Algonquin Backpacking - Highland Trails - Day 5

I woke up at about 8:20 a.m. Heather and my mom were already up and making breakfast. 

It was a beautiful sunny morning. It was a bit chilly out but it wasn't raining. I knew that once we got moving with our back packs on that we would not be chilly for long. We may even welcome the slightly cooler temperature. 

The loons were singing out their calls to each other and a flock of geese flew by heading towards a warmer destination. 

A Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker was knocking away at a tree and trying to find her breakfast. 

As I made my way to the boom box, Heather and my mom told me to watch out for Peter's Cotton Tail that he had left behind. Sure enough, I came across a white fluffy thing that looked like a rabbit's tail. But I knew right away what it was. Someone has stepped on a yellow mushroom a day or two before and a white fuzzy fungus had grown over top of it. I was surprised at how fast the white fuzzy fungus had grown. It had literally grown over night because I remember the squished mushroom being there the night before with no fuzziness on it at that time. 

We packed up camp quite quickly and took one last look around to make sure that we didn't miss anything. I wished I could stay longer in this spot but the real world awaited so we had to go. I would definitely consider camping here again in a heart beat. It was a great campsite.

We had to travel just over 4 km  today to get back to the trail entrance. 

The way back was much easier going for the most part. With the exception of one particularly steep hill, the trail was relatively dry and the hills were not too large. Many of the hills that we had gone up on the way in were now down hills for us on the way back. 

With the leaves just starting to change colours there was a nice array of patterns, spots and  stripes that could be found. It made for some interesting natural pieces of art. 

There was one section where the green moss was so thick on either side of the trail that it looked like grass from a mowed lawn. 

There was another section with blue-green moss that looked like a pretty carpet amongst the trees.

Then I came across something I had never seen before. It was a slug hanging from a tree on a very, very long thread of slime. It was hanging right at about waist level and the slime string had to have been about 6 to 10 feet long! (I tried to get a clear picture of it but it only came out blurry). Circus slugs in the woods? Who knew! Actually, after I got home I looked it up and found out that hanging upside down from mucus strings is actually part of a slugs mating ritual.

After about a half an hour or so we passed by the trail that led to the lookout that Heather and I had gone to see the day before. Shortly after that we were passing by Starling Lake. It was interesting to see the lake from the different views; one from above and one from beside. Starling Lake looks much prettier from above than it does from below. 

Near the end of Starling Lake there is a boardwalk that we had to cross. It was very old and falling apart and I was worried that it would break beneath our weight. But it held up and we got to the other side without incident. 

There are some places on the trail where the park rangers were kind enough to cut out obstructions so that you can walk through without tripping over things. This was usually only along the really well used trail that leads too and from the water falls. You don't see this in the further reaches of the trail back on the other side of Provoking Lake. 

Then there are the places where the obstructions are just something you have to deal with. For example the fallen tree we had to crawl under. If you don't have a backpack on this is probably a breeze. But with a backpack on it is more like an Olympic sport. You can't see how low you have to go, so if you think you are low enough and you aren't then you get stuck or you get knocked right over and fall down. 

We helped each other through and aside from my mom's shoe now sitting on top of her backpack instead of hanging down from it there were no other signs that we had ever had a struggle with a tree. (For some reason Heather and I found the fact that my mom's shoe was in an odd position kind of funny at the time...not sure why; maybe we were just tired. Maybe you just had to be there). 

The waterway between Starling Lake and the waterfalls is quiet and peaceful. I was happy to see it because I knew when I saw it that we were getting close to the waterfalls which was about our half way mark. 

We arrived at the waterfalls around 10:30 a.m. This was where we were stopping for our long break and boiling some water to make our cup-o-soup. 

I went to sit by the water's edge to see if I could see another blue jay like I had seen the last time we were here. There were no other people here yet so I figured it might be quiet enough to see one. But I had no such luck. 

While I was sitting there I looked around and noticed the entrance to another trail. Since I was waiting for water to boil I figured I may as well go and check it out to see where it led. I assumed that it was a trail to a boom box or something. 

It was not. Instead it led me to a rickety old flight of stairs. 

I went a little further and found even more stairs. They were moss covered and still wet from the day before. The railing only came up to about my knees. I became more and more curious as to where these stairs led so I continued to climb them. 

You could tell that no one had been up here in a very long time. The stairs were so old that they were actually pretty dangerous really. They looked like they would be a great place to shoot a horror film or something. 

Finally I reached the top of the stairs and found an old unused trail . The path was strewn with fallen trees and the underbrush was very thick and tangled. 

Since no one walked up here much the mushrooms had a chance to grow in peace without being stepped on. They looked pretty sitting in the between the fallen logs in the dappled sunlight on the trail. 

The trail started to wind back in the direction of Provoking Lake. I did not want to spend more time going back in that direction since it was the opposite direction that we were trying to go in. Plus I was thinking that Heather and my mom may start to get worried if I was gone too long. So I headed back the way I had come without finding out exactly where this trail leads to. 

Of course this meant going down the rickety old steps again. At one point the I almost slipped and fell down the wet stairs. But I caught myself in time and made it safely back down to the bottom. 

When I got back to Heather and my mom I was just in time. The water was boiled and the soup was ready. 

I also pulled out my bag of Gorp to eat with my soup. As kids we were always thrilled to have Gorp on our hiking trips. My mom would put together a combination of raisins, peanuts, alphabet cereal and M&M's and we would have it as a snack along the way. As adults we still love the stuff. 

