Algonquin Provincial Park

Algonquin Provincial Park is nearly the same size as the Adorondacks in New York except that all of Algonquin is protected area while the Adonrondacks are combined protected areas and cities with many roads crisscrossing the park. Algonquin has only one main road crossing the park. The rest of the park must be accessed by either canoe, on foot and perhaps by horseback.

The park boasts a considerable amount of wildlife. While in the park only two days Nan and I saw 3 foxes, a woodchuck, several rabbits, and several deer. We also saw numerous beaver "huts." Nan didn't pay too much attention to the bird species but my count was nearly 50 species without really trying hard.

One animal that Algonquin is supposed to have is moose. We entered the park about 9:30, having left our hotel in Belleville, Ontario about 5 a.m. We paid our day use fee and asked about seeing moose. The young lady wasn't too sure we would see any but told us that the visitor's center would have a listing of moose sightings. Our arrival at the visitor's center poured a bit of cold water on our hopes as the rangerette said that she had not seen moose in quite a while.

I had been reading a blog that suggested that the western end of the park was the better location to see moose. Highway 60 traverses the park from East to West and at 80 kmh (50 mph) it takes about an hour to travel. We stopped several times along the way to see the beauty and for me to do some birding.

At mile marker 22km (mile marker for lack of a better word) we noticed numerous cars on the righthand side of the road. It reminded me of the scene in the smokies when a bear was sighted. We pulled over and were pleased to learn that the crowd was watching a bull moose eating grass in one of the ponds. The picture isn't too great but here he is.

By the time we had reached the western edge of the park is was after 2 o'clock. We were very hungry. Locating food isn't the easiest task because the area is not very densly populated. However, we found just the right spot. Here the sign in front of their cafe.

We ate at the Moose Cafe twice. The food was really good. For lunch I got a Moose Burger and for breakfast this morning I got the Moosecakes.

We saw 3 other moose. Last night we went out toward dusk and saw another moose up in the woods above Highway 60. This morning we got up at 5:30 and went out looking and found a cow moose and her calf walking down the road that leads to Rock Lake. Their pictures are below.

Our quest to find moose is much more satisfied but not over. You see, the quest is to find that bull moose with a full rack and get an in-focus, stunning photo. So the quest continues...