There was clear blue sky when we got up at 6:30 (with the alarm!). Did our rounds at 7:00 and turned in the log to the Campground
Office.
After breakfast we drove to the Hardwood Lookout Trailhead.
This is an 0.8km loop which takes you through a typical Algonquin hardwood
forest and culminates in a fine view of Smoke
Lake and the surrounding maple
hills. Although many people think of Algonquin as being “up north”, the Park is
actually dominated by distinctly southern elements – trees, plants and animals
which aren’t found very much north of here. The hardwood forest is one of these
southern features and is a living system very different from the more typically
northern coniferous forests which can be seen elsewhere along Highway 60.
It is amazing how the foliage struggles to survive! This
tree is rooted over a rock
and it is a very tall tree!
The trail was fairly rough in places
but led to a beautiful lookout over Smoke Lake.
The lakeshore is lined by a fringe of coniferous trees, but
the big, rounded hills are covered, almost exclusively, by hardwood forest.
These forests are the most important source, in Ontario,
of Sugar Maple and Yellow Birch whose valuable wood we use in many ways.
We took the side trip to the Red Spruce Stand, which in
Ontario, this tree is restricted to isolated pockets on the west side of
Algonquin Park and neighbouring Haliburton County. The
most interesting thing about Red Spruce in Algonquin is why it is found here at
all, nestled in little pockets like this one or sometimes near lakeshores, but
quite cut off from the species’ main range in New England
& the Maritimes. The probable reason for its occurrence here is that
Algonquin’s west side is higher than surrounding areas and therefore has a
measurably cooler climate.
From there we went to the Peck Lake Trail, which is a 2.3 km
loop trail that goes around the shoreline of
Peck
Lake. The guide that was available
at the start of the trail was very informative about what makes a lake tick.
We saw many twisted tree trunks, including this one that
came down across the trail.
There were pages of information that would
bore most people, so I won’t go into it. Far from being just big tubs of water,
lakes are complex and delicate living systems, with hundreds of kinds of plants
and animals, separate from the surrounding forest and yet intimately affected
by the chemistry of the rocks they lie on and the air above. Unfortunately,
there is a potential danger that Peck
Lake and many others in Algonquin could become so acidic that most living things, including fish, would be unable to live here.
Our next stop was at the Cache Lake Historic Site which had
interpretive panels showing the important role Cache
Lake played in Algonquin’s early
cultural history and a sample of the railroad track.
Cache Lake
was the hub of Algonquin Park
from the 1890’s to the 1950’s. Park Headquarters, a major railway station and a
large hotel, the Highland Inn, occupied this site during those years. The
Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway constructed through the southern part
of Algonquin Park
began operation in 1897, with the Algonquin
Park station being built in 1906.
The rail line was a busy freight and passenger route in the early years and the
main way to come to the Park until Highway 60 was completed in 1936. Local use
declined and the last train ran in 1959.
Of course, we got back to the campground in time for our afternoon rounds!
