Algonquin Park in Southern Ontario is Canada’s oldest provincial park, and is also a National Historic Site. It’s readily accessible from Toronto (about a 3 hour drive) and quite popular all year long, but especially so in the summer and fall months. It’s a pretty big park (approximately 4600 sq. km.) and most of it is accessible only via hiking, portaging, and canoeing. A highway runs through the southern portion where many campsites are available, for those looking for less ‘wild’ adventures.

Two weekends ago we spent a night (car) camping near Pog Lake, one of the many campgrounds along Hwy 60.  From there, we could access some of the trails and did some kayaking on Canoe Lake – all on the first day, as by 3am that night it started to rain heavily, and by morning the mosquitoes came out in full force. With more heavy showers on the second day, we called it quits and headed back to the city 🙂 But hey, at least we got one full day out of it.

Here are some pics from the weekend.

Pog Lake, near the campground. Long exposure taken in near full darkness.

Kayaking on Canoe Lake

Canoe Lake is a popular launching area for paddle sports, and fortunately the winds were relatively calm this day. We rented a few tandem kayaks and headed out to open waters.

Whiskey Rapids Trail

This short 2km hiking loop follows the Oxtongue River to the Whiskey Rapids, and some pretty nice scenery on the way.

Two Rivers Trail

The Two Rivers Trail is another short 2km trail that ascends to a pine-clad cliff for some nice lookouts. We hiked this loop at dusk and didn’t linger too long due to the mosquitoes.