in North Algonquin” canoe trip.
I continued to do some chores after my nap, including a mediocre food hang and some mediocre firewood collection. The wind continued to howl the entire time. At least it kept the bugs away. The island was full of tiny crawling insects; there were lots of spiders and about a thousand ant hills visible on the ground. I wasn’t sure if this island was particularly bad, or if I had just forgotten what typical July camping looked like. I would find out later that it was the former.
I made dinner around 5:00 PM, a Taco & Tortilla Mix from Happy Yak added to a few large tortilla wraps. I didn’t see too many canoes pass by since I had setup camp, despite knowing that there were a handful of other permits issued for the evening. Maybe people were coming from the other direction and got windbound against the white caps? By 6:00 PM, every campsite that was within my view was empty except for one island campsite in the faraway distance. Well, unless you also count the sketchy setup on the small island beside mine… but we’ll come back to that later.
Despite my midday nap I was still feeling tired, so I relaxed around the campsite a little while longer before going for an evening paddle. I set off shortly after 7:00 PM. There were five campsites remaining in this region of the East Arm that I wanted to document, so I zig-zagged my way to each one. I went to one of the island campsites, then to the west shore, then further up on the west shore, and then back to one additional island campsite.
I used my new Insta360 to document each campsite, in addition to the regular photos that I take. I had an idea to mount it in my daypack and use my headlamp as a tumpline to prevent the tall extended tripod from wobbling around as I walked. Even though it technically did work, I very much disliked the process. I abandoned the idea and ended up doing one lap of the campsite for regular photos and then a second lap for the Insta360 video.
By the time I finished documenting the five campsites it was close to 9:00 PM, long after the sun had crossed the shoreline. There was very little light left to guide me back home to my campsite. But the moon had already risen and it was glowing strong. It was a really lovely time to be on the water paddling.
As expected, the mosquitos came out in a fury. It seemed like there were clouds of them. I used plenty of DEET, but it didn’t really help. I got eaten alive. Elo was slightly frustrated but overall she seemed ok. I started this trip knowing that if the bugs were too bad for Elo to handle, I was prepared to turn around and go home on any given day. She is always my number one priority on a trip.
The worst of the mosquitos finished around 10:30 PM. They were still out and biting, but in much fewer numbers than before. I sat by a decent-sized fire, gave Elo a late-night snack, had my own snack, brushed my teeth, and then cleaned up camp and hung my barrel.
The moon was glowing strong behind the campsite with its reflection shimmering bright onto the lake. It was extremely pretty. I saw the faint flicker of a campfire in the distance, from the occupied island campsite, but I couldn’t hear any noise on the lake. I spent a few minutes appreciating the silence of the backcountry under the glowing moon and then got into my tent.
Just before I was about to turn off my headlamp and go to bed, I noticed a tipping spider on the inside sidewall of my tent. What’s a tipping spider, you ask? I’ve talked about them in a few previous Trip Reports…. hint hint. I hit the spider with my sandal but it fell to the ground of the tent and I lost sight of it. There was no chance I would be able to fall asleep while the tipping spider roamed free inside the tent. I moved everything around until I finally caught it. Sorry tipping spider, but I need to sleep in peace. I moved its body outside of the tent as a warning to any other tipping spiders that dared to mess with me. In the process of opening the tent door I accidentally let in a mosquito, which I promptly killed. Oh, the joys of July camping!
Day 2 — Rest Day on North Tea Lake (East Arm)
I often complain about sleeping terribly in the backcountry, and this night was no exception. I got roughly six hours of sleep, but I was waking up every thirty minutes. The wind was howling and the waves were hitting the shoreline right beside my tent. Yes, even overnight! The sound of moving water can be soothing sometimes, but it wasn’t this time. And this is coming from someone who always sleeps with some sort of noise to help ease my tinnitus, so if I’m complaining about the sound of noise while sleeping, you know it must have been really annoying.
At 6:00 AM I got out of the tent, fed Elo, had a snack, used the thunder box, and sent a check-in message on my InReach Mini. It was only 10 degrees outside, which is pretty chilly for July, but I was still very comfortable. The fact that it was already windy helped keep the bugs away during dawn. I went for a short walk through the island and let Elo get out some zoomies and then went back into the tent for a nap until 8:00 AM.
After getting out of the tent for the second time, I had a slow moving morning. My stomach wasn’t feeling great, even after multiple visits to the thunder box. But I still decided to venture out for a day trip at around 10:00 AM to document some more campsites. The wind was already pretty crazy and it was only going to get worse as the day went on, so I was keeping a close eye on the conditions. I was paddling east, meaning I had a tailwind, but whenever I decided to turn around and come back to camp, I would need to battle a headwind.
I took advantage of the tailwind and paddled very leisurely to the first campsite. The sun was out and it was pretty warm, but the wind kept it from being uncomfortably hot. I arrived at the first mountainous site, which had one of the steepest inclines I’ve ever seen at a backcountry campsite. The campsite itself was just ok, but the fire pit was epic and the views from the top of the campsite were next-level amazing.
