Oram Lake Kayak Trip

Intro

• This was a three day kayak trip to Oram Lake, Algonquin Park with my son.
• Nice and scenic but relatively difficult to reach. (at least for beginners like us and with a lot of gear)
• Our campsite (the furthest of two) is quite nice.
• No trout in the frying pan. My son did have one on the line but lost it 20 feet from the kayak. Some small perch was caught but nothing to write home about.
• The end of the report contains a link to a photo album on Google Photos.

Day 1

• Drove to Access Point 17 (Shall Lake). From Rockland took approx. 4hrs (including some stoppages)
• Short paddle to the 500m portage from Crotch lake to Oram lake
• Temperature: 34degC, felt like 41 with humidex
• Don't let the small portage fool you. It's quite rough (lots of slippery rocks and roots and mostly uphill). To be fair it is advertised as a low-maintenance trail and it is. We both had our fishing kayaks which are quite heavy and not easy to transport solo. Add to that our camp and fishing gear, the temperature/humity and the bugs ... oof we were glad to had that over and done with.
• There are two sites on the lake. The closest one was already taken so we went to the second site which was quite decent for a low-maintenance one. Firepit, thunderbox and can easily put two tents. (we had a one-man tent and a hamock)
• We setup camp then had a late lunch (wraps that we brought from home)
• We wanted to swim but noticed leaches in the water. The hell with that. lol So we kayaked in the middle to swim
• After supper which consisted of "beef/moose" burgers, my son went fishing. I was too exhausted so I stayed back and enjoyed the scenery.
• There was no fire ban but it was common sense to keep it small. We had brownie/peanut butter smores (courtesy of the Chris Prouse youtube channel)

Day 2

• I felt much better. Especially after coffee and a visit to the thunderbox. :-)
• Alot of fishing that day
• Breakfast was instant oatmeal
• Lunch was couscous with homemade dehydrated veggies and herbs and Costco beef jerky. Then tossed with some olive oil and lemon juice.
• Got hit by a major thunderstorm
• Supper was instant ramen with the same accoutrement as the couscous
• Apple Crisp MRE for dessert
• Later at night brownie/pb smores

Day 3 (last day)

• No fishing (needless to say we were disapointed but that's fishing for ya)
• The return trip through the portage was much easier. We did it in three trips and it was much cooler.

Google Album

• Click on link below
• https://photos.app.goo.gl/RTLsdHvdc2gkYsF29