Grimace Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 Happy Birthday to Algonquin Park. 119 years. My parents filled my childhood with this park. Driving up and down the highway looking for Moose. A great spot to feed a Gray Jay right out your hand. Brook Trout, Lake Trout, Canoes, Tom Thompson, Eastern Wolves, hiking, backpacking, portaging, camp fires, and how can you not love putting those gross tablets in your water bottle. Thanks to Algonquin Park. The old girl is a beauty! What are some of your favourite Algonquin moments? Fishing or non fishing, it doesn't matter. Cheers.
kickingfrog Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 Maybe Roy can tell us a story about that day?
danc Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 I,ve never been there, but it sounds like my kinda place.
northernpike56 Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 (edited) caught my first brookies there. Edited September 12, 2012 by northernpike56
Roy Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 Rob, you're too kind. I was too young at the time to remember the Algonquin First Nation who inhabited those lands 8,000 years prior to the first European settlers in the 1500's. I do however have a faint recollection of 1893 when the area was declared a sanctuary, banning any logging or agriculture to protect the 4-5 larger rivers flowing through the area now called Algonquin Park. I'm glad that there were people in those days with foresight. I'm sad however to have forgotten to send the park a birthday card this year. Canadave can tell you stories about the place. We went to the same school just south of there. His dad used to take us to school every morning. He had to...he was in the same class as us.
Ralph Field Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 I was only there once on a canoe trip with a couple of friends. One friend Ray was suppose to know everything about canoeing, however he managed to steer the canoe into the bushes on every bend in a small river leading into the park. My other friend Ross, who was in the front of the canoe, wanted to stop at the end of the winding river after dealing with the bushes. It is the only canoe trip that I've been on but I will always look back on it fondly. We did have a few fish dinners but they weren't as memorable as some of the other situations that we found ourselves in.
Dave Bailey Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 She's a grand old gal, and we visit her regularly.
pylon Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 Many fond memories for me too. 2 months a year for about 12 years. I love rock lake
Musky or Specks Posted May 27, 2012 Report Posted May 27, 2012 When I was a lad of 16 my high scholl football coach Ray Mckerlie who owned Voyaguer Outfitters on Round Lake at Access #1 invited me and a few other players up to the Camp to open it up for the spring. It was beautiful up there and I couldn't wait to go on the school trip up there the following year. Every year high schools in our region would go up to Algonquin and take a 1 week trip through Voyaguer into either Manitou or Bigger Lake. For almost all of them it was their first introduction to the park and it has a lasting memory with all of them. When I started going up to the Park again after university My trip always seemed to coincide with one of the high schools and Ray would know that we were stupid enough to portage a keg of beer in. He would go for an evening paddle with a student he could trust and end up at our campsite to enjoy a cold beer and fill us in on his life and our alma mater. He was a great fellow who passed in 2000. I hope that high school kids in the KW area are still going on week long trips into the park and someone like Ray is there to introduce it to them 1
crappieperchhunter Posted May 28, 2012 Report Posted May 28, 2012 Spent the summer of 1980 in Kiosk working at a MNR Ranger camp. Canoeing, clearing portage trails and various other jobs in the interior. The next summer I was in a camp on Helen Lake out of Nipigon and even managed to get on a fire crew fighting forrest fires out of the base in Armstrong before I had to cut it short to return home for my last year of high school. The two best summer jobs I ever had.
danbouck Posted May 28, 2012 Report Posted May 28, 2012 Rob, you're too kind. I was too young at the time to remember the Algonquin First Nation who inhabited those lands 8,000 years prior to the first European settlers in the 1500's. I do however have a faint recollection of 1893 when the area was declared a sanctuary, banning any logging or agriculture to protect the 4-5 larger rivers flowing through the area now called Algonquin Park. I'm glad that there were people in those days with foresight. I'm sad however to have forgotten to send the park a birthday card this year. Canadave can tell you stories about the place. We went to the same school just south of there. His dad used to take us to school every morning. He had to...he was in the same class as us.
