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Trip Info
Date: August 12th – 16th, 2024
Route: Magnetawan Lake > Little Trout Creek (Tim River) > Shippagew Lake > Big Trout Lake > Timberwolf Lake > Magnetawan Lake
Total Number of Portages: 20
Avg. Number of Portages Per Travel Day: 4
Total Length of Portages: 30,210m
Avg. Length of Portages Per Travel Day: 6,042m
Total Travel Time: 32hrs
Avg. Travel Time Per Travel Day: 6.5hrs
Total Distance Covered: 87km
Avg. Distance Covered Per Travel Day: 17.5km
*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
My friend Dan and I were planning to do a backcountry trip together. While planning, I pitched a few different route ideas. One option was the Tim River, Big Trout loop that I was planning to do solo the two previous years, but cancelled two years in a row. The first year I had a change of heart and last-minute decided to do a trip out of Kiosk Lake instead, and the second year there was a massive heat wave so I decided to do something easier and less committal for Elo’s sake. But you know what they say, third times the charm, right? So, we booked it. We were going to launch from Magnetawan Lake and head through the Tim River from Queer Lake to Shippagew Lake, and then loop around through Big Trout Lake, McIntosh Lake and through the Petawawa River back to Magnetawan Lake.
Leading up to the trip, I told Dan that I still had concerns about doing the trip with Elo. We had some very long days planned, and in mid-August it could get real hot outside. Especially during river travel, there is usually very little wind. I wasn’t comfortable letting Elo swim in river water, so most of my concerns were for the first two days of the trip. We kept a close eye on the forecast and after some discussion about potential modifications, we stuck with the full, original route.
Dan was going to be paddling a pack canoe with a double-blade paddle. I brought a little bit more gear than he did, plus I had Elo and her food/gear, so my boat was significantly heavier than his. With a double-blade and a lot less weight in his boat, he was going to move a LOT quicker than me on the water. For some of the days, I was going to get on the water before Dan to take advantage of the early-morning cooler temperatures (for Elo), knowing that he’d catch up at some point during the day.
Which brings us to Day 1. We were taking separate cars and Dan needed to stop and pick up his rental canoe anyways, so I left early and got a head start on the water.
Day 1 — Magnetawan Lake to Little Trout Creek (Tim River)
A heavy downpour guided my way to Algonquin Park in the early morning. I arrived to the Magnetawan Lake access point shortly after 9:00 AM. I moved pretty slowly and got on the water around 10:00 AM. I had a long travel day ahead of me to get to the Tim River, so I was following the mantra “slow and steady wins the race”. I’m not sure who I was racing, but I was going slow and steady anyways.
The water was calm and the sky was thick with clouds. The rain had stopped in the later part of my drive but the sky showed a constant looming threat of more downpour. I had my rain jacket easily accessible in my day pack, and Elo has her rain jacket permanently attached to her (her double-coat is “waterproof”).
The portages were slippery and muddy after the heavy rainfall the previous day and earlier that morning. I didn’t waste much time moving through the first few portages since they were so busy with people. One guy broke the seat on his canoe during the first portage so he was using paracord to lash it back together. Another group had big party-sized bags of potato chips and packages of hamburger buns stuffed in the canoe without any food containers.
I was happy once I made it to Ralph Bice Lake to get some space and privacy. I paddled for a few minutes and then stopped for a snack break before entering the main body of the lake. The sky was still completely grey and there was a gentle headwind pushing against me. But I sticked to “slow and steady”. I took my time paddling Ralph Bice Lake, peacefully crossing the lake over the course of around 1.5 hours.
I met a group on the portage into Little Trout Lake with two small off-leash dogs. I asked if they could put the dogs on a leash and they seemed confused. During my second carry, both dogs were still off-leash. Either the people didn’t care that they were being inconsiderate, or they didn’t even bring leashes with them on the trip, in which case they were still being inconsiderate. It was also during my double-carry on this portage that Dan finally caught up to me. We spent a few minutes catching up before setting out onto Little Trout Lake.
We continued through the short portage into Queer Lake and towards our final portage for the day. It was the beastly 1.8km that we’d be double-carrying so we took a 10 minute break before getting started. Elo was doing great so far, mostly thanks to the overcast skies keeping the sun off of her thick black double coat.
To my surprise, a group of two guys finished the portage while we were waiting to get started. I wasn’t expecting to see anyone on this trail. It was their first backcountry canoe trip and they were doing an absurd 10-day route from Canoe Lake up to Rosebary Lake and back, going through some challenging and unmaintained sections. It’s not a trip I’d want to do, let alone recommend to someone as a first-time trip! But they seemed to be having a great time.
