Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Can anyone please tell me what is best time to visit Algonquin Provincial Park to capture the fall colors at its peak?

Any location hints and advice would be awesome.

Thanks & Regards.

Check this out: http://www.parkreports.com/fall/index.php

It's too early now but when we get closer the reports will be there.

Although it can change because of weather (wind and rain takes the leaves down in a hurry) and if it has been a dry or wet summer, the weekend I find most likely to have the peak colours is the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The colours also tend to be better on the west side of the park first and then work their way across to the east (probably elevation).

This is based on being in the park for the last week of September and first week of October for the last fifteen years.

As for locations, anywhere along the Highway 60 corridor is pretty good. The hill just west of Canoe Lake is always popular. The dirt road into Arrowhone Lodge is great as it goes through a beautiful hardwood forest, and Rock Lake Road is similar with hardwoods.

Be cautious if you pull over on the highway. It is a highway and not all traffic reduces speed when passing you.

For lookouts, the Lookout Trail, Booth's Rock trail and the Centennial Ridge have the best lookouts. Lookout is the easiest and fairly short, and Booth Rock is around 5 kilometers in length but very nice. Centennial is longer at 10 kilometers. There is also the Hardwood Trail which has a lookout over Smoke Lake.

When you arrive in the Park pick up the park tabloid at the gate and it will have a map showing all the trails.

As bonus this time of year is also good for moose and you stand a good chance of seeing moose at their peak as it is the rut.


DG

Oh thanks a lot for such a detailed info. We are planning to camp but are there any cottages that you recommend??

Cottages tend to be expensive. Also, you will likely find that by now most accommodation in the area is fully booked for the key fall weekends, and even during much of the week.

The only cottages I have stayed at in the area and so can make a recommendation is the Bondi Resort about 15 minutes from the West Gate on the Lake of Bays. It is a very nice place run by a family with a long history in the area. You can find them on line.

The Algonquin Lakeside Inn, Parkway Cottages, Blue Spruce Inn and Oxtounge Lake Cottages are located in Oxtounge Lake and have cottages (in addition to regular motel rooms in some cases). I have not stayed at any of these locations, but friends say good things about the Algonquin Lakeside Inn and the Blue Spruce Inn. From what I have seen these places are expensive.

If you don't mind hostel type accommodation for an over night or two then you could consider the Wolf Den Bunkhouse. It offers private and shared rooms, and has a couple of small cabins. I stayed there last fall for a night and it is basic accommodation hostel style (shared/common areas - washrooms, kitchen, etc.). But comparatively cheap.

The above are all on the west side of the park. There are also accommodations in the town of Whitney on the east side. The Algonquin East Gate Motel and Whitney Cabins have been used by friends. The Adventure Lodge (Couples Resort) is an upscale resort. Avoid the Algonquin Parkway Inn across from the Shell station. Hostel accommodation is available at the Mad Musher restaurant. There is also a B&B that I don't have any information about.

If money is not an object there are three resorts in the Park that are supposed to be nice. Arowhone is located on Joe Lake and I can say they serve a nice lunch, but have not stayed at the resort. Killarney Lodge is located on Lake of Two Rivers right on Hwy 60, and the Bartlett Lodge is located at Cache Lake and you take a boat to the resort.

For a semi camping experience you could look into the Yurts at the Mew Lake Campground in the Park. You can check them out at the Algonquin Park web site. Until Thanksgiving weekend they come pretty well equipped so you don't need to bring a lot of camping gear.

Hope this helps you out.

DG

FYI: leaves are starting to change... I just came back from the Haliburton region, and some tree's are starting to show early signs of change, although 98% of the tree's are still green, and colour changes that I observed were very scattered.

I believe - and this is purely my opinion that colour change is going to happen early this year. Probably around the last couple of weeks of September.

Usually Tanner or someone will schedule a TPMG event in Algonquin the weekend before Thanksgiving to hike one of the trails and to catch the colours.

DG

heading up there labour day weekend .. Should be pretty fun .. I went last year around this time it was really nice

Thanks a lot everyone.Have closed in on the weekend of 27th September

The last hike I organized was back in 2008, not sure if I'll be organizing one this year.

For the best colours, it's usually around the last weekend in September. I think we got more rain than last year so the colours should be much better this year. Centennial Ridge is great, just a really long hike if you do the full hike, though you can do the last bit in a fraction of the time as the best look out is the last one. Booth's Rock trail is another good. Ragged Falls is another good spot, just outside of the west entrance.

Definately! The last weekend of September is usually around peek colour time. I may actually take a few extra days at the end of the month, and do a day drive from my trailer up to Algonquin that weekend.

If you are looking for great places in Algonquin.... aside from Centennial Ridge and Ragged Falls -- the Oxtongue river is amazing... check out Oxtongue Rapids.. see pic below. Big Pines is not a bad trail either - And sometimes even right off the back porch of the visiters centre is a nice vista.

The other road to check out is the Opeongo road for Moose sightings in the fall time. There is a very good chance of seeing Moose off of this road. Although, the chances of seeing Moose along highway 60 are also higher during this period of time.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lxdesign/4016038302/" title="Oxtongue Colour Chute by lxdesign, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2684/4016038302_809e0851e3.jpg" width="500" height="250" alt="Oxtongue Colour Chute"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lxdesign/4015275293/" title="Oxtongue Autumn Chute by lxdesign, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2735/4015275293_9589e04ec7.jpg" width="500" height="334" alt="Oxtongue Autumn Chute"></a>

While the weekend around the 27th (25/26) should be good, I think the peak of the colour will be the weekend of October 2/3. Just based on past experience. I take vacation time in Algonquin every year from the the last weekend in September to just before Thanksgiving, and I have always found the weekend before the Thanksgiving weekend is the best.

