Post by rkj on Aug 28, 2018 4:34:01 GMT -8
I thought I'd throw up a trip report I wrote up for our first backpacking adventure, to help break in this fresh new Canada forum.
After our Silent Lake trip where we tested some new gear, and some borrowed gear, we made a few revisions. The biggest change was buying new sleeping mats. Erica had her new Reactor 3.8 pad from MEC, and I decided to go with a Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite closed cell pad. I chose the closed cell pad, for its light weight, decent price, and ease of set up and stow. This saved us near 8 lb of weight. Since we decided we needed a second chair, Erica picked up a Term-a-Rest Trekker chair. It’s a clever little piece, which is very small and light, and with a little bit of set up time, basically makes your sleeping pad into a comfortable low chair. We also made a few other small revisions (cutlery, towels, tools) to drop a few more grams. All in all, we saved around 10lb of total weight.
.
.
After a few weeks of planning, procuring gear, and validating lists, it was finally time to embark on our first backpacking trip. We would be hiking the Eastern Pines trail in Algonquin, which is accessed from Achray, in the North East section of the park. To make the driving more manageable, we made an overnight stop at Silent Lake, where we stayed just one week earlier. This time, we had a traditional car camping site. As a bonus, a previous camper left us a nice reflective Sea to Summit clothesline. Without much drama, we set up, and settled in for the night.
I was not expecting to sleep well. I never do my first night in a tent. Part of it is comfort, and part of it is my brain being on high alert for every rustle in the woods. On this night, I slept exceptionally poorly. I was picking up on some definite raccoon activity around my truck. I thought that was strange, because there were no animal attractants under the tonneau cover, and the food was securely stowed in the cab of the truck. A little rain fell overnight, but not enough to be a concern.
Eventually, morning came. We wanted to get out early, to maximize our time at Algonquin. When I crawled out of the tent, I got an unpleasant surprise. The front driver side door of my truck was open! Oh no! I quickly went to explore the nature of the disaster. Very fortunately, our main food supply was unharmed. It was in a dry sac, inside one of the backpacks. There was no damage from attempted animal entry. What a relief. Though not an epic disaster, not all was well. The scavengers did snag a Cliff bar, and some leftover cheese curds. And of course, those dirty scavengers got my front seats fairly dirty.
Now, my immediate reaction was that the raccoons opened my door. I was confident I had closed, but not locked it. However, since this happened, I have not been able to convince any sane people that raccoons opened the door to my truck. I understand their logic. The handle is not low to the ground, close to the cab, or close to the bed. How would a ‘coon open it? I don’t know.
I closed the door. That’s my story and I’m s-stickin’ to it! Erica, as always, was a super star, and stayed calm while I vented my frustrations relating to the situation. I was going to eat that Cliff bar, but since it was gone, that was enough of an excuse to stop at a Tim Hortons for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich.
We continued on driving towards Achray, and very slowly, I started to leave the troubles behind. The drive up north was fairly nice. Nice, if you like rural roads anyways. There were lots of curves and bumps. Some of those bumps splashed coffee onto my seat. Sigh. But without a trailer in tow, the driving was enjoyable. Before we had even arrived at the trailhead, Erica was planning grand backpacking adventures in Northwestern Canada.
After wrapping up the final stretch of gravel road to Achray, we a parked the truck, and grabbed our bags. With our Adventure Mutt by our side, we began our march down the trail. The adventure Poodle stayed behind for a few reasons. One of the leading reasons being that he eats a lot. At a tender age of 7 months, we did not want to burden his young joints with a backpack to offset the weight and volume of food he would need.
.
.
Erica was leading, and set the pace surprisingly high. I think she was excited to reach our campsite. It was plenty warm, and we knew a swim at High Falls would be refreshing. The trail started off easy. The mostly pine forest had a fairly smooth floor, with some rocks mixed in, and a significant amount of undergrowth. There were many easy steps, with only a few significant climbs mixed in.
.
.
To navigate, we had our paper copy of the trail map, as well as the All Trails Pro app on my iPhone. I took a picture of the paper map on my phone for ease of handling. The phone effectively used GPS to track our location. The version of the map on the app had a few extra trails shown, that perhaps were a result of a user uploading a track with some bushwacking adventures. Overall though, the trail was very well signed, which made navigating fairly easy.
So, without a lot of drama, we reached the campsites. We checked out a few different ones, before making our selection. We were tired from the fast hike in, and cooked up / re-hydrated some food.
.
.
Though our site had access to water, it was a little marshy, so not good for filtering or swimming access. So, we headed to the popular high falls area for a swim. We first dipped in a little private spot, but knew we were not yet in “the” spot, because we heard voices in the distance, and we had not yet spotted the scene we had viewed in pictures. So, we hiked just a little bit further, and then found “the” spot.
