Haliburton Highlands Water Trails - Dan Lake -> McKewan ->Horse and back

CanadaOntarioAlgonquin
Submitter & Author Information
Route submitted by: 
Patricia
Trip Date : 
Sept 10-12 2021
Route Author: 
Patricia
Additional Route Information
Distance: 
5 km
Duration: 
2 days
Loop Trip: 
No
Portage Information
No. of portages: 
2
Total Portage Distance: 
300 m
Longest Portage: 
215 m
Difficulty Ratings
River Travel: 
Not applicable
Lake Travel: 
Novice
Portaging: 
Easy
Remoteness: 
Novice
Background Trip Info
Water Levels: 
High
Route Description
Access to Put-In Information: 

We used the unofficial Dan Lake access point.  Dan Lake Road is a bit sketchy, but we managed ok going slow in my golf.  Wouldn't recomend taking anything lower through the road. 

Technical Guide: 

Fairly striaght forward we put in at Dan lake, kicked out the passengers at the dan->mcKewan portage, paddled the boat through solo, and picked them up on the other side, then paddled down to the mckewan->horse lake portage.  It's a little soft there, but there is a plank you can stand on to load/unload.  The portage is in pretty nice shape, they added some new boardwalks this season (2021). 

While we were there we checked out site #5, which is pretty sweet, and stayed on site #7 for two days.  

This was a nice easy trip to introduce some new campers to the concept of back country camping.  Getting to/from the site from Dan lake access only took about 2 hours, and that was with a lunch break.

 

Technically it's a 2 portage route, but you can skip the one from Dan>McKewan when the waters high and the boats not sitting to low.  It's a bit tricky, and the rocks are covered in paint chips, but i've nagivated it a couple times now this summer without any mishaps.

Trip Journal/Log/Report/Diary: 
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