The next campsite I checked out had a terrible landing, and with the wind thrashing against my canoe, I decided to get in and out of the campsite very quickly. The site was pretty crappy anyways. The third campsite had a better canoe landing, so I felt comfortable leaving my canoe at the shoreline while I scouted the site. I took a short break at this campsite to give Elo some water and decide on a game plan for the rest of the day. There were still five more campsites nearby that I wanted to check out, but the whitecaps on the water were growing larger with every passing minute. It was only 11:00 AM and I knew it would only get worse as the day went on. My body still felt tired too. The day was early and I really wanted to continue documenting campsites, but I knew the responsible choice would be to head back to camp.
The 15 minute paddle took closer to 45 minutes with the headwind constantly pushing against me. I had a snack when I got back to camp and then sleepy-mode quickly took over. I kept dozing off while sitting in my chair until I eventually went into the tent for a proper nap.
I spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing at the campsite. I broke down some firewood and relaxed, enjoying the beautiful views surrounding the campsite. I took two short naps in the tent and dozed off three or four more times while sitting in my chair. I hadn’t done anything overly strenuous but I was tired as heck. I figured it was because the campsite had practically no shade, so I probably had minor heat exhaustion from constantly being under the sun.
In the late afternoon, Elo spontaneously became obsessed with the front shoreline. For close to 10 minutes she kept roaming the shoreline, sniffing furiously and looking out onto the water. I thought it was the waves crashing against the shore that tricked her into thinking it was something else. But she didn’t stop. She kept being extra curious. And then, out of nowhere, a fish showed up about 10ft inland, away from the waterline. It was almost dead and had a literal hole missing from its head. It looked like something had impacted or impaled it. Did Elo smell the fish? Did she see it in the water? How did it get so far away from the waterline and onto the shoreline rocks?
It was a super weird situation, but the rocky shoreline was only a few feet away from my tent, so I couldn’t leave a dead fish there. I didn’t want to put it back in the water because the strong winds might just bring it back to shore a few feet further down the island. Instead, I put it onto one of the campsite’s cooking grills, went for a paddle to fill my Nalgene anyways, and dumped the fish mid-lake where the wind would take it away from the island. I don’t know if that was the best course of action, but it was the best option I was able to think of.
Dinner on Day 2 was the Mexican Style Veggie Bowl from AlpineAire with the few remaining tortilla wraps that I had left. I wanted to scout some more campsites in the evening but there were whitecaps all the way until 8:30 PM. It was windy all night, but once the whitecaps subsided I decided to go for a late-night paddle. I planned on staying on the water during most of mosquito-hour, until close to 10:00 PM. I wasn’t planning to go too far from the island, so I was comfortable using the glow of the moon for navigation to get back home. I had my headlamp with me as a backup.
The moon began to rise shortly after I got onto the water, and it was absolutely stunning. The moon crossed the shoreline and hung low in the sky while my island campsite was in the foreground. The orange campsite marker and my green Eureka Suma tent were directly in frame. It was so picturesque and pretty. Both the iPhone and my Canon can’t do it justice, but I snapped away and got plenty of photos anyways. It was a very special paddle.
I went back to that small island beside mine. You know, the one I mentioned earlier that seemed sketchy. The same tent and tarp structures were still there and the setup looked kind of sloppy, flapping away in the wind. Just like when I passed by on Day 1, I saw no signs of people, and no canoes at the shoreline. But now I had a theory… all of the campsites I had visited so far were sparkling clean and the grounds were freshly raked, meaning park staff had done very recent campsite maintenance. Maybe the park staff had a semi-permanent setup on the island and were using it as a basecamp type of situation?
While contemplating the ordeal, I decided to pull a weather forecast on my InReach Mini. It looked like I had some more sunshine in the forecast, with one more super windy day for Day 3 and then the following few days would have practically no wind at all.
I arrived back to camp at 10:00 PM and got a fire going. The bugs were much better on Night 2. I still got eaten, but it was way less brutal compared to the first night. My clothes still reeked like bug spray from the first day, so that might have helped. But I didn’t need to use bug spray at any point on Day 2.
I had my standard evening snack buffet, including a bagel, banana bread, some roasted marshmallows, and a swig of whiskey. The wood burned nice and slow and I had a decent bit of firewood leftover for the next group. I sat by the fire until 11:30 PM and then went into the tent with a very sleepy Elo and called it a night.
Day 3 — North Tea Lake (East Arm) to Manitou Lake
I woke up again at 5:30 AM, except this time I actually slept pretty well. It was very early, but I was wide awake and wasn’t able to fall back asleep. I was moving to Manitou Lake on Day 3, which was a pretty short and easy day, so I packed up camp slowly under the comfortable 15 degree morning sunshine.
I went for my obligatory morning visit to the thunder box, and the moment that I lifted the wooden lid I saw 5-6 cockroaches scurry away. It was disgusting, yes, but at the same time I was pretty impressed with just how quickly they vanished! It was literally less than one second and they were gone. I did see a handful of cockroaches at the campsite throughout my stay before this. I don’t know if “infestation” is the appropriate choice of words, but after this thunder box experience it was clear that there were plenty of them on the island. Let’s just say I did my business very quickly on the thunder box, because ew.
