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| Algonquin Park, Ontario |
Coming from one of the cottages in Huntsville, my friends
and I decided to make a day trip out of Algonquin Provincial Park, the first
provincial park in Ontario and the largest. It was about 20 minutes from Huntsville to the West
gate, where we went to get information and daily permits.
We looked at the map and decided to check out the Logging Museum as our farthest point and make our way back along the Highway 60 corridor. As we were driving for over 15 minutes already, it dawned on me that I did not really digest the scale of the map—that the Logging Museum was actually about 50km from the West Gate. We realized how huge this park really was. And actually, looking more closely at the maps, we saw that the developed area (including the Highway 60 corridor) was only a fraction of the whole park! The backcountry is only accessible by canoe or on foot--with over 2,000km of canoe routes and about 140km of backpacking trails!
We looked at the map and decided to check out the Logging Museum as our farthest point and make our way back along the Highway 60 corridor. As we were driving for over 15 minutes already, it dawned on me that I did not really digest the scale of the map—that the Logging Museum was actually about 50km from the West Gate. We realized how huge this park really was. And actually, looking more closely at the maps, we saw that the developed area (including the Highway 60 corridor) was only a fraction of the whole park! The backcountry is only accessible by canoe or on foot--with over 2,000km of canoe routes and about 140km of backpacking trails!
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| views along the way @ Algonquin Park |
Anyway, we spent a good hour walking through this outdoor
museum. It was the most refreshing thing to walk under the canopy of trees
while the smell of pine enveloped us. There were 20 stations and a total of a
1.5km easy walking trail. The trail took us back in time through the history of
logging from the early days to modern management. They had a recreated camboose
camp where loggers used to sleep. They had different log transportation
featured from horses, tug boats and trains. It was very interesting and worth
the drive!
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| Camboose Camp @ Logging Museum, Algonquin Park |
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| Tugboat @ Logging Museum, Algonquin Park |
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| Beast of burden, one of the outdoor displays @ Logging Museum, Algonquin Park |
After the museum, we had a picnic lunch at the East Beach
before checking out the Algonquin Art Centre (by the KM 20 mark). The Art
Centre had an indoor gallery showcasing works with varied style, medium and
subject. There were paintings, backlit art, sculptures and many more.
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| outdoors @ Algqonquin Art Centre, Algonquin Park |
Before heading home, we went on our last hike at the
Hardwood Lookout Trail, a moderately difficult 0.8km trail. The trail
culminated in a nice area with a couple of benches so you can enjoy the view of
Smoke Lake.
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| Smoke Lake from Hardwood Lookout Trail @ Algonquin park |
There were many, many other things to do at the park. While
I would not recommend the beaches for swimming (the girls said the ground was
slimy and the area for swimming was small), it would be great for kayaking and
canoeing. Of course the park was perfect for what most people come to Algonquin
to do—camp.
There were several signs along the way to watch out for
wildlife. We actually saw a moose so we stopped the car and ogled along with
others.
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| Wildlife Crossing @ Algqonquin Park, Ontario |
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| Moose sighting @ Algonquin Park, Ontario |
It may seem like this was all so much wilderness but, civilization was
not so far away. Within the park, there were cabins (if you are not into
setting up tents), they were groceries, outfitters who rented out equipment and
the public washrooms were actually clean!
Algonquin was a great park and I’m glad we were able to
check it out, even for just the day.
