Monday, August 15, 2005

Algonquin Park

Area:

Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Central Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. It is the oldest provincial park in Canada having been established in 1893. Additions since its creation have increased the park to its current size of about 7653 square kilometres. For comparison purposes, this is about one and a half times the size of Prince Edward Island or the US state of Delaware and about a quarter the size of Belgium. (In fact, the park is contiguous with a number of smaller, administratively separate provincial parks that protect important rivers in the area. As a result the total protected area is somewhat larger yet.)
Its size, combined with its proximity to the major urban centres of Toronto and Ottawa, make Algonquin one of the most popular provincial parks in the province and the entire country. Highway 60 runs through the south of the park, while the Trans-Canada Highway bypasses it to the north.
Over 2,400 lakes and 1,200 kilometres of streams and rivers are located within the park. Some notable examples include Canoe Lake and the Petawawa, Nipissing, Amable du Fond, Madawaska, and Tim rivers. These were formed by the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age.
The park is considered part of the "border" between northern Ontario and southern Ontario. The park is in an area of transition between northern coniferous forest and southern deciduous forest. This unique mixture of forest types, and the wide variety of environments in the park, allows the park to support an uncommon diversity of plant and animal species. It is also an important site for wildlife research.
Algonquin Park was named a national historic site in 1992 in recognition of several heritage values, including: its role in the development of park management; pioneering visitor interpretation programs later adopted by national and provincial parks across the country; its role in inspiring artists, which in turn gave Canadians a greater sense of their country; and historic structures such as lodges, hotels, cottages, camps, entrance gates, a railway station, and administration and museum buildings.
As well, Algonquin Park is the only designated park within the province of Ontario to allow industrial logging to take place within its borders.
(Courtesy en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquin_Provincial_Park.com)

Travel Month:

July 2005

Country:

Canada

Attractions:

Back country, forests, lakes, camping, cycling, fishing etc.

Total Distance Covered:

1000kms

Travelogue:

A camping trip to one of the best parks in North America. The part is huge and has many canoeing routes for back country camping. It has huge wild life including the land and marine life. Due to its massive size it has untouched land, lakes, forests and provides perfect place for the wild life to prosper and at the same time provides all sorts of adventures to humans.

We had a 3 days camping trip with my brothers and sisters families with us. It was a real fun and I would highly recommend to visit this park.

While staying in this park, we always felt some sort of wildlife around us. We saw moose with her baby and number of other animals. Kids really loved and as a matter of face they didn't want to come back. We had to cook and hang our garbage high on the trees to avoid attracting any animals at night time. We received some rain during our stay but our Tarp that we hung high with the help of two trees over our tent really helped us. 

Activities:
  • We did take our bicycles and drove on the old rails tracks those have been converted into cycle/trekking tracks. Since we were staying at Coon Lake camp ground we were closer to a few other lakes and the tracks adjoined few other camp grounds which of off course all full. Its always recommended to book your spot in advance as this park is very popular. 
  • We also rented canoes at Opeongo Lake and enjoyed canoeing in this massive lake. I dont know how far it is true but its mentioned on the notice board "Beware of fresh water sharks". We landed onto an island on two canoes and after putting our canoes at a safer place in the jungle, we hiked uphill in the island. We returned as soon as we found some fresh poo from a black bear which are in abundance in this park. This island was full of berries that is a favorite food for bears. This is what we realized later. However our return was swift but without any incident. Our return canoe ride with full of adventure as the wind really picked up and it became extremely difficult for us to ride as we were very inexperienced in this regard. Finally we made it to the shore where the outfitters is located and that was also our starting point for the canoe ride. The experience was amazing.
  • Camping in Algonquin in itself was a big adventure and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Kids had a lot of fun staying right at the edge of Coon Lake. Weather was cool but still a couple managed to get into the waters of the lake for dip, however it was freezing cold.
  • Cooking at the camp site under our newly bought kitchen tent was an experience. And while at the park we felt that we are away from the city and all sorts of amenities. We mostly cooked vegetarian as the meaty things attract animals for sure and its not recommended in this park.
  • Driving around on highway 60 and stop overs at different spots was great. The main museum on the highway was pretty neat and the facility was well maintained.
  • We also did a loop hiking trip through the jungle. We always had a fear of being followed by some bear or other animal but nothing happened. A couple of bears were spotted at our campsite just a day before we arrived and that really added to the sense of adventure.