"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".

Matt Haughn (aka 'TVMatt' on the forum) has finished production of the final part (4th) of his YouTube video "Bro Trip Algonquin - 2020", in which he and his brother Tom head from Achray, through High Falls Lake and on to Cork Lake.

They base-camp on Cork Lake, and on day-two they daytrip to the Barron Canyon, paddling along the river and looking up. And on day-three they daytrip to the actual High Falls water complex. On their last day they return to Achray and visit the canyon again .. this time hiking to the upper edge!

"You need to go to Cork! Feels deep interior but is easily accessible. The site we stayed at was pretty good too."

Cody Stein (aka 'trippythings' on the forum) has published another video, of his one final getaway for the season .. "3-Day Thanksgiving Solo Trip to Ragged Lake".

"I decided to have a lazy end to the season and went into Ragged for two nights. The first night I had the lake to myself which is always nice on otherwise busy lakes."

Nov. 23, 2020 . . . the trip-log is now added to his website .. "Thanksgiving Solo Trip to Ragged Lake" .. complete with 13 campsite reports .. the links to which are incorporated into this website's PCI Project.

Cody Stein (aka 'trippythings' on the forum) has published another trip-log on his website, of his recent 8-day solo canoe trip from Canoe Lake .. through Otterslide and Burntroot, to Big Trout and return .. "8 Days Solo In September" .. along with 20 campsite reports .. the links to which are incorporated into this website's PCI Project.

"The skies didn’t look promising though .. As the day went on the rain came and went, but the winds only got stronger and stronger. It turned into possibly the windiest day I’ve ever had in the park. Not only did it make the day very unenjoyable, but it also made me very concerned about my tent and tarp that were taking a heavy beating."

Oct. 18, 2020 . . . video of "8 Days Solo In September".

Wanda Spruyt has submitted a trip-log, of her recent 7-day get-away .. 3 days solo on Canisbay Lake and 4 days with her daughter on Annie Bay, where they had unpleasant interactions with inexperienced campers who were unfamiliar with the camping reservation system. It is available here for download in PDF format .. "Glamping, Campsite Numbers and Newbies.

The trip was originally planned to be a 4-day loop out of Canoe Lake .. by way of McIntosh, Big Trout, Otterslide and Burnt Island Lakes.

"Then we reached the end of the carry and the muddy crap under our feet became significantly less attention-grabbing than the onslaught of white caps rolling towards us from across Burnt Island. It was like standing in the middle of a wind tunnel ... Plan B was starting to look like a real option. This would have us cut across the eastern end of Burnt to Birdie Lake. From there we’d go south through a string of small and medium size lakes before eventually coming out at Canisbay campground."

Part 1 - River to Paradise .. Out of Magnetawan Lake, down the Tim to Shippagew.

Part 2 - Taking the Long Way Home .. Out through White Trout, Misty and the Petawawa.

"Perfect weather, great campsites, and the bugs were better than I could have hoped for - it was an idyllic trip."