Back in 2008, Markus Rubino and Mike Burns took a 10-day canoe trip out of Kawawaymog Lake (Access Point #1) to the Birchcliffe Ranger Cabin. Their trip took them down the Amable du Fond River, across North Tea Lake to Biggar Lake, and then against the current up the tangles of Birchcliffe Creek. Markus has put together a super-big-read and well-illustrated trip-log of this spring trip .. "Birchcliffe Cabin".. a great addition to his website.

" .. there in the shadows of the blinding setting sun, we spied a cow moose feeding in the shoreline shallows. There was moose all over the lake! We saw more moose than people in the last four days; Moose 4, People 0. We hadn't seen anyone since our first night on Biggar Lake. We hadn't seen anyone in four days. It was sweet, there was nothing but good fresh air and the silence all around."

Prime canoeing season is still over the horizon, what better time of year to edit your photos than now! Our Spring photo contest is going to test your creative side. Now is your chance to get creative and edit all those Algonquin Park photos you have. You can tweak the colour, maybe converting your photo to black & white or even sepia, or get a whole lot more creative with cutting and pasting different elements to make either an Algonquin Photo Collage or create a whole new image. Check out the co-hosted "Algonquin Edited" spring photo contest.

A special Algonquin welcome to Grant Dawson. Grant has a great blog of his Algonquin trips with his brother Blake, dad, family and friends .. Dawson Brothers Algonquin Trips.

".. tent placement is key when camping with snorers!! I thought I had the right spot for my tent but after the first night it bacame very clear that the rock face that reflected the fire light so well also echoed the bear-like snoring coming from both dad and Uncle Pete's tents right into mine. Lesson learned from this is to take along a cheap pair of foam ear plugs when camping with two old men that snore .. "

Check out all the winners, honourable mentions and entries of the co-hosted Fall/Winter Photo Contest "Seasons of Algonquin" at the Algonquin Outfitters Contest Gallery.

Markus Rubino, Jeffrey McMurtrie & Mike Burns did a 3-day. 6.5km sled-trip to Wilkins Lake, during the coldest weather of the winter. Their trip included a day-trip to Breezy Lake and Robitaille Lake. Mike Burns has compiled a "48 photo story board" triplog, quite the visually chilling treat! .. Wilkins Lake Winter Camping .. Access#18 near Aylen Lake.

"By 4:00pm our tent was up and much needed firewood ready to warm our souls. It took us about 4 hours to get to our camp area. Markus found a nice flat area with enough room to erect his tent and well protected from wind. Temperature was falling fast at -20c.!"

This is a trip-log of a first-time 3-day trip that "Fenwick's and Jeremy" took last September .. south from Rock Lake to Pen Lake. It was both a learning experience and an enjoyable time .. Fenwick's and Jeremy's First Portage Trip (Sep. 25 - 27, 2009).

"... our food was scattered all over the ground! How could that be? I shouted for Jeremy. Jeremy came over and his eyes widened. He lowered the pack from the branches to check. To our surprise, some small animals (squirrel? raccoon?) had managed to bite and squeeze through the little opening of our pack, and to ransack our food."

Here's a brief trip-log of a solo trip Stephen Molson took last spring, from Cache Lake to Cradle Lake and back. It contains some interesting wildlife observations and trout fishing .. and is illustrated with three dozen photos! ... Cache - Head - Kenneth - Harness - Pardee - Lawrence - Kirkwood - Phipps - Bonnechere - Cradle .. and Return (2009).

"On the wind bound days I heard the trees crash in the forest around camp, luckily none within the perimeter of my camp sites. Some had fallen across the portages (Head-Cache) making the returns more challenging and time-consuming."

Rory Leidecker has submitted a humongeous trip-log (3 pages with 55 photos) of his 6-day Cedar-Nipissing-Nadine-Erables-Kioshkokwi-Little Cauchon Trip, up from Detroit with a couple of buddies, in August of last year.

"I knew Brent and Bryan were following somewhere behind me, but I couldn't see or hear them. I became a little more in tune with my surroundings than at any other time of the trip. At one point, I heard something moving in the dense vegetation to my right. What was it? A moose? A bear?"