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My buds and I do an annual trek and portage deep into Algonquin every spring and this year we decided to step it up a bit and do a push deep into the center of the park via the Nippissing river. We decided to stay at Brent on the night before our departure just so we could get an early start without the 4 hr drive from Ottawa. Jake had a bunk house for us which suited the need perfectly. After a good meal and a couple pints we readied the gear for the morning and hit the sack anxious of the next morning. The paddle across Cedar was ok as the weather was good and we were now in the mouth of the Nippissing river. A quick look around and we saw a portage, the sigh was all messed up and we couldn't make out the name so like all seasoned backpackers we would refer to the map, right? Except the map is back on the table in the bunkhouse where we forgot it. OK, so this must be the right trail, after all it is in the mouth of the Nippissing. So, we head up the trail and arrive at a lake and were greeted by 2 fellow canoeists who informed us we had just done a 1500m portage in the wrong direction lol. Back we go!!!!!! After our 2.5 hr scenic tour we were back on the water heading further up the Nippissing to the right portage, a 915 m all uphill along the Nippissing river. The Nippissing was pretty high, current was pretty tough to paddle in the lower section but we made it through the rough stuff to the slightly less flowing section. Ahead of us was 5 more portages and a 1410 m uphill trek into our lake which would be our home for the next week. Time was a concern now because we did the 2.5 hr 3 km detour in the morning, now it looked like we would have to stay at the last site on the river before the 16.6km paddle. to be cont.....