On the map : Pink is the route we took down, Blue the route we took back. Not much different. Campsites are marked, too. The trip was about 20km in, 20km back.

So, the trip. Left Monday, headed up to Algonquin. Got there about 3:30, which is a bit earlier then expected, but still, too late to start anything major. So, as planned, we stayed at the paddle in sites in Canisbay, very nice, private. We were the only ones on the whole lake. A nice meal of chicken Caesar salad (hey, we brought a cooler for that first night at the no-portage paddle-in) and a breakfast of bacon and eggs the next morning. Leftover chicken and bacon and eggs went into the salad for lunch. Swam in the lake, cold but refreshing. The weather was threatening rain but only really did anything once we had retired, though a brief shower had us appreciating the loaner tarp.

Day one of the real trip was Tuesday - we packed up on Canisbay, paddled back (a whopping 15 minute canoe trip) to the car, loaded that back up, went to Canoe lake to get registered for the backwoods, then to Smoke for put in. Smoke Lake is kinda long and windy, about 45 minutes of paddling. Nothing serious, a pretty good warmup. Neither M nor I are experts, though she's in far better shape then me. The weather was gorgeous all during the day, beautiful blue skies and wispy clouds.

From Smoke, the first portage, a 240m portage to Ragged Lake. We'd done this portage in the other direction in September, as part of a day trip. Before we set out, we'd abandoned the one trip portage, opting for 2 trips - in reality, that sorta turned into 2.5 most times - there was no rush, we were packed a bit heavy, and, well, I'm not in that great of shape. I've got plenty of strength, next to no endurance. Down Ragged Lake, a well named body of water, heading south to the portage to Big Porcupine. A longer portage this time - 590m and very much uphill. Still, not a big deal, it was fine. Tiring, but fine. We lunched at the end of the portage - more Caesar salad and apples and cheese. In Big Porcupine, we detoured 'round a portage, taking the scenic route. Well, it was basically 35 minutes of paddling vs 30 minutes of portaging - I know which I'd rather. Down Big Porcupine between a couple of islands - where we saw one of only two other groups on the water. Waved to them as we passed them and took a campsite out of line of sight and view, right next to the next day's first portage. That was the first campsite, marked C1 for those following along at home. A nice meal of three cheese pasta, one of those instant packets from the supermarket, spiced up with chili flakes and dried mushrooms (oyster and portebello) and sundried tomatoes. Yum. The rain rolled in after we were finished dinner, we hustled to get the camp ready for the night and beat it handily.

Up the next morning late - we decided that we were not going to go the full distance to Harness Lake. M had twisted her ankle a bit on the first portage and we decided just to take things easy. I offered pancakes, but we went with oatmeal. As we were eating, we could see the group from the night before heading to the portage, but they were gone before we got there. Packed up and headed there ourselves, a nice short portage (200m) to Bonnechere. Up Bonnechere, making sure to pick the right outlet to find the portage to Phipps (175m). There we geared up in raingear for a brief but intense shower, then unpacked lunch (bagels and pb and j and trail mix and stuff) and books and had a long, leisurely break. This WAS a vacation and with the long distance already decided against, we weren't in a hurry. Phipps, once we got into it, started as a river, that wound through marshes. Lots of direction changes - hairpin bends, even, but not a big deal since the current was basically inperceivable. Things did get a bit interesting when we ran into a beaver dam across the entire passageway - had to get out, wade and lift the canoe over the dam. Fun, fun. Kinda neat, actually. Then finish the river, cross Phipps lake (a small lake) to a tiny (60m) portage to Kirkwood. Since we were trying to take it easy, this is where we stopped for the night - C2, on a pretty little island. (We stopped at this lake since the next portage was to have been the biggest - 715m - and M's ankle was still iffy and we were feeling lazy - it was only 3:30 when we called it a day). A nice night, chicken and dumplings for dinner (a backpacker meal), though I burnt the coffee cake I tried for desert. Ah, well. Need more practice with the Outback Oven.

Next day, first day heading back. The plan was to hit Ragged Lake, making it the longest of any of our travel days, including the 'big' 590m portage. Up relatively early (this WAS a vacation), more oatmeal (I offered pancakes again, but coffee seemed the only key thing) and to the canoe. A 2 minute paddle to the 60m portage, a quick jaunt across and off we were going to the beaver dam. Took pictures this time, navigated across and on to Bonnechere. Down Bonnechere, across the portage to Big Porcupine. Coming back Big Porcupine we took a wrong turn (went down the wrong narrow outlet) and ended up in a neat little pond. It was, however, a dead end, so back we went, taking the RIGHT narrow outlet this time, around the Big Porcupine optional portage to the 590m portage back to Ragged Lake. With that portage done, we had accomplished the bare minimum for the day, but we decided, it being only 4, to press on a bit, eventually ending as far as we could go and not actually leave the lake, C3, by the portage to Smoke (there are no campsites on Smoke, it being a busy, cottage filled, motor boat running sort of place). The whole day was gorgeous, blue sky, beautiful sun, no rain. Dinner was a lovely rice dish, with mushroom and broccoli and chicken, improvised out of dried stuff and two packs of rice dishes from the supermarket.

Up the next morning, crossing to the portage, where we ran into only the second group we saw the whole time - and it turns out, they were connected to the first. They were a group of high school students with a teacher, doing a class trip. I never had class trips like that! Good bunch of kids, from what we saw, though they zipped through that portage much faster then we did :) Less gear and more hands (three kids to a canoe) really helps. Now back in Smoke, we paddled across to the docks, loaded the car and headed across the road to Canoe Lake - to the Portage Restaurant for a hamburger. That done, we headed home, a good trip under our belts.