Another covid summer but why not make the most of it in one’s own backyard? For the second summer in a row we ventured to northern Ontario, this time to do some back country camping in one of the province’s most beautiful but least known parks.
We spent the first night in the small car camping site at the entrance of the park and we were immediately excited by the shoreline views.
The next morning we got on the trail with everything on our backs for an 12 km hike to Hook Falls.
There’s no cell phone service in the park but we did have the presence of mind to check the forecast before leaving the park gate the day before. We knew a storm was coming and could see it in the sky on our second day. Knowing that most of the camping on the shoreline trail would be in open arras close to water, we decided to play it safe and not hike all the way to Morrison Harbour. Instead we camped at Willow River in the shelter offered by the trees.
The storm passed with only a bit of wind. So we were able to have dinner on the beach.
Our next leg brought us back to Chigamawinigum Falls. We set up camp and did a hike back up to the bridge where we had crossed on our first day.
Now this is where things got interesting. The water here was fast flowing due to the falls upstream. The next morning I went to get water from the river and did 2 things you should never do: wear boots and have phone in pocket. The rocks were slippy and before I knew it I was in the current. I got out ok but had to hike the day in wet boots. Also supposedly the water resistance of my phone does not apply to the camera. So I didn’t really take many pictures after that until it dried out days later.
Our next campsite was easily the most beautiful. We hiked around the new Mdaabii Miikna trail to Playter Harbour. The sandy beaches and rocks protruding in the harbour made for great swimming and gorgeous photos if one’s camera weren’t a soggy mess.
Something about Pukaskwa. Whether you are doing the shoreline trail or the Mdaabii Miikna loop trail you have book each of your campsites and there’s limited space at each. This was a point of frustration for us when we were planning our trip as we couldn’t string together an itinery on the shoreline trail that worked and we didn’t want to force ourselves to do 20 or more km a day. So we ended up going only as far as Willow River and then we double backed to join the Mdaabii Miikma trail. This trail is significantly shortly but it was challenging getting out of Playter Harbour South. In the end we were still able to hike 55 km.
We finished our stay at Pukaskwa with a night at the car camping park and then got on the road toward home.
sedativegunk 