Travel Diaries: Tom Thomson Lake, Algonquin Park 2015

01 Sep Travel Diaries: Tom Thomson Lake, Algonquin Park 2015

P and I had an amazing trip to Algonquin Park this year with his brother and girlfriend. It was nice to go with people who’ve already been outback camping several times because they had a lot of tips and tricks to share from their experiences.

Our trek to the campsite was a long one, which started early Saturday morning. We packed two canoes full of our gear and set out for a 12 kilometre trip with a short portage in the middle. The whole trip took us about 4 hours and although my arms and seat were not my friends, it didn’t seem so bad while looking at the beautiful scenery along the way. When we finally arrived to our destination of Tom Thomson Lake, settled on a rockier campsite which would get a decent amount of sun and had a great view of the sunset. There was also a resident family of chipmunks in a large tree near the campfire. Although they were cute, they created a new job of guarding the food bags while they weren’t in the tree to ensure no chipmunks were around or inside them.

P and I set up our tent on a flat patch of land between trees, with a beautiful view of one of the lake’s inlets. We all looked for the perfect tree to hang our food bags in, and set up a pulley system to make hanging the bags easier. After the work was done, it was time to relax. We made a delicious steak and potato meal for dinner and talked while we sat by the campfire and gazed at the stars. I haven’t seen a sky that beautiful and that clear for a really long time!

The next day was probably my favourite day. Paul and I woke up early and went down to the water to do some fishing. I sat by him and took in the view of the sun glistening on the water under a pale blue sky. When the others got up, we made breakfast and discussed the possibilities of doing a day trip, but decided against it as we all wanted to relax after the long day before. We went for a quick swim and went canoeing around Tom Thomson Lake, as P and his brother wanted to go fishing. We also lazed about in the sun and took in the beautiful scenery. That night was also my favourite sunset. I can’t wait to put some photos from our trip on our walls!

The days after became progressively rainier and colder. Some days were so cold that I wore two layers of pants, a sweater and my jacket (with both the hoods done up) and gloves, and I would still be cold. Our third day was so cold and uninteresting that I didn’t even touch my camera. Because the weather was so inconsistent, we weren’t able to go on a daytrip without the possibility of getting soaked. Instead, we spent a lot of time inside our tents either reading and relaxing or playing games together. On most wet and cold days the rain would clear and the clouds would disperse in the afternoon which left us with some beautiful sunsets. Most nights we were still able to enjoy a campfire which was nice.

Despite the rainy weather and strangely cold temperatures we had, I still had an amazing trip. The campsites aren’t crowded at all and the scenery can’t be beat. Since we had to cross over a huge beaver dam to get to Tom Thomson lake, there were no motor boats near our site which made it very quiet and peaceful. I would go again in a heartbeat and would definitely recommend it.