Stoty Posted May 28, 2012 Report Posted May 28, 2012 Algonquin Park is in a league of it's own! I've been going every year for the past few and absolutely LOVE it! Interior camping is amazing and is something that EVERYONE should try at least once! Monster Smallies, Tank Pike, beautiful scenery... nature at it's best!
mirogak Posted May 28, 2012 Report Posted May 28, 2012 I have been hitting AP since my last year at high school in 95 and have gone at least twice a year every year. It never gets old. I had always been going exterior but this year, just this past long weekend, I went IN. And both my love and respect has grown that much more. Happy Birthday AP. I have some wild AP stories but will post later in the thread.
fishindevil Posted May 28, 2012 Report Posted May 28, 2012 awesome spot its too bad there is still lots of logging going on in there !!!
johnnyb Posted May 28, 2012 Report Posted May 28, 2012 Went plenty of times as a kid, doing the car-camping thing, but my top two memories of Algonquin came later. #1. Doing a trip in with my dad and my son, who was 6 at the time. Towed a canoe up Opeongo and portaged in a solid couple kms....spent 3 days teaching my son to paddle....checking out back lakes...frying up bass for dinner and pancakes for breakfast. #2. Did a trip with a summer camp I attended on the year of the park's 100th anniversary....spent one night floating around in a canoe with a cute girl visiting from Belgium, lying in the bottom of the boat watching an insane meteor shower. I was 15....not quite bold enough to do anything more than enjoy her company
mirogak Posted May 29, 2012 Report Posted May 29, 2012 Good memories there bud ... I have a few such myself with girls I met there and beaching in the middle of the nights. Sweet times. Most of mine were from Kearney campground, that was the spot for the younger crowds. Believe it or not I had the occasion or two to get to know the female wardens pretty well too.... lol.
cityfisher Posted May 29, 2012 Report Posted May 29, 2012 im fortunate enough to have friends that own a huge acerage bordering algonquin...with 1000;s of acres and multiple untouched lakes to enjoy.. Its not algonquin but in my mind its even better... Since its privately owned and managed
Muskieman Posted September 12, 2012 Report Posted September 12, 2012 (edited) the park wouldn't exist had it not been for my 2x great uncle Alexander. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?BioId=40949 Edited September 12, 2012 by Randy from Sturgeon
backbay Posted September 12, 2012 Report Posted September 12, 2012 My great uncle Ross managed a saw mill at Kiosk during the 50s and 60s, and in the summertime lived in a cabin on an island across the lake. Fifty years ago I caught me first fish, a rock bass, of course, there, and still remember the dark stain of the logs of the cabin, red trim around the windows, and the green roof. I have to get my hands on the super 8 movies Dad took back then. Passing the gates and traveling through the park as a youngster is something I'll never forget, and revisit in my memory from time to time.
Muskieman Posted September 12, 2012 Report Posted September 12, 2012 (edited) It would, would it? OOPS, correcting it now.. http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?BioId=40949 Edited September 12, 2012 by Randy from Sturgeon
Jds63 Posted September 12, 2012 Report Posted September 12, 2012 Caught my PB speckled trout from one of AP's beautiful lakes, and staring at a wolf on a portage are two of my most memorable moments in the park. Going up in a couple of weekends with my wife to see the fall colours.
ttahhan Posted September 12, 2012 Report Posted September 12, 2012 (edited) Algonquin Park Oh What a place! My wife and i had our honeymoon up there at a place called Couples Resort We rented an ATV and a canoe + trailer and went too some remote locations An excellent time we had both fishing and the wilderness.. On Day 3 we were trekking through a remote location an my wife had just put away the camera because it was bouncing of her chest and few minutes later crackle pop this huge Moose appears in front of us we freeze it stares at us for about 30 seconds and he traughts along and back into the bush. As i pee my pants we carried on...... Edited September 12, 2012 by Topwater Strikes
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