Unfortunately, this year's been a bit skimpy on camping opportunities with this being only my 3rd outing of the year, but had a really nice Labour Day Weekend trip with my son and brother.

Headed out Saturday after collecting our stuff and strapping the canoe on the truck. Our destination was the Bonnechere River up just to the south of the Basin Lake access point to Algonquin Park. Just a 2 hour drive from home, but turned into 3 by the time stops for lunch and beverages were made.

After a quick loading of the canoe, we were off for the short paddle to hammock hanging goodness. This area saw some forestry harvesting some time back and everything was replanted in neat orderly rows. Not too too natural looking, but certainly no lack of trees to hang from!


This was the maiden voyage for quite a few pieces of gear for me, namely my new Clark NX-250 and 2 PLUQs for my hammock and my son's HH Scout. Here's our hang location on the shores of the Bonnechere River. After setting up, we headed out onto the river/lake to try our luck fishing, not one nibble was had and we headed on back for dinner, some fireside time and a good night's sleep.

With forecast lows in the 15*C/60*F degree range, I was confident my underside would be ok with my PLUQ and I opted to go light and just used some fleece throws. Turns out the temps dipped down to 10*C/50*F on Saturday night and my fleece option was borderline. Was ok down below with the PLUQ, but if I shifted the blankets too much in my sleep, I'd get cold and wake up. Plannign to make a PLTQ to cover off these warm-ish nights where I won't want to bring my down winter bag.


Always a bit of a hassle finding the right tree/distance combination to hang my Clark, my son's HH Scout and the JRB 11x10 tarp... but always ends up working out. Didn't see any rain this time out, but would have been covered.


After breakfast on Sunday, we headed up the lake and into the meandering Bonnechere river. Ended up finding a couple fo pretty good fishing holes in the maze of weeds and islands.


Bit better shot of my setup, with my brother's HH off to the right.


PLUQ off to the side for the afternoon nap.


We headed down river for the rest of the afternoon/evening fishing, catching plenty of bass, fall fish, pike, perch and the odd sun fish. Got back to camp just as the sun was setting.



Made for some lovely colours along the shoreline.


After making dinner in the dark and turning in for the night, I had a much better sleep with some additional clothing. Woke up Monday morning to the threat of rain and managed to get everything packed up before it started. Made breakfast under the tarp and headed for the takeout between cloudburst managing to not get anything wet. Nice!

All in all a great late summer trip, though the bugs are still pretty active... The new NX-250 was very comfortable, the new PLUQs did their thing and a great time was had by all.