Algonquin Provincial Park Travel Forum

Hello
i am interesting in taking my 15 year old son and his friend up to algonquin, i have only been there once as a child and from what i remember it was a good time.
I am trying to find directions to butt lake, i kno there is a long bumpy road way back in the bush and than u have to portage twice to get to butt lake, i live in brantford ontario and if anyone could help me that would be great.
Fish on
Dave

Here's a link to a site where people describe their Algonquin canoeing experiences:

http://algonquinadventures.com/triplogs/mkean/favrouts.htm

Butt Lake is mentioned several times. I've also seen reference to accessing Butt Lake from Highway 518 north of Kearney (off Highway 11, north of Huntsville). http://www.out-there.com/cnt_on2.htm for another reference.

Just do a google.ca search for Algonquin Park "Butt Lake" and you'll find a number of links to it.

Have a great time... excellent experience for the boys.

Butt Lake is most easily travelled to (and I almost guarantee this is route you took) through interior access point #3. You will probably remember that you did not enter Algonquin through the regular Highway 60 corridor / West gate. You will need to travel up Highway 11 to Elmsdale. You will then follow Highway 518 to Kearney, where you will find a park office for permits, park conditions, etc. You will continue following Highway 58 for about 13-14 km to Forestry Tower Road. This is the long bumpy road that you remember. You need to travel about 25 km down this road to the access point, which is on the NW shore of Magnetawan Lake. Unfortunately, there's a rather immediate portage, which is the first of the two that you remember. It is rather short and ends at the tiny Hambone Lake, which sports some excellent fishing if you feel like trolling a line out of your canoe. At the east end of Hambone lake, you'll find moderate portage into Butt Lake.

Have a geat time if you go! Try and get one of the sites on the island in Butt Lake. There's a really nice "point" on one side of the island that is really nice. Plus, with 3 or 4 sites on the island, if you have any bear paranoia you'll feel a little more comfortable in the night.

As a side note, there's a portage out the north end of Butt Lake which is a real *** to take (butt less than a full kilometre) that takes you up to David lake and, more interestingly, to the Mubwayaka Creek marsh. This is a HUGE marsh (a good 2 km long) with a rather wide waterway cutting through it (especially this summer with the rain this month). Absolutely EXCELLENT place for viewing wildlife. It would be a day trip there and back though, which would put you in the marsh in the middle of the afternoon. If you planned an overnight trip up to the marsh (there are 2 or 3 campsites) you could explore the marsh at daybreak. The wildlife variety will surely blow you away in the morning.