Any remaining reservations I had about our campsite were dispelled when I woke the next morning. The sky was clear and a thick mist was rising off the water. The slanting rays of the early sun cast a golden glow on the mist as it climbed into the tall hills visible in both directions from our campsite. It was a spectacular morning. Even the wildlife participated in the show. Two huge pileated woodpeckers flew right into our site and flitted from tree to tree. When I went down to the water small minnows swam right up to my hand, and a chipmunk stole a bag of GORP while we ate breakfast.
It was hard to leave such a nice spot on a beautiful morning, but we had a big day ahead of us. Even though we wouldn’t have much distance to portage we would have to do a lot of paddling to leave Threenarrows and then find a good campsite on McGregor Bay.
The dam that contains Threenarrows Lake is at the southwest corner where it empties into the bay via the continuation of Kirk Creek. We met some hikers at the dam, a father and his teenage daughter. They’d lost the Silhouette Trail and couldn’t locate their campsite because they took a shortcut and their map was out of date. We were able to set them straight before we explored the dam and continued down the creek.
This section of Kirk Creek is much more scenic than the one we followed the day before into Threenarrows Lake. It’s much rockier, and the scenery gradually transforms from the grey granite found on Threenarrows Lake to the pink reddish rocks found on the shores of Georgian Bay. The water level drops several times over rocky ledges and the occasional swift down to the bay. The portages are short and rocky, and can usually be avoided with a lift over. It makes for a very nice afternoon paddling.
I took so many pictures that my camera started to warn of a dead battery (my second battery of the trip), which made me more judicious. It turns out that my battery still had enough juice to last for the next two days, but I didn’t take many more pictures of our travels that day.
Once out on McGregor Bay we left the park and there were far more cottages and boats. At least they’re supposed to be there unlike the cottages inside the park. This is another spectacular area to explore. Chains of small islands and channels dot the water, and the LaCloche hills dominate the horizon to the north and south. It’s really a shame that the cottages have to break the spell of being in the wilderness, but the park does have to stop somewhere.
We hugged the western boundary of the park, following the east channel and then took the “Russian Pass” to the north channel. The Russian Pass is a canal blasted through the rock in the early 1900’s that separates McGregor Island from the mainland. The short canyon zigzag’s back and forth for a few hundred meters as vertical walls press in close on both sides. There’s a geocache nearby which I took the opportunity to find.
The land on our right was part of the park, and on the left was crown land or cottages. There are several campsites in the park we could have chosen, and if they were occupied or unsuitable there were copious spots available on the crown land. We kept paddling because I was hoping to get as close to where we’d re-enter the park before we stopped since Friday was going to be another big day. There are two campsites out on the bay before returning to the interior of the park and we decided to choose site 134 despite the fact that there’s a cottage nearby. It’s a nice site, with a lovely view to the south, but it didn’t feel as well maintained as some of the interior sites and the peace was interrupted a couple of times as motorboats drove past.
We were in view of our campsite when the batteries in my GPSr died. Yet again my rushed planning for the trip bit me. I was on my second pair of batteries, and I realized that all of the replacements I’d brought were already dead. I finally found one good pair that allowed me to keep it running for the rest of the trip.