York River

If you're up for a beautiful, two night adventure that's a mix of some great river paddling as well as some beautiful lakes, and is less of a drive, might I suggest the York River. It's right at the bottom of Algonquin's pan handle. It does have a doozey of a 1.4 km portage, but there's no whitewater so bring or rent the lightest boat you can. 

This route is almost a loop, as you can see in the map below. You'll still need to set a short little car shuttle at the end and there's no official safe parking lot. 

There's a fun little section with several beaver dams to pull your canoe over. If you don't find that a cool part of the trip, you might be annoyed—there's a bunch.

Planning information

Route

• Easily done in two nights. Kingscote Lake has jump-off sites at the parking lot for use if you drive up late. 

• Start at Kingscote Lake, Algonquin Access Point #15.

• End at a sort-of take out on Eagle Rd. If you're shuttling yourself, you'll need to find somewhere on the road where you're comfortable leaving your car.

• Portages: A 1400 m, a 600 m portage, and a 650 m portage.

Booking

• Since this route is mostly within Algonquin Park, you'll need to book your sites ahead of time through Ontario's Park Reservation system. 

Shuttle

• We just used our own cars for a shuttle on this one. It looks like Deep Roots Adventure would offer such a shuttle—you just need to contact them to find out the cost.

• Since it's a 7 km shuttle drive, you could also lock up a bike at the take-out and drive back for your car. Or even hitch hike or pay a local to give you a lift.