I got on the water at 8:00 AM and paddled past a mix of occupied and vacant campsites. I visited three campsites in the north of the lake, while on my way to my one and only portage of the day. There are actually four campsites marked on the map, but one of them doesn’t exist. I was told last year by a local guide that it might have been removed, and now I was able to confirm it myself. However, I also knew that one of those campsites in the area was brand new because I GPS’ed it last year and told Jeff about its location before he released his new map. I didn’t visit the new campsite last year, I only saw it from the shoreline, but this year I went on shore to document it. The orange campsite marker had a written note saying “New campsite, please be careful with your fire, ashes dead out”. This campsite was likely the replacement for the one that no longer exists.
The wind had picked up like crazy while I was documenting those sites, and by 9:00 AM there were white caps on the water. Thankfully, it was a tailwind. By the time I finished checking out the campsites and arrived to the portage landing, it was almost 10:00 AM.
Elo finally pooped for the first time of the trip. For some reason, she seems to hold it in for as long as possible whenever we go camping. I had a canoe on my shoulders and barrel on my back, so I left the poop on the ground knowing that I’d come back during my double-carry to pick it up and put it in the thunder box at the waterfall campsite.
After I dealt with the poop I grabbed my Insta360 and went to hang out at the waterfalls with Elo for a few minutes. There was only one other group there, a couple who just came from Manitou Lake. We spent some time chatting at the falls, and then spoke some more at the portage landing while I was getting ready for my second carry. It was a very buggy portage so I did both carries while wearing all of my layers, including my sweatshirt. Thankfully, the portage isn’t too difficult; when coming from North Tea Lake there’s one uphill at the beginning, one downhill at the end, and the rest of the portage is pretty much flat.
There was a decent headwind in the small bay at the end of the portage, but that headwind quickly turned into a tailwind once I made it into the main body of Manitou Lake. The couple I met at the portage said they left the small island in the middle of the lake, Campsite #11. I know that it’s a beautiful site and I would love to claim it, but it was far up the lake, and it’s a popular campsite. It would be around 12:00 PM by the time I made it to the island, and I didn’t want to risk someone coming from the north of Manitou Lake snagging it first.
I had my heart set on Campsite #29 in the south of the lake, but the couple told me it was occupied when they paddled by. The first few campsites that I passed were empty, and then I came across the island… and sadly, it was still occupied. I saw fully packed gear at the campsite, meaning the group had either just arrived, or they were just about to leave. I paddled closer to ask (they were near the shoreline, I would never land my canoe and enter an occupied site) and they were indeed on their way out. Perfect timing! I let my canoe drift in the wind, laying back on my pack with my body facing up towards the hot sunny sky. I waited for about 15 minutes before coming ashore from the south entrance, just as they were exiting from the north entrance.
It really was perfect timing, because within 15 minutes there were a few other groups that I recognized from North Tea Lake the previous night that passed by the island to see if it was already claimed. The campsite is located at a very narrow point of an hourglass shaped peninsula on the island. This means it gets sunshine all throughout the day, it catches a breeze from all directions, you get to view the sunrise, sunset, moonrise, etc. The main fire pit area and tent spot are slightly inland, offering shelter from the elements. It was the exact type of campsite that I love. The only downside was that there was TONS of bird poop in the exposed area of the campsite, meaning I wasn’t going to let Elo off-leash very much.
The previous group had left some garbage in the fire pit—including an egg shell, half of a lemon, and a few orange peels—but otherwise the campsite was clean and in good condition. It was sad to see the amount of tree stumps from cut down trees directly behind the campsite though. The campsite is clearly popular and well-used. The mosquito situation was similar to my previous campsite, they were noticeable, but the breeze helped keep them away during most hours of the day. I was happy to call this place home for the next three nights. I was just hoping it wouldn’t also have a cockroach infestation…
I immediately went onto the lake to fill my water jug before doing anything else. Then I set up my tent and tarp to waterproof the campsite in case the forecasted rain came earlier than planned. The forecast called for rain at around 6:00 PM, but it’s not like a forecast has even been wrong before. I finished everything at 1:30 PM and then went for a walk with Elo to explore the island.
I was getting sleepy after the day of travelling and setting up camp so I went into the tent for a short nap at around 3:00 PM. Elo was also pretty tired and fell asleep immediately beside me. I felt super refreshed after waking up. The skies looked grey when I got out of the tent so I quickly did a bear hang in the forest behind the campsite. It was a difficult branch to use; it was high up and there were lots of obstructions, but I was able to nail the throw on my first try. The food-hang gods must have known that rain was approaching and that I didn’t have any time to waste.
