Wolf Lake and Crab Lake (Kawartha Highlands PP)
Saturday, September 22, 2007 to Sunday, September 23, 2007
route:
length: 16.0km, 2 days
difficulty: beginner
organizer: Keith Nunn
participants: Keith Nunn, Liam Nunn, Morgan Baskin,
report:
Keith: I had wanted to do a relatively easy trip with the kids while Morgan was still small enough to paddle the strip canoe I built her. I had heard nice things about this trip and thought it sounded perfect for our purposes. We used one of the Harvest Foodworks two-person, one day packs they're doing and a little supplemental food from the Apsley IGA for our first lunch. Liam was my bow paddler in my 15' Chestnut Ranger and Morgan paddled solo (with her pack) in her 10' Junior Ranger. We set out at noon. It was a bit windy, but other than that the weather couldn't have been better. Beautiful sunshine both days. Morgan worked hard paddling into the wind on the way there. Morgan carried her own pack and canoe across the 150m portage and Liam carried how own pack. They were both really good. We found a site without too much trouble and were set up by about 4pm. The lakes are quite pretty and not overly burdened by cottages. The HF Alfredo dinner was surprisingly good. We added a little bit of onion to spruce it up, but it would have been fine without it. Morgan: We had a fire. We did jiffy pop on the fire. It was good although we burned it a bit. Keith: I woke early enough to watch the sunrise. It was fabulous as the sky was still clear. In particular, seeing the sun strike the red leaves of the maple behind me before I could see the sun itself make the leaves seem all the more like fire. The HF mushroom + cheese omelette was good too. I added some lefover onion and cheese from the previous day's lunch which added a bit of extra zip. Letting them sit the full 10 minutes made a difference too. Certainly not fresh eggs, but highly edible. We made a full circumnavigation of Crab lake before making our way out into Wolf Lake again. There are some very cool long bays in the lake. Some of which you can't go down because of the water plant growth, but that just made them seem all the more interesting to look down. Almost like canyons of trees. We stopped halfway down Wolf Lake and made the HF lentil soup for lunch. We were pleased with it as well. Three for three is unheard of in my past experience of HF meals. The fabulous weather continued and we returned to the car and departed at 2pm. Only 26 hours out, but well worth it. I should have looked under my wheels before I moved the car to the take out. I discovered the next morning that I had two flat tires. The cause? 6 inch nails. Those don't go in by accident. I shpould have known there was local controversy over this newish park and that some jackasses would take it out on paddlers. Jerks. It was a great weekend in spite of it and I would definitely go back. But I'll check around my car first after the trip. | 
