Cradle Lake, Algonquin Park - Clear blue water!

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This video is about Cradle Lake, Algonquin Park - 1st day of a three day solo canoe trip.

Cradle Lake is the first lake south of Cache on the Hilliard Lake route that I would call beautiful. Arriving at the end of a narrow bay from Plough Lake, the two things that stood out to me were the colour of the lake (turquoise) and the steeper shoreline, often indicative of a deep lake.

Cradle Lake is located between Plough and popular Bonnechere. The 354m portage in and the 40m portage out are easy and the north/south orientation of the lake reduce winds and make it a very pleasant lake to paddle in most conditions.

Oligotrophic lakes like Cradle are generally low in productivity with little dissolved nutrient and therefore meager aquatic life, including algae and plankton. The result is extremely clear water with visibility that extends several metres below the surface and when sunlight hits it, appears as varying shades of blue. Cradle fits this description and it’s dazzling.

Along the shore, moose are likely less abundant as well because of the low quantity and quality of the sodium rich aquatic plants that they gorge on during paddling season. However, immediately to the north and east, the shallow bays and marshes of Bonnechere and Phipps lakes should harbour moose at feeding times and a short hike or paddle from the one campsite in the southeast corner of the lake should produce viewing opportunities.

Typical of oligotrophic lakes, Lake Trout (no other gamefish) inhabit it’s depths but grow slow and are not abundant.

Cradle Lake accommodations

The campsite in the southeast corner of the lake is on a narrow spit of land between Cradle and Bonnechere. According to Algonquin Park’s reservation system, it’s actually located on Bonnechere Lake and is one of four reserve-able sites there.

This campsite is a beauty. Open exposure on the west side would provide a nice cross-breeze to keep the bugs down and would be pleasant on a hot day. The shallow, marshy bay on Bonnechere likely provides plentiful wildlife sightings. The large fire pit has a huge chimney rock and lots of good seating around it.

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The canoe landing are not the best – steep and rocky on the Cradle Lake side and extremely shallow and muddy on the Bonnechere Lake side.

Be aware that this campsite is considered a secondary portage route between lakes and some inconsiderate canoeists may try to carry over while you’re on site. Please kindly direct them to the official portage found a few hundred metres across the lake on the west side.

I definitely consider this a destination lake and campsite, and I was disappointed to be merely passing through in the middle of my first day. I have no doubt I’ll end up camping at this site some time in the future. Continue Day 1…

I would love to know more about Cradle Lake. If you would like to share more information, comments, pictures or videos, please add them to the comments below and I’ll upload them to this page with your permission. Provide backlinks to the source if you would like credit.

Tags: iMovie,Algonquin Provincial Park (Protected Site),Canoeing (Sport),lake,solo

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