Both Cathy and I wanted to do some backpacking in the Adirondacks as our hiking holiday for this summer but our plans changed when we found out that there were two escaped convicts hiding out in that area (who have since been captured), so we decided to stay in Canada and go west. There were a few choices like Frontenac Park and Killarney Park but Algonquin Park provided a route that we could easily do as a loop which had campsites along the way while still maintaining a rugged and backcountry feel. We plotted our campsites along the Western Uplands Loop, a 32km hiking loop along a marked trail and designated campsites that we had to book in advance. We saw the weather forecast of rain and decided to go ahead and take our chances that maybe the weather would clear. We arrived in the park, registered, parked the car and donned our heavy backpacks. Shortly into the hike it started the rain and the rain continued. We arrived at our first campsite at Maple Leaf Lake, not seeing a soul anywhere. There was a large tent set up a distance away that we could from the trail near our campsite but nobody was there nor showed up. We were able to set up the tent, arrange the bear hang and have our supper. The rain started again and stopped and so on throughout the night. We had a beautiful sunset the first night where we were located. The next morning we packed up and continued. There was still no sign of life near that tent we saw nor was there anyone along the route, probably because of the rain forecast. It rained the entire day, really dampening our spirits and making it difficult to dry off. We arrived at our next campsite at Maggie Lake. It was still raining so we first set up a tarp to drop our gear under and set up our chairs. Cathy settled into her chair to rest while I searched for a good bear hang tree. It continued to pour, everything was so wet, we waited some time before putting up the tent but realized we could not wait any longer. After finding and setting up the rope to hang the food, we pressed on to get the tent up. Once it was up, I wiped down the floor of the tent and threw all the gear in that was under the tarp. Now we could have supper. It was too long after supper that we just hung the food bag and went to bed. It was a long restless night.
Next camp: Oak Lake
Next camp: Ramona Lake
Next camp: Guskewau Lake
Then out to parking lot, enough time to load the car before more rain came. On the way home, the car produced a smell so we needed to stop and have a mechanic look at it. The fluid was low so he topped it up and we were able to make it home.
