The Best Canoe Route in Algonquin Park: The Maple Loop

On Canada Day weekend this year we decided to ditch the busy spots and head to somewhere we knew we could find some peace and quiet after a busy few weeks – Algonquin Park! Specifically, the back country canoe and portage routes. We haven’t done one of these in forever so this weekend was all about shaking off the cobwebs and finding out what Algonquin Park is all about.

The Maple Loop

We did a bunch of research before landing on the Maple Loop in the back country of Algonquin Park and it was SUCH a good choice. There are so many reasons why this is a great start in Algonquin Park:

• It’s a loop: I love loops – hiking loops, canoe loops, etc. You don’t see the same thing twice and get to experience entirely new things.
• You can pick the number of nights: You could do this loop in anywhere from 1-4 nights. 1 night would require two really long days (I really wouldn’t recommend this unless you wanted some 12 hour + days of work), or take it easy and relax for 4 nights. We did 2 nights and it required some longer days.
• Difficulty: I believe this loop is rated as Advanced Beginner or Beginner-Intermediate. There is only 1-2 longer portages and none of them are too strenuous – especially if you’re going in a group of two (or more) like us and can do it in one trip. Even the lakes don’t have TOO long of paddles, with only 2 of the paddles feeling significant (listed below!). Also NO RAPIDS. There are portages around all the rapid areas so you don’t need to worry about those.
• The campsites: There are single campsites alone on a lake, to multiple campsites sprinkled across lakes, and the majority of them are STUNNING.
• The scenery: This route has tons of creeks to canoe down and they are FULL of wildlife and so different to look at (versus lake after lake after lake…). Really beautiful and diverse scenery on this route!

The Details

Here’s the quick and dirty details for the Maple Loop in Algonquin Park:

• Starting Point / Parking: Kiosk Campground
• Total Distance: 40-45km, with about 9-11km of portaging included.
• Nights: 2-4 nights. We did 2, but 3-4 would make the days more relaxing!

Our Algonquin Park Experience

We booked our campsites about 1.5 months prior and were surprised to see how much availability there was on a long weekend at the start of summer! And even more to our surprise, there was NOONE out there. I don’t know if Canada Day keeps people close to home, the mediocre (at best) weather deterred people from hopping out, or there’s just more popular places to be, but we only ran into about 5 other groups on our three days out there (and didn’t see ANYONE staying on the same lakes as us – whole lakes to ourselves!).

Day 1 Stats

• Kioshkokwi Lake: 2-3km (30 minutes)
• Portage 1: 635m (10 minutes)
• Little Mink Lake: 500m (5 minutes)
• Portage 2: 1300m (10-15 minutes)
• Whitebirch Lake: 2 minutes – We took the first campsite we saw (& would recommend!).

We started off a bit late (due to traffic) from Kiosk Campground. We parked our vehicle, plopped our blue barrel and backpack in the canoe, and started our way to the campground because it was already about 5pm and we had no idea how long it would take to get to our first campground on Whitebirch Lake. To our surprise, the paddle to the first spot was super quick. For this canoe, we kept left along the shoreline until we saw an old bridge, and then went under the bridge and kept right until we found the portage site. About 2-3km and 30 minutes later we made it to the first portage site. The first portage was 635m and took less than 10 minutes before we were on the Little Mink lake which was a tiny paddle that takes about 5 minutes (maybe 500m in distance). We then reached our 1300m portage (10-15 minutes) before we got to Whitebirch lake where we would be staying for the night. The weather was starting to take a turn (and more importantly, I was getting hungry!), so we snagged the first campsite we could find which turned out to be a winner! It’s somewhat close to the portage site, but since there was no-one it didn’t even affect us. It had a great fire pit, a flat surface for a tent, and a stunning view. Our total “working” time for day one was about 2 hours – way quicker than we were anticipating!

Note here – take these times & distances with a HUGE grain of salt because the people your paddling with / motivation / time of day / wind / weather / the list goes on can have a huge effect on how long it will take you to complete these (and our estimations of distances are pretty vague). These also don’t include the numerous transition times and snack breaks ofcourse. 90% of the portage sites were also really easy to find – there was only maybe 2 of them where we got a bit confused (but maybe that’s user error…).

Day Two Stats

• Whitebirch lake: 2-3km (20-25 minutes)
• Portage 3: 345m (5 minutes)
• Waterclear lake: 2-3km (30 minutes)
• Portage 4: 350m (5 minutes)
• Club lake: 3-4km (1 hour)
• Portage 5: 775m (10 minutes)
• Mouse lake: 2km (30 minutes)
• Portage 6: 1705m (25-30 minutes)
• Mink creek: 500m (15 minutes)
• Portage 7: 135m (2 minutes)
• Big Thunder lake: 750m (15 minutes)
• Portage 8: 1495m (20-25 minutes)
• Erables lake: 500m (10 minutes)

