The latest cohosted Algonquin Outfitters / Algonquin Adventures photo contest has now started .. Algonquin "Fall Colours" Photo Contest. Submit your best photos (up to 3 photos in one entry) of “Fall Colours” from Algonquin Park. This includes everything from autumn leaf change to photos that include brilliant colours under a rich blue sky, or maybe just some brightly coloured canoes.

Photos must be a minimum of 1024×768 and must be original photographs taken by the person entering the contest. Enter contest here.

Grand Prize of a $250 Algonquin Outfitters Gift card ... 2nd Prize of a $150 Algonquin Outfitters Gift Card ... 3rd Prize of a $100 Algonquin Outfitters Gift Card.

Marc Gravel has branched out from his blog Wild Nature .. moving all its Algonquin Park content to a new blog My Beloved Algonquin. His new blog contains his Algonquin trip-logs, gear, books, photos, etc.

"It has evolved into a place with many followers who like myself share a common interest in Algonquin. This medium allows me to share with everyone not only my pictures, but my experiences and knowledge that I have accumulated since realizing my passion for Algonquin many many years ago."

Judging of the latest cohosted Algonquin Outfitters / Algonquin Adventures photo contest is complete!

The Summer 2011 photo contest was themed "Sunny Days".

You can check out all the entries at ... https://picasaweb.google.com.

Or, you can view them on the AO Blog at http://ao-sales.blogspot.com/2011.

David Pile (aka: Jester) has submitted a trip-log of a trip that he and a friend went on. It was a six-day canoe trip loop, starting at Smoke Lake and ending at Cache Lake. Their trip took them through Ragged, Big Porcupine, Bonnechere, Phipps, Harness and Head Lakes .. 2011 Smoke Lake to Cache Lake - August 3rd to 8th.

"Jeff McMurtrie’s map labels the “chicane” as the Devil’s Razor. Over the years, water levels have been such that we have either carefully paddled over the rocks or treated the rocks as a variant of a beaver dam. This year we had to pull over at the very left or southern end of this section to get into the northern half of Bonnechere. Once over this obstacle, we paddled through what has always been a quiet section of the lake, though each time we’ve paddled through there has been at most one other canoe and some years in late May or early September we’ve seen no one else. Perhaps 10 minutes after launch we were nearing the dead end and the smooth rock landing at which we unloaded and began our easy walk northeast to the Phipps Lake portage."

This year, a substantial (291 pages) and well-photo-illustrated historical book about Cache Lake was published. Titled “Destination Algonquin Park – Tracks To Cache Lake and The Highland Inn”, it was written by Donald J. Beauprie. As a youngster, he spent summers with his family at their cottage on Cache Lake and has continued to holiday there ever since with his children and grandchildren.

Roderick MacKay (park naturalist and historian) praises the book ... “In this long-anticipated labour of love, Don Beauprie has extensively consulted both archival sorces and his personal recollections to reveal the history of the one-time hub of Algonquin Park at Cache Lake.”

It's a thoroughly enjoyable “long-read”, which becomes even longer when one is slowed down pouring over the many intriguing old photos. A genuine Christmas present treasure to give to that special camping pal! ... http://store.algonquinpark.on.ca

Mike Burns has submitted a trip-log of his 8-day solo loop that he paddled this summer .. from Rain Lake, via Misty, White Trout, Big Trout, Burntroot, Catfish, Cedar, Petawawa R., Radiant, Little Madawaska R., Philip, Hogan, La Muir, Big Trout, White Trout, McIntosh and back to Rain Lake.

With lots of photos, you'll definitely enjoy ... Mike's Algonquin 7 Night 2011 Solo Trip, Aug. 18 to Aug 25, 2011 .

"I grabbed the island campsite, across the bay from the ranger cabin. I was tired at this point and could not go much farther. The wind gust were brutally strong at times. I was standing still by the cliffs trying to round the bend. Brutal! .. I went out of the wind. Great campsite with tons of room to pitch a tent. I was out of the wind until a storm front came in and the wind changed directions on me!"

John Mooy has recorded a trip-log of the 4-day loop that he paddled with his buddy .. from Canoe Lake, through Burnt Island, Otterslide, Big Trout, White Trout, McIntosh, and Tom Thomson Lakes. It was July 22-25th and the bugs were bad. But he definitely got some decent photos! .. http://theadventuresofcoreyandtrevor.blogspot.com.

"Light rain/drizzle in the morning. Jamie slept in and as I was having breakfast there was a bunch of commotion with some seagulls. Turns out the resident Bald Eagle was around and they didn't like that much. Had to wake up Jamie so we could shoot some pics. Eagle sat in a tree for 15 minutes or so before it moved on. That's Bald Eagle number 2 for me now." We broke camp and made our way through Ink Creek which was absolute hell. Fighting deer flies and mosquitos through a meandering creek is not fun."

Steve Miller, and his son Calvin, took an impressive seven-day canoe trip out of the Magnetawan Lake Access Point. They looped around by Queer Lake, Tim River, Shippagew, Longer, Burntroot, Otterslide, Burnt Island, Tom Thomson, Ink and Misty Lakes, back to their starting point. Steve has produced his trip-log on his own blog at .. http://lowspeedendos.blogspot.com/.

".. we noticed that the western skies were darkening. We loaded up the canoe and pushed off with lightning and obvious rain in the distance. We were traveling south toward brighter skies, so we were optimistic. Our optimism turned into misery in just ten minutes. The rain started falling hard and the lightning and thunder turned more ominous. Before long, we pulled ashore to wait out the worst of it. Although we were soaked, I pulled out the rain jackets to make sure we stayed warm enough."