Total Days: 6 days
Total Kilometres: 46 Kilometres
Total Portages: 11
Total Length of Portages: 8.270 kilometres
Longest Portage: 3.160 kilometres (between Killarney and Threenarrows Lake)
Average Daytime High: 15 Celsius
Average Nighttime Low: 10.5 Celsius
Route: George Lake – Freeland Lake – Killarney Lake – Three Narrows Lake – Artist Lake – Muriel Lake – O.S.A. Lake – Killarney Lake – Freeland Lake – George Lake
Maps Used: Friends of Killarney Provincial Park map (2004 version)
This was our first official backcountry camping trip as a couple, and what better introductory trip than in scenic Killarney Provincial Park! Since this trip we have made a few modifications in our camping gear and eventually bought our own canoe. We have also ventured further into the backcountry in the beautiful province of Ontario, extending our trips to almost 2 weeks. We hope our first trip inspires others to get out and enjoy the beauty and rewarding challenges of the outdoors!
Note: All photos were taken with a cheapo throwaway camera we purchased last minute, hence the really poor quality in photos.
DAY # 1: George Lake to Killarney Lake
Weather: Sunny. High: 18C Low: 15C
After a long drive from Barrie, we arrived in the beautiful town of Killarney around 11:30am for lunch and stretch our legs while we explored the waterfront. Soon we drove to the Killarney Outfitters to pay for our rental canoe, a Souris River Kevlar canoe at 39 pounds. It was then onward to the George Lake launch to pick up our permit, unlock our canoe, and venture out around 1:00pm. Get ready Killarney, we have arrived!
After entering George Lake we gazed in awe at Killarney’s claim to fame as the geographical masterpiece spread out in front of us. Not too far off in the distance the white quartzite of the La Cloche Range became visible, while pink granite made up the islands on George Lake. The landscape here even rivals the Lake Superior coastline so no wonder this is one of the most popular locations in Ontario to paddle!
Our first portage was at 80 metres into Freeland Lake. This is it! Our first portage!! We took off our sandals, got on our hiking boots, and made sure that our packs were all tied tight and firmly snug on our shoulders and back. That’s when we noticed that the portage was literally 35 to 40 feet in length. If we realized this earlier we could have brought all our stuff over in a couple of trips while keeping our sandals on. Aaron also broke a minor strap on his backpack. We are such rookies!
A nice short paddle on Freeland Lake offered a different experience than the deeper waters of George Lake. This lake was shallower with a lot of aquatic vegetation including pickerel weed. Our next portage, at 455 metres with some elevation, brought us to Killarney Lake. After a short paddle we arrived at our first site for the trip at the northeast end of the lake (site #15). The site was on an island that even had our own little bay to swim in. We also had great views of the pink granite islands and outcrops of the Killarney Ridge.
Wildlife Sightings: White-tailed Deer, Turkey Vulture, Common Loon, Belted Kingfisher, Common Merganser, Red Squirrels, Eastern Chipmunk, American Redstart, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Common Raven, Wood Duck, People
Remember to: Learn how to tie a pack in a tree properly
DAY #2: Killarney Lake to Threenarrows Lake
Weather: Cloudy. High: 12C Low: 9C
Like mornings to come, ours began with cleaning up camp. Breakfast for our inaugural backcountry trip was a prepackaged freeze dried meal. All you have to do with these convenient meals is open them up, pour in the correct amount of water, stir well, reseal the package, and then after a directed amount of time you enjoy! Today’s breakfast was a Spinach and Cheese Omelette. After preparing the package we opened it and saw omelette coloured goop. What was going on here? Reading the package more closely, we saw that the next step was dumping the goop on a fry pan which we didn’t have with us. We tried a few mouthfuls straight out of the package but that was all we could stomach.