It started drizzling right after I finished the food hang, so I quickly scraped together some twigs and branches from the forest floor to use as firewood later and put it under my tarp to stay dry. I forgot to close the fly door on my tent but thankfully the tent was pitched under tree coverage and the rain wasn’t strong enough to penetrate through and make its way inside my tent. But everything else was soaked; there was enough rain that my tarp was doing its job of creating puddles of rainfall on the ground from the run-off at the tie-out divots. Elo and I spent a while relaxing under the tarp. She was chilling at my feet while I listened to some music quietly from my phone. The playlist for the afternoon was In Between Dreams by Jack Johnson and then Animals by Pink Floyd.
This was the first time of the entire trip that the wind wasn’t crazy strong. It was finally calm. It was really peaceful and refreshing to finally have some quiet. It made the bugs slightly worse, but it was still peaceful nonetheless. I had dinner at 5:30 PM, a Grilled Chicken Quattro Formaggi Pasta from AlpineAire that was absolutely delicious. The skies remained grey, with rain tapering on and off until around 7:00 PM. The dark clouds were starting to disperse and I knew that I was going to be treated to a beautiful sunset that evening. At around 7:30 PM I got in my canoe and went for a long paddle.
It was such an amazing feeling paddling on the calm water. Finally, I was able to feel the blade of my paddle influence the water with each stroke and watch the canoe move along the lake without wondering how much was from my paddling, and how much was from the wind. It’s evenings like the one on Day 3 that are my favourite part of canoe trips. I circled my island checking out all of the vacant campsites. Many sites were occupied (it was a busy night in the south half of Manitou Lake!) but there were three vacant sites that I was able to document. In between documenting each campsite I was watching the sun move lower in the sky, disappearing and reappearing behind the various passing clouds while lighting up the sky with its beams of light.
I came back to camp shortly after 9:00 PM hoping to do a timelapse of the moon rise. I got a fire going first and took my barrel down from the trees (proper food storage means hanging your food when you leave the campsite). The moon rise was just barely visible from my campsite. The timelapse turned out just ok. It was better than nothing, but definitely not the best moon rise I’ve ever experienced.
There was practically zero wind during the evening, meaning the bugs were out in full force. It was also a very warm evening, so while sitting beside the fire I quickly became overheated. I wanted to keep all of my layers on because of the bugs, so I kept moving my chair farther away from the fire. By the end of Day 3 I’m pretty sure I had mosquito bites on every inch of my body. Elo seemed to be doing ok with the mosquitos. I think her fur is too thick for them to penetrate through. It’s the stable flies and other flying insects that annoy her. But she defends her territory by viciously trying to chomp on anything that makes its way into a one-metre radius of her body.
I sat by the fire getting eaten alive until 11:00 PM. The moon was poking through the trees of the shoreline beside the fire pit, so I would get the occasional view of it while it rose higher in the sky. By the way, the cockroach infestation from my previous campsite was replaced with mice at this campsite. Elo was obsessed with a few mice that were living in one of the benches beside the fire pit, and then I went to grab my water jug from the wooden counter between the trees and a mouse appeared from underneath my water. There were a few mice running around the wooden shelf, which was likely their home. They weren’t scared of me at all, they were hanging out while I was standing directly in front of them. Mice can be destructive and a nuisance at campsites, so I can’t say I was a fan of the situation… but I think I’ll take mice over cockroaches.
Day 4 — Rest Day on Manitou Lake
I didn’t realize this while setting up camp, but I pitched my tent facing east, so it was directly facing the sunrise. I sleep with the rainfly on, except I keep the door of the fly rolled up, so I had a front row seat to the gorgeous sunrise at 6:00 AM on Day 4.
When I finally had the courage to get out of my comfy sleeping bag, I had some breakfast, set up a timelapse of the sunrise, and relaxed under the morning sun for a little while before going back into the tent to get some more sleep. I was so cozy in my warm clothing. The temperature outside was perfect, and all of my surroundings had that morning sunshine glow. As I was lying down in the tent, the edge of the rain fly was breezing with the wind, cutting off the sun so the sunlight was flickering back and forth against my closed eyes. I had the song Grey Room by Damien Rice playing quietly from my phone, which was the perfect backdrop for the moment, especially as he sings “warmer than warm, yeah”. The whole moment didn’t feel real. It was the type of moment you’d see in a Hollywood movie. It was the feeling that people chase when they go camping. It was perfect.
I woke up from that nap at 8:00 AM feeling great. I got ready for a day trip by cleaning up camp and hanging my food. I always like to keep a clean camp, but especially when I’m leaving the campsite I make sure everything is spick and span.
I saw a few groups leaving their campsites nearby so I went to visit those sites first. I went to the west shore and then made my way towards the double-site to the north. One of the campsites from the double-site was an incredible beach site and was pretty epic. The only downside is that there would be zero privacy with the site directly beside it. They’re basically attached. The two sites are clearly meant for an oversized group that has two permits. Although funny enough, they were both occupied by different groups the previous night. Whichever was the first group to arrive must have thought “really??? f@*!ng great” as the second group arrived and chose to occupy the joined site instead of choosing any of the other 40+ campsites on the lake.
