So, I’m long overdue on the trip reports. I started a new job last year, and I’m coming up on my first anniversary in a week. The time has flown by, and the crunch of new responsibilities has died down a bit. I’ve gone on a few trips, and I’m ready to start keeping up with the photos and reviews and trip reports. This is a bit of a year of firsts.

The first first on this trip was going to an entrance point I’d never been to: Entrance 16, on the East side of Algonquin.

View Algonquin Park Access Points in a larger map

The drive there is quite nice. Once you get off the 401 east, you’re immediately on some smaller highways, and it’s not far to some very nice scenery for the rest of the drive.

We stopped in for a good mom-and-pop breakfast, something I can’t recommend enough. It’s a great way to start what will be a long day, especially if you’re driving a desk for half a year before your first trip of the season.

My camping partner for this trip was Ian Hoar, and this was our second trip out. He had come with me last year in late September, and we were going to stay for four days on Little Hay Lake.

Ian at a beaver dam

The access point is Hay Lake (the bigger, I suppose), and when we finally drove up to the shore, we discovered there was no station where we could pick up our permits. We backtracked, and made our way to a lodge, where we found there is no place at the access point at all. To pick up permits, you have to go to the East Gate entrance point. Back out to the highway we went, up to Highway 60, to the crazy mall that is the East gate.

Once we got that sorted, we made our way back to the put-in point, which is a public boat launch. This entrance point is actually outside of the borders of the park, so you have to canoe across the large (and it always seems windy) Hay Lake, avoiding the powerboats and numerous cottages, and into a little river system to take us to our one portage. It was a buggy one, and it felt like June, not August. There was a rest bar halfway through the one-kilometre portage, and I was glad to use it for a moment.

resting on the portage trail

At the end of the long, humid portage, I was greeted by a completely unexpected sight — a well-traveled logging road. In fact, as I crossed it to get to the river, I nearly got hit by an empty flatbed zipping along a breakneck speeds. It was a bit of a noisy and unexpected immersion-killer.

Once at our site, however, things calmed down.

The tranquility of the park started to soak in, and the tasks at hand took on their simple importance.

Ian had made a new purchase, and brought along a Hennessy Hammock, the same as the one he borrowed last year. Unfortunately, he seemed to get a dud, as the mosquito netting was ripped, and it looked like a hook had been melted off.

I’m very happy with my hammock, but was disappointed to see this condition on a new product. He told me later that he couldn’t find the receipt, so still hasn’t returned it. Unfortunately, he bought it at Europe Bound, which, although $5 cheaper than MEC, doesn’t seem to be as accepting or lenient with their returns.

I’ll keep you updated when I hear more.

My hammock is still performing admirably and like new after years of use, so I’m inclined to think this is a fluke, and would still recommend them. It’s great to keep your gear dry and close at hand under you, and provides one of the best nights sleep you can get, provided it’s not colder weather.

My Hennessy hammock, set up. Underneath, my gear is stowed in my military poncho. That poncho is also just the right size to be used as the fly.

It was colder than expected, and my new purchase was a one-pound bag, a very small, light summer bag that was a joy to portage. I like my heavier bag, but it’s bulky and heavy and overkill for the summer.

The mist coming off of the lake dropped a chill on us that first morning after, and I had forgotten to bring my espresso. I don’t normally drink espresso, but it’s a traditional pick-me-up on back-country trips. I could have used the warm treat.

We had very little in the way of wildlife, but there was still the occasional curious visitor.

All in all, an uneventful trip, one that’s nice to experience, perhaps not as interesting to describe. I’m perfectly fine with that, however. For more pictures, you can see my Flickr set of Little Hay Lake, or check out Ian’s. We both took the pictures, depending one which camera was closest at hand.

So begins the lengthy re-design process.

It has a gps, but I’m not sure how good it will be, since it relies heavily on being connected to the net. I don’t know if there’s any way yet to add local topographic maps for use offline.

One thing it will allow me to do is compose updates from remote areas. I know that I could just transcribe written notes, but let’s face it – if I were going to do that, I would have done it already.

One thing I’m looking forward to is trying out some solar cell chargers, since I like the idea of sustainable power. I don’t like throwing away batteries, but I also don’t trust rechargables enough to not bring alkaline spares.

A good solar system that would cover charging headlamp batteries, walkie-talkies, cell phones and cameras would be ideal.

Oh, and this is my first post using the iPhone!

I’ll take it for a spin around town, but I suspect that I’ll end up getting something with a map, perhaps something like the eTrex. Still simple, but with an 8MB memory. I may fall for an impulse buy if I find something on sale.

One of the things I don’t like is that these things still use serial connections. Nothing I have in the way of computers has a serial port any more, and that just means a proprietary cable – I can’t just hook it up to any old computer.

I’ll do a bit of a walk and try and figure out how it works, and let you know how things go… If I can get it to work.

Most people who like the outdoors have invested in a good hiking pack at one point or another. The most technical and the simplest all have a few common traits that are horrible for use in a canoe. Is there any alternative?

A frame that keeps the load from shifting like dead weight while hiking almost doubles your efforts when hauling stuff around the campsite. I find it’s especially tiring getting a long, tall weight like that in and out of the canoe. There are some portages that are less tiring than unloading my hiking pack from the canoe. The  padded hip-belts (so great when hiking) snag everything they can, and you have to flip and curse and wedge the frame into place, in and around the thwarts.

So I decided to make a purchase to test the waters, so-to-speak. I decided to replace one my frame packs with a Duluth-style pack. It’s essentially a big envelope of canvas, as simple as possible.

The advantages of this design are obvious. The soft bag will fit into the contours of the canoe better. The bag is easy to pack and access, and since it’s likely standing up in the canoe. Keep some snacks or extra sunscreen in the pack, and a water filter pump, and you’re good to go.

I recently took the plunge and ordered a proper canoe pack from Cooke Custom Sewing, and I’ll have the review and my impressions for you shortly.