Every year we go backwoods camping (i.e. not car camping) on a different lake in southeastern Ontario with our friends Marc and Kris, who have been doing this for a few decades or so now. Most of the time it’s in the Kawarthas, like Copper Lake or Crab Lake — which I wrote about last year — because there are just so many little lakes there’s no end of choice. We have also done Algonquin once (Andrew Lake) and have camped in Massasauga Park, which is the second largest provincial park next to Algonquin. And this year we decided to pick a spot in Killarney Provincial Park, which is up near Parry Sound.
After some investigation we wound up booking a campsite on Balsam Lake. It looked like it was on an island — which it sort of was — and it faced southeast. That meant entering on Bell Lake, at the put in that is right beside Killarney Kanoes (at the end of a very long and bumpy dirt road that probably claims to be two lanes but is more like one and a half). We got there and were unloading the two canoes and my kayak — since we had five people — and I saw a guy walking towards me with his canoe who looked familiar. Turns out it was a paramedic who is good friend of my son-in-law, an emergency department nurse in Hamilton. That’s what it’s like to go canoe camping in Canada I guess LOL.
We put in on Bell Lake and probably paddled for an hour and a half or so — it’s a long, thin lake — but it was a beautiful day and we stopped for lunch on the shore somewhere. After a while we were in Three Mile Lake, which is also long and thin and is attached to Bell (I’m not sure why they have two different names because it felt like just one big lake — there isn’t a portage or anything between them). I think in total it’s about six kilometres from the put in on Bell to the portage into Balsam Lake. Anyway, as we got closer to the portage, we met a man in a canoe who warned us that there was a beaver dam between us and the portage and we would probably have to lift over it.
He was quite right — the dam was low and the water was pouring through a break, but it was still too high for the canoes or even the kayak to get through with passengers. So I got out and pushed my kayak to the side and helped the canoers get out and pull their canoes across and then I followed. No one even got wet! I wish I had taken a picture but I was afraid things might go sideways and no one wants a photo of that LOL. After that it was short paddle to the portage from Three Mile into Balsam, which was maybe 30 metres over some rocks. It used to have a marine railway, back when it was part of an old logging route, and the rails are still there encased in concrete, which made for an easy path.
After we put in on Balsam it was another maybe half an hour or so and we were at our campsite, number 153. One of the best things about Killarney is that their campsites are much further apart than some other parks — we literally couldn’t see or hear another site, and the closest one was probably half a kilometre or more away from us. Our site had a large rock face on the front, which made for easy exiting of the canoe (with some exceptions, which I will get to) and it was large and mostly flat, which was good for tents. It had a pretty good rock fire pit with a grate, and of course a “thunder box” or outdoor toilet. The only real downside of the site was there was no picnic table, which meant we had to crouch down to do everything at ground level, and when you are in your 60s that is not so easy to do any more!
As I mentioned earlier, the site was sort of on an island — it was a rocky outcropping with lake on one side and marsh or bog or fen or whatever you want to call it (scientifically I think it was a marsh) on all the other sides, except for a strange little rock with a bunch of gnarly trees on it, which faced directly west and had one rock face with what almost looked like seats on it, which made for a great sunset viewing area. We also saw (and heard) two sandhill cranes in the marsh, which was a first for me — their call, which you can hear here, is truly wild. You can definitely hear them coming! And we did, especially one morning when they flew over at about 7 am LOL.
The second day on the site was a washout, literally — it rained from about 5 am to about 5 pm., which meant that there was nothing much we could do except try to keep a fire going (which I gave up on) and sit under a tarp or in the tents. Luckily we were all set up so it wasn’t a big deal, unlike some of the other groups of campers we ran into who said they had to paddle in and set up in the rain. Not fun! After that was over, the third day was spectacularly beautiful — sunny and warm, perfect for paddling. So we set out to hike the portage from Balsam into Harry Lake, which was about 15 minutes away. The portage was about 650 metres, most of it up and down and quite mucky in spots so we were glad not to be carrying packs and canoes.
We spent most of the time chatting with other groups of campers who were either on their way out into Balsam or on their way into Harry. We had brought lunch, so we sat watching everyone load all their gear (which is always fun) and talking about where they were from, etc. One group was a bunch of friends led by Marty, who was from Tobermory, where he and his wife ran a taco truck called Tacomory as well as an Airbnb. He said he was also the guitar tech for a band called Faber Drive, which I had never heard of but was apparently a medium-sized deal back in the early 2000s. His friend Jake, who looked like Axl Rose, worked at a pirate-themed restaurant, and his other friend Dave had brought with him not just a 150-pound pack but also a two panel folding solar array with a battery to charge devices (which I borrowed to charge my phone, since I had forgotten to bring my external battery pack).
After our lunch we paddled around on Balsam some more looking at the other sites — including 157, where someone had built not just huge log benches but an enormous rock fireplace and kitchen area that made us very jealous! (The only thing I’ve seen that was better was a gigantic bench and seating and kitchen area that some Army Rangers allegedly built on a site on Andrew Lake in Algonquin Park, where each of the stones looked like they weighed about 300 pounds). When we got back to our site I spent some time getting firewood and making some “cairns” on the lake side — I used to call them inukshuks, but that felt like cultural appropriation, so I borrowed the Scottish word for rock piles that are meant as waypoints or to signal direction of travel.
The next day it was time to pack up, and luckily it was warm and sunny again for our paddle out. Don’t know if we will be back in Killarney but it was a fun trip!
Postscript: Forgot to mention the part about how the rock made for an easy exit from the canoe — it did, but only if you were a) wearing shoes with a good grip, and b) didn’t step below the water line, where all the moss was growing. Our friend Patrice, who helped me gather firewood (most of which we stole from a nearby beaver lodge which we thought was abandoned — sorry Eric!) tried to get out in sandals and slipped on the rock and the whole canoe went over, me included. Luckily it was warm enough we dried out fairly quickly, and my phone (which was in my pants pocket) said the USB was deactivated due to moisture but about two hours later it was fine.
