I've been thinking about a quick weekender in September and have been looking at Killarney or Algonquin. Surprisingly Killarney is completely booked pretty much all of Sept. whereas Algonquin has lots of openings.

Is this normal for Sept? Or has Killarney gotten popular?

Several years ago (pre Covid), I was told by Killarney PP staff that September was their busiest month.

Yes, Killarney is very busy in Sept, but typically quite available post Thanksgiving. Algonquin is much larger than KPP and the interior after a few lakes in is very open after labour day.

I figured as much.

We went to KPP about 20 yrs ago and it was quite busy. I guess all those w/o school kids wait until Labor Day to go.

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Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

Well that's my strategy!!

I went in October precovid and all 3 lakes we stayed on were completely full. Killarney is tiny and popular.

crazy.... The Massasauga is just as bad...

I had the same plan last year. I ended up spending a week solo exploring the north east end of the park and found it very vacant.

I put in at Bell and made a counter clockwise loop of Bell > Three Mile > Balsam > Deacon > Peter > Hideaway > Panache > Bassoon > Bear > Cat > Howry > Gem > Fish > Great Mountain > David > Bell

After Balsam I didn't see anyone (other then a few far away motor boats on Panache) until I crossed paths with a group on Howry Creek heading the other way.

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Have canoe, will travel.

Were there actual sites avail to reserve: Because when I look on their online system it seems everything is booked solid with a few exceptions here and there. ...

That was more or less how my experience went too. I just picked a handful of available sites and then strung the route together afterwards.

How about The French River? no reservations required! everything is first come, first served.

Put in at Wolseley Lodge, putter around the Five Mile rapids section for the weekend and pull out at Wolseley again. There isn't really much appreciable current to the river, all the rapids have easy portages or lift overs. No motor boats. One of my favorite area's next to the old voyageurs channel.

Maybe it's the weekend crowd your battling more. I was just at McCrae Lake last week. Wednesday and Thursday we had the place to ourselves but coming out Friday it was a steady stream of people heading in for the weekend.

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Have canoe, will travel.