Algonquin Ablaze

Oct 07, 2013 by Danny in Camping

Oxtongue River

Ever since moving to Ontario, we’ve sort of had a tradition of stalking the fall colours on Thanksgiving weekend. For many years that involved heading up to Gatineau Park in Quebec for a mountain bike ride and to visit friends in Ottawa. In recent years (read since having a kid) that trip has changed into going to Algonquin for a hike or a bike ride (with kid trailer in tow).

Our Algonquin trips have had mixed results, at least in terms of the fall colours. Anywhere from peak colour to 100% of the leaves being underfoot. Once we were even turned around half way there with our car full of camping gear because it started to snow… I know, we’re wimps.

So this fall when we found out that we were going to be away for the Thanksgiving weekend, I thought for sure we were going to miss all the colours. But lucky for us, peak colour in Algonquin was last weekend, so at the last minute we packed up the car and headed north.

Our first stop was at Oxtongue River, just outside the west gate of the park. Like most photographers, I can’t resist the lure of running water, so when I heard about this place I knew I had to go check it out. Plus, it was outside of the madness of the park! I threw on my ND filter to get the silky look to the water.

Oxtongue River

Lookout Trail

Next we headed up the Lookout trail to check out the view. We’ve been up this trail many times, but have never seen quite so many people! Despite the crowd, we stuck around for the sunset since it was getting late. I managed to get a few clear shots, despite the group of photographers who had setup camp at the edge of the lookout blocking the view for the entire time we were there!

Lookout Trail

Lookout Trail – Sunset HDR

The next morning, I crawled out of the tent a little early and headed over to see the sunrise over Lake Of Two Rivers. Luckily it was a two minute walk from our site! And again, I couldn’t believe the crowd of people there that early in the morning. It looked like most had been there for some time to claim their spots, but I was lucky to be able to scope out a couple of locations, especially the one with the boats in the frame. I almost took a swim trying to make my way out past the beach to get a shot of the mist across the lake, but thanks to a stronger than average sapling, I managed to stay relatively dry.

Lake Of Two Rivers

Once the sun was up (and since everyone else was still sleeping!) I headed out for a drive down highway 60 to see how the trees along the corridor would look in the morning sun. I was hoping for some clouds or fog, but all I got was blue skies… you photographers understand.

Highway 60

After a long morning of taking photos, it was time to head back to camp for breakfast. I was going to have some plain old oatmeal, but my son had the best idea ever. Yeah, those are Fruit Loops in my oatmeal. Patent pending…

Yummy!

He’s unmanageable until he has his first Leappad game

Moose Butt

Once I was powered up with my Fruit Loop Oatmeal (Patent Pending), we were off for a bike ride along the railway trail (well, mostly on the railway trail – but I won’t get into that). While biking along we ran across a couple of hikers who alerted us to this moose, that we then proceeded to scare off. But I did get a nice photo of his hind quarter. Once the moose was gone we headed back to camp. Luckily I made it most of the way back before my rear tire exploded (quite literally).

Boom

After a nice hike-a-bike back to the camp site, we got packed up and headed home. On our way, we left the beaten path and headed down to Rock Lake for the first time in years. I think this was some of the best colours we saw the whole trip. Unfortunately it was mid-day under blue skies, not the best conditions for photos, but it was still an outstanding view.