Mizzy Lake Trail, Algonquin Park

One of my favourite trails in Algonquin Park is Mizzy Lake. It's apparently a trail where you will see lots of wildlife, but you will see more if you arrive very early in the morning. 

The trail is 11 km long and although not very taxing with respect to climbs up and down, it is a rugged trail with many roots and rocks all along the trail. With all the rain we've had this year from spring and right through summer, the trail was a muddy mess too. There were so many muddy areas that we had to squeeze around and tip toe over, that it really slowed down our progress. Usually this trail takes us about 3 hours to complete, which include a couple of breaks at pretty lakes and time for snapping photos. This time it took us 5 hours to finish!! We were slowed by the mud, we were slowed by the photos and we stopped under a relatively dry spot for a while during a heavy deluge of rain. My husband was not a happy camper. I enjoy the trails no matter what the weather, but he got awfully grumpy during the rain. I'll admit it wasn't that pleasant at that point, and actually by the end of the trail I too had had enough of balancing on rocks and roots to get across mud, but it's such a pretty trail that I shouldn't complain. When it rained, we were at the bottom of a hill and the water was instantly running down the path from above us in a solid river of water! The ground is so completely saturated right now that the water is unable to disperse. I doubt this trail will be dry even by the fall. There was one trail that was closed completely "due to flooding" ... never seen that before.

My husband claims he will never walk that trail again, but I hope he's not serious because I love the tangled woods we get to explore. We didn't see any moose, but we were following fresh tracks after the heavy rain of one soggy moose. We saw where he disappeared off the trail, but couldn't see him at all. Here are some photos of the trail ... hope you like them as much as I enjoyed walking the trail. 

lots of pretty creeks alongside the trail, the sound of gurgling water drew us
away from the path a few times

Not even the beaver dam at the bottom of the photo is holding back all the water this year!

This was the "drier" half of the trail

My happy husband ...  before the rain storm

a bit of mud ... it got a lot worse, but no more photos of that

a melancholy cormorant

he didn't bother with us walking past him ... he just wanted to sleep

Wolf Howl Pond

I love this beaver meadow. It's completely still, completely quiet.

We surprised a loon that was right up beside the path.
Beautiful markings when you see them so close like that.

Not sure if this was the same loon, but he sure made a racket flapping across the water.
I think he was trying to distract us from a family, but we didn't see any babies in the water.

The last water shots were at Dizzy Lake, the last small lake on this trail. It's always a relief to see that final numbered post here and know that you're close to the finish of your long walk. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wendy