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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 7:18 am 
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Hi All,

First post and looking for some advice. We are relatively new to tripping and are thinking of heading to Masssasauga PP to site 107 on Creswicke Lake. Was hoping someone might be able to give some feedback on this site/area of the park. It's my wife and I and out two boys who are 5 and 7.

Thanks in advance.


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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 7:44 am 
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Location: Ontario
That's gonna be a tough slog, specially with the kids. Which way do you plan on going in?

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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 7:47 am 
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Pretty little lake and good site, with an easy canoe landing and good swimming rocks, and of course the privacy (only one site) is a nice bonus. If you feel your kids are up for a trip with that distance and portage count, go for it.

Are you bringing your own canoe or renting?

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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 7:59 am 
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We are brining our own. We have done mostly one portage trips to date. Thought we would try a little longer. Now I'm worried I may be biting off more than I can chew.


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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 8:12 am 
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If you've been over a few portages with the kids then I'm sure you have a good idea of what they're capable of. Three Legged to Creswicke is about 10 km and 4 short to medium portages (longest 500 m), so it's an easy day by "adult" standards, more like half-day perhaps. Just don't try to short-cut through the marsh behind the island on Spider. Not passable.


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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 8:59 am 
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That's great info. Thanks for the help. I think we will give it a try. We have lots of time to get in and out. Should be a blast. Glad to hear the site is nice. Was a little worried based on the pictures.


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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 2:49 pm 
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Not to be argumentative, but, for me, (and I've been doing this for a long time), that is not an "easy" day "by adult standards". That is a challenge, imo, especially if the wind is strong, coz it will be in your face for much of the paddle into Spider. It can get nasty on the wrong day. And those aren't flat well-tended trails. Maybe if you are an experienced, strong and athletic young man it might be "easy", but for many folks, again imo, it is not.

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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 6:41 pm 
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Here is a bit of info for you....

http://www.angelfire.com/blues2/bcaron/campsite.html

Once you get past the vintage quirkiness there is a bit of good info.


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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 7:05 pm 
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This is great info. Thanks everyone! After doing a bit of work on gmaps, it's not much more paddling than we did in our maiden voyage to Algonquin, it's just broken up with a few more portages. Couple of follow-up questions if anyone knows. Is there any fish that are in season I can target while on Creswicke? and any suggested Day Trips?

Thanks again. So glad I found this resource!


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PostPosted: May 19th, 2016, 8:18 pm 
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What's in season depends on when you're going : )

I haven't actually fished it but I think it's basically a bass fishery (smallmouth?) and that opens the 4th saturday in June. If you're going sooner than that, I dunno, there might be panfish you can target, and some of the lakes in the area have pike. Certainly Spider Lake does and perhaps Westphal. And Georgian Bay is only 2 portages away and could have all kinds of fish.

I don't mean to say you shouldn't put stock in sk8r's opinion by the way, I'm no great expert in the area. I've gone Three Legged to Creswicke once, and much longer ago I went Three Legged to Gooseneck Bay which is a similar route. I didn't have wind problems either time but I suppose that's just luck. When I went to Creswicke it was as a two-day loop, returning the long way via Georgian Bay and Canoe Lake. I think at one point I lost a portage trail, but I think it was west of Creswicke, and only because I had the canoe blocking my view.

Not sure what to say about day trips... in terms of following real routes your choices are backtracking into the lakes you came in on, or continuing west which would soon put you among cottages in Georgian Bay. If there are any interesting bushwhacks or anything in the area someone else will have to reveal them.

Rather than looking at Google Maps, you can measure actual distances using the provincial government's topo mapping tool: http://www.giscoeapp.lrc.gov.on.ca/matm ... cale=en-US You'll have to refer to the park map for portage locations if you want to be exact, though.


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PostPosted: May 25th, 2016, 8:43 am 
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Hi everyone,

Thanks again for the input. We headed out this weekend. It was a great trip. Took about 4 hours to get to the site including a stop for lunch. The 100m portage into Creswicke ended up being 400m. They have extended that portage because of low water levels on the north end of Vicary Lake. The new 300m extension was not very well groomed and had several downed trees and lots of up and down. It was certainly worth it however as Creswicke is a beautiful lake and the site is great (with a somewhat sloped tent pad). The kids did great and we were able to single carry each portage.

Took a day trip into Speyer Lake where we were able to take a nice refreshing swim in the warm water and hike the portage to Georgian Bay. Lots of areas to explore but no fish biting. Bugs however were very much biting. Black flies left me looking like I had measles.

It only took us 3 hours to get back to the access with low winds. I would say this is no longer than a half day for moderately experienced and fit adults.

It was our first trip to MPP and we will be back for sure!


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PostPosted: May 26th, 2016, 9:33 am 
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@Leighhanna I wonder if you know where the portage extension is. Does it join up with the 100 metre one, or is it completely separate? Do you think the 400 is absolutely necessary?

I'm going through there at the end of June. The youngest in our group of 4 will be 7. He's been on several trips before though.

Speyer is warm, eh?


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PostPosted: May 26th, 2016, 8:27 pm 
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Speyer was just beautiful for swimming in on Sunday. The 400 is an extension that follows the north shore line until it hits the original portage. The landing for the new portage is directly across the lake from the portage from Beaver pond. On our way in we managed to cut off a bit of the portage by going along the shore like until we saw a marker for the new portage. We were able to slog through some swamp and get up a hill to cut off 100m. Not sure if it was worth it, though we did manage to avoid one tree blocking the portage.


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PostPosted: May 4th, 2018, 7:39 pm 
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I know this is an old post but I plan on going by this site on the Canada Day weekend (seems as though the site on Speyer Lake was the only one left) Any thoughts on the possibility of no one showing up? How is the site on Speyer Lake? First time into the park but absolutely not the first time portaging.


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PostPosted: May 4th, 2018, 10:36 pm 
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Fletch2 wrote:
I know this is an old post but I plan on going by this site on the Canada Day weekend (seems as though the site on Speyer Lake was the only one left) Any thoughts on the possibility of no one showing up? How is the site on Speyer Lake? First time into the park but absolutely not the first time portaging.

I'm not sure I understand the question. You're not suggesting that you could go camp at a site reserved by someone else, in the hopes that that person doesn't show up?

As you probably realize the Mass is not like Algonquin or Killarney where bookings are general to a lake. Bookings are specific to a site. If a site is not available for your dates it is because an individual person/group has that particular site reserved for them.


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