Friday, February 23, 2007

My first solo Canoe Trip!


After thinking about it for a while, I have decided to go on a solo trip. I have penciled it in for early July and it will be 4 days, 3 nights. This will be the first time I have been to Algonquin without Gerry and to be honest, I am feeling a bit guilty about going without him. You see it was Gerry that introduced me to Algonquin and we have learned everything to this point together, so it just feels wrong for him not to be involved. I did ask him if he would be interested and he was, but he only has so much vacation, so he is unable to go. It will be so weird to be there without him, but the experience I gain here should help us both on CC 2007.

Now I have posted a map of a route I may take, but as many of the guys on Algonquin Adventures have noted, this may be to much for my first solo...so I may just stay on Big Crow. The idea of doing the huge Dickson Portage solo is very appealing to me...hmm, still need to consider it , but at this point I am leaning towards staying on Big Crow.

For my first solo I wanted to go somewhere very cool and from what I have read Big Crow Lake fits the bill. There's so much to see on this lake...like the fire tower, the old stand of while pines, the view, the ranger cabin, the spring and lots of other cool features. I will be using the water Taxi to get to the start and again at the finish to avoid having to paddle the Op.

4 comments:

twugster said...

GOOD LUCK on your RuN this weekend!

new guy said...

I would like an opinion from someone experienced in solo interior portages and was hoping you could help. I have never been interior camping or done any portaging but plan to start this spring as time allows. Since I will most often be going solo I'm concerned about leaving my gear behind on the trail if I can not make the portage distance in one trip, is there reason for concern or is there some guidelines you can give.
Thanks in advance - Brian

Jim said...

Hey New Guy,

I have always single carried portages, but I would not be concerned about leaving your stuff when doing a double carry.

I may be generalizing, but in my experience canoe folk are good, hard working and honest. Thieves on the other hand tend to be a combination of dumb and lazy. As unlikely as an incident of theft would be, if a would be thief tried ..chances are they would be dumb enough to start rummaging through your bag just as you return to pick get it.

I would worry more about the weather then anyone stealing your stuff.

Great question and thanks for stopping by.

BlogJammer said...

I've decided to attempt my first solo trip in Algonquin this summer. I've been going to the park since I was a child and consider my self a capable outdoorsman. I am concearned about how I will feel during the night, I have always had at least one other indivdual with me. I am going to camp on island sites in hopes it will provide a sense, false or not of security for my first attempt at solo. Any advice would be great.

Thanks, JW