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PostPosted: September 10th, 2021, 8:42 am 
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... but reservations can be made five days in advance. If the maximum number of permits has been reached, no other visitors will be allowed in at the entrances, cars will be turned away. Probably some disappointment coming for those casual leafpeepers who without thinking suddenly decide to go for a lovely Sunday afternoon drive to enjoy the fall colors. Those past kms-long lineups on the highway and the crowding at parking lots and washrooms must have been too much to deal with. Also those who needed to relieve themselves by the side of the road, lots of complaints.

https://www.mybancroftnow.com/53287/alg ... f-viewing/

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PostPosted: September 10th, 2021, 9:48 am 
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What about through traffic?


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PostPosted: September 10th, 2021, 12:42 pm 
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Sounds like a nightmare. Yikes!

Best colours I have ever seen were driving on hwy 106 through the middle of New Brunswick in late September. Regardless, there are so many parts of Ontario that will not have this craziness.

Slow start to the turn so far.


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PostPosted: September 10th, 2021, 5:19 pm 
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Location: Burlington,ON
Here is my last year's experience with Algonquin Park colors. It's also the trip where I developed an inguinal hernia and I just couldn't imagine what it was.

Good times:
https://youtu.be/yoF959o-La8
https://youtu.be/a3uozT7s1hU


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PostPosted: September 10th, 2021, 6:28 pm 
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So when does this goofiness supposed to start and stop?


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PostPosted: September 10th, 2021, 6:43 pm 
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Hi Kim... it's OK to drive through the park, just say so when stopped at the east or west gate. I suppose there isn't anything to stop people from driving through to Whitney beyond the boundary, have lunch and then turn around and drive back. Maybe this year, they'll have a permit check lineup off to the side and through traffic will have a shorter wait in another. Or maybe there will be signs posted saying the park permit limit has been reached and no new permits will be issued and that will keep lineups shorter. Extra staff were brought in last year to try and keep lineups and waits shorter by checking permits at several points along the highway before the main gate but wait times were still long. Not that I was there in the middle of that mad rush to be in the same place at the same time.

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PostPosted: September 10th, 2021, 9:14 pm 
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Too bad the non-campers have not heard about H'burton slightly to the S. Every bit as spectacular as Algon and lots of smaller rds to drive on.

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PostPosted: September 11th, 2021, 7:24 am 
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I am glad I can partake of colors closer to home without the hassle. Seems like a nightmare though the hordes of people wandering all over the road with nary a care about traffic were also a nightmare the one time I canoed in Algonquin during leaf peeping season.


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PostPosted: September 11th, 2021, 10:37 am 
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Hm, It seems there was a limit on day-use permits last year... with a 45-min wait for any that didn't know until they saw the sold out sign at the west gate...

https://twitter.com/Algonquin_PP/status ... 2573535233

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PostPosted: September 11th, 2021, 1:38 pm 
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frozentripper wrote:
Hm, It seems there was a limit on day-use permits last year... with a 45-min wait for any that didn't know until they saw the sold out sign at the west gate...

https://twitter.com/Algonquin_PP/status ... 2573535233

I know a picture is not always universally accurate but to me that looks past peak color.


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PostPosted: September 22nd, 2021, 10:29 am 
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Here's the Ontario Parks announcement with all the details, see visitor updates 2/3ds down.... once paid for online up to five days in advance, daily vehicle permits won't be refundable. Worth mentioning that there are more access points than the seven mentioned, if beating the crowds is what's wanted.

At the top of the page, fall color is shown to be beginning.

https://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/visit/g ... pdate_2021

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PostPosted: September 22nd, 2021, 11:37 am 
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They did this the last two years as well. I went on a backcountry camping trip the day it started last year, I just made sure I was ahead of the crowds that were unaware of this new condition so I did not get stopped in a Km's long line up. Breezed right on through with no issues. As mentioned, there are just as nice places with no crowds to see the colours, why anyone would put themselves through the crowds in APP is beyond me.

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PostPosted: September 22nd, 2021, 4:32 pm 
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Quote:
...why anyone would put themselves through the crowds in APP is beyond me.


I've avoided those crowds on the highway as well but past that, into the interior, the canoe routes will be mostly empty... I've returned home after canoeing without seeing anybody else for three days, from a more remote access and seen the weekend Hwy 60 crowds on the eleven o'clock news at home.

It's probably the last kick at going north for a lot of visitors that camp in the park during the summer and they will want to have that last little bit of northern exposure for the year before winter sets in... and since it's southern Ontario with APP being only several hours away, there will be millions in towns and cities that hear about APP having that world-class fall wilderness so they'll want to spend a day in that too. So I imagine that once it's been seen in all it's fall color glory, there is some satisfaction in knowing that, well, we got to visit the park one last time this year and we'll carry those thoughts with us, to keep us going, until we return again next year.... or something like that.

Kim, that picture in the tweets does show the leaves off the largest trees but there probably will still be a lot of color even though it's past peak. The highest leaves will turn color first then drop off leaving the lower ones still on and with color.

Sugar maples Oct 15 well after peak color, the tallest maples have lost their leaves...

Image

And oaks peaking after sugar maples at that time, the peak following maples mentioned in the APP page above.

Image

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PostPosted: September 25th, 2021, 10:19 am 
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Seems it's a pilot program and there's even a name being given to it - the Hwy 60 Gates Program.


Quote:
Algonquin’s advance pass pilot program could be implemented province-wide


Martin Halek
Monday Sep. 20th, 2021


An advance permit pilot program running at Algonquin Park, as well as 16 others, could pave the way for similar measures across Ontario.

Park officials previously announced that day-use permits would be available five days in advance, with capacity limits in place. The measures have been put in place to curb overcrowding in the park, according to Steven Kearney, Group Leader on Ontario Parks’ Highway 60 Gates Program.

“There’s been a remarkable increase in visitation; specifically the Thanksgiving weekend is pretty crazy, so over the past six years, it’s resulted in a bunch of capacity issues and safety concerns.” says Kearney. “The daily vehicle permit capacity and the advance pilot project are kind of a way to address those safety concerns.”

COVID-19 was not a major factor in the decision to prevent overcrowding, according to Kearney. He says the safety concerns mostly stem from people parking on the highway’s shoulder to use the park.

“People try to park along the highway, or stop to see moose,” says Kearney. “It’s never a good idea to stop and get out on such a busy highway, [there’s] thousands of cars passing through Highway 60 every day. Adding bodies and vehicles all along the highway is quite dangerous when there’s a constant flow of vehicle traffic.”

If you’re simply crossing a park as through-traffic, you don’t need to worry. Kearney says vehicles do not need to register for day-use unless they plan to stop along the way to use trails or facilities.

Although Algonquin is the biggest park running the pilot program, it is not the only one. Sixteen other parks in Ontario are part of the program:

Arrowhead
Batchawana Bay
Craigleith
Darlington
Forks of the Credit
Kakabeka Falls
Kettle Lakes
Lake Superior
Long Point
Mono Cliffs
North Beach
Pinery
Presqu’ile
Sandbanks
Sibbald Point
Turkey Point

If the pilot program is a success, Kearney says Ontario Parks might implement the program in every park it oversees. He says the organization will be looking at whether there were less collisions in the parks and whether safety increased overall while the program was running, as well as feedback from park visitors.

Although he hopes vehicle overcrowding will be less of a problem with the measures in place, Kearney still encourages people to drive carefully while in the parks.



https://www.mymuskokanow.com/113822/alg ... ince-wide/

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