In an off-the-grid log cabin down a gravel road just outside the western edge of Ontario’s Algonquin Park, the ring of a dinner bell reverberates across Surprise Lake.
Guests at the cabin, owned and operated by Voyageur Quest, slowly take seats at a long wooden dining table the color of rich peat. Some of us are enjoying day-trips from the cabin, while others are relishing in a last night of luxury before heading into the backcountry of this revered provincial park, home to more than a thousand lakes. Over strip steaks and Dijon-marinated green beans, the conversation turns to the adventure that will begin for some tomorrow—an eight-day canoe trip on the Nipissing River.