Dan and I decided to portage our food on separate carries so that our full stash wouldn’t be left together unattended at any point in time. In a worst case scenario of an animal getting into one supply, the other supply would be at the opposite end of the portage. I took my canoe with my fully loaded barrel and camera gear for the first carry. And Elo on my waist of course. My gear was about half of my body weight so I was expecting to take a few breaks on the portage, but I surprised myself and was able to push through without stopping. The portage had tons of ups and downs along with a few really steep sections. I heard that it was a tough portage so I think I overhyped it to myself. It was tough, but it wasn’t THAT bad. The landings on either end weren’t ideal, but they also weren’t too bad.
At the end of the portage nestled among the rocks was a pair of shoes. Inside one shoe was a pair of socks, and inside the other shoe was a half-smoked joint. I’m guessing the shoes belonged to the one of the two guys that we had just recently met.
I made a prediction earlier in the day that the sun would appear once we made it to the Tim River, and that prediction came true. At 5:00 PM we launched onto the Tim River as the clouds disappeared and the hot sun blazed down on our backs. It was a nice little reward for the final stretch of the day. I took my shirt off to enjoy the feeling of the warm sun on my back while I paddled.
That ‘nice little reward’ was immediately interrupted by a beaver dam. And then another. And then another. Getting across beaver dams is a painful process with a fully loaded boat and with Elo. I don’t want her swimming or drinking the beaver dam water, so I either need to lift my boat over with her inside (not a realistic option unless it’s a small dam) or get her onto the dam and supervise while simultaneously getting my boat across. Either way, it’s a pain in the butt.
After a handful of annoying obstructions, we finally made it to our “Little Trout Creek – Tim River” campsite at around 6:00 PM. I can’t remember the last time I had an 8+ hour travel day. I had seen plenty of pictures and videos of this campsite and it looked decent enough, but in person I was pretty disappointed. The tent spots weren’t great, there was practically nowhere to hang food, the thunder box was pretty full, and the fire pit area was extremely basic. The campsite is serviceable, but I wouldn’t be too quick to go back.
The sun was low in the sky when we arrived so we quickly set up camp and got chores done. Dan portaged 4L of fresh water with him the entire day so that he wouldn’t need to fill up from the river. Yes, he even carried it across the 1.8km portage. Yes, he might be a little crazy. I usually use tablets to purify my water, but for the Tim River I wanted to filter first and then purify, so Dan let me borrow his MSR filter. It was painfully slow and I spent 20 minutes getting just a little bit more than 1L. This wasn’t very ideal but I couldn’t spend any longer pumping water, I needed to get back to camp and have dinner.
The rest of the evening was relaxing. We finished all of our campsite chores, had dinner, and put some of the leftover firewood to good use. It was a long day, and we had an equally long day ahead of us for Day 2. We stayed awake to watch the moon set in front of the campsite and then enjoy the peak of the Perseids Meteor Shower. In the 15 minutes that I was looking up to the sky I saw three of the biggest shooting stars I’ve ever seen, along with plenty of smaller ones. The Perseids put on a great display.
Day 2 — Little Trout Creek (Tim River) to Shippagew Lake
After the long and tiring Day 1, I slept pretty well overnight. I was skeptical about the not-so-great tent spots at the campsite, but my body was too tired to care about the small slope that my tent was pitched on. I set an alarm so I could wake up early and hit the water soon after first light, while the temperatures would still be cool. Dan was going to sleep in and catch up with me later in the day.
I left the campsite later than planned, and pumping water with the backed-up MSR filter added an extra delay. I finally started paddling the Tim River at 8:00 AM. I learned a few things while paddling alone on the river. Number one, whoever is the first person to paddle through the river inevitably gets the job of “spider-web-clearer”. The spiders were busy overnight trying to set up roadblocks across the Tim River, and I had a face full of spider webs to prove it. You’re welcome, Dan.
Number two, since the Tim River was narrow and the sun was low in the sky, I was surprisingly able to catch some shade for the first hour or two of the day.
Number three, and most importantly, I can never again forget to do my “stick poke check” before leaving camp. I usually take a long stick and poke around my canoe in all the grooves and crevices to see what decided to take shelter overnight. If you’re familiar with tipping spiders from my other trip reports, that’s the main reason I do the “stick poke check”. But this time there were no tipping spiders. Instead, a big frog made itself comfortable under the end-cap at the front of my canoe. I only noticed it after we had started paddling. I have no issues with frogs, but Elo on the other hand, frogs definitely pique her curiosity! What would happen when it revealed itself from its hiding spot and jumped down into the canoe directly where Elo was sitting? That would be a canoe-tip waiting to happen. Thankfully, it jumped down when Elo didn’t notice, so I quickly scooped it up with my paddle and put it in the water. Crisis averted. But that was a close call.
Anyways, let’s get back to the Tim River. There were a few beaver dam obstructions on my way to the first 280m portage, but nothing to complain about. The portage had no yellow marker to indicate when I arrived, but there was a very large fallen tree stump and a small opening at the shoreline, so it was pretty obvious where to land the canoe. The yellow portage sign was located a decent bit inland, among the extremely overgrown first section that I thought might have been poison ivy (don’t worry, it wasn’t).
