It was now early in the morning of our third and final day. We had gone to sleep the night before to dry conditions, with even a few stars winking through the clouds overhead. I was unhappy, therefore, to notice the start of the pitter-patter of rain during the night, at about 2am. It wasn't just a passing shower, either, but rather grew in intensity and persisted. I fell back asleep with low hopes for the upcoming morning's weather.
What's this?
I was pleasantly surprised, then, when I awoke to the strange site of a pattern of leaves silhouetted by light on the wall of my tent. Not just any light, mind you - actual sunlight! The overnight rain had passed and morning sunshine was now playing across our campsite. Nice.
In exchange for sunny conditions, though, we had lost a few degrees of temperature, and it was now quite chilly - perhaps only a few degrees above freezing. An acceptable trade, as far as I was concerned.
Sunny Morning
Dave had risen early and already had a breakfast fire going by the time I wandered down to the lower tier of our campsite. I made my way out to a nice lookout on the shore of High Falls Lake and took some wide-angle scenic shots in the nice morning light. The forecast wasn't calling for a particularly sunny day, so if I was going to get some nice sunny shots of Algonquin Park, I should take them when I could.
Bright Morning on High Falls Lake
By the time I returned to camp, everyone was up and about. This morning's breakfast was a little more in line with what I usually eat for breakfast on a backpack - instant oatmeal, but I like instant oatmeal - especially the maple and brown sugar variety, so I wasn't complaining.
Kai's morning contribution
Sitting around morning campfire
By 10:15 am, we were ready to head off. Today promised to be the most challenging and most interesting day of our journey - the run down the Barron River, through the scenic Barron Canyon, to the access point at Squirrel Rapids.
courtesy AHyndman
Soon we were off, canoeing down High Falls Lake. We were very happy about the intermittently-sunny skies, and were looking forward to the scenery ahead. I got more bold and tried a few shots with my latex-wrapped camera at and slightly below water level, and was pleased that the inside stayed nice and dry. I'll have to try and set up a more fancy shot at some point in the future.
courtesy AHyndman
courtesy AHyndman
Andrew and Nel, High Falls Lake
At the northern end of High Falls Lake, we pulled up to the first of many portage points. From here on until we reach the section along Barron Canyon, our journey is a series of short hops down relatively placid sections of the Barron River, with short portages around the many rapids, cascades, and waterfalls. In several places, the canoeing sections are so short that there's more time portaging than canoeing.
Putting ashore, High Falls Lake
Portaging north from High Falls Lake
Father and Son Wilderness shot
Father and Son Wilderness shot
Canoeing the Barron River
The weather turned out to be very unsettled as we made our way down-river. It periodically changed from warm, bright and sunny to hail, cold and wind within the space of minutes, and then back again.
