Willistown Troop 78                                

Troop 78 continues its long, over 50 year, tradition of summer trips for a week of backcountry canoeing in Algonquin Park in Canada.

This summer's trip is set for Sunday August 7 to Sunday August 14.

​​The troop will venture north with canoes in tow for week of adventure in the wilds Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario Province, Canada.  We will canoe the rivers and lakes of the park, and take in the peaceful vistas of the mountains and lakes of the Canadian wilderness. 

​As we are canoeing, and weight is less an issue than when backpacking, our meals will be gourmet, restaurant style; we will eat like kings. 

​There is nothing like a steak dinner with all the trimmings, to cap off a day of canoeing, wildlife watching, and swimming; enjoying the view of the lake and the company of friends. 

Please join us and in the continuation of this long tradition.

​Are you looking for high adventure, gourmet cuisine, international travel to mysterious places but don’t want to spend a lot??  Then we have the trip for you!  Once again we will return to the peaceful waters and hallowed forests of Algonquin Provincial Park in the great Canadian Province of Ontario.  
Our trip begins on Sunday August 7th and returns on Sunday, August 14th.  So anyone going to Kandersteg who thought Canada conflicts with the Europe trip schedule would be mistaken and still has the chance to sign up for both trips.  Imagine that, international travel on two continents in one summer. Wow! Now that’s a summer vacation to remember!  And when your friends ask; “What did you do this summer?” You know you will have the best stories of all of your friends combined to tell and remember forever.
The cost you ask?  A mere $350 per person.  That’s less than a week at summer camp! That’s crazy!!  How do we do it?  
To learn more of how we do it, make the first move by signing up today.  There will be a sign-up sheet at the cabin or you can email Mr. Siegle directly at msiegle@att.net and let him know you want to go.  We already have several scouts and adults signed up so act now because space is limited.  Don’t miss out on the summer of a lifetime!

Algonquin Provincial Park Ontario Canada

And they call this a vacation.....

This past August my boyfriend 's family talked me into a magnificent family vacation in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada, canoeing and backpacking over 100 miles in 7 days. I got to pack three outfits to mix and match, Tevas, hiking boots, wool socks, 3 meals to feed 8 people, shovel, toilet paper, metal cup, flashlight, sleeping bag, ground cloth, tent, toiletries, and meal accessory kit (salt, pepper, etc.). When I first saw the size of my backpack I thought I had plenty of room, but when I packed the three dehydrated meals and half my pack was left I knew I was in trouble. Space was only half the consideration, weight was the most vital.  I knew that I would be carrying this pack for miles when it was necessary to portage.

We left at 6 am Saturday morning, stopping only for gas and lunch. We arrived in Whitney, Ontario at 6 pm. There were eight of us, my Maxima and a Ford King Cab pickup truck. Luckily, the boy scout Troop 78 had just done their annual canoe trip, so they left four canoes in Canada for us. When we arrived we needed to set up camp behind Jack Brown's restaurant on the river, MKI-put the trailer together and tie down the canoes. We feasted at the restaurant for dinner like it was our last supper and enjoyed our last cold beers.

We left at 6 am Sunday morning for 4 more hours driving to the top of Algonquin Park, all nine of us in the truck with 4 canoes tied to the trailer behind us. An hour later, we blew a tire (too much weight I think!). It's times like these that a mother is really happy to have sons. In no time, the spare tire was on and we were off again. (Mark's dad was scheduled to have his second hip replacement this winter, but insisted on making this trip anyway.) 70 year old Jack Brown was off playing a senior's golf tournament this weekend, so his son was driving us to the top of the park. He would then drive the truck back, replace the blown tire, and meet us at the bottom of the park the following Saturday.

We put in at Lake Kiosk after our last delicious lunch of perishable food including lunch meat, chips, fresh fruit and cans of ice cold soda. We paddled about 2 1/2 miles across the lake and came to our first portage. Algonquin Park has many portages to hike rather than navigate the river rapids. Each set of rapids is rated l through 5 depending on skill level. Because we were beginner canoeists, we would not try anything more than a level 3 rapids. The rapids we chose to do were further emphasized by the boy scouts one week before.  The scouts swamped more than one canoe in their attempts to navigate one set of rapids or more. As anxious as I was to try the rapids rather than portage, I was not anxious to spend the rest of the week in a soggy sleeping bag.