I spent a long time enjoying the massive beachfront of the campsite. A small canoe with a motor pulled up to the shore at the far end of the beach. It was two men; they didn’t look like park staff, but I walked over anyways. I kind of just wanted an excuse to go walking barefoot on the soft sandy beach. It turns out they’re the owners of the cottage on North Tea Lake, directly beside the waterfall portage. They’ve had the property for decades and they were here on a short fishing trip. They were having some issues with their equipment so they came ashore to figure it out.
As I was walking back to the main campsite area, actual park staff pulled up in their motor boat. I told them it was pretty ironic that I walked over to check if the other guys were park staff, and then on my way back, they showed up. They checked my permits and asked if they could visit my island campsite to take a look around. I told them no problem, they would find a very clean camp and my food hung in the trees. I forgot to ask about the sketchy island setup on North Tea Lake and whether it was a basecamp for park staff!
After they left I went for a swim with Elo. It was getting pretty hot outside and we both needed to cool off. The sandy beach made the campsite a great swimming spot, though it stayed shallow for quite a distance into the water. The swim was extremely refreshing. We must have hung around the beach campsite for close to two hours. I left my own campsite at 9:30 AM and left the double-site at around 12:00 PM.
Next, I paddled towards the nearby island with two campsites. On the new Maps By Jeff one of the campsite locations was moved from the north point of the island to the south point, so I decided to circle the entire island to confirm if i) it was the same campsite but with its location fixed, or ii) one campsite closed and a new campsite opened. I checked the southernmost site first, which was a pretty cool site with an awesome rocky shoreline. Its main drawback was the steep incline from the rocky shoreline up to the main campsite area. Then I circled clockwise and confirmed that the northern campsite never existed, and then continued onwards until I found the eastern campsite. The eastern campsite had a wall of boulders at the shoreline that was typical for many sites on Manitou Lake, which sucks, and the campsite itself was very small and completely overgrown. There was firewood scattered all over the campsite. It was obvious that this campsite rarely got used.
The sun was really hot by this point in the day and there was basically no wind during my paddle back to the campsite. I got back around 1:30 PM and decided to take a few hours to relax in the shade. I still had two more campsites in the southern region of the lake that I wanted to document, but assuming they stayed unoccupied, I would visit them during my evening paddle.
For the next few hours I didn’t even more from my chair. I enjoyed the silence of nature along with the stunning views onto Manitou Lake from my campsite. Spending time in the backcountry is amazing, even when I’m literally doing nothing.
I was getting ready to go for my evening paddle close to 8:00 PM when I spotted an otter in the water beside my campsite. Wait, no, there were actually three otters! They were goofing around, twisting and twirling, dipping in and out of the water. I took a few photos and videos and then got into my canoe on the other side of the island. I circled the island clockwise and when I was rounding the corner, I was surprised to see the three otters sitting on a rock at the shore. They were equally as surprised to see me. We were only a few feet away from each other. One of the otters let out a very loud grunt and then they all dove into the water. It felt like the cliche movie scene where someone opens the door and walks in on someone naked.
As I continued to paddle, that one otter that grunted kept poking out from the water. It would make a grunting sound towards me, and then go back underwater. I was clearly not welcome. Elo was calm as a cucumber the entire time. The otters piqued her interest but she was watching in complete silence. But I know Elo has my back if the otters tried to pick a fight!
I continued onwards and went to the other campsite on my island. The site was small and very overgrown and clearly did not get used very often. Although, it was occupied the previous night, and the group left a complete mess in the fire pit. There was a full roll of messy, gooey cookie dough with its package opened, among other garbage.
Next, I crossed to the opposite shore to visit the last remaining site on my list. It was another small, undesirable campsite, but the rocky shoreline was much more impressive than it appeared from the water. I still wouldn’t want to camp at the site, but if there was good weather at least the rocky shoreline would make an awesome lounge spot. Unfortunately, the last group also left a mess in the fire pit, though nowhere near as bad as the previous campsite.
The sun had crossed the shoreline by this point. It was very pretty, but not nearly as magnificent as the previous night’s sunset. I’ll never complain about having the opportunity to watch a sunset though! As I got closer to my island I heard loud animal noises from the northern point. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but it didn’t sound like the otters from earlier. I knew it wasn’t a moose or a bear either, because that area of the island is small enough that it would have been pretty obvious if an animal of that size was roaming around. I rounded the corner to the west side with my eyes fixed on the dark shoreline the entire time.
I had an “aha” moment and thought maybe I should look up, instead of at the shoreline. At that exact moment I was directly underneath trees with several birds perched on top. It was too dark for me to identify the type of bird, but the loud noises did kind of sound like the noises that a geese (or similar bird) would make. It would also finally explain the ridiculous amounts of bird poop at the front exposed area of the campsite. Elo was watching them as well and they kept her interest even after we got back to the campsite. She continued to stare in that direction looking for them while I got a fire started. I didn’t actually witness the birds make the noises that I had heard, but for my own sanity I assumed the two were directly related.
