I realized a while ago that while I’ve hiked solo many times and I’ve camped all my life with friends and family – wild camping, backcountry camping and car camping – I’d never solo camped. And so I set off to do just that on the 1st loop (short loop) of the Highland Backpacking Trail. I planned to do it in three days/two nights as I wanted a relaxing experience where I spent as much time chilling at the campsite as I did hiking. And so my first solo backcountry hiking/camping trip came into fruition the weekend of Saturday, June 11 to Monday, June 13, 2022.
I drove up to Algonquin from my mom’s on Saturday morning. I’d driven to her place, which is about halfway between Toronto and Algonguin, after work on Friday and spent the night so I didn’t have to wake up too early and so I could say ‘hi’. The weather was beautiful, about 20 degrees and mostly sunny. I started off (from the parking lot) about when I expected to, about 12:30 pm, which was great as that would get me to the campsite late afternoon. So far, everything was going according to plan. Famous last words.
Unfortunately, I didn’t stop enough to drink water – and I knew better – so by the time I set up camp, I was a bit dehydrated and slightly nauseous. I was better the second day, as I know I need to drink regularly, especially when it’s warm out, so I made a conscious effort on Sunday and Monday to stop every 30 minutes or so. Dinner was a waste of time on Saturday, so I concentrated on rehydrating myself instead.
I did take a wrong turn on Saturday and ended up on one of the bike paths – again, I knew better than to rely on my memory of the trail and I should have consulted the map/GPS at the crossroads, rather than when I started to realize something was off. It’s not like I didn’t have both a physical map and the AllTrails app. Once I realized I wasn’t on the Highland Backpacking Trail, I had a decision, I could continue on the bike path and then take a portage route that would meet up with the trail or I could backtrack. They were about the same distance wise, but the bike trail was a much easier hike as it was flat so I could make better time. The portage trail was not easy going but probably not anymore difficult than the Highland Backpacking Trail was, if perhaps a bit less traveled.
I arrived at my booked campsite, Provoking 2, and loved it. It’s a fabulous site and would definitely recommend it. It looks like it’s right on the trail on the map, and the main campfire pit is but there’s a little peninsula that goes off of it with a couple spaces for tents and a small campfire pit that is nice and secluded. While you can hear and sort of see others on the right side of Provoking Lake, it’s off in the distance. I set up my tent on the peninsula and hung my food bag back near the main part and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I loved listening to the sounds of water lapping at the rocks.
Saturday night I had a good night sleep. I knew it was going to rain, and was ready for it, but the rain didn’t start until late, after I went to sleep. My tent was nicely snug and waterproof, so the only things that got wet was the tent fly (while I dislike packing a wet fly, I knew I could dry it when I stopped at my next site as the weather was supposed to clear up) and the outside of the food bag (everything inside was waterproofed). Unfortunately, I got a bit of a later start Sunday morning as I wanted to wait until the rain was over because no one likes packing up in the rain. I left about 11ish so not too much later.
Man, was it muddy going as we got more rain overnight than expected. The forecast changed that evening from 5-10mm of rain to 25-30mm so everything was wet and muddy on Sunday. Some points were almost boggy. I had to be careful as it was slippery, mud is not your friend when hiking. Unfortunately, I got wet, muddy feet. So disappointed in my boots, which were fairly new as I needed to replace my old hiking boots. They are supposed to be waterproof and they weren’t. Maybe it was the constant mud and water but still disappointing as my old ones were fully waterproof. I had to rinse out both my socks and boots once I got to Faya 1. Thankfully it was sunny by the time I arrived so they were able to dry by the next day.
Faya is a single campsite on a small lake that’s quite a bit off the main trail, about 1/2 km if I remember correctly. I picked it specifically for that fact, even though it’s not on the 1st loop but a bit up on the 2nd loop, but I wanted the seclusion to relax and unwind. One of the two purposes for this solo hiking trip.
Oh my god, the mosquitoes were horrible. They don’t normally bother me much but wow, were they bad. At Provoking 2 it wasn’t an issue as there was a constant breeze (and it was dry on Saturday) but they were bad all day during my hike to Faya and bad at Faya, even after the sun came out and started to dry everything up. I literally sprayed myself with bug spray every time I stopped for a drink of water on the hike to Faya. And going to the privy was not fun. So many bites and that’s not something I normally complain about. I can’t imagine how bad they were for others.
I’ve only seen four people on Sunday. I saw more on Saturday but a lot of people do the first bit of the trail to the falls as a day hike and I saw quite a few on the bike trail as well. Two of the people I saw were on the trail, two guys, and everyone always say “hi” when you pass them on a hiking trail but in this case, one of them says “are you alone?” I really wanted to reply, “Would you ask a solo dude the same question?” But I refrained and just told them to have a nice day. And then as I was setting up camp at Faya, two people almost walked into camp. I could hear them coming and it was making me curious as I shouldn’t have been hearing any voices given how far I was from the main trail. But as soon as they saw me, they turned around. I suspect they were hoping it was free so they wouldn’t have to hike any further.
Sunday night was another good night sleep, until the birds woke me up at 5:30 am. But that just came me more time to enjoy Monday, which started with a peaceful (if chirpy) sunny morning. It’s really quiet at Faya, so much so that at night I could hear Hwy 60 even though it’s quite a distance away. Not during day but at night when everything, even the woods, gets super quiet. The weather is lovely – both overnight, although it got a bit cool, and on Monday.
After packing up, this time, everything was dry thankfully, I headed out for the last leg of my solo hiking trip back to the parking lot. It was a gorgeous day for it and a passed a few others coming in, including two solo hikers, one guy and one woman. Lots of wildlife including a grouse, snake and turtle, but thankfully no bears. Oh, and I saw a mama moose with her calf on Hwy 60 on Saturday – which is almost obligatory while in Algonquin Park.
Note: I need to make sure I doublecheck before I leave that both my lighter and matches work, and that the lighter has plenty of fuel; as well as having a working pen. My matches were old and didn’t work well, my lighter did but was lower on fuel than I thought. The working pen is less important but I love writing so for me it is. But those were my only issues, other than the muddy boots, so all in all, a fantastic and successful solo backpacking hike.
- When: Saturday, June 11 to Monday, June 13, 2022
- Where: Highland Backpacking Trail, 1st loop, Algonquin Park
- Campsites: Provoking 2 and Faya 1 (on 2nd loop)
Have you done any solo hike? Which are your favourite weekend ones?
Rambles and Walks 