Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario

August 4, 2024

It was time to leave urban busy-ness behind for the time being and move to the slower pace of Algonquin Provincial Park.

Upon entering Algonquin Provincial Park, we were greeted by the first of many lakes

Algonquin is a very large state park having many campgrounds. Despite the huge quantity of campsites, it is often difficult to get a site because most are already booked solid by Torontonians when the reservation window opens six months in advance. Fortunately for us, we were not looking for a prime lake-side site (most of them were only suitable for tents and small trailers and would not have good solar anyway), and we did not need electric. So, exactly six months ago to the day, Julie selected one of only two available sites that could handle a trailer our length. The site had no electric, no lake view, and marginal privacy. What it did have going for it was decent solar exposure, and the fact that we could actually back our behemoth trailer into it without running into any trees.

Not the most desirable campsite in the park, but it worked fine for us

Algonquin Provincial Park is all about the lakes. Every campground is situated on at least one lake. The park appeals to those who enjoy canoeing, as many of the lakes are connected together. We didn't canoe, but plenty of others did. We spent our time mostly just hanging out and biking the park's rail-trail system. We took three separate rides during our stay.

South along the rails to trails path

North along the rails to trail path along with a stop for blueberries 🙂

Bumbling around the campgrounds and beaches

The park had a nice rails-to-trails system linking several of the campgrounds and lakes

A former airfield is now a huge field of wild blueberries

They were small, but very good!

Every campground had at least one beach, and they were all quite nice

The skies were getting darker at this point in one of our bike rides, and we got back to the camper just before a thunderstorm dumped buckets of rain

Rick had purchased a set of disc golf discs a while back and has been angling to get Julie to play with him, so we engaged in some throwing practice one afternoon. We were amused by a chipmunk that kept chasing the thrown discs as if it was a puppy.

On Sunday, we drove to the Logging Museum within the park. We were pleasantly surprised how well done it was. The exhibit experience started with a 15-minute movie of the history of logging in the land that is now Algonquin Provincial Park, followed by a 3/4-mile interpretive trail tracing this history with old buildings, equipment and other artifacts from the logging days.

A barracks building of the late 1800s, housing up to 60 men who worked during the winter months felling trees and cutting them into logs for transport during the spring thaw

Inside the barracks building, bunk beds (sleeping 2 men per bed) lined the perimeter and surrounded a central fireplace

Hand-made wooden door hinges

The roof was made of overlapping hollowed-out logs cut in half lengthwise

The logs were hauled on sleds (in the wintertime) by horses

In the spring, logs were transported across lakes with a boat called an "alligator"

Inside the alligator

Julie's always a sucker for water lilies!

The original log flume ride where logs were transported down rapids

Eventually, a railroad was built to transport the logs

And finally, the railroad was replaced with truck transportation

One final picture of an evening shot of Pog Lake, a short walk from our campsite

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