Brent to Opeongo Meanest Link

Last year my friend Peter and I completed a section of The Meanest Link from Opeongo to Oxtongue. Almost a year later were back to complete the Brent to Opeongo section which covers 80km with 16km of that being portages – a total of 26! Our plan was to complete the trip in two days and one night.

Day 1 Cedar Lake to Lake Lavielle

This section of the link starts up at the Northern end of the park at the Brent campground on Cedar Lake where we met up with some friends who were also heading out on a trip. We had a great night before our early morning departure, but didn’t stay up late since we had to be up at 5:30 in the morning. When we crawled out of our tents in the morning, were greeted with the most amazing calm, mirror like conditions on Cedar Lake and we were eager to get going. Many of these bigger lakes in Algonquin Park can be very unpredictable, and many trippers are caught in not so favourable conditions that can ruin or postpone trips. We said goodbye to our friends and pushed off to head across Cedar Lake. It was so beautiful.

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We eventually reached our first of many portages for this trip taking us from Cedar Lake onto the Petawawa River which led us to Radiant Lake, which again greeting us with near mirror conditions. It was surprising as well how shallow Radiant Lake was as we paddled along. We could look down and see the bottom of the lake for the majority of our paddle.

As we continued along the river we came across a group of teenagers from one of the camps in the park. One of the girls and I had a good laugh as I was singing famous TikTok songs along the portage and she also started to sing. They happily let us pass through as we were the more efficient travelers. This group of campers along with another couple were the only people we saw on this section.

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Next we arrived at Francis Lake and the end of our trek on the Petawawa River. It was now time for us to take the trek up the Crow River. This river is notorious for being a challenging river to travel and the note on one of our maps reads “The Crow R between L Lavielle and the Petawawa R can be difficult. You may need to wade through the river to get to some of the portages, or around short swifts that don’t have portages”. This description was very accurate. Our first portage on this river was around Blueberry Falls, which was truly a great site, and took us around the side and onto the rocks that sloped into the river. During high water it is very evident that these rocks would be underwater.

One very distinct memory of this river was the numerous times we had to get in and out of the canoe to portage around small rapids and swifts. Even as we entered the canoe to paddle, the next portage was across a small body of water waiting for us. There was even one small swift that we attempted to ascend multiple times, but failed. I had to get out of the canoe and drag it up the swift in almost thigh deep water.

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Our final portage for the day was completed and we entered into Lake Lavielle. This lake greeted us with mirror like conditions yet again and we headed across to find the island site that is well known at Meanest’s favorite site. Upon arrival the site was empty so we setup camp for the night. We were both all smiles as we knew this was a great accomplishment for the day.

As we set up camp, I went for a short swim to cool down and hopefully soothe some of the bug bites I had acquired on the portages. Both of us then sat down to cheers to Meanest with his favorite beverage while watching the sun set over the lake. The views from this site were amazing and watching our campfire burn slowly as the sun dipped below the horizon was truly remarkable. I had told myself that I would come back to this lake one day.

Total distances travelled today was 45km with 10km of portaging.

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Day 2 Lake Lavielle to Lake Opeongo

Knowing that we would have to be travelling some big waters when we reached Opeongo, we set our alarm to get up at 4:30am with the hope that the lakes would be just as forgiving as the day before. By 6:30 in the morning we were once again off and paddling. We said thanks to our site on Lavielle and made our way to Dickson Lake where we would be tackling the infamous Dickson/Bonfield Portage, a whopping 5305 meters!!!

The plan of attack for this portage was something like this: Peter charged ahead with the canoe and I would follow with the pack. At some point Peter would stop for a break before we would continue to the end. I had decided to listen to music, which I wouldn’t normally do in the backcountry, just to keep my mind off the portage slog. The music really helped and after an hour and fifteen minutes with no stops, the trail opened and I spotted Dickson Lake ahead. That’s not to say that this portage did have a few challenges, but the worst part was getting stung simultaneously on BOTH my calf muscles by what I believe were wasps nesting in the ground. They did NOT like us walking over their turf.

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With that monster portage over with and just a couple of short ones remaining we finally completed them all and entered Lake Opeongo at 11:15 in the morning. The East Arm was calm and a great site to see. We took a few minutes to eat some food and fuel up before heading back on the water for our final destination – Opeongo Store.

The paddling conditions were in our favor for the majority of the lake. There was a tailwind for the most part with some side wind as we passed Jones Bay and entered the South Arm. As we approached Englehart Island I insisted that we stop for a few minutes as I was running out of energy and fast. I needed a few minutes to stop and walk around. The campsite we landed on had two camp chairs which we fully took advantage of using. Shoving my last Snickers bar into my mouth as well and the rest of my jujubes, I felt so much better. I was now ready to tackle the last 5 km to our take out.

When rounding the final corner into the bay where the Opeongo Store is located I was smiling was ear to ear. Our end was in site and I couldn’t have been happier. This was a grueling trek but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Distances travelled was 38km and 6km of that being portages.

The best treat for the evening was spent walking around Huntsville and having a delicious burger from On The Docks Pub.

I really hope you have enjoyed reading about this latest section of the Meanest Link. Please leave a comment as I love to hear from you.

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