2005 Buyer’s Guide: Lakewater A Canoe Trip of


Their Own It’s payback time


My sister Carly, then 10 years old and notoriously homesick, wrote a letter home from summer camp after her first lakewater trip in Algonquin Park. She wrote:


story by Tory Bowman photo by Hap Wilson


Trip was amazing! We went all the way to Pine Torch (way north) where none had gone for 3 YEARS! It was soooo hard! We got up at 6:15 am, left the camp at 8:15 am, and got to our campsite at 9ish that night! We did three portages that were longer than 3 km, and anything under a km was “just a shit.”


One day was freezing cold, (a record low) and we were paddling up Abacon—the biggest lake. It was cloudy, rainy and the waves were 1m high (no joke). We had to stop after the morning ‘cause it was so cold. Both our guides had no rain pants. We were all so cold but Dave was on the verge of hypothermia and he was so des- perate to be close to the fire he singed off all his leg hair! Another day we did 10 portages! None over 1.7 km though!


I’ll tell some more when I come home. Wonderful news! I have yet to be homesick!


48 www.rapidmag.com


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