Our first portage was 70 meters (1760 meters equals 1 mile). Portaging entailed 4 people carrying the canoes across and coming half way back to carry a backpack across. While the other 4 carried the pack half way, turned around and went back for another pack and carried it all the way across. So no matter how light you packed your backpack, you were still carrying others. The packs weighed about 70 pounds, and the canoes weighed about 80 pounds. The trip was made up of my boyfriend, Mark, his parents, his brother Bob, and Bob's wife, Pam, his sister Kristin, and her friend, Tony. Mark's dad was not able to carry a canoe, so Kristin carried it for him. God bless her! Maybe when I was a senior in college I could have done that, but not anymore. Pam and I carried the canoes on a short portage or two about 150 meters. That was enough for me to respect the hell out of Kristi.

We did another 450 meter portage a little later, canoed 4 miles across Mink Lake, and another 440 meter portage, and another mile of canoeing before setting up camp for the first night about 4 hours since we had started. Two of us were on fire wood detail, two cooked dinner, and two cleaned up. Bob had planned, shopped for and packed all the meals. We had a delicious spaghetti dinner complete with chocolate brownies for dessert cooked in a Dutch oven. (This was pretty cool, two pans that fit together with burning embers on top sitting in the fire to cook just like an oven.) When darkness came it was time for bed.

We awoke with the break of dawn (please keep in mind that this was my summer vacation!). Boiling water provided us with oatmeal, coffee, and hot chocolate for breakfast. We also had trail bread and I packed Crackling Oat Bran cereal without the milk of course because I hate oatmeal.  Camp was broken down and we were off and running, or paddling in this case, by 7:45 AM.  The weather was perfect.  No wind, warm but not too hot and the scenery breathtaking. All we could say was “It doesn't get any better than this." We paddled 5 miles across Cauchon Lake and Little Cauchon Lake before we stopped for our first 130 meter portage.  We continued across Little Laurel Lake, a 275 meter portage and down 6 miles through Little   Cedar Lake and Cedar Lake before breaking for lunch at Brent Store about 4 hours later.

Brent Store was the last of civilization we were to see until Saturday.  It was a shame it came so early on in the trip to truly enjoy it. We feasted on cold soda, freeze pops and candy bars to enhance our lunch of crackers, pepperoni, velveeta, peanut butter, jelly, fluffer nutter, power bars and gorp. If I never see gorp again, it will be too soon. Gorp is a dried mixture of nuts, dried fruit, and coconut.  I ate my two crackers, two slices of pepperoni, and two slices of Velveeta cheese thinking about how much I was missing Minella's western burgers, Bennigan's nachos and Wayne Beef and Ale's cheesesteaks.

After lunch we were back on the water again paddling 4 more miles across Cedar Lake to find our next campsite. We all had maps that were marked with the campsites and portages. The woods were marked with yellow signs of people carrying canoes for portages and orange signs of tents for campsites. Thank goodness for our good distance vision. Otherwise, you could be canoeing for hours looking along the shoreline of a large lake such as Cedar. Our second campsite was bigger and nicer than the night's before complete with a nearby dam for bathing. We sat on the rocks at the dam and had our own private whirlpool. Ah, my aching back and shoulders. Please remember that for someone that could not get out of her desk chair without great pain the fall before, I was very happy to be able to make this trip without my back brace and a limited number of ibuprofens.

Our campsite was next to a portage so we saw other canoeists passing through on day trips.  Before dusk we carried our canoes over the 960 meter portage that we would be starting on in the morning. We left them in the woods where we would be entering the river the following day. Dinner was a fine meal of macaroni and cheese and pumpkin seeds. Um-Um. I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to lose a lot of weight on this trip! We made S’mores over the fire (graham crackers with chocolate bars and roasted marshmallows) for dessert. We watched a beautiful sunset from the shore and retired by nightfall.

The next morning, we portaged with our backpacks to the canoes and dropped in on the Petawawa River. A mile later, we portaged 685 meters, another mile in the canoe and a 860 meter portage over the Devil's Chute, two more miles down the river and three miles across Radiant Lake before stopping for another tasty lunch the same as the day before and all the days to follow. I haven't eaten cheese, crackers and pepperoni since! Another hour of paddling and we landed at our campsite for the evening.  It was an early day, stopping at 2:30. We were near another dam for bathing. Dinner was a feast of mashed potatoes, vegetables, and cake for dessert.  Luckily, Kristin had thought to pack one deck of cards for the trip.  We played Sevens and Crazy Eights for days.  They were the only card games to play with one deck and so many players. Mark's dad would study our course for the next day and read about the upcoming rapids in the navigational guides to determine whether or not to try them.

