Algonquin Park Day Trip! – 4 June

I love Algonquin Park, I may have mentioned that a few hundred times before. We were able to go one day in March and we were supposed to go for 2 1/2 weeks in May but due to our Provincial Lockdown it was canceled. So I needed my fix and as our lockdown ended this past Wednesday, this was a day trip we were going for right away.

Up at 4 a.m. and hit the road with our camera gear and a cooler full of lunch, snacks and water. It’s about a 2 1/2 hour drive, maybe a little less. Just before we hit the turn off to go to Whitney, a little town outside the park, we spotted a moose in a marsh on the side of the road. We have only one other time spotted a moose before we got into the park. So that was a good sign for us. The lighting sucked at that time but we were able to get a few shots albeit not the best.

Into the park we went and to sum it up, we saw 4 moose total, 3 deer, 1 wolf and 5 turkeys. Turkeys for the win! We also saw a bunch of Canada Geese and some goslings and one heron.

Below are some Canada Geese and their gosling photos.

The photo below reminded me of the Abbey Road album cover! I know there is only three but still……………

We spotted another cow on the side of the highway, she was pretty skittish too. Didn’t stick around too long. I have a theory that because there has been so few people around the park for the last few months that the animals have become accustomed to basically having the park to themselves. And for the most part, are not used to humans again. I feel bad for them once the hordes of people invade their space when the lockdown is over. She did not want to come out from the shady trees.

We spotted three deer in the park, we don’t often see deer but they are there. In all the years of coming here, I have seen 10 times more moose than deer. I remember my Grandfather telling me years ago, he was from this area, that moose and deer don’t typically inhabit the same area. I don’t know if that’s true or not but I don’t see it to be honest.

The photo below is one of my favourite spots. On some Algonquin maps, it’s referred to as Pond. It’s between Source Lake and Tanamakoon Lake. We named it Monkey Lake, after Trum of course. We did this so when we are having a conversation, it’s easier to say Monkey Lake than you know where the highway blah blah blah. So below is Monkey Lake and a photo of Trum at his favourite lake too!

It was rather strange we saw no other ducks of any kind, we usually see a fair number on the waters. Maybe they are all in hiding from the mosquitos. The bugs were what you would expect in Ontario this time of year……..Brutal. We parked at one spot to walk down to one of our favourite areas in the park and even with our bug hats on, it was not pleasant. That idea was squashed rather quickly. Can I do a trail with a billion mosquitos flying around my face? Yes. Do I want to? No chance in hell. lol We did spot our second moose of the day right there in the parking lot though so that was okay. We didn’t get great photos of him either as I think he got startled pretty quickly and took off. It’s amazing how fast they can move. I was trying to exit the truck, run to the front of the truck all the while trying take a photo, by the time I actually got myself sorted out, he was gone.

Below is a photo taken from Arowhon Road.

You can see the moose below in the photo, that is how far away she was from us. Then of course I was able to get a bit closer and then zoom in.

A view from off Opeongo Road.

As we were driving up and down the highway, we all of a sudden saw this guy run across the road in front of us. Then he ran back to the other side, walked up the ditch and then ran back in front of us again. He was beautiful. We didn’t think there were coyotes in the park but we are pretty sure it is . Our initial thought was a wolf but we didn’t think we were lucky enough to see a wolf in the middle of the day. UPDATE – I asked a guy I know who is a professional wildlife photographer and goes to Algonquin more than I do, and he said it is indeed a wolf, so I guess we were lucky enough. This was our initial thought, pretty thrilling to see him regardless. Thanks Mark Raycroft for helping me out. (Check out Mark’s link, he has published books and does a Podcast called Wild and Exposed )

Our mode of transport! We took our canoe as we thought we might get a paddle in but there was way too much activity on the roads so we’ll wait and paddle another day in our area.

And in case you were wondering………..and really who wouldn’t? Here is where Trum gets situated in the truck lol

So we did a lot of driving and some walking. Some of the places we stopped to walk at were okay for bugs. Up until Covid hit, we used to spend 2 – 3 weeks in June camping in the Park. Looking back I don’t know how we did it or why. haha

Anyways, long story short, it was a great day.