For Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, I took the dogs to Frontenac Provincial Park, just north of Kingston, ON. Really the only reason I chose this location was because they had plenty of backcountry sites left for camping when everywhere else was booked up! I'm very happy I went with this park, though. The scenery was beautiful, the weather was great, and the trail was long and hard enough that we didn't run into too many other folks. It really didn't end up being too difficult though, and I would definitely revisit this one! We did the Slide Lake Loop trail, with a few small changes. We started at the Big Salmon Lake parking lot and began on the Cedar Lake Loop in order to reach the Slide Lake Loop (road does not go to this trail).
It took us about 7 hours to get to our campsite (1B), which was right on the north shore of Buck Lake. The trail was toughest in this half, with some abrupt elevation changes. There are several nice lookouts and the trail is well marked, which made the going quite easy. There are also a lot of historical stops along the way, which somehow we missed every single one! Keep an eye out, as they are marked on the trail map you can purchase at the park office. Once we got to the campsite, we went through the routine: gathering firewood and starting the fire, setting up the tent, and making dinner. By this time the dogs were already passed out, especially Reese. It was her first backpacking trip, and 25km sure wore her out! For dinner, I made a marscapone cheese and smoke salmon pasta over the campfire (from http://outdoorchannel.com/article.aspx?id=13010), but used canned salmon, which was AMAZING. Definitely will be making this soon, and it was easy enough to pack along with us. I also should give a shout out to the Banana Chocolate Chip Walnut Granola Bars that I made (from http://www.dirtygourmet.com/banana-chocolate-walnut-granola-bars). They were easy to make and absolutely delicious! I find that good food can make a trip so much more enjoyable! The night was rainy, but the morning was nice a warm. We hiked the rest of the way out, stopping for water at campsite 2. There are a lot of wetlands around, but we took the opportunity to refill at Doe Lake. From there, we took the route to the Cedar Lake parking lot and walked up the road about 30 minutes to our parking lot. We were too sore and tired, and the pups were tick-infested so we figured a quick route back would be best. On the way home we hit up Ronnie's Place in Syndenham for a couple of burgers and fries. Great way to end a nice weekend trip. Next time, I plan to take an extra day and make another stop so there is a bit of downtime on the trip. Otherwise, it was a Thanksgiving well-spent!
It took us about 7 hours to get to our campsite (1B), which was right on the north shore of Buck Lake. The trail was toughest in this half, with some abrupt elevation changes. There are several nice lookouts and the trail is well marked, which made the going quite easy. There are also a lot of historical stops along the way, which somehow we missed every single one! Keep an eye out, as they are marked on the trail map you can purchase at the park office. Once we got to the campsite, we went through the routine: gathering firewood and starting the fire, setting up the tent, and making dinner. By this time the dogs were already passed out, especially Reese. It was her first backpacking trip, and 25km sure wore her out! For dinner, I made a marscapone cheese and smoke salmon pasta over the campfire (from http://outdoorchannel.com/article.aspx?id=13010), but used canned salmon, which was AMAZING. Definitely will be making this soon, and it was easy enough to pack along with us. I also should give a shout out to the Banana Chocolate Chip Walnut Granola Bars that I made (from http://www.dirtygourmet.com/banana-chocolate-walnut-granola-bars). They were easy to make and absolutely delicious! I find that good food can make a trip so much more enjoyable! The night was rainy, but the morning was nice a warm. We hiked the rest of the way out, stopping for water at campsite 2. There are a lot of wetlands around, but we took the opportunity to refill at Doe Lake. From there, we took the route to the Cedar Lake parking lot and walked up the road about 30 minutes to our parking lot. We were too sore and tired, and the pups were tick-infested so we figured a quick route back would be best. On the way home we hit up Ronnie's Place in Syndenham for a couple of burgers and fries. Great way to end a nice weekend trip. Next time, I plan to take an extra day and make another stop so there is a bit of downtime on the trip. Otherwise, it was a Thanksgiving well-spent!