Frontenac Provincial Park

July 27 - 29, 2004

Trip Reports

Frontenac Provincial Park

Trip Preparation
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
What worked well
Lessons Learned

Algonquin Spring Fishing 2005

Petawawa River

Day 3

It was actually sunny when we got up today! Summer was half over and I'm pretty sure I could have counted the sunny days we'd had so far all summer on one hand. I think we cooked up some muffin mix for breakfast. It turned out a bit mucky, but that didn't hurt the taste at all. Cooking muffins in a frying pan is one of those things that takes a bit of practice. Oh, and a non-stick pan would help too. Hmm, I'd better add that to the list of things to practice for next year.

All we had to do today was pack up and head home to the cottage. Since it was a nice day we didn't rush the packing, we spread some stuff out to dry and then the kids and I went for a paddle in the canoe. We fished a bit, but I always find I drift too much in the canoe to do anything but troll.

Wendy found a Northern Watersnake right near where we had unloaded the canoe. This was the first time I had seen a Northern Watersnake and it had been about 10 years since Wendy had last seen one. Watersnakes are sensitive to pollution and the Lake Erie subspecies is considered to be endangered.

Another rare plant that we saw between the campsites was Indian Pipe, which I had always thought was a fungus but it turns out that it isn't (Montropa uniflora). I also thought it was endangered, but I can't find anywhere that says that so I expect I'm wrong.

Well we made chapattis for lunch which are basically just flour and water, then rolled out really thin and cooked. Note that they have to be really thin to work well and that this is another place where a non-stick frying pan would be handy. Oh well, we didn't burn them too bad and once they have enough peanut butter on them it doesn't really matter.

After lunch we packed up and paddled across to the portage. For once we actually had to paddle away from the campsite before we could see the next portage. The lakes were tiny, but that also meant they were well sheltered which was definitely something we were looking for on this first trip. I'd say the portage from Little Clear Lake back to Big Salmon Lake probably had more up and down to it than the other 2 portages, but is was still quite manageable.

Then it was a leisurely sunny paddle back along Big Salmon Lake to the take-out. Finally we got to spend more time paddling that we had portaging. Up until then it really felt like we'd spent more time portaging than we had paddling. I think we even had to switch sides once as we paddled back, we certainly hadn't had to do that on Little Salmon or Little Clear lakes.

Once we were packed up and on our way out of the park, we saw a couple more deer at the park gate. That brought the three day total deer count up to 8.

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