the SECRET of
Crab Lake by Kevin Callan N
OEL’S REQUESTS WERE QUITE DEMANDING FOR HIS SON’S FIRST CANOE TRIP.HE WANTED A QUICK AND EASY ROUTE ONLY A COUPLE OF HOURS
drive from his home near Toronto; maybe a short portage so five- year-old Walker could experience,for a brief moment,what it felt to shoulder all your belongings on your back; and a choice campsite set on a remote lake that happens to be populated by monster-sized bass. Noel has been on a number of trips with me before and I knew he wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear that such a perfect trip didn’t exist. But it did.A place called Crab
Lake.And it’s a gem I couldn’t wait to share with him and Walker. Crab Lake is
reached by Wolf Lake a left turn off Highway 28, north of Peterborough but just south of Apsley, Ontario.Wolf Lake is a perfect destination on its own. Only a few cottages crowd the lake,mostly along the south shore,and a strip of Crown land along the north shore, as well as a number of small islands to the west, provide some excellent campsite possibilities.
photo by Scott MacGregor
Crab Lake is much more isolated and is easily reached by way of a short 107 metre portage located at the far end of Wolf Lake’s south- west bay.
Getting to Crab Lake seemed like a relatively easy process, but with the last road not being marked we found ourselves lost. Our group missed the turn for Wolf Lake twice and even somehow man- aged to begin pad- dling across a totally different lake for half-an-hour before we resorted to ask- ing a local cottager to steer us in the right direction. Crab Lake has
five main bays that head off in all direc- tions and is much larger than it first appears. Each inlet also has one or two prime campsites, complete with an exposed chunk of granite to catch a
breeze and escape the bugs and a snug canopy of pine, maple and birch to pitch a tent under.Our group chose an out-of-the way spot directly below where a rough trail heads up to the top of Blueberry Mountain—an exposed hill that’s literally covered in thick blueber-
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