Episode 9: Turn of the Century Backcountry Canoe Tripping Experiences - Part 1

Episode 9: Turn of the Century Backcountry Canoe Tripping Experiences - Part 1

So backcountry canoe tripping is one of those past times that you either love or you absolutely hate or, as the mother of a childhood friend said, you do it so that you can talk about it afterwards. Have you ever wondered though, what it must have been like venturing into the ‘wilderness’ or the bush as it was called back in the day?

The truth is that backcountry canoe tripping has been an integral part of the Algonquin Park, Ontario Canada experience since its beginnings in 1893. The stories I’ll share in this episode are based on three canoe tripping experiences, two from the late 1800’s early 1900s and another from the early 1940s. The first is surveyor James Dickson’s month-long fishing and canoe tripping holiday that took place around 1885 in the Canoe Lake to Burnt Root area, The second is a park ranger-guided trip that Boston Architect Ernest Machado took with his brother Jose, brother-in-law Alfred Whitman and 3 park guides in 1903. The crew traveled from Canoe Lake to Big Trout and from there east via Merchant to Opeongo and then south down the Opeongo River through Booth Lake to Victoria. The third was a fishing trip that John Robins and his friend Tom took on the east side of the Park. They started at Radiant Lake and after a trek down and back up White Partridge Creek, headed west to Lavielle and from there to Opeongo via the Dickson-Bonfield portage.  Of course, there are tidbits from other trips including my own as a child.

In this episode, I’ll focus mostly on the basics, such as equipment and food, and in the next one, I’ll talk about what the landscape was like and the actual physical experience.

I’ve also created a collage of pictures from the Machado 1903 trip, which can be found both on my YouTube Algonquin Defining Moments channel and as a slide show on my website www.Algonquin park heritage.com. Enjoy!!!