The fake poison ivy section lasted for 50-100m. Elo was tethered to my waist and was brushing through the thick of it. There wasn’t really any other option, so I’m very happy that it didn’t end up being poison ivy. But given how overgrown it was, I could barely see my footing, especially with Elo tethered in front of me, so it was somewhat dangerous to walk through. I had to be careful with each step so I didn’t roll an ankle. Heck, I could barely even see Elo it was so overgrown! Plus, I had my eyes focused all around me because if a bear were to ever pop up out of nowhere, it would have been in this area. Ironically, Dan later told me that he had the same thought about it looking like prime bear territory.
The next 450m portage was even worse than the first portage. It had lots of ups-and-downs and a good portion of the trail was extremely narrow at the edge of a steep fall, making it very dangerous. It’s the type of portage you’ll want to be very careful with your footing. With Elo in front of me blocking my view, I could barely see my steps, so I took things very slow. The rocky landing at the end of the portage had one tiny sliver of shade when I finished the portage at 11:30 AM, so I took a 10 minute break to have a snack and give Elo some food and water.
Both of those portages sucked. There, I said it.
Shortly after finishing the 450m portage, I had a pretty amazing moose encounter. The river was narrow and out of nowhere, a moose popped up directly beside me. She was lying down, hidden among the tall grass and I must have startled her. She definitely startled me! She was no more than 5 to 10 feet away from me.
The photographer in me would have loved to immediately grab my camera and start taking photos, but that would have been incredibly stupid. I was quite literally within arms reach from the moose. I kept paddling until I was around 20 to 30 metres ahead. I stopped paddling and looked at the moose. She stared me down for 15 seconds and then plopped herself back down in the grass. I realized that I woke her up from a nap, she gave me an ocular pat down, decided I wasn’t a security threat, and then went back to her nap (yes, that was a subtle IASIP reference). Later on, Dan would tell me he saw the same moose when he passed by the same spot, but she was no longer napping by that time.
I stopped at the next campsite on route. It was the second of the two campsites that are reserved as “Lower Pine R – Tim River”. There are two campsites in this zone—this one and the one on the 280m portage—but only one permit gets issued. The campsite itself was the nicest of the three I had seen on the river, however, two things need to be mentioned. First, the thunder box was the most overgrown thunder box area I have ever witnessed. Unfortunately, I still had a long stretch of the Tim River ahead of me, and when you gotta go, you gotta go. So I used it. 0/10 experience, would not recommend.
Second, the bugs. Holy heck the bugs. It was the middle of the day and there were clouds of mosquitos. I’ve never seen bugs so bad at a campsite. I planned on taking an extended break at this campsite to give Elo a good rest, but I only lasted 10 minutes before we couldn’t tolerate the bugs any longer. The sun was scorching hot and we both could have used some shade for a while, but we had no choice but to get back on the water.
After visiting the campsite I was faced with the longest stretch of paddling on the Tim River. The river starts to widen and the views start to broaden. There’s one big rolling hill in the distance that would continuously make an appearance as I twisted and turned my way through the river. And every time it made an appearance, it was stunning. It didn’t hurt that it was a gorgeous sunny day so the blue skies and green shorelines looked particularly picturesque.
There was lots of small wildlife and birds on the river. I didn’t see too much myself, but Dan said he saw beaver, otter, turtles, heron, and more. The paddle overall was very scenic; it meanders for a while and can feel repetitive, but not to the point of becoming unenjoyable. The only annoyance was the scorching hot sun with practically no clouds or wind. I paddled this long stretch of the Tim River between 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, when the sun was at peak “imma burn you hahaha” levels. It was hot. I was hot. Elo was hot. I wore plenty of sunscreen and draped a t-shirt over my head to cover as much skin as possible.
I set up a small rechargeable fan pointed at Elo and put her water bowl on the floor of the canoe. Midway through the long stretch I realized it still wasn’t enough and she was panting pretty hard. I didn’t want her swimming in the Tim River, since river water can be pretty sketchy and we’ve already had our share of sketchy water experiences (see the trip report A Small Crisis On Big Porcupine Lake for reference). I used her water bowl to scoop water from the lake and dump it on her coat. Her coat truly is ‘waterproof’ so I did this over and over again until it finally saturated and she was soaking wet. It created puddles of water in my canoe and all of my gear and bags were soaked, but it was necessary to cool Elo down.
The final portage of the day was easy, other than the annoying beaver dams right before and right after the portage. But when I finally arrived to Shippagew Lake, I immediately fell in love with the lake. It was such a nice reward after the gruelling long day on the Tim River. The shorelines were completely flat, meaning Shippagew Lake was the highest elevation around, which gave a commanding “top-of-the-world” feeling to the lake.