We left our site at 11:00am and made our way to Threenarrows Lake which would be the location of our next site for the night. To get to Threenarrows we had to portage a 3,160 metre long, but relatively flat, portage. Along this long portage we were right next to the white rocks of the La Cloche range, and we also viewed some beaver dams. At first we attempted a once over with this portage, but Aaron’s pack was uncomfortable so we doubled over most of it. Four hours later and we finally got all our gear and the canoe to the end of the portage. We collapsed here completely worn out and used the last of our water to make lunch as we were very hungry. Unfortunately, while attempting to sit down, Marianne accidentally knocked over the pot of water that was perched on the camping stove, completely dumping all the water out. So much for lunch! In the end we had to settle on splitting an energy bar, while taking what few sips of water that were left in our water bottle. This was definitely the low light of the whole entire trip, and left us both a little miserable.
After another 395 metre portage we now entered Threenarrows Lake and into the heart of Killarney Provincial Park. Threenarrows is aptly named due to the fact that it used to be three separate lakes until a dam was built in 1900 across Kirk Creek causing the surrounding waters to rise. The reason was to help move floating logs during the park’s logging era. Since then the dam has been rebuilt and the lake continues to look as it does today.
We soon arrived at our site on Threenarrows Lake (site #51). It was a larger site than the one from yesterday and it still gave us those spectacular Killarney views! Tomorrow should be a lot more leisurely than today as we only have to paddle to the other end of Threenarrows Lake.
As then sun set and twilight came over us we heard thunder in the distance. Please stay away!
Wildlife Sightings: Huge Snapping Turtle, Northern Raven, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Eastern Chipmunk, Red Squirrel, Black-capped Chickadee, White-throated Sparrow, Canada Goose, Common Loon, Wood Duck, Common Merganser, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Red-tailed Hawk, People
Remember to: Bring more toilet paper, bring a pot scrubber, and read those freeze dried food packs more carefully!
DAY #3: Threenarrows Lake
Weather: Showers in the morning, afternoon sun and clouds, evening thunderstorms. High: 11C Low: 9C
Though we woke to light rain showers this morning, we still managed to make a fire for warmth and even heated up water to bath with. We launched just after 10:30am and paddled towards the southwest end of Threenarrows Lake in hopes to get a campsite close to tomorrow’s portage.
Though lacking the “in your face” scenic vistas of George Lake and Killarney Lake, Threenarrows Lake has a lot of charm to it. We saw around 6 cottages and we wondered how the owners get to them as we were not aware of any roads to the lake.
After a nice paddle, we arrived at site #48. It was a fairly large site and we saw a distant cottage as well as the La Cloche mountain range. In the afternoon we set up camp, made a fire, cooked lunch, and filtered water before the forecasted rain showed up. What better time to have an afternoon nap! As evening approached and the sun appeared again we got into the canoe and had a nice evening paddle while searching for tomorrow’s portage. This portage actually has a name, and when a portage claims a name to their fame you know it isn’t going to be a cake walk! This one is known as “The Pig” and is credited to be one of the most challenging and steepest portages in the park! We will be tackling it tomorrow right after breakfast. We hope it doesn’t rain!
Wildlife Sightings: Dark-eyed Junco, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Great Blue Heron, Red Squirrel, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Common Loon, Wood Duck, Common Raven, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-tailed Deer, People.
Remember to: Dry pine needles burn great!
DAY #4 Threenarrows Lake to O.S.A Lake
Weather: Sunny to mostly cloudy in the afternoon. High: 15C Low: 9C
A chilly 9 degrees Celsius this morning, and with everything outside the tent very damp from yesterday’s rain we still somehow managed to get a fire going.
We arrived at “The Pig” just after 10:00am. This portage, one of the steepest in the park, is close to 1.5 kilometres in length. It goes over a section of the Blue Ridge range of mountains and was once an old logging road from 1908 to 1927. What remains today of this tote road includes a trail of loose rounded stones of various sizes, so this was definitely a portage that required two carries.
It was slow going, and we took our time. We were very happy that it wasn’t raining which would have made for a slippery situation on all these rocks. Along the portage we came to a junction that connected to part of the La Cloche Silhouette Trail. This is the 78 kilometre backpacking trail that traverses through some of the park’s most scenic landscapes. All in all “The Pig” wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be and we finished it in about three hours.
