I Canoed Alone Through the Algonquin Wilderness in Fall

Hey everyone, welcome to another adventure. If you're new to the channel my name is Ese, welcome to beautiful Algonquin. Well we just crossed Cedar Lake, we're on to our first portage of the day. 715 meter Cedar Lake to Petawawa River. It gets dark around 7 30 so we got five hours of sunlight. There's a lot of portages on this trip guys, some nasty nasty ones including a 2400 meter one coming up. First load, we have to drop this and go back for the canoe. No time for lunch time today so eat on the go. Yes the smell of the forest, so good to be here. Just took a little diversion, I think there's some falls over here and we can get a sneak peek. Let's have a look. How could you not smile when you see something as beautiful as that? If I can get a little closer. mother nature can provide that in one second. Pure happiness, pure joy seeing that, that's amazing. There's the old girl, what are we gonna name her? We have some time to decide her name, we don't know yet, we have to feel how she behaves and stuff you know. So they didn't have the canoe that I wanted, I wanted a smaller canoe. She's a 16'2", she's slim and she weighs about 40 pounds. I think I like her. Another set of absolutely stunning waterfalls but we can't paddle up that so, yep it's portage time and it starts over here. Hey bear! Why not? It's pretty loud with the rapid so I don't want to startle anything. canoe and it was right there. That was awesome, I've never seen a moose that close. Yes! So what I might do is, I might split this portage into two days. It's getting late now, it's already close to 5pm. Maybe I'll take the canoe about a third of the way, come back for all the gear and walk all the way through the portage to the campsite. There's a campsite at the end of this portage, camp there and then tomorrow morning come back for the canoe to complete it. Let's get to camp. Oh it keeps going forever and always uphill, mind over matter. It can always be done. Yes! Oh man I thought that portage was never gonna end. Morning guys! The canoe is near the start of the portage so better get going and rescue the old canoe. So I've been getting my water from here but it's pretty stagnant, a little stinky so I'm gonna go see if I can walk towards the fault, where the water is moving at least, and improve the water quality. Oh yeah, much better. I'm still boiling it but that's much much better than that. Alright, 8.30am, camp is packed away. Now what's left is to go get the canoe. 1.6 kilometers that way and another 1.6 back. Hello dear, how was your night? Yeah, mine was good too. There we go, almost there. Yes sir, this is how we do it boy! Little bit of map time. We started here, we crossed Cedar Lake, onto the Petawawa 720 meter portage, continue on the Petawawa river, 290 meter portage, continue on the river and then we did that long 2,000 almost 2,400 meter portage and then we should be paddling with a tiny portage here to access Catfish Lake where we'll be camping tonight. Man, the conditions right now are just unbelievable. End of September, almost October, the leaves are in color, fiery reds and golden yellows. Wow, and the reflection of them on the water surface as well. Absolutely stunning. All right, coming to a very short portage, 80 meters, but I think that might be possible to avoid. Yes sir, that is a maceoratic. Where did that come from? Must have been sitting on top of a glacier thousands or if not millions of years ago. Just made it to Catfish, quite a big lake, about 6-7 kilometers in length. So I'm pushing south right now and I have a northeasterly wind so conditions are perfect. Time to put a life jacket on these bigger expanses of water. It's not worth the risk. Not because I didn't bring them, just because I'm not eating them. Welcome to Camp Canada. Oh no, ready and we don't have to be scrambling about at night time trying to find a branch and hang our food, you know, with the dark. So good to get that out the way early. I'm gonna do some laundry and I'm gonna refresh though. Oh boy, that is mucky. 7.30 pm, everything has been done, we've eaten, we've done all the camp chores, food is hanging. Well good morning everybody, it's day three at Camp Canada over here. We had a beaver just now, we had a beautiful view of the moon. You could see it perfectly. Oh my water's boiling here. One little tip guys, I suggest wrapping a little bit of duct tape around your Nalgene. A little bit left there so I should probably only use it for important things, you know. Perfect. I'm happy to announce that we have a new name for the canoe. Her name is Maple, like the Canadian flag. Next few hours we're going to be traveling up the Petohoa River again with a series of portages. We have about three or four portages, longest being about 420 meters so that's not bad. Coming up Catfish Rapids portage. Lovely little portage. All right, approaching second set of rapids. Portage number two, 450 Petohoa River to Snowshoe Rapids. All right, third portage of the day. It's a 90 meter one but I think it's very doable to avoid. Well it looks like this one is a portage. 