I got back to camp at 9:30 PM and doused myself in DEET. It made a huge difference and helped keep the mosquitos away. I still got some bites, but it was way better after a fresh DEET shower. The moon rise was a little bit later this evening, and would also be rising a few degrees to the north relative to the previous night. If you remember from the previous night, it was only barely in view, so those few degrees north made a huge difference (for the better). It also happened to be the official full moon on this evening, and it looked spectacular. I took some photos and videos and sat by the fire while watching the moon rise into the sky. At 11:00 PM I decided to clean up camp and get into the tent.
Day 5 — Rest Day on Manitou Lake
For the second time at this campsite, I woke up just after 6:00 AM to a beautiful sunrise directly in view from my tent door. Or maybe it was the birds chirping at tinnitus-causing volumes that woke me up. Either way, it was a gorgeous morning. I stayed in the tent to watch the sunrise from my comfy sleeping setup. What an amazing way to wake up. I dozed in and out of sleep and then finally got out of the tent at around 7:00 AM.
I pulled a weather report from my InReach Mini and then had breakfast while sitting in the morning sun at the front of the campsite with Elo. Even at 8:00 AM, the sun was feeling hot. It was going to be mid 20’s with no cloud coverage and no wind, so I’m guessing the “feels like” temperature was going to be more like low 30’s.
I had a slow moving morning and set out for a day trip around 10:30 AM. Right before I left I saw my three otter friends again. Hilariously, one of them saw Elo watching at the shoreline and grunted at her again. That one otter really didn’t like us. I filled my 4L water jug and brought it with me in the canoe for the day trip. I went to the eastern section of Manitou Lake, near the portage that leads into Three Mile Lake. There are 10 consecutive campsites that I wanted to check out. The first one looked like a beautiful beach campsite, but it was occupied. From what I was able to see, the rest looked vacant.
It was a hot paddle but I took my time. I was in no rush. I wore my long sleeve shirt and kept my pants rolled down to my ankles to keep all of my skin covered. My body seems to get exhausted very easily when I have lots of skin exposed to the sun, and I had a big day to get home the following day, so I didn’t want to take any chances.
I was able to check out all 9 campsites in a row. Half of them were extremely overgrown and looked like emergency sites. Only one or two of them were actually nice. There are two campsites that are attached by a short path and are clearly meant to be occupied together by an oversized group with two permits. It was like the double-beach campsite I checked out the previous day, except the inferior site here was much more inferior. The main campsite was an awesome site though, it was easily the best of the 9 that I visited. The second last campsite towards the east was closed down, although I’m not sure if it was only temporary or permanent. There was a motorboat stationed at the shoreline, a Ford F150 on shore (the campsite is located at the end of an active, non-public road), and it didn’t have the official orange campsite marker. The final campsite was a huge beach site, and while that may sound awesome, it was a “good from far but far from good” type of campsite. I go into more detail about all of the campsites in my Campsite Reports.
After documenting all of the campsites I pulled on shore nearby the last site to take a pee and go for a swim with Elo. Not simultaneously, don’t worry. Although aren’t we all guilty of peeing in the lake…
Anyways.
That’s when I stumbled upon the campsite being used by park staff. The spot I chose to come ashore is connected to the active road, which connects to the campsite. The Ford F150 was there, but no people were there at that moment. I found an empty can of Labatt Blue near the campsite… tsk tsk park staff! There was also some old ruins in the area, right beside where I landed my canoe.
I went for a quick swim with Elo and then sat on the dirt ground, in the shade, for at least 30 minutes to allow both of us to cool off. Despite frequent breaks at each campsite and lots of water, Elo was showing signs of being too hot, and so was I. The swim completely cooled her down though, and then it made her super sleepy. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me super sleepy too, but I still had to paddle us back home. I started paddling at around 2:45 PM, more than 4hrs after I set out earlier that morning. Frequent hat dips into the lake were helpful at keeping me awake and energized during the paddle.
The paddle took around 45 minutes and I was completely drained by the time we got back. I dried Elo off with a towel, removed the rain fly from my tent to increase airflow, stripped down to my underwear, and then immediately passed out inside of the tent. I set an alarm to only allow myself 20 minutes so that I wouldn’t wake up even more tired and groggy. The plan worked. I woke up at 4:30 PM feeling amazing.
There were a few groups entering the lake but only one other campsite became occupied in the entire southern region where my island was. It was pretty busy during my first night at Manitou Lake, but I didn’t see a single occupied campsite in the southern region during my second night. And now on the third night, only one other campsite—the big beach campsite far off in the distance—was occupied.
I made myself a Happy Yak Mediterranean Pork for dinner. I really love Happy Yak meals. The sodium levels are appropriate (I understand why other brands load sodium, but I still think they overdo it most of the time), and the ingredient list is usually super simple. It tastes like I’m eating real food, not a ‘kitchen-sink’ of ingredients and additives.
After a few hours of lazy relaxation I set out for my evening paddle at around 8:00 PM. I crossed to the west shoreline and followed it south, exploring the small bays. I saw a beaver in the distance during my first night when I was exploring the same area, and I was lucky enough to see the same beaver again on this evening. I saw a few loons and a heron as well. I explored into the creek from the large bay, but the creek closes off pretty quickly so there wasn’t too much to explore.
