This year the guys and I decided to hike the perimeter of Frontenac Provincial Park! This was our trip.

Route

Here is a map of our route. It was a total distance of 46.6 km.

We stayed at the following campsites:

• 1a North Buck Lake
• 10b Devil Lake
• 7c Birch Lake

The nice thing about Frontenac is that all the campsites had a firepit, picnic benches, bear boxes and dedicated areas for tents. One of the sites (10 Devil Lake) even had a raised wooden platform for tents in addition to the regular tent site.

Looking back on our campsites, we could have picked better sites in those areas. 1a at North Buck Lake was fine but 1c or 1d was flatter so I recommend those. 10b at Devil Lake was fine too but 10a had a nicer water access point. 7c and 7d at Birch Lake had no water access from the campsite itself. They were at the top of a hill so there was a steep cliff to the lake. You could walk down the path towards sites 1a and 1b which had much better water access so if you can book there, I recommend it!

Mileage

Here is how our mileage looked over the trip. The time includes lunch and snack breaks, so though we probably walked quicker, stops needed to be factored in.

Day	Leg	Distance (Km)	Hiking Time (Hrs)	Speed (Km/Hr)
1	Arab Lake (Start) - North Buck Lake	11.7	3.5	3.3
2	North Buck Lake - Devil Lake	14.3	5.75	2.4
3	Devil Lake - Birch Lake	15.6	5.75	2.7
4	Birch Lake - Arab Lake (End)	5	1.16	4.3
	Total	46.6	16.16	2.88

Food

Food meal plan:

• Breakfast
  • Instant Coffee + Oatmeal
• Lunch
  • Tortilla + Canned Tuna + Baby Carrots
  • Tortilla + cured meats + Baby Carrots
• Dinner
  • Knorr’s Side Kicks
  • Shin Ramen
• Snacks
  • Sour Patch Kids
  • Trail Mix
  • Dried Mangos

Gear

This is the gear I packed was pretty standard, and basically what I packed last year:

• Clothes
  • Shorts
  • Shirts
  • Underwear
  • Socks
  • Sweater
  • Rain Jacke
  • Rain Pants
  • Hiking Boots
  • Hat
  • Sunglasses
• Hygiene
  • Toothbrush/Toothpaste
  • Deodorant
  • Hand Sanitizer
  • Sunscreen
  • Toilet Paper
  • Wet wipes
  • Bug spray
• Equipment
  • Tent
  • Sleeping Bag
  • Sleeping Pad
  • Headlamp
  • Stove
  • Fuel
  • Spork
  • Camp soap
  • Rope
  • Dry Bag
  • Compression Sack - Sea to Summit - link
  • First Aid Kit
  • Water filter
  • Water bottles
  • Multitool
    • Electronics (battery bank, phone, etc)

New to this year was a Thermacell! We were warned the bugs were going to be pretty bad this year and were recommended to have one of these for the campsites. Honestly, it was hard to tell if it was effective but it was a nice to have none the less.

Learning Lessons

• Think about hiking time for meal timings. I packed a lunch for the last day. However, 5km is a quick hike and a lunch wouldn’t have been needed, which saves on pack weight
• One of the guys on the trip brought camping bucket. It came handy for bringing lots of water to the campsite. I may want to get one instead of a larger water filter for now
• Ticks were a issue this year. Thankfully I only dealt with a few but some of the guys on the trip had 10+ on them over the course of trek. Something to keep vigilant of in the future

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4