What? No one's curious about Algonquin? I'll never canoe there but QJ now has topographic maps just the same.   (You need to Login or Register

Seriously though I'm curious now. Anybody here ever paddled Algonquin?

I have seriously looked at Algonquin as a poor Quetico substitute & know a number of people who have paddled there, but I have yet to go.  The 13 vs 20 hour drive from where I am is enough to make me think about it - but mostly I think I might be able to get my wife to Algonquin before I could talk her into Quetico.

It's proximity to Toronto & major US cities make it pretty crowed compared to Quetico, but I understand if you drive to the north/northwest entry points, you can get away from a lot of the crowds (had friends do just that in '04 & enjoy it).  I've heard good things about the park from those who've been there - scenery is still very shield-rock/Q-like from pics I've seen.

Typical portages seem long by Quetico standards; portages are marked & I believe campsites may be too.  The road, lodges, campgrounds & other facilities in the south just attract lots of people.  It's not 'wilderness' there.

I'd also be interested to hear 1st hand reports of those who'd paddled there & tried to get away from the edges/people/facilities.
-Tom

Yessiree - Algonquin Park - I've heard the fishing is easily TWICE as good as in Quetico AND there has NEVER been ANY infestation of the dreaded Belgian Birch Bark Beetles.  Also, I understand the Park Service will soon offer inexpensive "shuttle service" across the portages on the southern side inside of five years.  Sounds like heaven.

What more could one ask?

Algonquin sounds like a destination a lot of canoe campers should consider.

Too bad I've cinched down my own plans for this year....

Jimbo   8)

Will the shuttle service include, perhaps, carrying the canoeists also?  I get awfully tired on some of these adventerous days on the water & I'm not getting any younger.  Perhaps a muleback ride, like at the Grand Canyon?  Or a ride on an elephant - you could pack yourself, your canoe & all gear on a single elephant.  I think that's what they did on the Fern-Oliphant portage in years past - hence the name.  Yes, when they bring back the oliphants to Algonquin, I'll go there all the time.  ;D

Take Jimbo's advice y'all, go to Algonquin!  (...and leave the poor Q and all it's tiny little fish alone...)

mk631,

As I understand it, the "rental" portage-monkeys ride on the oliphaunt's back when they return for the 2nd load.  It's a sight to behold, with them hanging on to the antlers & all that.  

Speaking of beholding, we are all beholding to Dr. Samuel Gamgee for his successful cross-breeding & creation of the oliphaunt species from the female moose and the male elephant.  Interestingly enough, it was his father, Dr. Gaffer Gamgee, a noted ichthyologist at Baylor University, that did something similar, decades ago, with the male Muskie & female Northern Pike... producing the Tiger Muskie, now so widespread in the USA.

Those oliphaunts are terribly formidable-looking creatures.  I'm sure glad they have become domesticated.  I wasn't aware they had started using them near Fern in the Q again, though.

Jimbo   8)

wrote on Apr 4^th, 2005 at 7:26pm:

Take Jimbo's advice ...

If you say so Mk -  but, why is the Cache River Passage ringing in my ears?

-YB

I've been to Algonquin twice - first time about 35 years ago - camped in my van for a few days at a roadside campground in the park and did a little day tripping.  The most memorable bit of that trip was an exploration I did back into the oldest red pine forest I've ever been in.  The trees must have been three to four hundred years old, and all the same huge size.  No undergrowth, just rolling mounds of brown pine needles dimly lit on a beautiful, sunny day.  It was really eerie and disorienting.  I had no compass so I didn't go much farther in once the lake was out of sight.

The second time through about 10 years ago, we canoed in after picking up my brother who lived in Detroit.  I was expecting BW/Q and was really disappointed.  Way too many people on the entire route we took, and just seemed to be missing the northwoods feel.

I have looked into going to Algonquin.  Even have a map.
If I remember correctly, it is more regulated than Q, more like BW.  You have to "post" a trip itinerary as to which lake you will camp on which night; and some of the lakes have limits as to how many nights you can stay - for some of the "entry" lakes the limit is only one night.  It is also not entirely a wilderness park like Q is.  Two thirds of the park is open to logging (and maybe mining?) - there are some sections designated as wilderness though.  The portages do average much longer than Q, and it is definitely more busy.  Much more river travel available than in Q.   I have seen it said somewherre that Q is the 2nd most popular PP, after Algonquin.  You  probably want to avoid the "highway 60 corridor", which has a lot of roadside access and car camping.
I think fishing is mainly for Brook and Lake Trout.  It might be worth a trip someday, but coming from the West, it is  a lot farther to drive than Q.

Geee... Jimbo  

Speaking of the oliphants...  need we be looking for Ents... in the Murkwood Forest ???  is that is the Q or Algonquin???   And will Orcs be taking the place of the Windigo???  

Perhaps you've been puffing on Bilbo"s pipe too much... ;D ;D :o :o

Bruce

Ok, I shouldn't have started the Oliphaunt distraction...Jimbo just left it so wide open...  ::) ::)

Bullfrog, MadMatt - thanks for the replies that actually said something about Algonquin!  That's good info.  

Incidentally, we ran into a couple of guys at the Bisk-Beg portage a few years ago & got into a conversation about Algonquin - their comment was "they've cleaned up this park a lot faster than Algonquin" and proceeded to describe (if memory serves) people boating & skiing on Pickerel every summer weekend in the '70s.  I didn't know any history of the Q at that time & this really suprised me...it's good to see how it can recover!
-Tom

Forty plus years ago my father would take me fishing in Algonquin Park lakes & in the lakes just outside of the park.  A lot can change in that time, of course, but it seems to me that Mad_Mat is right about the lake trout & brook trout.  I believe we also caught a few whitefish and even a bass from time to time.  

I recall those lakes seeming a little less fertile for fishing than what I've become accustomed to further west.  I believe this is actually true.  In recent years, I read something in a journal about the ecological basis for this.  Might have had something to do with the "acidity" of the water.  Honestly, I don't remember the details.  Fewer fish per hectare than the Q, though, for sure.

Even though I was a young kid at the time, I DO remember seeing a fair amount of logging & mining activity in that area.  However, those memories are swamped by the greater sense of "wilderness" that can overwhelm a very young kid from urban NJ.  Seemd "pristine" & wild to that naive boy.

I'm sure the area still offers some fine canoe routes.  No doubt northern parts of it provide a very reasonable substitute to the Q if "fishing" is not your main interest.

Jimbo   8)

If anyone's interested, I've got an Algonquin Canoe Route PDF I could send if you IM me with your e-mail address.  It's ~4.5 Meg zipped, so be ready for a big file!
-mk631