.
It was the epitome of natural summertime fun in Canada. The view was wonderful. The water was warm, yet still refreshing, and a wonderful treat after hiking with heavy bags for a few hours. The only thing that could have made it better would have been total privacy. While it was later in the day, and there were never too many people there, we were not alone for more than a few moments. Even the Adventure Mutt got in on the swimming fun, when she just could not bear how far away Erica had swum away. Feeling refreshed, we all headed back to our campsite, and after tidying up, tucked into the tent for the night.
We were not quick to get going in the morning. We did not feel we had to hurry, because we had slightly less distance to cover than the day before, which we hiked pretty quickly. We were aware that we would have to navigate a “Glacial Boulder Field” on this day, but did not expect that to slow us down too much. Eventually, we got to tidying up our campsite. Erica dashed out to High Falls again to filter some water, and met some friendly folks along the way. We did not interact with many people on this trip, but everyone we did talk to was very friendly.
.
.
While obviously not as fresh as the day before, we felt pretty good. Some of the trail sections we started with were quite overgrown. Perhaps fewer hikers bother to go beyond High Falls? The trail remained well signed though, so we had no struggles following the trail. It did not take us too long to realize there was a consequence to starting our hike late in the morning. Heat. It was a very hot day, and we were hiking through the hottest hours of it. I don’t know exactly how hot it was, as we had no thermometer or access to weather reports. However, I estimate it was around 30C +/-. We were sweating, more than we usually do. Being in the woods, refreshing breezes did not reach us too often. Probably about 40% of the way through the hike, we stopped to filter more water, and have a very hearty snack. We were probably stopped for around 20 minutes.
.
.
When we got going again, things did not get going too well. We did not make it much more than 150 meters, before Erica said she was not feeling well. At this point, we were at a “campsite” on Bucholtz Lake. However, it appeared to be more boulder field than campsite. In any case, there were occasional light breezes coming off the lake. So, with plenty of daylight still available, I simply offered to set up the hammock, and let Erica rest until she felt better.
.
.
Don’t believe the smiles, they are fake! Personally, I did not mind the break either.
Hilton offered to carry my pack if needed, but I declined.
.
.
This episode turned into a fairly short delay. It did not take us to long to get going again. Yay for magic hammocks. We once again turned our focus to completing the day’s hike. Even with the big packs, the boulder fields we encountered on the day were not too troublesome for us. We were through them at a reasonable pace, and then it was back to smoother trails.
.
.
We were both very excited when we saw the sign, indicating that we had reached the trail to the campsites on Johnston Lake. The first campsite we stepped foot on looked perfect. It had a nice flat spot for our tent, shade, and great water access. Perfect. We’ll take it. Before you could say “great Canadian weekend” we were both swimming in the water. Oh it was nice. The water was again quite warm, but it still provided the relief from the heat that we needed.
.
.
We really enjoyed our time at this site. There was a pair of hikers camped on the same lake, but they were quiet, and left sooner than we did. So, it was incredibly peaceful and quiet. Spots like that, are why you go backcountry camping. It is so wonderful to find the natural peace that can be so hard to find near our cities.
.
.
When morning came, we did our best to not dilly-dally too long, since Erica had to work a night shift that night, and needed to get some sleep in the early evening. We had a very short hike back to our vehicle that morning, as we chose to forego the Berm Lake trail section. We completed the trail without issue, and arrived back at the truck, which looked just as we had left it.
.
.
.
.
On our exit, we took a quick drive around the Achray campground. While nice, we would probably not choose to haul our trailer there, due to the long and sometimes rough drive. We were not done our adventure yet though. I still wanted to see the Barron Canyon. It would be just silly to drive right by a canyon, which you can access via only 1.5km of hiking.
So, after driving just a couple minutes, we popped out of the truck at the trailhead, and set off, unburdened, for the short hike. The trail was mostly uphill, and did deliver the views I was looking for. Again, we did not linger too long, but I was glad we stopped.
.
.
We had one final stop to make before we arrived home. We were both craving an ice cold, carbonated, sugar loaded drink. So, we stopped at a chip truck in Bancroft, and refreshed ourselves with a canned beverage, and also put back some salty and greasy food. Oh yum. The skies turned dark, and we hopped back into the truck for the final stretch home, as it began to rain and thunder.
.
.
And that’s about a wrap for our first backpacking trip. We both enjoyed the experience, and I suspect Erica will be planning more backpacking trips for us in the future. We both had a good time, and felt we were pretty well prepared. Moving forward, one of my top priorities will be trying to figure out a way to get better quality sleep, as I struggled with that through most of the trip. I’m thinking a better pillow, and maybe some whiskey would be a good start.
