THE BARRON CANYON, ALGONQUIN PARK

MAY 22 - 24, 2004

he forecast for the weekend was rain, rain, thundershowers and rain.  Nonetheless the 9 die-hearts trudged off to Barron Canyon, expecting the worst.  Luckily, as always, the weatherman was not totally correct!  Our group consisted of: Abby, Mary, Dave, David, Rick, Candace, Ramon, Karen, Bob and Koda (the mascot).

Our trip began very early Saturday morning with a 6-hour drive to Barron Canyon.  We were fortunate to have Dave carry two canoes on his van, so that we could leave one car at the take-out point at Barron River Picnic Area.  Our first look at Barron Canyon was from the trail along the edge of the canyon.  Rick tried throwing stones over the edge to see them fall the 100 metres down to the small river below.  What an awesome view!  The first day's paddle was an easy 7 km to the campsite on Stratton Lake.  It rained just as we got our tents and tarp up.  We ate our delicious dinner of stir-fry veggies and couscous made by Candace, under the pitter-patter of raindrops.  Then came the scrumptious dessert by Mary.  The group jelled together amazingly and within hours, we were sharing our deep, dark (and some not so dark) secrets with each other. 

On Sunday morning we awoke to dry skies, which by lunchtime had turned into bright sunshine.  Some brave souls even went for a quick dip in the lake.  Sunday was supposed to be 7 portages, but well, someone can't count (Abby) and it turned out to be 9 portages in one day.  That is a feat unto itself ... but we did and still got to our campsite before 5pm.  Our group became amazingly efficient working together to get through the portages easily, like Ramon racing back to the beginning to make sure he got to walk the path twice, and Karen, looking after our mascot Koda.  The portages and paddling took us through St Andrews Lake, High Falls Lake, The Cascades, Brigham Lake and finally down Barron River and the canyon.  The walls of the canyon were magnificent!  You feel as small as a mouse, beside a huge giant.  Sunday night brought some more showers, but again under our trusty tarp we enjoyed an excellent pasta pesto by Bob.   Homemade dessert by David topped off the evening.

On Monday we awoke to rain, which made 'packing up' a more than usual challenge.  The packs weighted at least 10 lbs heavier with the water retention!  It was an easy paddle to the take-out, and that was the end of the trip.  We all pulled together and that's what made this trip work.  Thank you to all for a fantastic time :)

Abby Gomez

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