July 7, 2024
I led high school student hikes on the first loop of the Western Uplands trail in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada before but never hiked the whole trail. Three of my long time adventure partners and I, The Summer School Brotherhood as we call ourselves, decided this was the year we take it off the list.
By 10:30 am we had registered and parked at the head of trail. The lot was 3/4 full so I expected lots of hikers. The trail from the start was wet with many black mud patches where people tried to keep their shoes dry along the edges. We passed three groups on their way out within the first hour and I didn’t ask for portraits. In the next hour we didn’t pass anybody so I approached the next group. They, like the earlier groups, had completed the popular first loop.
Shahriyar is from Windsor, Ontario. He and his three friends were on their first backpacking trip and quite enjoyed it. He said he would do it again.
As soon as we passed the first loop turn off, the trail became visibly less travelled. It is clear most people just hike the first loop. We camped on Redwing Lake at site 1. It was small, buggy, and sloped. It had two small tent pads, not enough for our four small tents. Rob pitched his tent just off the site and I pitched on the sloped side of one of the two pads. George and Mark got the tent pads this time. There was poor water access at the site but the privy had just been relocated and was unused. I’m glad I hadn’t ventured here with a large school group.
We were in bed by 8pm. 16.2 km travelled, 20500 steps taken, and 67 flights climbed.