There are two campsites on Shippagew Lake, but only one permit gets issued for the lake. One of the campsites is also much nicer than the other. When I arrived, people were camping on the nice site. This meant one of two things, either it was an emergency forcing them to camp off-permit, or they were squatting for no good reason. Either way I was going to see what was going on. If it was an emergency, I would want to offer help. If they were squatting, I’d tell them they need to leave.
I pulled up to the shore and two men came to greet me. After some conversation they admitted that they were camped on the campsite the previous night and were supposed to move to Burntroot Lake for this evening, and then back south to Big Trout Lake the following evening. They were hoping no one would show up to this campsite so they could spend an extra night on Shippagew Lake, and then go straight to Big Trout Lake the next day. There was no emergency. They were blatantly squatting on a single-permit lake, while occupying the nicer site. It was a double-jerk move.
When I told them I had a permit for the lake they had the audacity to say “aren’t there two campsites on the lake though?” to which I replied “there are, but the park only issues one permit, which I have, which means you’re not supposed to be here”. They accepted the situation and began packing up. I came ashore and made myself at home. Well, first I went for a swim with Elo to cool off because we just had one heck of a day under the hot sun and I was also feeling pretty dehydrated by that point. Then I made myself at home while the two men were packing up camp.
One of the two guys was friendly and was making small-talk with me while they were packing. They asked if I would mind if they occupied the other nearby campsite. I said I didn’t care, as long as they were gone from this site. They ended up leaving the lake though. Before they left I asked them to clean the big pile of garbage they tried to leave in the fire pit, along with the tent pegs they left on the ground. I don’t think they were too happy with me by the end of the encounter. But come on guys, have some respect for the outdoors. Leave no trace.
To clarify, I would never approach someone else’s campsite unless it was a single-permit lake, like in this scenario. This is the only way you could know with 100% certainty that the group is off-permit. Also, if they became defensive or confrontational I would have removed myself from the situation. I wouldn’t put myself into a potentially violent situation, especially in the backcountry. And most importantly, I want to mention that sometimes it actually is ok to camp off-permit. There are emergency situations where you need to prioritize your own safety over the official park rules. But if you’re going to camp off-permit, try to follow these best practices:
• If possible, avoid camping off-permit on small lakes, especially single-permit lakes.
• Don’t take one of the nicer sites on the lake. Let someone that actually has a permit get to enjoy the nice sites.
• Stay only for as short of a time as needed, then vacate the site and get back to your regular itinerary.
• Offer to share the campsite with someone that actually has a permit for the lake (particularly on small lakes with fewer sites, or if it’s late in the evening and you see a group just arrive).
About an hour after I finished setting up camp, Dan arrived. I was expecting him to catch up midway through the Tim River, but that didn’t happen. I hung around camp with Dan for a while and then went for an evening paddle to check out the second campsite on Shippagew Lake. I heard a beaver slap its tail while I was at the second campsite. Dan and I also heard some larger wildlife on the southern shoreline across from our campsite. And then, while I was making an incredibly uncommon post-sunset thunder box visit, I heard fireworks go off in the distance. Ok, it wasn’t actually fireworks, but it sure did sound like them. We figured it must have been a large tree falling in the forest. Maybe the work of a beaver. Maybe something bigger. Either way, it scared the crap out of me (literally).
We were treated to a beautiful moonset in front of the campsite’s big rocky shoreline, followed by a sky full of stars and some faint northern lights amidst the shoreline behind the campsite. With the Perseids meteor shower on Night 1, and then this on Night 2, we had some pretty spectacular evenings so far.
Day 3 — Shippagew Lake to Big Trout Lake
I had a slower morning on Day 3. Instead of getting on the water at 7:00 AM, I stuck to Dan’s schedule and we left together at 9:00 AM. Unfortunately, leaving camp later doesn’t mean that I get to sleep in. My body doesn’t let me. I was up early anyways, so I spent some time taking photos of the beautiful morning on Shippagew Lake.
The paddle to our first portage was gorgeous. The lake was dead calm and the shoreline was reflecting perfectly onto the water. There was beautiful scenery in every direction with Shippagew’s varied shorelines and small islands dotting the lake towards the portage. There were a few loons on the water so I tried to call out to them but they left me on read.
Day 3 was by far the shortest day of our trip. But after the first two very long days (averaging around 8 hours on the water each day), we were both very tired. I’m also pretty sure I was about to get heat exhaustion. Literally, that’s not an exaggeration. We didn’t have too much paddling on the itinerary, but double-carrying that first 1km portage and then the following 850m portage still added some challenge to the day.
The landing for the first 1km portage sucked. Well, it sucked for Dan. He made a bad decision where to exit the canoe and sunk knee deep into the mud. Once he rescued himself, we brought all of our gear up to the top of the steep incline at the very beginning of the portage. We took a two minute break and then got started. The rest of the portage wasn’t too bad, though a bit buggy. There were moose tracks throughout the trail, and a decent landing at the Blue Lake end.