Happy Camping
Eastern Pines Trail – Algonquin
July 19, 2018After our Silent Lake trip where we tested some new gear, and some borrowed gear, we made a few revisions. The biggest change was buying new sleeping mats. Erica had her new Reactor 3.8 pad from MEC, and I decided to go with a Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite closed cell pad. I chose the closed cell pad, for its light weight, decent price, and ease of set up and stow. This saved us near 8 lb of weight. Since we decided we needed a second chair, Erica picked up a Term-a-Rest Trekker chair. It’s a clever little piece, which is very small and light, and with a little bit of set up time, basically makes your sleeping pad into a comfortable low chair. We also made a few other small revisions (cutlery, towels, tools) to drop a few more grams. All in all, we saved around 10lb of total weight.
.
.
After a few weeks of planning, procuring gear, and validating lists, it was finally time to embark on our first backpacking trip. We would be hiking the Eastern Pines trail in Algonquin, which is accessed from Achray, in the North East section of the park. To make the driving more manageable, we made an overnight stop at Silent Lake, where we stayed just one week earlier. This time, we had a traditional car camping site. As a bonus, a previous camper left us a nice reflective Sea to Summit clothesline. Without much drama, we set up, and settled in for the night.
I was not expecting to sleep well. I never do my first night in a tent. Part of it is comfort, and part of it is my brain being on high alert for every rustle in the woods. On this night, I slept exceptionally poorly. I was picking up on some definite raccoon activity around my truck. I thought that was strange, because there were no animal attractants under the tonneau cover, and the food was securely stowed in the cab of the truck. A little rain fell overnight, but not enough to be a concern.
Eventually, morning came. We wanted to get out early, to maximize our time at Algonquin. When I crawled out of the tent, I got an unpleasant surprise. The front driver side door of my truck was open! Oh no! I quickly went to explore the nature of the disaster. Very fortunately, our main food supply was unharmed. It was in a dry sac, inside one of the backpacks. There was no damage from attempted animal entry. What a relief. Though not an epic disaster, not all was well. The scavengers did snag a Cliff bar, and some leftover cheese curds. And of course, those dirty scavengers got my front seats fairly dirty.
Now, my immediate reaction was that the raccoons opened my door. I was confident I had closed, but not locked it. However, since this happened, I have not been able to convince any sane people that raccoons opened the door to my truck. I understand their logic. The handle is not low to the ground, close to the cab, or close to the bed. How would a ‘coon open it? I don’t know.
I closed the door. That’s my story and I’m s-stickin’ to it! Erica, as always, was a super star, and stayed calm while I vented my frustrations relating to the situation. I was going to eat that Cliff bar, but since it was gone, that was enough of an excuse to stop at a Tim Hortons for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich.
We continued on driving towards Achray, and very slowly, I started to leave the troubles behind. The drive up north was fairly nice. Nice, if you like rural roads anyways. There were lots of curves and bumps. Some of those bumps splashed coffee onto my seat. Sigh. But without a trailer in tow, the driving was enjoyable. Before we had even arrived at the trailhead, Erica was planning grand backpacking adventures in Northwestern Canada.
After wrapping up the final stretch of gravel road to Achray, we a parked the truck, and grabbed our bags. With our Adventure Mutt by our side, we began our march down the trail. The adventure Poodle stayed behind for a few reasons. One of the leading reasons being that he eats a lot. At a tender age of 7 months, we did not want to burden his young joints with a backpack to offset the weight and volume of food he would need.
.
.
Erica was leading, and set the pace surprisingly high. I think she was excited to reach our campsite. It was plenty warm, and we knew a swim at High Falls would be refreshing. The trail started off easy. The mostly pine forest had a fairly smooth floor, with some rocks mixed in, and a significant amount of undergrowth. There were many easy steps, with only a few significant climbs mixed in.
.
.
To navigate, we had our paper copy of the trail map, as well as the All Trails Pro app on my iPhone. I took a picture of the paper map on my phone for ease of handling. The phone effectively used GPS to track our location. The version of the map on the app had a few extra trails shown, that perhaps were a result of a user uploading a track with some bushwacking adventures. Overall though, the trail was very well signed, which made navigating fairly easy.
So, without a lot of drama, we reached the campsites. We checked out a few different ones, before making our selection. We were tired from the fast hike in, and cooked up / re-hydrated some food.
.
.
Though our site had access to water, it was a little marshy, so not good for filtering or swimming access. So, we headed to the popular high falls area for a swim. We first dipped in a little private spot, but knew we were not yet in “the” spot, because we heard voices in the distance, and we had not yet spotted the scene we had viewed in pictures. So, we hiked just a little bit further, and then found “the” spot.
.
.
