The end of another week away and a cracking morning to boot. All the more reason to spend it an outdoors store on our way out of Montreal. The plan, once out of the store, is to head to the outskirts of Algonquin Park. It's a fair old drive and already we're now into our fourth province, Ontario, of the trip. The Focus is still holding out as well, always said what a fine car it is! We'd enjoyed our time in the cities but wanted to get back out to the countryside again and get some fresh air.
24/7: Rach in outdoor shop, pig in muck!
Saturday September 15th
Heavy overnigh
t rain had left the poor old tent a bit wet but we were dry as peanuts in there and once packed up we were headed for the Park. We made our way to Opeongo Lake, the largest of the lakes in the park, and there are hundreds, and got ourselves kitted out for some back country camping. The only way to get to these campsites is by canoe or kayak so we got ourselves a sturdy looking canoe for two. It took us a good while to get ourselves packed up as we needed to take everything that we would need for 3 days with us. Once ready we headed out onto the water which was pretty choppy. Being the intrepid types we headed straight across the lake and found the first campsite we could, which turned out to be a fantastically secluded one with great en suite facilities (see photo). The Park is fantastic and so quiet and remote. We spent the afternoon pottering along the shoreline to see if we could spot any local wildlife and by evening the skies had cleared and it was very still with another frost forecast. The toothpaste is wrapped up warm.24/7: Quiet enough to hear a pin drop
Sunday September 16th
The night's sleep had been a bit fraught out in back country as on several occasions we'd heard wolves howling away. Very cool to hear but a little worrying as you don't know exactly where they are. It was a cold and misty start to the day but slowly the sun burnt through and it was blue skies all the way. It was still a little choppy on the water but with my renowned nautical skills we made good progress and were able to use in anger for the first time the hand-held GPS that was kindly given to me by the guys at infoLogic http://www.infologic.biz/ - thanks Milton and Richard :-). It told us we'd paddled a good 6km and that our chosen campsite for the evening was westerly facing so we were guaranteed the sun setting on us. Once we'd set up camp we went on a wildlife hunt again and this time came across a family of 3 otters playing in the water. Great to see them up close in their natural environment. We passed the night away with a camp fire and star gazing.
24/7: Squirrels really shouldn't be hoarding that rice
Monday September 17th
Nobody likes the Monday morning commute; the feeling of a whole week of work ahead, the rush hour traffic and the colder mornings. Luckily we were in Algonquin Park, in the middle of nowhere, with a canoe to paddle a few hours back to base. Again I had to bail Rach out on the paddle home with my skills (!) as there was a significant wind. We found a lovely sheltered spot for lunch and a 
quick swim before heading back to the store to hand everything back, minus the food rope (used to keep food out of the reach of bears) which we'd left tied around a tree. The weather was still glorious so we found ourselves another campsite in the park to spend the night and again watched stars from the beach of a lake.
Tuesday September 18th
Another beautiful morning in Algonquin Park but sadly our last. This really is a beautiful place and it would have been good to have spent a lot longer here but it's time to move on again with Toronto our next destination.
On the way down we decided that it would be a good idea to add another 250km onto the journey to take in Niagara Falls, as you do. They are a spectacular sight and if you look beyond the touristy bits it's a very beautiful sight. We both didn't feel like we were actually there though, a feeling that we've had a lot recently where we still can't quite believe we're away. A very worthwhile detour though. We camped on the outskirts (well 60km away really) of Toronto ready to head in and drop the car off in the morning.
24/7: It's water flowing over rock, but wow!
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