390 Petohoa to Pearly Lake. Let's go. At this point the Petohoa River becomes Pearly Lake. There's a campsite here, we'll just take it for lunch. Reset, reload on some calories and attack the headwind section after lunch. Beautiful campsite in the pines. While the food hydrates again, try a little 15 minute nap maybe. It has rice noodles, spinach, split peas, chickpeas, carrots. I like it. In the rubbish bag it goes. Love being barefoot, so nice. You feel everything connected with nature. Hello Maple, I missed you too. In she goes. Oh my gosh, look at those reds. So beautiful. Absolutely on fire, the trees. Gorgeous. All right, we've come to the end of Pearly Lake. Got some rapids over here which connect to Burnt Root. 160 meter portage, maybe last portage of the day. I don't get tired of seeing those colors. Morag butterfly just flew over me. Beautiful. I don't hear anyone, I don't see anyone. I think we have the whole lake to ourselves, guys. We're right in the interior of Algonquin Park now, right in the heart of it. Yes. Oh my gosh, where the hell are we guys? Otherworldly is what comes to mind. Three days of traveling gets you here, portaging and makes it all worth it right now. Check it out guys, full of mussels. All right guys, so we are here. Tomorrow we have a relatively short day. We have a 1310 meter portage onto Robinson Lake, paddle 80 meter portage onto Whiskey Lake. It's getting dark quick, so we better go back to camp. It's a big animal in the water, must be a moose or a bear. I heard him crashing through some brush and then a bit of like huffing and puffing. I think it was a moose. Sounded like clucking, clucking kind of noise on the water, the hooves. Good to know they're out there. Good night, guys. Pasta for breakfast. Why not? I'm hungry, man. I could eat Put him out of misery. Beautiful little brookie. Thank you for your live fish. I appreciate it. Whoops. 10 a.m. wasn't planning on eating fish at this time, but there's a 1300 meter portage coming up and I don't want to carry the fish through the portage, so better to just clean it here and cook it up and eat it. Yum. And we'll get on with the trip. Yum. That's all that's left to this guy. It's amazing how quickly the leaves are falling now. It's all happening very quickly now. What a beautiful leaf, the maple, huh? Totally worthy of being in the Canada flag. The weather is just unbelievable. All right, there's our portage. We're portaging 1.3 kilometers straight north over this land. Tough portage. Keeps going uphill and the terrain's super bouldery and uneven. How does it never stop going uphill? Tomorrow we have a crazy day of portaging. So much portaging tomorrow. But all that matters is now and today. You know what? I'm going to leave my stuff here and go back for the canoe and kind of leapfrog, change it up. It's the same distance overall, but it breaks up the monotony. Portage complete. That took just over an hour and a half. I think the canoe will travel more over my head today than by water. That's okay. It's the price of accessing areas that not many people can access, you know? The price of solitude and it's totally worth it. Beautiful spot for lunch and now let's get on our way. You know, with regards to the question, is Algonquin wild? It's pristine. There isn't a square foot of land that isn't covered by trees. And yes, the campsites may be managed because so many people come here and it would be impossible to allow wild camping. They would destroy the land. This is wild. This is beautiful. This land is as it has been for thousands of years, you know? No roads, no electricity lines, no lights, no houses, no cars, nothing. You know, what's the definition of wild? Wild or not, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now. Cozy sleeping bag, signature underwear hanging line over there. What a beautiful view. Time to head back to camp. We have a big day tomorrow so I need an early sleep and early wake up as well. Tomorrow we got to paddle to the portage. 440 meter portage onto Ramona Lake and then we have a big big portage. 1950 meters. Pretty much photo straight away by another 860 meter portage. After that we're on the Nipissing river and hopefully we can camp here on the Nipissing. Better get some rest. It's going to be quite a physical day tomorrow. Lots of portaging so good night and I'll see you tomorrow early. Morning guys. It's 5 30 a.m today, day five. Big day today. We have 3.3 kilometers of portaging. That means 10 kilometer distance total walking and two-thirds of that will be either with a canoe on my head or carrying the bags. So with that, Lucky for me this one starts really flat. Nice. Hey bear. Give one of those every cell phone. Why not? He's a steeper downhill snower. Gonna be tricky with a canoe. I'm gonna be careful. Sun's coming through now. It's gonna be a super hot day. I think the hottest of the trip so far. All right. Biggest portage of the day coming up. 1930 meters. Nothing here to do but just to surrender and just do it. The forest floor is completely covered in leaves. So beautiful. Keeps going forever. I see water. That's the Nipissing river right there. Honestly can't get over how beautiful the maple leaf is. What a beauty. Hello Mr. Froggy. Having a good day in the forest? What a perfect chair. Who put this here? Recliner. In the shade too. Yes. Made it without stopping. That's awesome man. Almost two kilometers no stop. All right we're on the Nipissing river. 