If you like great views, spooky heights and plenty of canoeing, then this is
a must for you. There is even interior camping if you want to really take in
the wilderness.
Barron Canyon Pic by Marc Sylvestre
It was the hot Summer of 1989 and my dad and I went on this two-week
trip to the Algonquin Park interior. It was in the middle of the dog days of
Summer, a July heat wave. It was hot, muggy and oh so sticky uncomfortable. We
decided to do an interior camping stint along the Barron Canyon with our homemade
two-person kayak. That thing was sooooo heavy and made out of wood. We popped
on our knapsacks, piled our lightweight sleeping gear into the kayak, and portaged
from the car downhill to the river.
From the top of Barron Canyon, the scenery is impressive.
From the bottom, can I say WoW factor! If you ever go, see it from top AND
bottom. The towering cliffs with the river running through it, it’ impressive.
If I remember right, there is only one other portage, around a quaint waterfall/
beaver dam/swamp, but then you are into the river again and you can see the
massive cliffs towering on the sides of you. It makes one feel like an tiny ant,
and you hope there isn’t going to be an earthquake...or a storm.
Barron Canyon Pic by Gordon Rainey
We enjoyed the views, despite the hot weather, and that
night we made camp with our tiny little green two-man pup tent beside a cute
waterfall and we created a fire to cook our food. We heated canned soup and cowboy
beans and toasted marshmallows and I noted to my dad, “the sky looks a
bit…funny.” Did he think it was going to storm? Naaaah, he says. LOL
We stayed out in the nice evening breeze and turned in at
about midnight...at one o’clock this MASSIVE thunderstorm hits...oooh I get the
shivers just thinking about it. Lightning sizzled all around the trees and
thunder cracked and cracked and cracked off the rock walls of the cliffs. And
the rain came down in sheets and buckets...and the rain entered our small back
window and dripped upon us and the wind howled and shook our little tent to the
point I thought it was caught in the jaws of a ferocious beast...and my dad
continued to sleep. Grrrr!
He’s a good sleeper, always has been. But me? Not so much.
At one point I pried open the front flap of the tent just in time to see a
lightning bolt sizzle past. OH MY GOD! I swear if I reached out I could have
touched it. Talk about a heart attack! 
It stormed and rained and howled straight through the night until 7am...I DID NOT SLEEP a wink...my dad...snored all night. Can you believe it???
So, anyways, the moral of this story is, Yes! Go and see the
Barron Canyon...just make sure the weather is going to be good and you have a
sleeping companion who will keep you company if it storms. *grin*
Happy Camping!
jan
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