Moose Country - An Algonquin Park Canoe Story

Throughout our travels across Ontario and Canada we have definitely begun to associate different landscapes and parts of the country with various animals. From black bears along the shores of Lake Huron to caribou, sheep and bison along the Alaska highway in northern BC to grizzly bears and people dressed like them in the Yukon. What kind of fur do you got there? That is a grizz and that's a bull. That is awesome. They both started to eat me with gold mining so I had to do them. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. When thinking about Algonquin Park there is one animal that comes to mind, moose. The trip we're about to attempt would see us traveling through prime moose habitat including rivers, streams and wetlands. It turns out that moose often travel the very same paths that we do and this trip was a perfect example of why Algonquin is known as moose country. This trip would begin down the Tim River as we made our way towards Big Bob Lake. It wouldn't take long for us to notice our dog's noses twitching. We've learned to trust their senses and if their noses are in the air it's time to get the cameras ready as there is almost always an animal nearby. First moose of the trip baby. Being quiet paid off. We had already managed to see a moose and we'd only been paddling for a few minutes. It was looking like we were going to be in for a great trip. First portage baby. We had a series of four portages to complete before we could set up camp for the evening. I always find the first day of a trip the most tiring. Between packing the previous day, driving to the destination and always seeming to struggle sleeping the night before any trip, I think we were both looking forward to getting to camp. Let's find a campsite here. Well there's only three. Yeah. Well what do you think of this site? It's definitely well used. I feel like it's someone's favorite campsite. Yeah. Especially considering that someone left their solar shower. Oh yeah. Yeah. Those are key. To be honest. Well you could actually use it. I was thinking you could. Sitting here at our campsite looking out across the lake and I just spotted a looks like a cow moose wandering across the marsh there. We were just kind of talking when we pulled up here that we thought we might, you could just picture a moose being right there and of course there's a moose. That was good. Right after we got to camp I pretty well passed out. I had a little siesta. I was so tired. I was just like a freaking zombie walking around here. So Ashley set the sleeping pads and sleeping bags and everything up and got everything ready and I had a nap. So thank you. You're welcome. I feel much better now we're sitting here having dinner watching Mr. Moose wandering across the swamp. Mrs. Moose. That's right. Yeah and it's a great sight. It's a beautiful evening. Yeah. Probably the nicest night we've had outdoors this season. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. This is lovely. Because of some booking complications, well actually my lack of planning, we would have to backtrack tomorrow to make it to Longbow Lake which was our next booked site. I had originally planned for us to paddle across the Nipissing River but I forgot to book a site along the route. It was a rookie mistake but not a big deal. Although I was a little bit disappointed Backtracking along some portages we were well acquainted with as we slowly made our way back towards Tim Lake and down the Tim River. We would try to paddle as quietly as possible and keep a close eye on our dogs as we were traveling through prime moose country once again. There is always something unbelievable about seeing these animals. Any wild animal really. This would certainly be the highlight of the day. We would continue down the Tim River which is a really beautiful paddle and kept our eyes peeled for another moose but that would be the only sighting for the day. We would eventually make it to camp for the night where we would enjoy one of Ashley's home-cooked and dehydrated meals and a warm fire. It was the perfect way to end the day. Day three was one that both Ashley and I were looking forward to. Today we would be traveling down a section of the Tim River that flows towards Big Trout Lake. We had not traveled this section of water before but looking at the map it seemed fairly likely we would see another moose or two especially given the past couple of days. Maybe a slightly tougher start than we were expecting. We've discovered that the Tim River has quite a few blowdowns. Lots of beaver dams and it's a little bit low right now. We're making our way there slowly but surely. We would weave and wind our way down the Tim River at one point almost running into a moose which fortunately for us disappeared into the bush. On the final portage of the day we found an old log cabin and some cleared land where once upon a time someone used to live here. Just imagine the life and stories that family would have had. It would be an early night for us. The following day although we didn't have far to travel we had close to five kilometers worth of portaging on our way back towards the Vine Lake. Good news we're only about five kilometers from our destination lake today. I'll suggest we check the GPS. It says we've got about five kilometers of portaging. Let's go. with the theme of this trip being moose it was no surprise that at the end of this overgrown and difficult to navigate portage we were rewarded with a bull moose skull. It was like we were paddling with Sir David Attenborough the way the wildlife and other hidden gems kept popping out of the woodwork. That is really cool baby. It's not cool? Yeah very cool. It's heavy. It is heavy yeah. Get your little workout in for the day. Oh yeah. Yeah no I thought you needed one so. Oh thank you. You're very welcome. That is cool. We will leave that here for the next people to find. See how the antlers are chewed up. It can also be apparently other deer and moose sometimes will eat sheds as well. Still got the chompers. That's super cool. Teamwork makes the dream work. With a beautiful campsite and the lake to ourselves. This was turning out to be a memorable trip and one of our best for wildlife viewing. We were on the home stretch now. Truthfully we could easily have paddled out from Divine Lake but we had two days to do so. We thought we would take our time and quietly paddle back to the access hoping to see a few more moose along the way. We wouldn't be disappointed. Massive pine trees at that campsite. Big pines eh? Yeah huge. Last portage of the day. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm feeling good. Me too. Feeling good. It's only it's not even one o'clock yet and we're almost on our lake. Longbow. Unbelievably once again just as we were arriving at camp we were greeted with a cow and a calf out in the open in the middle of a sand flat feeding and enjoying the breeze I'm sure which was doing a great job at keeping the flies away. It's always so interesting watching a cow and a calf. The calves always seem to pick up on your presence well before the cow does or maybe she knows and just isn't concerned. It was an amazing experience as we stayed well back and watched them wade across the lake. We would eventually make camp for the night and enjoy a perfect evening relaxing and watching the sunset all while keeping an eye out for our four-legged friends. The final day of this trip would begin just as you would expect. Wake up early, this that make me love canoe tripping more and more. Being able to silently move across the land and see wildlife and landscapes as they are supposed to be is pure joy. We could not have been more fortunate on this trip to see all the wildlife and I don't know if we'll ever have another trip quite like this one. As we packed up our truck for the journey home we took one more look around and as luck would have it right from the parking lot at the access another moose would send us off from another amazing adventure in Algonquin Park.