Camping at Algonquin Park - Pog Lake has been on my bucket list for years. I have camped at different campgrounds in Algonquin over the years but have never been able to get a spot at Pog Lake. This past weekend I was lucky enough to snag one!
There is something about driving along Hwy 60 that just melts the stress of the city from my bones. I say it every single time we make that turn from Hwy 11.
The large trees, the stunning rocks and the miles and miles of untouched lakes just amazes me every single time. This trip was a last minute find. I had nothing booked but just randomly checked Ontarioparks.com and found a spot at Pog Lake, right on the water. I’ve been to Algonquin many times before. I have been there in all four seasons. Winter hiking there is one of my favourite activities. I was up here in April of this year to get in the last bit of winter hiking. Every time I head up to Algonquin, I am always with one of my long time camping buddies. We have stayed at many parks together over the years and experiencing this lake with this person was unbelievable. We talked about it for many years and now that we have accomplished it, it's one more thing to scratch off the bucket list.
When we arrived at the park on Friday evening, we got all set up just before a crazy rain storm. We spent about an hour in the tent just talking and laughing about all the crazy experiences we have shared together. After the rain stopped it was time to explore the grounds.
This campground had so many beautiful waterfront sites and we were lucky enough to have the lake in our own backyard. Just down the hill from our campsite was the beach. It was nice and sandy, but there were no dogs allowed on the beach. Algonquin Outfitters delivered kayaks and canoes to the beach a few times a day so that was very convenient if you are renting something. The lake was like glass after the rain. Walking around the campground at dusk was so beautiful. You were able to hear the fish jumping in the lake and the sounds of the birds. The trees were huge provided plenty of privacy for each campsite. The campground was made up of 3 different zones. Sites 201-232 are pet free and radio free. There are 300 campsite located in this particular campground. We were at site 115 and would love to book it again. After our walk around the campground we started a fire and just relaxed and listened to the crackling of the firewood. Friday nights we don't really do much because after working all day, then driving up and setting up it takes a lot out of you. We wanted to get a good nights rest for the big day we had planned for Saturday.
Saturday morning I woke up extra early and headed down to the lake to have my protein coffee and journal. Watching the mist lift off the lake and the sound of the loons in the distance just brought me to a deep relaxation I haven’t felt in months. I sat there on the waters edge for a few hours just looking and listening and journaling all of my feelings at that moment. It was a perfect start to the day. Being alone in nature with nothing but my own thoughts has been very therapeutic for me this summer. Once Rosie and my camping buddy woke up, we decided to check out the Algonquin Logging Museum. I have been to many parts of the park but never been to the Museum. I was really excited to check this out and get a feel for some deep Canadian history.
Just with our luck, it was Loggers Day at the park. We were able to learn a lot about logging in the early days with horse drawn wagons, how they moved logs over the frozen lakes and how to square a pine tree. It was a very interactive experience and I learned a ton! There is so much history in this park and so many kilometres of park that are still untouched even to this day. Algonquin is the largest of Ontario Parks, with over 7,000 km of park. I have only ever seen the Hwy 60 corridor but can’t wait to experience the backwoods side of this park. Logging day taught us about the work of blacksmiths and how they used steam trains and boats to get the logs from the park and ship them all over the world. Throughout the walking tour you saw the sleeping quarters as well as the dining area. There were a lot of men out there in very small quarters just trying to make a living. During those years, there were a lot of casualties when preforming these types of jobs. There were signs along the trial that explained when someone was to pass away on the job, their boots were nailed to a near by tree and their bodies buried on the riverbank near where they died.
After the logging museum, we headed to have lunch at Lake of two Rivers picnic area. We made chicken quesadillas by the lake using PC Protein tortilla and enjoyed them with a nice cold beer. After lunch we hit another trail, the Spruce Bog Boardwalk.
