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- Feb 28, 2007
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Hi folks,
Been a little while since I hung out at this nook. A good buddy of mine and I planned a trip this past weekend to Frontenac Provincial Park in Eastern Ontario. This park is one of the few in the province dedicated to backcountry and canoe camping usage. Originally, we were planning to do a canoe trip, but rumor of floods and ice jams with the late spring scared us off and we opted to hike it out on foot instead. Frontenac sports 160 km of hiking trails and all the campsites are accessible either by foot or water. Campsites are pretty luxurious with a shared covered privy, and at each campsite graded tent pad, fire grate/grill, picnic table and grill. The privy's even came equiped with toilette paper!
We started the 7h drive at 5:00 am arriving at the park proper by noon. Starting out, the park road going from the main office to the trail head on Big Salmon lake was still closed for the winter. This means we had to walk the 3.3 km road before hitting the trail head. Given this, we changed our route slightly, making the first campsite 1.6 km from the start of the trail. That first day it was rainy, windy and cold. A challenge keeping things dry coupled with an early morning start and long drive. We were pretty exhausted by the time we managed the short 40 minute walk to the first site.
We ended up having to string up a heat sheet blanket over the fire grate that night to keep the on/off sleeting rain off of us and protect our meager fire. Actually, this proved a great idea since the heat sheet radiated the heat onto our backs and buy the time we headed to our tarps for the night, our clothes were nice and dry.
Next morning we were treated to a brief hail storm with bb-sized ice pellets pelting our hats. This was followed by a little bit of snow which lasted about an hour before the sun peaked its way into the morning sky.
After breakfast and packing up, we then headed down 6.7 km to our next camp site located on an adjacent lake at the far east end of the park. Moving from Big Salmon to Big Clear Lake we transitioned from a rolling hardwood forest to a rocky white pine landscape separated by juniper scrub rock highlands.
Although the next day promised sunny weather, we knew we were in for the coldest night of the trip. Dropping down to -5 degrees Celsius, well below our bag ratings (+3 degrees), we made sure sleep in our insulation. The bivy sacks also made a tremendous contribution to heat retention, with the added hassel of having to dry out our bags the next day for the condensation.
The next day was so sunny we were both forced to wear our sunglasses.
Packing out again, we proceeded to our next camp site about 4 km away.
The last campsite was located on the southern side of Big Salmon Lake about at the halfway point of the lake's length. It was a pretty spot, although shady and somewhat unprotected from the wind.
Having set up camp and eaten lunch, we decided to take an exploratory walk down the Slide Lake Loop trail accessible about 1 km away from our campsite.
The night and next morning were unremarkable. I tried to set up a time lapse sunset on Big Salmon Lake, but it became so calm and the sky was so cloudless that the timelapse just didn't really work out.
The next morning we ate breakfast and hoofed it the 6.5 km back to the car. We covered the distance in just two hours knowing we had a 7 h car drive back and at this point both of us wanting to make it home before too late.
Overall, it was a great trip.
Videos:
[youtube]-z4-Tu1Qn5Q[/youtube]
[youtube]yn6WKeWqJEI[/youtube]
Been a little while since I hung out at this nook. A good buddy of mine and I planned a trip this past weekend to Frontenac Provincial Park in Eastern Ontario. This park is one of the few in the province dedicated to backcountry and canoe camping usage. Originally, we were planning to do a canoe trip, but rumor of floods and ice jams with the late spring scared us off and we opted to hike it out on foot instead. Frontenac sports 160 km of hiking trails and all the campsites are accessible either by foot or water. Campsites are pretty luxurious with a shared covered privy, and at each campsite graded tent pad, fire grate/grill, picnic table and grill. The privy's even came equiped with toilette paper!
We started the 7h drive at 5:00 am arriving at the park proper by noon. Starting out, the park road going from the main office to the trail head on Big Salmon lake was still closed for the winter. This means we had to walk the 3.3 km road before hitting the trail head. Given this, we changed our route slightly, making the first campsite 1.6 km from the start of the trail. That first day it was rainy, windy and cold. A challenge keeping things dry coupled with an early morning start and long drive. We were pretty exhausted by the time we managed the short 40 minute walk to the first site.
We ended up having to string up a heat sheet blanket over the fire grate that night to keep the on/off sleeting rain off of us and protect our meager fire. Actually, this proved a great idea since the heat sheet radiated the heat onto our backs and buy the time we headed to our tarps for the night, our clothes were nice and dry.
Next morning we were treated to a brief hail storm with bb-sized ice pellets pelting our hats. This was followed by a little bit of snow which lasted about an hour before the sun peaked its way into the morning sky.
After breakfast and packing up, we then headed down 6.7 km to our next camp site located on an adjacent lake at the far east end of the park. Moving from Big Salmon to Big Clear Lake we transitioned from a rolling hardwood forest to a rocky white pine landscape separated by juniper scrub rock highlands.
Although the next day promised sunny weather, we knew we were in for the coldest night of the trip. Dropping down to -5 degrees Celsius, well below our bag ratings (+3 degrees), we made sure sleep in our insulation. The bivy sacks also made a tremendous contribution to heat retention, with the added hassel of having to dry out our bags the next day for the condensation.
The next day was so sunny we were both forced to wear our sunglasses.
Packing out again, we proceeded to our next camp site about 4 km away.
The last campsite was located on the southern side of Big Salmon Lake about at the halfway point of the lake's length. It was a pretty spot, although shady and somewhat unprotected from the wind.
Having set up camp and eaten lunch, we decided to take an exploratory walk down the Slide Lake Loop trail accessible about 1 km away from our campsite.
The night and next morning were unremarkable. I tried to set up a time lapse sunset on Big Salmon Lake, but it became so calm and the sky was so cloudless that the timelapse just didn't really work out.
The next morning we ate breakfast and hoofed it the 6.5 km back to the car. We covered the distance in just two hours knowing we had a 7 h car drive back and at this point both of us wanting to make it home before too late.
Overall, it was a great trip.
Videos:
[youtube]-z4-Tu1Qn5Q[/youtube]
[youtube]yn6WKeWqJEI[/youtube]