I really loved the visual aesthetic of Blue Lake. It was nice that there was only one campsite on the lake, so unless you need to deal with squatters (hopefully not!) then you’ll get the beautiful lake all to yourself. Dan went to check out the single campsite on the lake while I finished loading my gear at the end of the 1km portage. He gave me his quick cliff notes before writing a proper campsite report later on. Dan’s cliff notes: not bad, very steep incline but the site was nice enough, wouldn’t be his first choice.
The start of the 850m portage was an overgrown rocky landing with what looked like a bear’s den among the rocks. I don’t actually think it was a bear’s den, but it definitely raised an eyebrow. There were lots of bugs on the portage, but the portage itself wasn’t too bad. The landing at the Big Trout Lake end had a double-landing that you could choose between. Unfortunately, both of the options were muddy and not great. But we were happy to finish our portaging for the day and arrive on Big Trout Lake. Dan had never done any of this route before, and I had hyped up Big Trout Lake the most while planning the trip.
What should have taken 3 hours took us closer to 4 hours with our constant short breaks at the portages. We launched onto Big Trout Lake at around 1:00 PM. I didn’t want to venture too far east into the lake since we were heading through White Trout Lake the following day. We planned to check out the small island with two campsites nearby the portage, and if they were taken or if we weren’t happy with the campsites, we would head towards Birch Point and The Narrows.
We stopped at the northern of the two campsites on the island first. It was a pretty decent site. There were certain things I liked, but also certain things I thought the campsite was lacking. We decided to walk through the island towards the southern site. The two campsites couldn’t have been more opposite. The southern site was elevated up high with an epic fire pit, plenty of flat seating, and an insanely beautiful view onto Big Trout Lake. The views really showed all of the beauty that Big Trout Lake had to offer. Dan immediately loved the site. I loved it too, but I was concerned with the complete lack of shade, considering I already felt like I was on the threshold of getting heat exhaustion. The canoe landing wasn’t that great and the thunder box was located up a big hill, but those things were worth the trade-off for the incredible views.
I hyped up Big Trout Lake to Dan and he liked this site, so I agreed to call it home. I knew I’d probably be moving my chair every 20 minutes to chase the small sections of shade available from the tall, thin pine trees. But first, I went for a swim with Elo. We were both so exhausted and needed to cool off. We had a lot of fun splashing around underneath the hot sun.
Dan set up his hammock in a very questionable spot among the cliffs and enjoyed the afternoon views from a spot that would have guaranteed death if his hammock failed. Me, being much more risk averse, decided to spend the afternoon relaxing, recovering, drinking water, and trying to find shade whenever possible. I laid down directly on the dirt ground beside Elo, with my hat covering my face from the sun, and I took a short nap.
Unless this is the first trip report of mine that you’re reading, you probably know that I always go for an evening paddle. So, when I didn’t go for a paddle on the evening of Day 3, you know that means I was truly exhausted. Dan still had some energy left in him, so he went out for a stroll. He paddled across the lake to check out the peninsula campsite adjacent to some massive cliffs.
With the exception of a very faint laughing sound from a few women in the far-off distance (near The Narrows), the lake was extremely quiet and we couldn’t see any occupied campsites. I was pretty surprised. Big Trout Lake is a very popular destination spot, and on a sunny August evening, there was practically no one around. The only people I had actually seen in more than 48 hours were the squatters on Shippagew Lake.
There was a ton of firewood available on the island. We decided to put our epic fire pit to good use that evening, and we still had plenty of wood leftover for the next group. Our food was hung pretty much directly over the fire pit because it was the only suitable branch that we could find. It probably wasn’t going to stop any bears, but I wasn’t too concerned about bears coming to our campsite. It would keep the mice away, and there were plenty of mice at the campsite. Trust me, Elo gets super excited when she sees mice, which means I become immediately aware of their presence.
We sat by the fire for a few hours, watching the moon sink lower towards the shoreline directly within view from the fire pit. It was another perfect evening in the backcountry of Algonquin Park.
Day 4 — Big Trout Lake to Timberwolf Lake
Day 4 was going to be another big travel day under a very hot sun, going from Big Trout Lake to Timberwolf Lake. Once again, I decided to get an early start and let Dan catch up later. The day would start with roughly 3 hours of paddling, so Dan would likely catch up before we even hit the first portage. I was awake at 5:30 AM and on the water by 7:00 AM.
