June 9, 2003

"An Inspiring Hike Over The Barron Canyon" (Algonquin Park, Barron Canyon Trail)

MAP

See http://valleyexplore.com/canoe/barron_canyon/map_barron_canyon.gif

PICTURES

How Deep It Is
Postcard Photo
Home To Hawks
Looking Goofy

TRIP REPORT

We decided to take a day off from paddling on Tuesday, mainly because of joint soreness after a 34km paddle on Monday. But we took advantage of our location and had separate walking and driving adventures in Algonquin Park.

Neither of us had ever been to Barron Canyon, so we drove north and found our way to the gate. The gravel road was deserted, so much so that we were worried we were going the wrong way. Julie then spotted a grey fox, which was perhaps a good omen...just when we were seriously doubting ourselves, park signage indicated we were on the right track.

Arriving at the gate there were no cars in the lot, but Keenan went in and paid the $9 for a pass, and we were on our way up to the trail. There were no cars in the lot when we arrived. It's a short trail, just 1.5km, but photographer/author Michael Runtz certainly doesn't overstate his case in describing the Barron Canyon Trail view as one of the finest in all of Algonquin Park. It is indeed spectacular. Even with unspectacular photography equipment, it was not hard to capture breathtaking images.

Dealing with blackflies and mosquitos is certainly a challenge this time of year, especially since neither of us likes to apply chemical repellants. In addition to keeping stinging insects out, Keenan's red jacket apparently has a second interesting feature...it attracts hummingbirds! While setting up the time on the camera to take a rare "couple photo" a hummingbird suddenly appeared right next to his right ear and hovered there for several seconds! Keenan froze, thinking the largest mosquito in history was just outside his hood, and was quite relieved when Julie blurted out "hummingbird!"

Naturally, the view from above inspired us to think about the view from below, so we went back to the gate and talked with the solo staff member about paddling the area. While a multi-day trip can be organized originating from Grand Lake (much deeper in the park) we were mainly interested in how to get into the canyon below the area we had just seen from the trail. There is one 450m portage (both ways x 2) we would have to contend with, and we decided to consider this for Thursday or Friday, because we had already made some arrangements for taking on the stretch of the Bonnechere from the cottage to Round Lake on Wednesday.