I was planning on taking the shorter, but more challenging portage out of Manitou Lake into North Tea Lake on Day 6. I wanted to do it simply to be able to compare it to the other portage, but also because there’s a campsite directly at the portage landing that I was going to document. Well, I figured “when in Rome”, I was already in the general area of that campsite so I used the last few minutes of post-sunset light to quickly check it out. By the time I finished and got back to camp it was 9:30 PM and almost completely dark out.
I did the usual DEET shower, snack for me and Elo, and relaxed by the fire. I made a fire every night of the trip, but it was always during peak mosquito hour so I didn’t take too many photos or videos. I finally saw some stars in the sky since the moon was rising later in the evening.
After putting out the fire I caught a glimpse of the final moon rise of the trip. It was the nicest one yet, too. It was a cloudy evening so the moon was rising behind the slow-moving clouds, giving it a wispy mystical look. It was like the picturesque moonrise you’d see in a werewolf movie. I was hoping to get an ETB (early to bed) in preparation for my long Day 6 coming up ahead, but I ended up falling asleep later than planned at around 11:30 PM.
Day 6 — Manitou Lake to Kawawaymog Lake
The first night of this trip was 10 degrees at its coldest, and the final night of this trip was almost 20 degrees at its coldest… which is pretty damn hot for overnight! I woke up at 3:00 AM overheated in my sleeping bag. I was able to fall back asleep until 5:00 AM, but then I spent the next hour after that tossing and turning before finally getting out of the tent. I did some morning chores, took some photos of the gorgeous sunrise, and then went back into the tent to continue watching the sunrise while trying to get some quick shuteye.
At 7:00 AM I started packing up camp and I was on the water by 8:00 AM. I had a 6 hour day ahead of me, and thankfully the wind was only forecasted to be 5km/hr and coming from the east, so whatever tiny bit of wind was present would be a tailwind. The lack of wind would make the sun feel hotter, but it was better than battling a headwind during the 2 hour paddle across North Tea Lake! I knew that I would need to take a few breaks along the way for Elo; 6 hours of portaging and paddling under the hot sun would be too much for her thick black double-coat to handle without overheating.
I took the shorter, but more challenging portage from Manitou Lake into North Tea Lake. The landings weren’t great on either end. The landing at the North Tea end was a rocky maze compared to the beautiful beach landing offered by the other portage. The portage itself was more challenging as well, with more inclines and more technical terrain involving rocks and roots throughout the trail. But the portage is only 460m, so it wasn’t too bad overall.
I took my first break at the end of the portage to relax in the shade, give Elo some water, and put on sunscreen. Park staff were about 10-20ft down the shoreline in their motorboat. I asked if they were the water taxi service, which gave them a good laugh.
Now that the hardest portage of the day was done, it was time to start the long 2 hour paddle across North Tea Lake. I had a gentle tailwind at my back and the sun was the perfect temperature. I debated paddling shirtless but I had a long day ahead of me and I didn’t want to get cocky and do something that my body would regret later.
Most of the campsites on North Tea’s East Arm were empty. I stopped at the same island campsite from Nights 1 & 2 to let Elo swim and cool down. This was our second break of the day. I don’t think anyone had occupied the campsite in the three nights I was gone, since my leftover firewood was still sitting beside the fire pit. After Elo swam, we sat in the shade for about 10-15 minutes and then got back on the water.
The sketchy island setup will still there, except this time I saw a handful of camping chairs around the fire pit. But still no signs of humans and no canoes. The setup never changed for the entire 6 days, and who knows how long it was like that before I arrived. I’m sticking to my theory that it was being used as an outpost for park staff, and the campsite was either temporarily or permanently closed.
Before reaching the island campsite on North Tea’s West Arm (the one from my Island MEGA-Site trip), I saw an army of canoes coming towards me. It was by far the largest single group I had ever seen. I counted 15 canoes and I may have missed a few. I took a video with my Insta360 because I thought it would be funny to get a 360-degree view as they passed by and completely surrounded me.
The primary site from my Island MEGA-Site was occupied so I pulled ashore to the adjacent site just north of it. Elo was panting during the paddle so I knew the sun was starting to get to her and that we needed some shade. It was time for our third break of the day. I was in no rush to get home so frequent breaks were a priority for me. We spent 20 minutes in the shade relaxing at the campsite; I had a snack, used the thunder box, and then got back on the water.
I was tempted to document some more campsites on North Tea’s West Arm since there are only a few that I’m missing, but it was such a long day under the hot sun so I decided not to. I knew I’d be back to North Tea in the future anyways. I arrived at the final two portages just after 12:30 PM. The first portage had a few groups coming in the other direction. One group had an off-leash dog, but they put it on a leash after asking if I had a preference. Then a larger group arrived at the portage and they were bringing tons of fishing gear, motors, etc. It was real heavy load that they were lugging into North Tea. I chatted with them for a few minutes, took another short 10 minute break in the shade with Elo, and then kept moving.
