New Algonquin Provincial Park Map Available

For those of you have been looking for the best map of Algonquin Provincial Park possible, look no further!  My good friend Jeffrey McMurtrie has just released this years version of his already fantastic map, with TONS of new information and updates.

Like Jeffrey's previous maps, they are free to download, and can be found at Jeffrey's Algonquin Maps.  All he suggests in way of "payment" is to make a donation to one of his favorite Algonquin Park Causes; Something I hope everyone who ends up using the map does!

Additions to This Years Map Include: (as exerted from his web site)

• All portages now have their peak elevations located and numbered. 
  
• All old tote roads and phone lines are marked (Should make for some  fun exploring)
• Much more accurate and complete clearings, buildings, swamps, rapids,  dams, falls, etc
• A slightly larger area (So that it now has a handy 4:3 ratio for wide  format printing)
• The Big East R and the lower Barron Canyon canoe routes are no longer  cut off
• The Ma-Da-Was-Ka R is shown to a much greater extent
  
• A UTM grid is now on the map (Handy for guessing distances as well as GPS use)
• More logging roads are shown (I don't yet have the data for all areas)
  
• The latitude/longitude grid is enhanced
  
• A variety of old bush trails are shown
  
• The age of most abandoned ranger cabins is shown (It should help you  figure out the odds of if the various cabins are still standing)
• Contour lines are now shown
  
• A version of the map where you can enable and disable individual features is now available

I also understand that the map site that hosts the digital maps for downloading will soon be equipped with automated printing services where by the user can customize the portion(s) of the map they wish to have printed, and then for a nominal fee will be professionally printed and mailed to the purchaser; I'll be ordering my copy as soon as that service becomes available!

Mark my word, "Jeffrey's Algonquin Park Map" will eventually become the official map of the park; as it is simply too fantastic not to be!

Well done my friend!

Bird Calls

I've recently returned from a three day winter trip to the park (a log is in the works), and while I missed a wolf sighting by a mere 20 minutes (see Mark in the Park's thread on Algonquin Adventures for details and Sean of Ajax's video clip of the sighting) I did hear a few birds. (The wolfs were following a snowshoeing trail that Sean of North Bay, Sean of Ajax, Mike B, Jeffrey M and I had made on our way off Fork Lake towards the Visitor's Centre about an hour earlier.)

In the winter the park seems that much quieter, that much more remote and that much more wild. As such the sounds seem that much more vivid.

While I would not consider myself a birder by any stretch of the imagination, I have always stopped to listen to their amazing songs. My identification skills are poor at best, but in the spirit of learning a bit, I did some research on the web, and came across the following site that I thought I would share. It's named "All About Birds."

It's well worth a look, and includes some great audio clips of some of the marvelous sounds that the park has to hold.

Happy Birding!