As I was finishing packing up camp I saw the sun start to rise in the distance. I completely forget that we had an east-facing campsite, so it took me by surprise. It was an absolutely stunning sunrise. The big ball of fire slowly rose past the shoreline while the rest of the sky was a clear, dark blue. The sun itself was giving off very little glow. Its deep orange and red hues were shining bright but stayed contained completely within the circle of the sun. Most impressive was that I was able to capture two sunspots in my photos. I learned afterwards that photographing sunspots and seeing auroras (like we saw two nights prior on Shippagew Lake) usually go hand-in-hand. Getting to watch that sunrise from the incredible campsite view was a really special way to start the day.
I didn’t feel particularly great when I woke up. When I got on the water I still felt like I was overheated from the previous days. I mentioned earlier that I felt like I was at the threshold of getting heat exhaustion, and that feeling hadn’t gone away. Despite the forecast predicting another 30 degree day, at least the first few hours of the early morning were only around 20 degrees. I was also able to catch some shade by paddling close to the eastern cliffs of White Trout Lake while the sun was low in the sky. There was a decent breeze from a headwind, so during those first few hours I was actually pretty chilly while paddling. Which was a good thing!
Once I finished paddling White Trout Lake and arrived to the opening of Grassy Bay at 9:00 AM, the wind died down, the shade disappeared, and the sun was starting to get much stronger. Most of the campsites on White Trout Lake were occupied but I stopped at the final island campsite, located among the marshy entrance to Grassy Bay. I took a quick pee break, gave Elo some water, documented the campsite, and relaxed in the shade for 5 minutes.
Then I continued onwards. By the time I paddled by the second of the two campsites on Grassy Bay, the heat was really getting to me. I decided to pull over at the campsite and take an extended break. I watched lots of groups pass through Grassy Bay, presumably emptying out from White Trout Lake. With each passing minute I was feeling more nauseous and more confident that choosing our campsite with no shade on Big Trout Lake probably wasn’t the smartest choice.
I saw Dan in the far-off distance using my telephoto zoom lens, so I decided to wait for him to catch up. By the time Dan arrived I had already been at the Grassy Bay campsite for around one hour, and we stayed for an additional hour while debating what to do. I really was not feeling great. Like, real bad. I made a few visits to the thunder box and lied down for a while, but I still felt nauseous and completely exhausted.
Remember earlier when I said there are instances when I think camping off-permit would be ok? This would count as one of those instances. We made a few contingency plans in case I wasn’t able to continue moving that day but I took a few Pepto Bismal, and at 1:00 PM, after more than two hours of resting at the campsite, I decided to push onwards. I wasn’t sure if I was making the right decision. I wore lots of sunscreen, drank plenty of water, and kept as much skin covered as possible.
My body was in fight or flight mode, and it was choosing to fight. The nausea had gotten better but I still felt like crap. I was surviving, but definitely not thriving. Grassy Bay was a lovely paddle though. There was one section where the path in the water stopped and we needed to paddle across a stretch of lily pads. We also had two beaver dams to lift over before the first portage, including one with a big sand bank.
I was trying not to stop to take any photos, since I was already moving at a snails pace, but there was one scene that was worth bringing this snail to a complete stop. Dan was up ahead and paddling through a section where the shorelines became narrow on either side. Lily pads were surrounding the narrow path through the water, and the far-off shoreline was slightly hazy from the heat of the sun. Dan was wearing a red shirt, a full-brimmed hat, and a blue PFD that complemented the blue canoe. All of the colours worked so well together within the beautiful landscape and it created a photo that I thought would be worthy of being on the front cover of the Algonquin Park Information Guide.
I continued feeling terrible while we tackled the first portage, at around 3:00 PM. At the end, I dunked my entire shirt into the river, which felt incredibly refreshing after I put it back on my body. We had another beaver dam to lift over before arriving at the second portage. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was moving past its peak hours. Combined with the shirt-dunk, I finally started getting some more energy while we were walking across the second portage. When we finished our first carry at 4:00 PM I let Elo swim at the beautiful beach landing at McIntosh Lake before walking back through the trail. Both of the portages that day had great landings at either end.
For the first time all day, the sun was in front of our faces while paddling across McIntosh Lake. Elo had pooped on the second portage so I had the poop-bag in a side pocket of my pack. As I paddled beside Dan I said “there’s nothing quite like paddling on a beautiful, calm McIntosh Lake, with a gentle breeze, a warm sun, and the smell of poop lingering in the air”. Elo I love you, but that was a stinky one.
After leaving our campsite on Big Trout Lake at 7:00 AM, we finally made it to our home for the evening on Timberwolf Lake at 6:00 PM. It was one heck of a day. I was thankfully starting to feel better though. The Pepto Bismal and the sun being past its peak strength seemed to be a good combo.
The campsite we chose felt very welcoming. It reminded me of the storyline in movies where your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere during a dark stormy evening. Some nice person passing by offers assistance and tows your car to their house, invites you in for dinner, and gives you a place to sleep for the evening while they fix your car. Our campsite on Timberwolf Lake had that same sense of comfort and hospitality after the brutal 11 hour day that we just completed.