It was the epitome of natural summertime fun in Canada. The view was wonderful. The water was warm, yet still refreshing, and a wonderful treat after hiking with heavy bags for a few hours. The only thing that could have made it better would have been total privacy. While it was later in the day, and there were never too many people there, we were not alone for more than a few moments. Even the Adventure Mutt got in on the swimming fun, when she just could not bear how far away Erica had swum away. Feeling refreshed, we all headed back to our campsite, and after tidying up, tucked into the tent for the night.
We were not quick to get going in the morning. We did not feel we had to hurry, because we had slightly less distance to cover than the day before, which we hiked pretty quickly. We were aware that we would have to navigate a “Glacial Boulder Field” on this day, but did not expect that to slow us down too much. Eventually, we got to tidying up our campsite. Erica dashed out to High Falls again to filter some water, and met some friendly folks along the way. We did not interact with many people on this trip, but everyone we did talk to was very friendly.
.
.
While obviously not as fresh as the day before, we felt pretty good. Some of the trail sections we started with were quite overgrown. Perhaps fewer hikers bother to go beyond High Falls? The trail remained well signed though, so we had no struggles following the trail. It did not take us too long to realize there was a consequence to starting our hike late in the morning. Heat. It was a very hot day, and we were hiking through the hottest hours of it. I don’t know exactly how hot it was, as we had no thermometer or access to weather reports. However, I estimate it was around 30C +/-. We were sweating, more than we usually do. Being in the woods, refreshing breezes did not reach us too often. Probably about 40% of the way through the hike, we stopped to filter more water, and have a very hearty snack. We were probably stopped for around 20 minutes.
.
.
When we got going again, things did not get going too well. We did not make it much more than 150 meters, before Erica said she was not feeling well. At this point, we were at a “campsite” on Bucholtz Lake. However, it appeared to be more boulder field than campsite. In any case, there were occasional light breezes coming off the lake. So, with plenty of daylight still available, I simply offered to set up the hammock, and let Erica rest until she felt better.
.
.
Don’t believe the smiles, they are fake! Personally, I did not mind the break either.
Hilton offered to carry my pack if needed, but I declined.
.
.
This episode turned into a fairly short delay. It did not take us to long to get going again. Yay for magic hammocks. We once again turned our focus to completing the day’s hike. Even with the big packs, the boulder fields we encountered on the day were not too troublesome for us. We were through them at a reasonable pace, and then it was back to smoother trails.
.
.
We were both very excited when we saw the sign, indicating that we had reached the trail to the campsites on Johnston Lake. The first campsite we stepped foot on looked perfect. It had a nice flat spot for our tent, shade, and great water access. Perfect. We’ll take it. Before you could say “great Canadian weekend” we were both swimming in the water. Oh it was nice. The water was again quite warm, but it still provided the relief from the heat that we needed.
.
.
We really enjoyed our time at this site. There was a pair of hikers camped on the same lake, but they were quiet, and left sooner than we did. So, it was incredibly peaceful and quiet. Spots like that, are why you go backcountry camping. It is so wonderful to find the natural peace that can be so hard to find near our cities.
.
.
When morning came, we did our best to not dilly-dally too long, since Erica had to work a night shift that night, and needed to get some sleep in the early evening. We had a very short hike back to our vehicle that morning, as we chose to forego the Berm Lake trail section. We completed the trail without issue, and arrived back at the truck, which looked just as we had left it.
.
.
.
.
On our exit, we took a quick drive around the Achray campground. While nice, we would probably not choose to haul our trailer there, due to the long and sometimes rough drive. We were not done our adventure yet though. I still wanted to see the Barron Canyon. It would be just silly to drive right by a canyon, which you can access via only 1.5km of hiking.
So, after driving just a couple minutes, we popped out of the truck at the trailhead, and set off, unburdened, for the short hike. The trail was mostly uphill, and did deliver the views I was looking for. Again, we did not linger too long, but I was glad we stopped.
.
.
We had one final stop to make before we arrived home. We were both craving an ice cold, carbonated, sugar loaded drink. So, we stopped at a chip truck in Bancroft, and refreshed ourselves with a canned beverage, and also put back some salty and greasy food. Oh yum. The skies turned dark, and we hopped back into the truck for the final stretch home, as it began to rain and thunder.
.
.
And that’s about a wrap for our first backpacking trip. We both enjoyed the experience, and I suspect Erica will be planning more backpacking trips for us in the future. We both had a good time, and felt we were pretty well prepared. Moving forward, one of my top priorities will be trying to figure out a way to get better quality sleep, as I struggled with that through most of the trip. I’m thinking a better pillow, and maybe some whiskey would be a good start.
Happy Camping
I had fun reading this report of yours. Thanks btw.
