"Canoe lite" - relaxing one-night canoe trip to Gun Lake - Haliburton Highlands Water Trail (7/22/2017)

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED: Once you've reviewed the event details, and decided you'd like to join, you MUST sign up at the bottom of this page.

You are STRONGLY encouraged to read this page in its entirety before signing up. If you'd like to attend, we ask that you abide by our rules and procedures as a time/cost saving process. You need to be able to swim to join this canoe trip.

Join us for a relatively easy one-nighter for my first time as a leader.

According to park staff, Gun Lake is a gem of a lake. From the launch, it's only about an hour or so paddle and one 343-metre portage to get there.

You should have some canoe camping experience, know how to paddle and try to pack most things in ONE pack. Tent sharing may be necessary. This is not for complete beginners.

• July 22 - Meet at York Mills carpool at 8:15am (have some time to load the gears), and we will depart at 8:30 am and drive three hours to the Raven Lake Access Point.

Things to do - Depending on our arrival time, the weather and how people are feeling, some members of the group may do a mini-day trip to nearby Ernest and Herb Lake (portages: 72 and 182 metres). There are falls between Gun and Earnest Lake which may be a nice place to spend time. Or this may happen the next morning. We can also spend a lot of time swimming, maybe do some rescue and stroke practice and generally relax.

• July 23 - if not done the day before, possibly an optional morning trip leaving at 9am perhaps to Ernest and Herb Lake, swimming and pack down, no rush to get back, unless the weather is bad. We should be packed up by noon, more or less.

Note: this trip will be cancelled in the event of a truly horrendous weather forecast for both days (i.e. tornadoes, massive thunderstorms and/or monsoons), but not if there's a chance of rain.

You are responsible for arranging your own canoe rental. The organizer will help you if you run into issues. We will stop at the Frost Center for you to pick up canoes. If you would like to rent a canoe, you can do so from the Frost Centre at 705-766-9033. Once people sign up, I will give you a partner and you can rent a canoe together. This is about 10 minutes down the road from where we launch. You should rent the 42 pound canoes for $40 a day (if still available), as opposed to the heavier ones (unless you don't mind and are perfectly capable of carrying a much heavier canoe). As it's quite close, we may spend some time ferrying canoes to the launch point.

Food: You prepare your own food (1 breakfast, 2 lunches and 1 dinner). Please bring your stove and pots. If you do not have your stove and pot, stove may be able to shared (and you share the cost of the fuel).