Trip Proposals!

Winter in the northeast severely limits my adventuring, especially since my winter sports are limited to sledding and snow ball fights. But the winter does lend itself to trip planning.

Right now, I have two Algonquin trips going. The secondary trip is for late May, after classes end. It will be "the" loop, from Cedar to Catfish to Burntroot to Cedar, by the Petawawa and the Nipissing Rivers. My plan is to leave off Hogan in the hopes of spending an extra night at Burntroot, and maybe another extra day on Catfish. Maybe even reversing the direction, so we are with he current on the Petawawa.

This time, I want to take some time to fish and to check out the historical sites on Catfish and Burntroot.


But the BIG trip!

This is for late August, a week or two before school starts (if I'm still a student)

It would be my first lead, as this time it would be just me and my friend. I want to do a loop from Kiosk, going down Mink to Club the first night, up Erables to Maple the second night, over to Three Mile, down to Biggar, and over to North Tea the third night, a rest day, and then to Manitou the fifth night before heading back to Kiosk. We'd probably spend that sixth night in North Bay, before heading home through Buffalo (a true loop).

Right now my worries lie in the third day. Maple to Three Mile to Biggar to North Tea is a HAUL. It's about 15 miles, with almost 6km of carries. I have two contingencies planned. If we reach Three Mile and we are tired/late/fed up, we can portage 2800 meters downhill (like that would matter on a 2800 meter portage) to Manitou. And, once we reach Biggar, there are sites all the way to the East Arm of North Tea. But I really want to get to an island site on the East Arm, so that we can have a true rest day.

As for fishing, I've heard Club, Erables, Biggar, North Tea, and Manitou as likely spots for specks, lakers, and smallmouth. It would be great to catch anything, and maybe, if we are lucky, I can introduce Algonquin properly, with some fish dinner.

Lots of time left to plan. I can't secure the permit until February, so I'm sure there will be minor changes. But man, planning is fun.

(The Kiosk Route: I'll draw it out when I can. It looks like the bottom half of a capital "A")