Beside the waterfalls is a small 50 meter portage so that canoers and kayakers can skirt around the waterfalls. 

A group of canoers came by and said hello and then continued on their way up the river. 

A group of about 8 backpackers came by as they headed towards Provoking Lake. Then a gentleman on a bike came by and stopped to chat. He had come up the bike trail which intersects with this trail and told us how he had seen a moose down by Pog Lake. He went on to talk about how in the spring time this waterfall actually looks more like a water fall because the water is much higher and covers all the bare rocks that we could see now. We talked about hiking and about bears. He told us that this trail had been closed about three weeks previous because there had been a bear and three cubs in the area. The park rangers had felt that the area was unsafe for people at the time so they had closed this section down. We told him that we hadn't seen any signs of bears while we were here but that we had seen quite a few when we were in Killarney a few weeks ago. Eventually the gentleman got on his bike and went back the way he came and we got ready to get on our way again too. 

Just as we were packing up again Heather turned to me and in an excited whisper said "Look over there!" I turned to where she pointed and at first I didn't see it. 

Then I saw a blur of movement as a long dark brown animal went running through the bushes at top speed trying desperately to avoid us. It ran from one side of the bush across the open trail and into the thick underbrush on the other side. It went way to fast to catch a picture of it but we got a pretty good look at it. It was a Fisher! It is very rare to see a Fisher. They are a member of the weasel family and live in coniferous habitats across much of Canada and the northern U.S. They are primarily nocturnal, avoid open areas, and usually spends its days sleeping in hollow trees or logs, but it will occasionally venture out in daylight. We felt very lucky to have been able to see one. 

​

Fisher, Clear Creek, Riding Mountain Aspen Parkland Natural Area, Manitoba (Photo by Nature Conservancy Canada) 
​http://www.natureconservancy.ca/en/what-we-do/resource-centre/featured-species/fisher.html

When we got to the other side of the bridge we noticed that there was a campsite right by the bridge. This is an unofficial site but it looked like a fairly nice place to camp out as long as you didn't mind the amount of foot traffic that you would get from all the passers by. Especially since the trail to the boom box was right there and was the only one available to anyone who was at the waterfalls for the day. 

We were on our way again. It was about 11:30 a.m. by this time and the sun was getting warmer. 

It wasn't long before we came to the fork in the trail where you could go to Mew Lake and Two Rivers Lake or you could continue on to Hwy 60 which was where we were headed. I chuckled at the sign because it made me think of Pokemon hunters out looking for Mew Two. 

We came to one of the last hills that we would have to climb. It over looked Mew Lake and was a nice view. 

Through the trees you could make out one of the campsites from the Mew Lake campground. It looked teeny tiny from where we were. 

We passed by a boulder that was so round that it looked like the top of a giant bowling ball. 

Soon we saw the Exit sign and we knew we would be out in only just a few more minutes. 

We were making good time. It was taking us less time to hike out than it did to hike in. This is probably because much of it was downhill instead of uphill when going in this direction. 

We made it out of the bush at 12:20 p.m.  It had only taken us 3 hours if you didn't include the hour break at the waterfalls. 

We packed up the car and filled in the survey that they provide you with at the beginning of the hike. Some of our suggestions were to fix the signs and trail markers on the East end and to fix the broken boardwalks because they are becoming dangerous. Then we placed the survey and the expired permits in the box that they had at the trail head. 

We decided that on our way home we would stop at A&W's for a burger and fries. As we traveled down the highway we saw a sign and remembered that on our way into the park we had seen the same sign for the Algonquin Art Centre and had said that we had wanted to go in on the way back if it was open. Since it was open we pulled into the parking lot and stopped for a visit.

We groaned as we say how many stairs there were to get up to the Art Centre. Our legs were achey from all the hiking we had done the past few days and stairs were not something we wanted to see right now. But we climbed them anyways. 

At the top was a nice little gazebo area that was closed. There were signs to places like the frog pond and the gallery. There was a hand painted canoe to one side and in the middle of the lawn was a tree stump with a baby tree planted in the middle of it. 

Outside were various pieces of art on display that were for sale. There were little blurbs about the artwork and the artist posted beside each one. 

The building itself was a beautiful stone building with some stained glass in the windows. 

Inside was a shop with various pieces of art for sale as well as things like post cards, books, jewelry, nugs, etc. There was a whole bunch of gorgeous pottery work too. In another section was the actual gallery. You couldn't take pictures in there but if you are ever in the area and you like artwork then I highly suggest you take a trip to see the gallery. The are some fabulous pieces of art work in there all with wildlife themes. There are so many pieces I would love to one day have the money to buy. Simply gorgeous work by some truly talented artists. 

After out trip to the Art Gallery we made another stop at the Algonquin Outfitters. Heather had broken a piece off of her backpack and was looking for a replacement and we figured this would be the best place to get it. I was looking for a decently priced T-shirt. 

Inside we were met with a big hand carved wooden bear, 

The store was filled with two floors of everything imaginable for camping and canoeing. There were even novelty items like a little moose chair for kids and wooden pencils in the shape of marshmallows being roasted on a stick. 

Heather found the piece she was looking for and I found a nice Algonquin Park T-shirt for about $21 that would have cost me about $35 if I had bought it in the park. After shopping we had our burger and fries and then were home by 4:30 p.m.  We had a fantastic time on our backpacking trip and are already talking about which trails to do next year. There are so many trails just in Algonquin alone that we could do. So who knows where we will end up next year.