I’ve wanted to attempt the Killarney Boundary Loop since I first read about it. In his guide book Kevin Callan calls it “the essence of Killarney” and “the ultimate Killarney trip”. He also warns that it’s an extremely difficult trip, not to be taken on by the novice. Perhaps I took his warning a little too seriously because I spent over five years slowly extending the length of my trips in Killarney before attempting the loop. But I finally got to where I thought I was ready for the longest and most difficult canoe trip that I’ve attempted.
Our camping trip last year didn’t fell through due to an unfortunate intrusion of the realities of the outside world. This year I was a bit worried that the same thing would happen again and didn’t set about booking until the last minute. (Booking a canoe trip in Killarney at the ‘last minute’ means five months to the minute before the first day of your trip. That’s the earliest that you’re allowed to book). The first day I tried to book everything was already filled up. When booking a trip this long it’s usually easy after the first few days, but getting those first days sorted out you have to compete with all of the campers doing weekend trips. I waited for the next morning, woke up early and tried again. This time we managed to get every lake we wanted, even if starting on a Saturday meant I had to take an extra day off work to drive to Sudbury and it was a bit later in the season that I had hoped. Late season camping trips are great for not having any bugs, but it can be a bit cold, particularly when you sleep in a hammock.