10 35. So that portage took us exactly two hours. A little bit of paddling and I think we have another 800 900 meter portage coming up. About three minute paddle and on to the last portage of the day. Full of these mussels. What a fantastic food source for the wildlife here you know. There's a lot of protein in one of those. Leave the water filtering. Back for the canoe. Isn't maple beautiful? She has to be carried that's for sure. Get on with your portage. What? What did you say? You want to mess with me? Hallelujah. No more portaging please. Ah yes be free. Fishing time. Barbless hooks as well. 10 gram spoon. All right move on. Not gonna get stubborn. Plenty of spots to try so move on and try another spot. Seems to be a little stream coming in here. Maybe there's fish hanging out there. Much colder in the river. Super clear as well. I don't know where it's coming from but definitely better quality drinking water. Loaded. Moose have been all over this beach. Those are mine. Fish. Yes. Oh I lost her. I'm gonna downsize this a little bit. All right downsized. I only have it in this color but I'm sure it's gonna work. Five grams. The other one was 10. Let's give this a go. Fish. Fish on. Oh that's a good one too. Oh my god. She's a beauty. Look at this fish. Wow. Nah I'm gonna let her go. Look at that. Look at that fish. It's good eating size but I don't want to. I don't want to eat her. Off you go. Yes this is what we came for. Yes. All the portaging. Everything makes sense now. Another good one. Whoa. Whoa. Another good one. Bye. Bye buddy. Absolutely covered in moose prints. I really hope we get to see one. It was 2 p.m and this is our camp up here. Good. I don't like my canoe too far away from my camp you know. Big moose droppings there. Check it out. Bugs and the color theory. White. No bugs. Bugs in the black. Bugs in the black. Gray. Nothing. Black. Another bug. Nothing here. Nothing here. Moral of the story. Don't wear black in the bush. All right we'll put him out of misery and that will be dinner. Spots are incredible. All the little ones are going crazy. They're having a feast. Little bit of fin, a little bit of skin, a little bit of bones. Yum. Just heard a moose. Terrible impression but somewhere around there definitely a moose call. All right guys I'm gonna sit there for a while see if I can spot any wildlife and if I do I'll show you. If not good night guys and I'll see you tomorrow. Holy ----. Right outside the tent. He was so close. Literally outside my tent. All right so today's day six. We have a significant distance to cover back to the start. Tomorrow I have a flight back to UK. I still have a six hour drive back to the airport. Feeling the pressure a little bit of making it out on time so either we're gonna make it out of the bush tonight and it's gonna be a super mega long day or I want to put myself in a situation where I'm with striking distance for tomorrow to make it to the airport. I was just about to say how much moose activity there was last night around the tent around camp and then just as I turned that corner a moose staring right at me. Big bull moose. That was a big one. He just looked at me calmly turned away and then belted it into the woods. Yesterday I had one literally right outside the tent. I mean it must have been two three meters maximum. I could hear his um his hooves thumping. I could feel the vibration on the ground of his weight. That was so cool. What a start of the day. Yes sir. Nice block in the river. Put my sunglasses on because we're heading east for most of the day and the sun's gonna be right in our face. It's a fish. Straight away. Wow. Wet my hands first before handling it. I got another one. We camped here yesterday. From this point all the way back to here as the crow flies it's 22 kilometers. When you consider all those windy sections and portages along the way that's a long way to go. I got one. Fish on. Another little one. Hi buddy. Oh yeah. Now we're ready to progress a bit more. 365 meters not so bad. Those seem so small compared to what we've been doing so psychologically it helps. Another portage. One cast. Come on. One cast. Nasty falls there or rapids. You can hear them. Oh yeah. Oh yeah buddy. 1 30 pm. Long way to go still. All right let's give it now. Come on. Gonna be a big day today. Lunch on the go. All right just coming up to a campsite. We're gonna stop here for a little coffee. Bears like it. That's good to know. Peanut butter wrap. Quick and easy. All right coffee has to be on the go I'm afraid. Time is very very tight. All right portage time. Here we go. I feel like these rapids were runnable but risk reward isn't there. You know if I'm right I save 180 meter portage. If I'm wrong I put myself in risk. Oh that's a snag. Oh no. Come on. Not now. Got the lure back. Thank you sir. Little fishy. All right last cast. We gotta go. No way the canoe is going past this. 930 meter portage. I believe the last of the day. Come on Bethany. One last time. You've been probably the wrong canoe for me. Love you the way you are Bethany. I mean Maple. Bethany is the Yukon one. Sorry Maple. I'm sorry. Jeez Maple. You got character too you know. Like those raging rapids. All right 508. We still got some sun in the sky. All right come on. One cast for good luck. Just one. One more. I think that's a trout. Oh no that's a full fish. There you go. Full fish. Bye bye. Sorry guys. Didn't mean to scare you. We're here guys. And we need to go here. But that's quite a big lake crossing. And with the westerly wind I can get pushed out to the middle of the lake. So rather I'm gonna go crawl up this side. Make that narrow gap. And this is protected because the westerly wind doesn't hit here. So easy crossing and then skirt on this side. Get to that headland over there. Minimal crossing. Hug the shoreline on the other side to safety. What a privilege it has been to spend the better of six days in Algonquin Park. Thank you so much for watching guys. I hope you enjoyed the video as much as I enjoyed making it. If you haven't subscribed already then consider subscribing. There's a ton of adventure on the channel to check out. And I hope to be back in Canada real soon guys because man do I love this land. you