We arrived on Artists Lake, and after 2 short portages we were soon on Muriel Lake. Our next portage was perhaps the most interesting of the entire trip. We had an option of the 595 metre portage or a short cut along a marsh. We decided to take a risk and try the shortcut. After dragging the canoe through the marsh and mud, getting our pool shoes and also ourselves muddy, we made it to the end of the portage. We were rewarded we views of a Barred Owl, a lifer for Marianne!
After replacing our pool shoes with our hiking boots, it was time to paddle O.S.A Lake. The acronym stands for Ontario Seven Artists, named after the famed Canadian painters, The Group of Seven, who found inspiration for some of their famous works in Killarney’s wilderness. O.S.A Lake is remarkably clear, and at first we thought that the lake was pristine, however we could clearly see to the bottom where logs were stripped of their bark, now just white and bare. This transcended into an almost eerie uneasiness like we were paddling over the large white bones of some underwater creature. No sign of vegetation was seen below the water’s surface, with barely a plant growing along the shoreline. Forget about seeing any fish as none could live here. This was a dead lake. O.S.A Lake, like other lakes lined with quartzite in Killarney Provincial Park, have suffered from the fallout of acid rain with inert lakes too acidic to support much life.
As we paddled across O.S.A Lake, views of the South LaCloche range and the Killarney Ridge were spectacular as both surrounded the lake. We paddled towards the island site in the middle of the lake hoping to stay there, but as we got closer we saw that the trees were almost all dead and a “no camping” sign posted. Guess we won’t be staying here! We continued to paddle east and saw a site that was clearly newly created as it wasn’t on our current map (site #28). This site was quite protected and had barely been trodden on with lichen still covering the ground. As we had a fire we viewed some Canada Geese fly overhead. A sign of shorter days to come as summer draws to a close.
Wildlife Sightings: American Pipit, Barred Owl, Canada Goose, Red Squirrel, White-tailed Deer, Deer Mouse, Eastern Chipmunk, Northern Raven, Blue Jay, Green Frog, Red-tailed Hawk, American Robin, Common Loon, People.
Remember to: Bring Exlax
Day #5: O.S.A Lake to George Lake
Weather: Sunny and windy. High: 16C Low: 7C
We left O.S.A. Lake early in the day and began to make our way back towards Killarney Lake after a 130 metre portage into that lake, followed by a 455 metre back into the familiar Freeland Lake. Lastly we arrived again to the little 80 metre portage which we remembered from day one as being easy, so we brought all our stuff over in a few very short trips.
We were now back on George Lake and thus making a complete loop. Heading back down George Lake however was grueling! It was incredibly windy and we had head winds to the point that if you stopped to take a break you would immediately be going backwards! After what felt like a crawl down the lake we made it to a site near the George Lake launch (site #3), set up camp, and had a well deserved three hour nap. We later gathered firewood and had our last fire for the trip, finishing the rest our freeze dried meals.
Tomorrow we head back to the launch, lock up our rental canoe, return our paddles to the outfitter, and head into the town of Killarney for breakfast. We are craving milk and cereal!
Wildlife Sightings: Common Loon, Northern Raven, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Black-capped Chickadee, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Wood Duck, Red Squirrel, Beaver, People.
Remember to: Bring less fuel. One can of fuel is good for three days.
DAY #6: George Lake to the George Lake launch
Weather: Thunderstorms. High: 15C
We both had somewhat of a sleepless night. Maybe it was because we were going home today…..or maybe it was that three hour nap the day before..
It was a good thing that we got up at the crack of dawn because as soon as we left our site to begin our paddle back to the launch we heard thunder! We turned around and saw a thunderstorm heading right towards us! Luck was with us and we managed to lock up our canoe, drive to the George Lake showers, take a shower, and got back in the car right before the sky opened up with pouring rain! We arrived to the town of Killarney for a real breakfast which was wonderful! After returning our gear to the Killarney Outfitters we shopped around the Ontario Parks gift shop for a new sew on crest for our backpack.
Before we knew it, it was time for us to get back on the road and head for home. Killarney Provincial Park was such a great location for our first introductory canoe trip in Ontario and we will return again to its white ranges and beautiful waters.
Remember to: Buy a digital camera
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