This trail was 2 KM and most of the trail was a boardwalk so it was pretty easy for us. Rosie enjoyed this trail a lot. It was a nice change in pace for her. The trail gives you an up close look at two typical Northern Spruce Bogs. This trail goes along Hwy 60 so you do hear a lot of traffic noise that you wouldn't typically hear on other trails in the park. This was a nice trail if you are looking for something short and simple.
Once we finished the trail we headed back to the campsite and decided to put on our swimsuits and go play some frisbee in our private lake backyard. We were pretty hot after hiking, but once we got in the water it was colder than we expected. Saturday was a little bit overcast and chilly so frisbee did not last very long. We put on our sweats and just sat by the lake and just took it all in, it was beautiful. Camping for me isn't always about doing things. It's about making memories. Sometimes just sitting and doing nothing at all makes some of the best memories. For dinner on Saturday night I cooked up some ribeye steaks and foil pack potatoes and stuffed mushrooms. Steak and camping just go hand in hand for me. We kept the leftovers to turn them into breakfast hash for Sunday morning.
Sitting by the campfire Saturday night is always my favourite. Listening to The Hip and just chatting is a great way to reconnect with an old friend. We laughed and made s’mores then I started falling asleep on my Kuma Couch so it was time for bed.
Sunday was overcast, but rain wasn’t supposed to come until 5 PM so we decided to take that day and get in as many hikes as we could. We whipped up some French toast and cooked up the leftover steak and potatoes for breakfast, packed up the big stuff and hit the trails.
The first trail we went on was a 2 km hike called the Lookout Trail. What is unique about hiking in Algonquin, is there are sign in logs when you enter the trail. It was neat to flip though the pages and see where all the other people are from. People come from all over the world to hike this park. So if you're out hiking these trails that we did this past weekend, make sure you look for my name!
Hiking up to the lookout was so worth it. The view was impeccable. Having a personal photographer on this trip was also really great! It was so much easier than setting up my tripod for the perfect shot. Rosie did a great job hiking up to the top! The trail is rated moderate but I found some of it to be a little bit more difficult, especially going down after the lookout. Once we completed that hike, we decided to do another 2 KM trial because we didn’t want to burn Rosie out.
The second trail was the Beaver Pond Trail. It was a beautiful hike around 2 ponds full of beaver dams. I was lucky enough to get close to the waters edge and snag a beautiful Water Lilly.
It took some perseverance, but I managed to get one. Last year camping at Restoule, I made my camping buddy paddle around the lake until we were able to capture a water lily from that trip so getting one on this trip just added to the memory bank. The hike around Beaver Pond was very serene. There were a ton of stairs up and down throughout the trail so I wouldn’t recommend it if you have mobility issues. Rosie struggled a little bit through this trail, but she managed to find her way around the stairs and up a path that worked for her. Once we completed this trail, it was time to head back to the campsite and load up the car. We packed everything in the car, but weren’t ready to head back to the city just yet. So we decided to take a drive to find a picnic area where we could have lunch. We found a cute little spot and made some campfire nacho dip and grilled up some burgers and enjoy the last little bit of time that we had in Algonquin before making our way back to the city.
Spending just two days in Algonquin Park is not enough there’s so much to see so much to do so if you are planning to do a trip like this, I highly recommend taking at least four or five days to really soak it all in. Because we’ve come here several times before we’ve seen most of the highway 60 corridor. There are still a few trails that we haven’t completed but I know one day we will. My next trip to Algonquin is in two weeks. This time I’ll be staying at Rock Lake campground. I’ve never stayed there before, so it will be another memorable experience. This next trip will be a family filled adventure! I’m going with my niece Kaidence and my nephew Chase, as well as my step brother and his girlfriend. It will be really great to show them this part of my life that Kaidence and I have already been experiencing together.
If you’ve camped or hiked in Algonquin Park, leave me a comment below and let me know what your favourite part of the park is. Remember to follow me on Instagram to get more insight on all of these camping adventures!
Happy Camping🏕️
Love,
Liz
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