Day 4 was a very long yet very relaxing day. We got up late, about 8:30, and Dar cooked sausage, eggs and toast for breakfast. After cleaning up, I loaded the canoe on the van and we headed out to Lake of Two Rivers for a day of fishing. We had planned on a portage up to Provoking Lake but it just didn’t seem that it was very important and stayed on Two Rivers.

After Dar’s one and only catch, we headed to the island that is on the lake. After I cooled off my very sun burnt legs in the water, I discovered my wallet was MIA. After about a 10 minute panicked search it was found hidden under my life jacket. LOL

The catch ...

The lakes' bottom off the island is nothing but huge boulders and rocks. At some points you could be in 3 feet of water, then all of a sudden it drops to 20 feet. We hung around the island wading in the water and soaking up the sun till it started getting late. We then headed back to the van and over to the park store, as we needed ice for the coolers and some ice cream. We had our dinner and spent a couple of hours at another couple's campsite talking over a few drinks. Then went back to the tent and had a very restful slumber.

Day 5

Dar woke up somewhere around 4am, having to tinkle really bad but didn't want to wake me up and meet with a “bear”, so she snuggled back into the sleeping bag. I woke up Dar later, about 8am scaring the crap out of her because I had a leg cramp. I hadn’t listened to her the previous day about drinking more water and was dehydrated.

She cooked bacon, eggs, toast and home fries for breakfast and while we were cleaning up from breakfast we had a no-tailed chipmunk come visit us. Then we had 6 adult ducks come waddling up the path from the lake as well. Then about 20 minutes after the adult ducks left, mom and baby ducks waddled up the path for their morning visit. After all the morning excitement, I loaded up the canoe and we headed to over to Pog Lake for another day of fishing.

We made a round of Pog Lake and just before heading down the river to Two Rivers, Dar hooked into a hog. She was so happy till the line broke and she watched as her small mouth dropped back into the lake taking her new lure with it. So, after she stopped cursing, we trolled down the river and into Lake of Two Rivers. It was a hard paddle as we were paddling against the wind and current. But, we were heading for the island for a bit of a swimming.

After an hour of so of some wonderful relaxation on the island, we had to head back before it got too late. Of course with our luck, the wind shifted and again we were paddling against it. We finally got back to camp about 7pm and had burgers for dinner. While cooking dinner we had mom and baby ducks come for another visit. After that we had to return the canoe before it got too dark.

Dar proudly had her first ever solo canoe trip and in the late evening to boot! It's so calming to canoe on a lake in the late evening, I don’t think she will ever forget it. We didn’t take many pictures that day but I did take some video of Dar getting the big old hog that got away at the edge of the canoe. Dar will never forget that I didn’t have the net ready, but instead was taking video.

After returning the canoe to the beach and star gazing for a bit, we were pretty tired and finally headed off for some zz's about 11:30. Oh, how we wish we could turn back the calendar .. sigh!

Day 6

We woke up early on Day 6, since this was the day set aside for hiking and we were hoping it would be the first Thursday that the park would hold their wolf howl. We started with toast and oatmeal, Dar had cereal, and did up the dishes.

First trail was the easy logging museum and we found it was a nice start to a busy day. ...

After the Logging museum trail, we headed up to the Outfitters store on Lake Opeongo. We had a fast look around the store. Since we had such a busy day we headed out and went up to the Visitor Centre were we had to log into Facebook to let family and friends know that everything was going well. We hadn’t planned on having cell coverage right at the camp site.

Checking out the view from the observation deck ...

We had a light lunch (way over priced) and checked out the view from the observation deck then walked around the Centre checking all the Algonquin information they have put together. We picked up a few gifts and got our pins and patches plus our Friends of Algonquin membership .. then back out to the van and off to the next stop. Since there was going to be a wolf howl set for the night, we needed to top up on fuel. We headed out to Whitney but on the way we got stuck in a traffic jam. In Algonquin! A traffic jam. Well, Dar got to see her very first moose that had cars lined up on both sides of the highway.

Dar's moose ...

We spent some time taking pictures, I hope next year Dar gets to see a moose in the backcountry, and video it before a Harley and truck scare it off into the woods. Oh well, we really needed to get that fuel and head back to get ready for the howl. On the way back into the park we stopped for a few pictures at the East Gate park sign.

We had wanted to hike the Lookout trail and since it was a hiking day we stopped there for a fast hike. We weren’t sure if we had the time for the whole trail so we went up in a clockwise circle. This meant we were walking up a steep hill to the look out and then if we had time, witch we did, we would walk down the long easy slope. Dar almost killed me for this but the view was one of the best sites you would see.

On the trail ...

While on the trail we came to the first, or last, lookout and heard what sounded like trees falling back down the trail somewhere. Five minutes pass by and we are still checking out the view when we hear what sound like gun shots. I had a hard time telling Dar what they really were and I was hoping someone had just popped a tire on the highway. I didn’t really want Dar to see her first bear on the trail back to the parking lot.

The lookout ...

After the trail, we headed back to the Two Rivers store to drain the cooler and got more ice. Then it was back to camp for a fast dinner. After a quick wash-up, we were off to the theater to get a seat before the wolf howl. We watched about an hour movie and listened to the instructions. After waiting in the lineup for about 20 minutes we headed down the highway to the Rock Lake road. At about the halfway point we all pulled off to the side, all 2000 people, and waited in the dark for the howl to start.

If you have never heard wolves out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, this is one to add to your list. We all stayed on that road quietly waiting for the wolves to answer the guide. After the first round of howls and no answer, I was really hoping things would change.

The guilds started the second round and off in the distance we could all hear the answers start. Dar and I stood there with goose bumps and thinking this was the coolest thing we had done together. We headed back to camp at about 11:30 and went straight to bed, not that we could sleep yet. Wow this was a very full day and one that we will remember for a life time.

Days 1 to 3  ..   Days 4 to 6   .. Days 7 to 8