The next morning was RAINY. We ended up staying under the tent & tarp and chilling out until about midday when we headed off on our adventure. We decided to make it a 2 night trip instead of a 3 night trip and make our way over to Erables lake today – we had a long 6 hour journey ahead of us! The first canoe across Whitebirch lake took about 20-25 minutes (2-3km). There was then a short portage which took less than 5 minutes to Water Clear lake. This was a really cute lake where we saw our first group of the trip fishing away and took us about 2-3km / 30 minutes to canoe across. Another short portage (5 minutes / 350m) later, we arrived at Club Lake. The canoe across the lake was super easy, but then finding out way down our first creek took us by surprise. You really have to take the creek to the very end (and navigate through a few tight spots – nothing too crazy). This one was hard to find. But eventually, we found the portage site and made it across to Mouse Lake. This is where we thought about staying and it was a quiet and quaint lake! But we paddled on and reached the LONGEST portage of the trip (1705m, about 25-20 minutes). It was definitely a long one, but for some reason, didn’t feel TOO difficult (but ofcourse, we were happy when it was over). The creek was a super cool and quick paddle, and we loved the scenery along Mink Creek. We aren’t used to the creeks so it was really some new scenery for us! A quick 135m portage later, and we reached Big Thunder lake and honestly this would be such a cool spot to camp on – you’re the only site on an elevated spot looking over your own private lake. It was a quick 750m paddle (about 15 minutes) before we reached another LONG portage. This 1495m portage wasn’t as long as the other one, but my gosh it felt way longer. That’s how I knew I was ready to set up camp (and eat more smores). We reached Erables lake and paddled over to the first island on the map and luckily it was empty. There was absolutely no-one on the lake we could see and this island spot was stunning – right by the water with a flat spot for a tent and a million dollar view. Our total “working” time for day two was about 6 hours.

For those who are going to take on this route, there are some spots along the way that beavers have started to make their dams. We tried going around them but sometimes there really isn’t a way (or an easy way) around them, and going over them is the best solution. Be ready for some adventures on these parts!

Day Three Stats

• Erables lake: 5-7km (1-1.5 hours)
• Portage 9: 170m (2 minutes)
• Maple lake: 3-4km (30-40 minutes)
• Portage 10: 130m (2 minutes)
• Maple creek (p1): 200m (5-10 minutes)
• Portage 11: 805m (15-20 minutes)
• Maple creek (p2): 300m (10-15 minutes)
• Portage 12: 630m (10-15 minutes)
• Maple creek (p3): 200m (5-10 minutes)
• Portage 13: 90m (2 minutes)
• Maple creek (p4): 200m (10-15 minutes)
• Portage 14: 190m (2 minutes)
• Maple creek (p5): 1-2km (30 minutes)
• Portage 15: 775m (15 minutes)
• Kioshkokwi lake: 4-6km (1-1.5 hours)

Today was a long day. Sometimes the end just feels so near in sight, but it’s so far away. And of course you go camping to get away from it all and enjoy the experience but sometimes when you’re almost back to your cozy bed you are SO excited to go home – that’s the beauty of camping! Our first canoe our of Erables was a long one… in distance AND in time. It really took longer because the wind was against it (why does it always feel against you?!). About 5-7km and 1-1.5hrs later, we finally made it to our first portage and it was thankfully a quick one. A quick hop across, Maple Lake was welcoming us. The canoe here started off so pretty down a small creek and felt like a BREEZE compared to Erables. This is another lake with a ton of cute camp spots on islands with great views. This was about 3-4km and 30-40 minutes in total before we reached another quick portage to start down the long and windy ways of Maple creek. I’ll spare you the details because this section of portaging and canoeing down maple creek is really just the same. You take windy routes down beautiful creeks (and you may run into a beaver dam or two) and hop out when the creek starts to turn into a rapid. You really just follow the creek until you see the portage site – it’s super easy and stunning. The last leg of the creek feels extremely long and will bring you to your final portage of 775m which took us about 15 minutes! This one ends with a stunning vista opening into your final paddle across the lake. The last canoe is across a large lake where you run into more people because it’s right across from the campground where people hop out of. It’s a beautiful lake, but it definitely takes a hot minute to paddle across. About 4-6km and 1-1.5 hours later and we pulled up to the access points. We quickly packed our stuff, loaded the canoe up, and headed back home feeling extremely tired but super relaxed and HAPPY from our two nights in the back country. Our total “working” time for day three was about 6 hours!

Again, the distances and times are estimates and will give you a good baseline but if you’re worried about time / distances PLEASE do your own accurate research as this is really just to give you an estimate to work with! Another BIG note is the creeks look straight, easy, & quick on the maps. They are one of these things – easy! But they are extremely windy and therefore take some time with all the steering & switchbacks. These were way more time consuming than we would have thought but also SO peaceful.

How To Book In Algonquin Park Backcountry

Booking in the Algonquin Park backcountry for canoe / portage is actually so much easier than I have dealt with in the past! You choose your access point, choose your campgrounds, enter your personal info, hand over your money, and there it is!

• Do your research before you book (distances you want to go, locations you want to visit, entry points) – see the tools below to help plan!
• Factor in weather & additional factors that will increase route times.
• Have your details handy (i.e. personal info / camping tent colour / canoe colour, vehicle information for parking rights, etc) to make it easier.
• Check the night or RIGHT before you go to see how busy it is (i.e. are all the camps booked). This will help determine how much flexibility you have in your bookings and how hectic the race for the best campsites will be in the morning / how many other people you’ll see along the way…

To book this exact trip, hop onto the reservation system at this link, and select access point “Kiosk Campground”. For the two night trip, with a quick first day, select your first night on “Whitebirch lake”. Select your second night on “Erables lake”. Then on your third day, you’ll canoe back out to Kiosk Campground where you’ll meet back up with your car.

Helpful Tools

• We highly recommend purchasing an Algonquin map either online or at the nearest location before your trip. Good for referencing distances BEFORE you book to help plan, but also definitely necessary along the route! You can find all the information for Algonquin park backcountry reservations linked here.
• We recently found this guide online that helps determine distances between routes! Check this out (linked here) before you book your route.

See You In Algonquin Park!

This will not be our last time in this area, especially as Algonquin Park is absolutely massive and there’s ALWAYS availability if you’re willing to drive a little further. From a few nights, to a few weeks, the possibilities and things you will see in this stunning area in Ontario are endless and we highly recommend you make the trip out to this Canadian gem.