As I said originally the weather during the fall will impact the fall colours and the summer conditions will influence the show. Years with a dry or drought like summer have less intense colour and the leaves drop faster. As Tanner pointed out we have had a fairly moist summer so hopefully the colours will be good. Last year with our soggy summer had some of the most intense colours I have seen in years. Many people commented on the amazing display last season.

When you are up expect the trails to be crowded. Lookout Trail is one of the most popular in the park and parking can be difficult. The Booth Rock Trail also has limited parking that will fill up.

I plan to be up in Algonquin during Labour Day weekend, and I hope to be up the weekend of September 18th to scope out what is going on before my annual vacation.

DG

Agreed. Just about every year I trek up to Trout Creek(just outside the western border of the park and just south of North Bay) for Thanksgiving and they're usually still in good shape then. The week before is the peak for that area.

nice pics, lxdesign!!

no matter where you go, make sure that you get up for some dawn shots!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fizbot/4929167793/" title="misty highway by pbruch, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4929167793_83e9d335dc_b.jpg" width="1024" height="479" alt="misty highway"></a>

holy shit! where was that taken .. THat photo is insane!

WOW Amazing images guys.Can't wait to go. October 2nd weekend is not good for me coz of some prior engagements so I think I will go 27th

Great shot fizbot!

if you follow the flickr link and click on the map, it will show you where I geocoded it. Basically it was along Highway 60 near the Visitor Center/Logging museum.

Of course to get good mist, you need to get up early! This was taken July 31, 2010 at 5.55am EDT. Nice thing about fall though is that sunrise comes at a MUCH more civilized hour!

I'll be posting a few more shots over the next week on flickr too.

I'm headed up that area Saturday for a week and plan on several early mornings. Some vacation. Any other location suggestions on the west side of the park?

For early morning Lake of Two Rivers from the beach in the campground is the classic sunrise location. Smoke Lake from the access point parking lot which is across the highway from the road to the Canoe Lake outpost is also good. There is also a small view point looking down Smoke Lake just past the Canoe Lake Road. Just before the float-plane base.

Just before you enter the park there is a place the snow plows turn (has a sign saying Snow Plow Turn Around) at the end of Long Lake (or Park Lake depending on which map you look at). You might find that nice in the morning.

More to the east Costello Lake and Costello Creek are nice in the morning. The lake is at the start of the Opeongo Road, and the road follows the creek to Opeongo Lake. The creek is good for moose as well. Three weeks ago I took some nice shots of a cow and her calf in the creek in the mist. The cow has set up her territory on the creek and so the bulls will soon start to show up as the rut nears

Shooting from the docks at the Algonquin Outfitters base on Opeongo Lake into the mouth of the creek is also popular.

Tea Lake where Smoke Creek enters it at the bridge on HWY 60 near the Tea Lake Campground is OK. I like it better for sunsets in the winter.

That should give you a start on spots you can drive up to on the HWY. There are dozens of other places that you will find as you drive the road.

And that doesn't even touch the trails that can take you to magical places for early morning shooting. If you are used to hiking in the dark.. in bear country .

Have a great time!

DG

Hello,

I am currently spending the week in Algonquin Park. I just thought I would let everyone know that the fall colours are peaking right now in Algonquin, by next weekend they will be past their prime. The west side of the park in particularly is outstanding.

Moose sightings have also been pretty good.

DG

Yes. Returned yesterday and colors are phenomenal specially from West Gate onwards till the 30 km marker.

Saw a Bull Moose with its calf. An otter at 6 am a Great Blue Heron and a White Tail Deer with its baby. People have spotted bears along hwy 17. Its spectacular. Although the weather was lousy for photography, had a lovely time with family.

Went through there on my motorcycle from the east gate to the west gate later in the day on Sunday. Weather was lousy but the colours looked 85-90% from Hwy60.

Looks like right now is the perfect time to go up. Weather looks like lousy for Thursday but good for Friday.

How long do the colors last? I can't make any of the events next weekend but have Friday(8th) off and thought of heading north for the day. Think I'd still get good color then?

North might be trailing off by then. Perhaps west? Kelso, Rattlesnake Point, Mt. Nemo. These are all pretty close to me and just starting to turn. If the weather is decent tomorrow I'm going on a leaf reconnaissance drive and will take leaf colour status pictures.

Once the colours peak they start to drop pretty fast. It rained all day here in Algonquin today. It was heavy at times on the west side of the park. Rain and wind will take a lot of leaves off the trees.

The peak is ahead this year by about a week. Normally there would still be a lot of colour in Algonquin if you came up the weekend of Thanksgiving, but this year with peak coming a bit early and all the rain there might not be much left by the 8th.

If you want to plan a colour outing check out the link provided by Radup70, http://www.parkreports.com/fall/index.php

Pick a provincial park near where you would like to go and see how it is doing for colour.

DG

Just got back from up north ---- colour in Algonquin is around 90% on the west side in the hardwood sugar maple forests -- around the West Gate. Its much earlier than expected by many. Colour on the east of the park will peek sometime in the next week, its coming along, but not quite there yet - and this is because the altitude is lower than the west side of the park.

Moose sightings are excellent on Opeongo road - I actually ran into a TPMG'er there on Monday - and also a few other camera club members of the Toronto club.

Haliburton area colours are also coming along nicely -- probably going to peek sometime around this weekend to Thanksgiving.



David