The Amable Du Fond was very slow moving between the two portages. There was so much of the long grass covering the water with no clear canoe pathway. I didn’t remember it being like that on my way in, but maybe because I was going downstream and in the same direction as the long grass that I just never took notice.
I met one more group at the final portage. They happened to be the owners of the cabin on North Tea Lake just north of the portage that enters the lake. They’re seasoned canoe trippers with experience all throughout Ontario. We had a nice conversation for a few minutes, chatting about Elo, canoe tripping, and I told them that I coincidentally also met the owners of the other cabin at the far end of the East Arm earlier in my trip. Then I set off for my final paddle at 2:00 PM.
Up until now it was pure sunshine with no clouds in the sky and very little wind, but on this final stretch of the paddle, thick clouds started filling the sky. There was still very little wind, but the reduced sunlight was really helpful for keeping Elo comfortable. She slept most of the river paddle. When I arrived to the main body of Kawawaymog Lake I noticed a very dark cloud in the distance. It looked like a storm was approaching. After the long day of travelling that I was about to finish, I had no interest in getting caught in a storm at the final moment. But I could barely keep my eyes open, I was legitimately SO tired. So, I laid back on my pack with my body facing up towards the sky, I closed my eyes for 3 minutes, and then I went into hustle mode to get back to my car before the potential storm hit.
I finished the trip at 3:15 PM as the dark cloud was getting even closer. The stable flies were brutal on Kawawaymog Lake and while loading my car at the access. I’m not sure who they annoyed more, me or Elo, but both of us were pretty fed up with them by the end of the paddle. I went to visit the Driftwood Paddle bros but no one was home. I sent them a message right as I left for my trip, but I forgot to tell them the day I was returning so they didn’t know when to expect me. I’ll make sure I coordinate better next time.
I visited the permit office to ask about the sketchy island setup on North Tea Lake, along with the outpost campsite on Manitou Lake. I was curious if both campsites were officially closed or just temporarily. I also mentioned the memorial on the island for Artie Trudel, the park ranger that had passed away. The staff that I was speaking with said that he was actually a distant relative of Artie Trudel, but he wasn’t aware of the memorial until I told him about it. He didn’t have any info about the status of the two campsites, but he said he would follow up with the rangers to find out.
I took a quick nap in my car since I was still incredibly tired, and then had some Awake Chocolate for a caffeine boost before starting the drive home. I stopped at the gas station in town for some sugary snacks and a Coke Zero (a little extra caffeine boost, please and thank you) and then continued on my way. About 30 minutes into the drive the big storm cloud finally hit and it was pouring rain on-and-off for the entire drive home.
The Aftermath
The most important thing that I learned from this trip is that if I want Elo’s attention, all I need to do is touch the lid of my food barrel or open a Ziploc bag. She has learned to associate both of those sounds with getting food, so the moment I do either of those things, she jumps to attention. It’s kind of funny, but I also kind of feel bad letting her down 90% of the time.
But in all seriousness, this was a pretty amazing canoe trip. The first few days with non-stop brutal winds helped keep the bugs away, and then the next few days of practically no wind provided peace and quiet. Luckily, I had a tailwind pretty much the entire trip. I was able to snag the two campsites that I was hoping to get, though I wasn’t aware of the cockroach situation on the first campsite. I think I would still go back though. It’s like when someone can’t control their cravings and is shoving handfuls of chocolate cake into their mouth while crying out loud saying “why am I doing this to myself”… yeah, that would probably be me revisiting cockroach island.
North Tea Lake and Manitou Lake were busy on some evenings, and not-so-busy on others. I especially enjoyed the last two nights on Manitou Lake when I was practically alone in the entire southern region. But even when the lakes were busy, all of the groups were very quiet and respectful.
I saw plenty of motorboats throughout the six days, but they didn’t really bother me. I still had to put in the effort to get to those lakes, there was no easy exit if I wanted to leave, and if there was an emergency I was still completely alone… the motorboats were a temporary nuisance, but they didn’t have a major effect on my sense of feeling alone in the wilderness.
I love trips when the moon rises right around the same time that the sun sets, especially when it’s a full moon. As much as I love stargazing and doing astrophotography, I think I might prefer the strong glow of a full moon instead. Something about watching the moon rise and falling asleep with its illuminating nightlight is very comforting. But I only feel this way if it’s a near-full moon; if it’s less than half, I’d definitely choose a starry evening.
I rarely do July trips so it was nice exploring Algonquin Park during what felt like a totally different season. In addition to the bugs, which I’m pretty sure I’ve complained about 68 times throughout this report, the longer daylight hours was also a big change for me. I’m used to late-season camping when the sun goes down much earlier, but on this trip I was staying awake until past 11:00 PM every night.
To wrap things up, North Tea Lake and Manitou Lake are both gorgeous lakes with lots of beautiful campsites and stunning views. They can get crowded, and yes there are motorboats, but if you’re ok with those two compromises, they’re both destinations that are well worth a visit. I know I’ll be back many times.
