BARRON CANYON - JULY 2013 (Part 3)

About two kilometers past the end of the canyon, the river widened considerably into a marshy lake, and we pulled the boats up to a campsite to have a swim. Rudi 11 facing away tying up his shorts, AJ 12 looking over his shoulder at Alexander 5. This is after a seven hour day of paddling and hauling canoes over portages. Tough little kids!

A short while later, we put out again, and found the portage around Squirrel Rapids, a half kilometer trek over bouldery ground, and after three trips with backpacks, paddles, and canoes, we put in again for the last kilometer of river to the take out at the pit in an parking lot, very close to the road and bridge over the Barron River, and just down from the Sand Lake access gate.

Rudi, AJ, and Alex taking a dip in the deep cool water of the Barron river after a hard day of paddling through the canyon.

Alexander looking back upstream after our last portage, our final take out at Squirrel Rapids is downstream to the left.

Some low rock walls with the take out at Squirrel rapids just coming into view ahead of the canoes.

BARRON CANYON - JULY 2013 (Part 2)

We paddled further down the canyon, past the highest point, and the lookout trail above. The Canyon has a curve to it, and from either end the north face marches away like silent soldiers in a never ending file. Of course, paddling the canoe well and getting an ideal photograph are mutually exclusive endeavors, so one must just do a little imagining.

I decided to continue the entire length of the Canyon, and exit at the Squirrel Rapids parking lot, even though that meant having to find a way back to the van at Brigham Lake. Squirrel Rapids is just about a kilometre from the Sand Lake access gate, and I was pretty confident I could leave the boys with the boats for a bit, make the gate, and get a lift back to the van.

With that considered, we continued paddling east, passing a group of girls heading in the opposite direction in three large canoes, and finally exited the canyon, continuing on toward the final portage upstream of Squirrel Rapids.

Looking back to the west, Rudi and AJ in the jaws of the canyon.  The walls above are about two hundred feet high.

Looking east, with the camera lens zoomed out all the way to a mid - telephoto, 105mm focal length

This picture was taken within seconds of the photograph above, with the lens zoomed back in to a fairly wide angle, 28mm

Again, this photo is within ten seconds of the previous, after turning the boat around and looking to the west.

East again, the canyon walls simply disappear from view from the river, folding away into hills on either side.

THE BARRON CANYON (PART 1)

On Tuesday, Rudi and I headed for the Barron Canyon in Algonquin Park. I was thinking of a not too difficult or long day trip, maybe four hours or so of canoeing including portages, and this trip fit the bill perfectly. We were also able to get in a short hike to the top of the Canyon for a simply spectacular view.

We started early, dropping Alexander off at my Sister's house in Barry's Bay just after 8 in the morning, and drove to the Sand Lake Access gate, using Station Hill Road out of Alice as a shortcut. We arrived at the gate to buy our Day Pass ($13) just after 10am, and talking with the Park Employee, determined that putting in at the Brigham lake access provided a shorter paddle (8km round trip, versus 14km) than going upstream from Squirrel Rapids. It also enabled us to check out the short hiking loop that takes one to the lookout at the top of the Canyon.

The loop is a short, fairly easy 1.5km trail that takes you from the parking lot just off the access road, up a steep hillside to the clifftop over the canyon, giving a spectacular view in both directions. The canyon here is roughly 350' deep, and has nothing to stop one from falling over the edge... Apparently, this does happen occasionally, as a person fell and died just a few years ago.