Last day in Algonquin

A beautiful misty morning on Lake McIntosh for our final departure. After breakfast of eggs and bacon , we set out with the knowledge of a 2.5km portage looming early in the day's journey.

The south of McIntosh Lake was narrow marshy channels which made for pleasant paddling and wildlife spotting before heading into the big portage.

The ground was very undulating and rocky, but as it was still quite early the heat was bearable and the journey going well...until bloody mosquitos. About a quarter of the way into the journey, we were assaulted with a swarm of the biggest mosquitos I have ever seen. One of the buggers even bit me through my shirt. So we had a quick deet stop, spraying on more of the stuff than we've used all holiday. It mercifully seemed to do the trick.

The rest of the paddle was very pleasant, down Little Oxtongue river with a quick lunch stop before heading back to the permit office on Canoe Lake for a pick up.

Back at base, with all our kit returned (and no black pans!) we enjoyed our first non-lake wash in a week before dinner again at Lobo's as we started 😊Read more