#1 Base Camp on Basin Lake .. #2 Old Cabin and a High Falls .. #3 Whispering Winds Lookout

"This quick two night trip to Basin Lake was scheduled last minute once the Park opened this summer, and was a nice little dip back into nature .. It was a nice change of pace, and being closer to home was nice without being too crowded."

"This is a large, pretty site that could easily accommodate a large group. There are two levels, the fire pit area which is quite exposed and the tent site area which is more sheltered. The exposed fire pit area is a good place to enjoy the sunrise and sunset, and there is a "back porch" set up on a cliff that is surprisingly sheltered while still offering a nice view of the lake where you can take in the sunset."

Start with day one .. "Rain Lake to Canoe Lake – Day One". And continue with "Day Two", "Day Three" and "Day Four".

"Fortunately, water levels were just fine, and I was able to use the regular portage takeout. Or, more accurately, I confused a small opening in the shoreline with the regular portage takeout, bumped and poked myself a bunch while unloading, muttered terrible things about whoever put that takeout where they did as I loaded up, then realized I had stopped about 10 metres shy of the actual (very nice!) takeout when I walked past it."

"Shirley Lake might be one of the prettiest lakes in the park in my opinion ... the mountainous western shoreline and tiny scattered islands in the north of the lake give it so much character and offer such charming and wonderful views throughout. Plus, most of the campsites are pretty nice."

"I was extremely happy to see a single bull moose right at the end of the day, chowing down on some dinner. It was no Creamy Noodle with Beef and Mushrooms, but hey I’m sure he still enjoyed it. I relaxed in my canoe and watched for as long as I could before he went inland. Then, it was my turn to go inland as well. I sat by a fire for the next hour or two, hoping the overcast would give way to some stars."

"That turtle did not give a damn. He didn’t care if we were near the water, in the water or on the water. He seemed to approach us the same way 85 year old me will approach driving. He knew where he wanted to go, and the rest of us could just get the hell out of his way."

"Dinner was bacon wrapped steak with fried potatoes, asparagus and mushrooms (I eat better on night one of trip than I do pretty much any other time). One of the cool features of the site is that it has two fire pits, one in the middle of the site and one down on the beach. Most of dinner we cooked in pans on my stove, but I did cook one of the steaks using the beach fire pit and it was by far the tastiest of the steaks. After dinner the kids roasted some marshmallows, then we went for a sunset paddle around Parkside Bay."

"A highlight was when I was just sitting on the point, reading my book and enjoying the lake, when I heard a loud splashing noise accompanied by an even louder “howf”-ing noise. On the very farthest end of the lake, a cow moose was hauling ass through waist-deep water calling out. She was in major distress and we were very glad to not be in her path. This was the first time I saw a “rampaging” moose and it was really an impressive sight! She eventually howfed her way off the lake and up a hill southward, likely trying to find a young one or something. Later that night we saw a cow and her young calf mere meters from our site, so I guess they were reunited and happy"

He chose it as an easy paddle-in over-night beginning to his 'backcountry year' and as an ideal trial for his new aerial tent .. the "Opeongo Aerial A1".

"I found a couple of decent trees about 10-12 feet apart and before long I had the tent’s base suspended about four feet above the ground. After a few second’s thought that involved some vivid mental images of the entire thing coming apart in the middle of the night, I lowered that to about two feet off the ground. From there it was just a matter of getting the poles set up, the fly on and the gear hammock attached and voila! Take that gravity! No more ground sleeping for this guy."

On their website, they note that a second Annual Work Schedule for 2021 – 2022 (update) will be available in June of 2021.

And then in April, Brandon added "T105: Moccasin – Misty", a 3-day solo loop (also in October) out of Rain Lake.

"Yet another short, but muddy trail took me to Muslim Lake. By this time, the sun was making an appearance and it looked like it was shaping up to be a nice day. I reached my final portage for the day, a 1030m trail down to Misty Lake. I crossed it in about 15 minutes but if I was going the other way, it probably wouldn’t have been so quick. The entire trail was downhill to Misty, an overall drop of 42m. ."

Samantha Bearman hails recently from Hertfordshire (England). In her "Everything you need to know about Backcountry Camping in Rock Lake, Algonquin" she shares her experience and perspective on backcountry camping in Algonquin Park.

"You may be wondering, if there are no bathrooms, what do I do? Well, there is a wooden box with a hole dug into the earth at each campsite that can be used as a toilet. My friends called it the treasure chest. Figuring out the toilet situation was definitely the hardest part about the whole camping trip. It is honestly horrendous, and the smell is dreadful, there is no sugar-coating it."

"During this time Sean walked over to my canoe and pulled out my spare paddle, a light poplar paddle that had a crack running down the blade, complete with duck tape around it. Sean gave the paddle a disgusted look and tossed it in his canoe. Before I could open my mouth and complain, Sean pulled out a brand new wide blade paddle and presented it to me. "Happy Birthday Markus!" I was surprised, "My 50th birthday present! Doood, can’t thank you enough!"".

The government's intention is to streamline the backcountry fee structure across the province and to make it consistent with the car camping fee model. This is a price increase of around 230% and will make camping prohibitively expensive for soloists or couples.

You can express your displeasure with these rate increases by signing on to the petition (started by Hugh Carey of Kitchener), at .. "Back Country Camping Fee Increases in Ontario".

"This morning paddle will stick out in my mind for a long, long time. I can’t quite put my finger on it as to why, I’ve had plenty of beautiful mornings in Algonquin before – but this one really felt special. The sun was blasting and there was plenty of dew covering the grass. "

"Last summer I had the chance to do a one-way solo trip from Cedar to Canoe Lake. It was an amazing, memorable trip - great weather, some tough travel days (15 portages in one day in a sea kayak is not something I'd recommend!), and incredible campsites."

Scott Luscombe has developed an amazing 'app', entitled "Ontario Backcountry Campsite Reviews". While it covers backcountry campsites across Ontario, it already includes many links to campsite reports from Cody Stein's Algonquin & Beyond, Drew Czernik's All Of Algonquin and Barry Bridgeford's AlgonquinAdventures.com

Scott: "Having retired in January 2020, I decided to leverage my love of spreadsheets and backcountry camping into something useful that I could share with the camping community … hence the Ontario Backcountry Campsite review app was born. I have enjoyed Ontario backcountry camping since my late teens and have done at least one canoe trip every year since then. For the last dozen or so years, a group of us have been doing a 6-10 day trip late-summer / early-fall every year: This year (2021, covid-restrictions permitting) we are planning our first trip to Wabakimi."

This past September, Ian Tendy and his pal Shane, took a seven day loop out of Kiosk .. by Kioshkokwi, Manitou, Three Mile, North Sylvia, Ratrap, and Maple Lake .. and then back to Kioshkokwi by Maple Creek.

Ian's website "Ian Tendy and The Outdoors" contains his trip report .. "Kiosk Loop 2020 – Project Whitecap".

"Overnight, the wind picked back up and we awoke to waves on the shore and a light foam developing, but nothing too bad. The good news was that we once again didn’t need to be anywhere. The wood from the previous day was plenty enough to get us going through this night and beyond. It did keep us from fishing, but that wasn’t the end of the world."

This August, Krista Petrie-Wallace, with her husband Glenn and another couple, took four days to complete the longest third loop of the Western Uplands Backpacking Trail.

Krista's blog "KPW Outdoors" contains her trip report .. "Western Uplands Backpacking Trail".

On a side-note, Glenn and Krista were first-hand involved in a canoe rescue on Opeongo Lake on October 10th, 2020. Check out their account .. "Opeongo Lake Rescue October 10th, 2020".