Portaging at Bon Echo

Elli and Seanna hulking out - Bon Echo Park, Ontario

After bugging her for a couple of months, Seanna finally agreed to take us on a portaging trip.

... and we choose a pretty good weekend to do it!

Portaging is rooted deep in Canada's past, when the only way to get the valuable beaver skins out of the deep wilderness was canoeing the many lakes and rivers until they ran out... at which point you picked up your canoe, and everything in it, and carried it all til the next lake!


We all met at the Park after work on Friday (quite late on our part... there was a massive traffic jam in Ottawa and we didn't get there until after 9pm). We sat around the campfire with beers until the wee hours... and slept fairly late the next morning =). Seanna made us fresh coffee and pancakes and a packed lunch, and we got up 'n at 'em for about... 1pm.

We went for a little paddle and a little hike, but Saturday was pretty relaxed. We spent a little time on the beach before heading back to camp and getting dinner started.


Sunday, however, was HARDCORE!! We packed up camp and were in the water by 10am. We spent about five hours paddling about, including a 1.5km portage straight up a hill which was hellish. Damn those First Nationers and their hoity-toity bark canoes.

Oranges at half-time