The campsite came outfitted with an old, overturned, decommissioned motorboat. We heard a rattle underneath and Dan guessed that there was likely a skunk living there. It was only a few feet away from where I pitched my tent and the rattle had already piqued Elo’s interest, so I kept Elo on a very short leash for the rest of the evening. For the entire night, she continuously stared in the boats direction, wondering what was there. I usually sleep with my tent fly door left open, but I didn’t want to risk a skunk encounter overnight so I kept the door closed while we slept.
I decided not to go for an evening paddle, for the second night in a row. I don’t think I’ve ever had back-to-back nights without an evening paddle before! But I needed to rest. After the long day we just had, we had an equally long day planned for our final Day 5. Dan collected firewood while I did the food hang. We watched the sun set through the western trees at the campsite while the moon made its appearance in the south. We spent the evening sitting by the fire before getting into our respective tents a few minutes before 11:00 PM.
Day 5 — Timberwolf Lake to Magnetawan Lake
We were greeted to a beautiful sunrise on our final morning of the trip. Similar to the sunset the night prior, the trees at the campsite mostly blocked the view, but whenever I did get a slice of sunrise appearing through the trees, it was very pretty. Even though we had a very long day ahead of us, we got on the water at a not-so-early 8:30 AM. The sun was shining bright and its warmth already felt strong.
We took a short break after the first portage. Dan commented “If we were to ever see a bear on a portage, it would be here”. I didn’t necessarily agree with him, but his spidey-senses were definitely tingling because shortly after finishing the portage, I spotted something moving on the distant shoreline. I immediately knew what I spotted was either a moose or a bear. As we paddled closer I realized it was a bear and my excitement levels went through the roof. After 20+ years of camping in Algonquin’s backcountry, I finally saw a bear! Actually, we saw two!
Quick side note: the most challenging part of wildlife photography while canoeing is deciding when to paddle, and when to hold the camera. Every time I put the camera down to paddle closer, I risk the animal disappearing back into the forest and missing the shot. It’s a game of back-and-forth… paddle a little bit closer, take some photos, paddle a little bit closer, take some photos.
Ok now back to the bears.
After about 10 minutes of watching, Dan paddled around a long row of rocks in the water to get to the other side of the peninsula where the bears were feeding. That came with a big risk for me, if I decided to follow him. It would take 1 to 2 minutes to paddle, which would be a very long time to not be holding the camera. It did lead to a better vantage point though.
I decided to take the risk and I began paddling. Dan had a direct line of sight with the mother bear and the cub who came into the water near the shoreline. He kept a safe distance, but at one point the mother bear looked directly at him before slowly going back into the forest. The cub shortly followed. Since I was paddling, I missed taking photos of the prime moment when the mother bear was looking directly at Dan, but I was able to get my camera in time to catch the cub exiting the water.
The entire experience lasted about 15 minutes. We were extremely fortunate to spend that amount of time watching the bears before they decided to go inland. It set us back on our already long 10-hour day, but let’s be honest, I would have spent an hour watching if the bears had let us!
I was so frickin happy. All of our long travel days, the delay on Grassy Bay, the heat exhaustion… it all lead to this moment. And it was all worth it. It’s so rare to see bears in the backcountry and even more rare for them to stick around for a full 15 minutes. There had been daily bear sightings on Highway 60 throughout the summer, but in my opinion, it feels much more authentic to see a bear when you’re deep in the backcountry.
After the bear encounter I quickly stopped at the single island campsite on Misty Lake to discard of some Elo poop and take some photos for an updated campsite report. Then we kept moving. We saw a handful of groups throughout the day, but it was less busy than I expected overall.
Most of the portages had some ups-and-downs but none of them were terribly difficult. The landings were pretty good at almost all of the portages. The 430m portage had some really narrow sections, which became tricky as we encountered another group coming the opposite way, but it wasn’t too bad. The stretch on Little Misty Lake and the Petawawa River between the 950m and the 430m was probably the most challenging part of the day because the sun was at its peak heat, there were no clouds in the sky, and there was no wind while paddling through the narrow river. My energy levels were quickly depleting and I began paddling very slowly.
There were a few beaver dams to lift over before the 430m portage and then two more between the 430m and 130m portages. Water levels were good otherwise, there was no bottoming out like the last time I paddled this area in 2019.
We stopped for short breaks at almost every portage, but didn’t take any extended breaks otherwise. During each break we sat in the shade and gave Elo some water. Most of the breaks were for Elo’s sake because it was another scorcher outside, but I was also coming off what was arguably the worst-feeling day I’ve ever had in the backcountry, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t overexerting myself either. Towards the end of the day I took two breaks where I lied down at the portage landing and legitimately almost fell asleep. If Day 4 was the worst I’ve ever felt in the backcountry, Day 5 was without a doubt the most tired I’ve ever felt in the backcountry. My eyes felt like they weighed 50lbs and I was seriously struggling to keep them open.
