This blog is about part 1 of my 20,000+ mile car-camping trip with my dogs from DC to Alaska via Labrador. Part 1, in 2011, was to the end of the road in northeastern North America in Labrador and then on to Quebec and Ontario, 7609 miles. Part 2, which took place in 2012, picked up where Part 1 left off in Ontario and was supposed to extend to Banff and Jasper National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, but Leben, my male German shepherd, became paralyzed on the trip so we cut it short. We will finish the journey in 2013, when we will return to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

Day 27, September 15, Thursday, Algonquin Provincial Park, Brent Camp

Brent Camp

It was sad to have to leave my friends in St Jovie, but th road beckoned.

We took highway 323 to Montebello and then route 148 before cutting over to Ontario and highway 17.  The 290 mile drive was quite pleasant. I got a late start and was worried about whether we would reach our planned destination, Brent camp in Ontario's splendid Algonquin Park.   As luck would have it, we rolled up to the registration cabin at 5:55, just five minutes shy of the window closing on my goal to be at a campsite between 5 and 6.  But after   leaving the highway, we had to travel down a narrow windy dirt road through a wonderful forest for 41 mm, and that took almost an hour.  I never met another car the whole route. It rained on and off the entire drive, but the rain stopped just as we found the camp.  And what  a camp it was.  Just when I thought I had seen the best of the campsites on this trip, another one pops up.  We had a site right on the  lake.  Leben and Erde were almost out of control with joy.  Their first order of business was to head straight for the water. Then, Erde started to bait Leben to chase her, and ran around the site in ever increasing circles.  At one point, she ran straight into the tent which in was trying to set up, dismantling the poles I had put together in the process.

The camp site was empty except or two guys from New York who have been coming to this same camp for a week each year for 30 years.  I broke my routine of getting to bed early and traded travel stories with he two of them.The temperature dropped to about 28 degrees Farenheit at night and it was cold and wet in the tent.  The dogs had a better sleep than I did.  For a while, I could hear the howling  of wolves from across the lake in front of us, but Leben and Erde slept right through it.

My goal for Friday is  to make it to Kettle Lake Provide Park , 300 miles north, but I may not have enough time.  Then on Saturday, the goal is to make it to Fushimi Provincial Park, 262 miles to the north.  The trees up here are already taking on their autumn colors, which makes these drives all the more pleasant.  

Ed
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