11–16 June 2025
Route: Bell lake – David lake – (hike to Silver Peak) – Great Mountain lake – Threenarrows lake – O.S.A. lake – Killarney lake – Norway lake – (hike to "The Crack") – Carlyle lake – Johnnie lake
Beautiful combination of clear lakes and white quartzite rocky shores; resembles the landscapes of Finland and Karelia, but with a more prominent mountain range (La Cloche) stretching across the park.
Perfect (almost too good!) weather – warm, sunny, occasional slight breeze, but sometimes as calm as to create a fully reflective lake surface.
Lots of wildlife: ducks, loons, seagulls (overly protective of their small rocky islands); bird concerts at dawn & dusk; uncatcheable fish; a large turtle inspecting us from underwater; a curious chipmunk that almost ran into the fire and escaped in horror; a deer (and many of its droppings); and the highlight – invisible flying moose (shown on the map and certainly present in the wild, but unobservable). Ah, and mosquitoes, sandflies and other gnats – at times annoying, but not as much as we feared, and most campsites are well positioned to keep the mosquito exposure at minimum. Beavers also not directly observable, but their engineering work is very visible.
A delightful and serene experience of soaring over shallow flooded meadows and meandering creeks.
Tried to build a makeshift sauna (a pile of fire-heated stones inside a tarp-covered tipi) – got some steam, but not nearly as much as hoped; declared to be a demo / proof of concept.
In absence of natural challenges, scrambled along rock outcrops at the lake coast – plouf!