The cloudless sunny day quickly changed into dark skies when we launched onto Daisy Lake. I had a quick snack break and refilled my water when we got onto the lake, but then we tried to cross lake quickly in case the dark skies turned into something more threatening. The forecast was calling for 100% chance of thunderstorms for the following two days, but for this day it only predicted overcast in the afternoon, with rain only starting overnight.
Despite how tired we both were, we pushed onwards. My energy was at an ATL. That’s “all time low”, not Atlanta (for those of you that get the reference). When we arrived at one of the final portages, the 410m, I was so tired I could barely see straight. I didn’t talk to Dan at all while we double-carried. Accidents are more likely to happen when you’re tired so I stayed focused on my footing and on Elo.
Next was the 50m portage. I had asked a few groups earlier in the day if the portage was skippable and they said yes. Skip the portage they said, it will be fine they said. We had to get out in knee deep water and drag the boat for most of it. But hey, it still beat unloading, double-carrying, and reloading the canoe. Elo had fun, she got to stay in the canoe and enjoy the scenery!
The wind had disappeared and the water was dead calm when we paddled across Hambone Lake. Thick grey clouds were still covering the sky, and with the crystal clear green waters of Hambone Lake, it made the paddle very pretty. As tired as I was, I really enjoyed that paddle through Hambone Lake.
We met a couple with their dog at the final portage leading into Magnetawan Lake. They were on Ralph Bice for a full week and were supposed to stay for one more night but they said they didn’t like the wind and the dark skies, so they left a day early. They didn’t know the forecast was calling for 100% thunderstorms the entire weekend. I told them about the forecast and how they made the perfect call. We did have two very short drizzles towards the end of the day, but they were both very minor and didn’t warrant rain jackets or taking shelter.
Day 5, and our entire trip, was coming to an end. We left our campsite on Timberwolf Lake at 8:30 AM, and with the short bear delay and constant breaks at the portages, we made it back to our cars at 6:15 PM. I loaded my soaking wet, beaver-dam-smelling gear into my trunk, strapped my canoe on top of my car, changed into dry clothes, put on my sandals, and started the drive. It was raining the entire drive home and became dark shortly after we left the access point. I pulled over three separate times to close my eyes for quick 10-minute naps, because I was utterly exhausted. Safety first, always.
The Aftermath
It has been a long time since I’ve done a trip as challenging as this one, but I felt very accomplished by the end of it all. We had extremely long travel days, countless beaver dams, and scorching hot sun to deal with the entire trip. It was ‘type two’ fun, that’s for sure. But it was a trip for the books.
We saw faint northern lights, the Perseids meteor shower, a moose, two bears (!!), and lots of other wildlife, among plenty of gorgeous scenery throughout the trip. We saw very few people for a mid-August trip and scored great campsites with lots of privacy. We watched some beautiful moonsets and stunning sunrises.
The beaver dams were especially challenging with Elo. Leaving Elo inside the canoe isn’t ideal because it makes the liftover much more difficult. When I’m able to bring her out of the canoe, I need to supervise her closely because I don’t want her swimming or drinking beaver dam water. Dan gave me a hand most of the time, which was very helpful. We had to lift over 3-4 dams on Day 1 of the Tim River, 5-6 dams throughout Day 2 on the Tim River, 3-4 dams on Grassy Bay, and a few final dams on our last day travelling through the Petawawa River.
Our paddling setup wasn’t very ideal. Since Dan had a double-blade paddle and a lot less weight in his boat, he was moving much faster than I was. He was often stopping to wait while I caught up. I probably wouldn’t repeat this setup again, I would want to find a way to even things out so we could travel at a more equal pace.
I consider 1 to 3 hours of travel time to be a short day, 3 to 6 hours to be an average day, and 6 to 8 hours to be a challenging day. This trip had three days between 8 to 11 hours (including breaks) and one day of 4 hours. We had about 15 beaver dams to carry over, and 10km of portaging that we double-carried (30k total walking). We covered lots of distance in only 5 days, but what made it the most challenging was the hot 25 to 30 degree sun with very little wind and cloud coverage. In more modest temperatures this route would still be challenging, but it would be much more reasonable.
Before the trip began I was very concerned about Elo being under the hot sun for our long travel days, but we took constant breaks and I was hyper-alert of how she was reacting. I made sure I took every necessary precaution to keep her comfortable.
In the introduction I mentioned that I was planning to do this route for two years prior to finally doing it with Dan. For both of those years, I was planning to spend 8-10 days travelling the route, and now with Dan, we did it in 5 days. I enjoyed paddling the Tim River, but it’s not something I’d be quick to do again. But overall, the trip was pretty amazing. The bears were definitely the highlight. I’m finishing writing this trip report two weeks later and I’m still riding the high of the bear sighting.
