Rain Lake Loop - August

CanadaOntarioAlgonquin
Submitter & Author Information
Route submitted by: 
Tanner
Trip Date : 
August 2016
Additional Route Information
Distance: 
33 km
Duration: 
5 days
Loop Trip: 
Yes
Portage Information
No. of portages: 
7
Total Portage Distance: 
5640 m
Longest Portage: 
1695 m
Difficulty Ratings
River Travel: 
Not applicable
Lake Travel: 
Novice
Portaging: 
Moderate
Remoteness: 
Intermediate
Background Trip Info
Water Levels: 
Unknown
Route Description
Access to Put-In Information: 

Left GTA around 4pm. Stayed at small outfitter in Kearney called Canoe Algonquin, on their lawn beside their pond. Call and ask if this was still allowed but they did not mind us staying there at all. We bought a tent pole from them in the morning, coffee, and muffins. They open at 8am, then we made the car journey in after a quick stop at the kearney algonquin post. Everything in the boat on the water by 9am. 

Technical Guide: 

Aug 9th - Rainlake put in. Portage to Mcraney. South island site McCraney Lake.

Aug 10th - McCraney Lake. Portages to Islet Lake. Camped on site thats next to the one that meets the  backpack trail.

Aug 11th - Portages from Islet, to Rain, then from Rain to Jubilee. Camped on second site in Jubilee

Aug 12th - Portage from Jubilee to Rain. Left the park through Rain lake access

Trip Journal/Log/Report/Diary: 

This was mine and my Canoeing partner's first trip ever.. so it was interesting but trapped us for life. After arriving to Rain lake we became aware of why they called it so.. small water bugs dance across the surface for as far as the eye can see and it looks as though it is raining even on a sunny day. We started off with a quick paddle to the portage to McCraney Lake. 

We were not using the best gear... an old plastic paluski canoe, heavy food barrel, bulky tent.. and our food choices were weighted as well. So this 1810m portage to McCraney.. albeit 1 shot, took us a very very long time. It was entirely flat on an old rail trail and would have been a breeze for a team with proper gear. We got to the end of this portage and were greated with a beautiful walkout beach, which we walked into for 100s of meters in pure elation. We had lunch at this beach, then started our paddle from Little McCraney to McCraney. We went to the island site and only had prepared for the fire to cook on and boil water.. so we got straight to work. We decided to consume a large amount of food realizing we over packed. We also didnt anticipate how much work there was at camp so we were finishing dinner in darkness and attempted to hang out bag in darkness as well. It did not go so well. 

The next morning we got up and had a bigger breakfast of bacon and eggs and hit the next day. The portages into Way, Wee and Weed lake were steep and challenging, especially with heavy gear. It was August, so the weeds and shrubs were quite overgrown at the entrances to these portages. We scaled some rock and waded out by pushing off bottom with our paddles to squeak along after exiting our last portage. The paddle up to Islet lake was filled with lily pads, beavers, and birds. We found a beautiful site that caught all the remaining sun of the day. It had a sand beach and lots of flat space for a tent. We walked a bit of the backpacking trail wthout realizing what it was at first and saw a team camping at the site next to ours. We enjoyed a nice meal, sunset paddle, and sunset swim. This site and night made canoeing in algonquin park a tradition for the two of us.

Our next mornign was porridge then portage. Both portages from islet into rain were very easy to tackle. Then we turned north west to head towards Jubilee. Both these portages also seemed like a breeze compared to our first day. Jubbilee was an extremely quiet lake.. we felt completely alone. We got camp setup quickly, had a great swim off the rock at our campsite and then ate dinner. We were all set up with firing going when we were lucky enough to witness a classic algonquin thunderstorm roll over in the distance. We also were able to see several large catfish come up to the shallows right off our campsite after the sun had set. 

The final day more time was spent packing up to make sure gear was clean and dry. We at oatmeal and left site rather slow. We had a longer paddle through rain lake this way and it did not dissapoint. We cleaned up put the canoe on and were out of the park.

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