On Wednesday, we canoed a short distance to our first 235 meter portage around the dam, followed by a 695 meter portage over Big Sawyer and Battery Rapids, another mile down we portaged 500 meters around Cascade Rapids, canoed another two miles over Francis Lake and one last 140 meter portage.  Luckily we were paddling to our next campsite when the sky was becoming dark and foreboding.   We collected   firewood on the way and managed to pull in just as the first rain drops fell.  By now, tents could be up    within minutes, gear thrown inside, the canoes flipped over with the firewood underneath and us inside by the time it was torrentially pouring, lightning and thundering.  We were really lucky not to be out on a lake. We learned at the end of the week, that one man died and two others were injured in that storm from    lightning. We napped during the downpour and luckily when hunger got the best of us, the storm had stopped.  We started the fire and dinner.  Nachos chips (a little crumbled by this time) and cheese for an appetizer and beef stew to warm us up. We hung things to dry overnight and slept in until seven or so the next day.

No oatmeal today, pancakes for breakfast.  This day was to be our hardest as far as portaging goes.  The first few days we paddled miles across lakes, but now we were to carry the canoes and packs over miles of land. We started with a couple miles of river before our first 390 meter portage. Another mile down the Petawawa River we hit our next 1400 meter portage.  This was followed by a 200 meter, 275, 550, 1050 and finished off with a 660 meter portage. Somewhere in there we landed on a large rock formation in the sun and had an early lunch because of the beautiful location. We paddled a mile of Traverse Lake before stopping for the day. We were spent to say the least and were in desperate need of a bath since the storm kept us from having one the day before.  We enjoyed the beach, collected fire wood and cooked a   wonderful sweet and sour chicken and rice dinner. It's amazing what they can do with dehydrated food these days from EMS.  We played more cards until dark and slept well.  We were allowed to sleep in again the next day too.

On Friday, we paddled across the rest of Traverse Lake and down the river about 5 miles. We did 2 small portages of 345 meter and 165 meters. We paddled down four more miles of river before we came to the Crooked Chute Rapids. By now I was tired of portaging and did not care ifl swamped my canoe, I wanted to run some more dangerous rapids. Mark and I and Bob and Pam made our way through the rapids while the others portaged. The second set was too dangerous so we portaged the rest of the 1580 meters.  Another mile downstream we had an 820 meter portage over the Railway Rapids, another mile down the river and we were at the "Natch".

Our campsite was beautiful with a spring nearby with the freshest, cleanest water.  We hiked up to the top   of the mountain for a spectacular view and pictures. The campsite nearby had another family with children about 10 and 12 making this same track starting at Cedar Lake. One of the guys in their group had a kayak and was able to do more dangerous rapids.  We saw another group with many children 10-15 years old   with a paid guide. Mark's dad reminded us what a deal we were getting by having him for free! This was Mark's dad's 16th trip through Algonquin Park! The park is so large that the trips are always different depending on the age and ability of the boy scouts. We enjoyed another spaghetti dinner and popcorn for an evening snack along with many more games of cards. This was our last night on the river. Our packs were lighter and there were no more portages left to do!

Saturday morning we burned the rest of the uneaten food and started on the last 15 miles of the Petawawa River. We ran seven sets of rapids not caring if we got wet or not.  We paddled across the last lake, McManus to get to the end of our trip. We arrived at 11:30 and anxiously awaited Jack Brown's arrival to take us back to Whitney and civilization. Unfortunately, Jack got a little lost and didn't arrive until  1:30.  Then he got a little lost on the ride back to Whitney.  We arrived and set up tent for the last time in his backyard behind the restaurant.  We feasted on French fries, fried mushrooms, onion rings, cheeseburgers and beer. After dinner we went to the Algonquin Park museum and souvenir shops. The next morning we were up early and packed by 8 am for the Jong ride home. We stopped at the Indian Store on the Indian Reservation and the duty free store on the boarder of Canada and the United States.  We arrived home by 11 PM. Just in time for a good night's sleep before getting up to go to work!

My vacation was one I will never forget and we were so lucky to have the perfect weather.  Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts did not fare as well. They had 6 out of 7 days of rain.  One leader went down twice and twisted his knee and had to be driven out of the park. On the way home for the scouts, a brand new canoe flew off the bus, hit the highway, flipped and rolled to a stop causing the car behind to swerve and just avoid an accident. The wind had caught the canoe, tore the roof rack off the back of the bus and knocked a rear window out.  But all in all, everyone had a good time and memories to last a  lifetime.

The following is a blog post from a Troop 78 family trip to Algonquin some years ago.

Everyone who has been to Algonquin can relate.