YCCC...............Ottawa's Canoe Camping Club

Note that in 2005, there was a per-vehicle access fee of $8, and a per-campsite fee of $20, per day. Permits for these may be picked up in Pleva at James' General Store, and details may be found on the website for the Township of North Frontenac.

There are a couple of routes to drive here. Perhaps the most direct is to follow Hwy 417 and take the turn-off onto country road 49 to Almonte. Keep going through Almonte to Middleville and take country road 16 all the way through to the 509. Note there is a turn onto Hwy 511 for a couple of km just past Middleville.
The 16 takes on a different character just before the turn-off to Lavant, and offers a refreshing change to the rule that roads should not follow goat trails. This may not be a good route for those that get airsick.

An alternative would be to follow Hwy 7 until the 509 comes down and meets it. This is a longer but far smoother route, its main drawback being that you avoid the ice cream shop in Almonte.

Take the 509 past Ompah, go all the way through to Plevna and pick up permits at the general store. Then backtrack a bit, turning north at the Home Hardware onto Mountain Road. Stay on Mountain Road, turning left at the first T, right at the next, and continuing till Schooner Road branches off on the left. Continue till Schooner Lake, ignoring the Mackie lake turn-off on the right.

Long Schooner Lake offers a marked campsite on the first island that you come to, as well as three more further up the land, two on islands, and one on shore. The couple that were checked out appeared to have the prerequisites - lots of space, a view, swimming spot, and place to play cards. Towards the end of the lake, keep an eye out for turtles.

At the end of Long Schooner, a short inlet on the north west leads past a cliff to Round Schooner. There is an unmarked and somewhat abused campsite on the first island you come to, as well as four more large marked campsites on the main shore, two of them almost immediate as you keep paddling. The lake comes with resident vultures on the east shore.

Besides the cliffs and islands to explore in Long Schooner, there are a couple of creeks to explore, one a real gem. Mackie Creek, on the north, is a stillwater that leads almost to Centennial Lake. There is a much disused trail on the north shore that leads through, a very roundabout road that likely eventually links up with the lake, and some suggestion of another trail on the south shore.

Skead Creek, feeding into the lake near the entrance to Mackie creek, is worth a paddle. It runs through marsh and over small beaver dams into a woodland gem with swimming sports, sand bottom, and a pine and cedar forest. Some spots where the bedrock emerges complete the transformation. The creek eventually arrives at a large beaver dam, almost at Fortune Lake. Potentially this last leg could also be paddled through.