I still remember that Wednesday afternoon like it was yesterday, not three weeks ago. The dark clouds rolled in with barely a warning, transforming Algonquin Park from a summer paradise to a scene of panic in minutes.
Julie Cartwright had planned the perfect camping trip with her 12-year-old son Ethan. “We’d been looking forward to this mother-son adventure all year,” she told me during our interview at her Barrhaven home. The weathered lines around her eyes deepened as she recalled those terrifying moments.
The day had started perfectly – sunny skies, moderate temperatures, and the quintessential Ottawa Valley summer feeling. Julie and Ethan had set up camp near Lake Opeongo and spent the morning canoeing before heading out on the Highland Hiking Trail.
“Environment Canada had issued warnings, but cell reception is spotty at best in the park,” Julie explained, absently running her finger along the rim of her coffee mug. “By the time the park wardens started alerting campers, we were already two kilometers into our hike.”
The storm hit with unprecedented ferocity around 3:15 PM. Wind gusts exceeding 90 km/h tore through the forest, according to Ontario Parks incident reports. Within minutes, trees began snapping around them.
“I heard this horrible cracking sound,” Julie said, her voice dropping. “Before I could react, a massive pine came down about twenty meters ahead of us on the trail. Then another crashed behind us.”
Park statistics reveal this particular system produced over 1,200 lightning strikes within a two-hour window across the region. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed it was one of the most intense summer storms to hit Algonquin in the past decade.
Trapped between fallen trees with no clear escape route, Julie made what she calls “the hardest decision of my life.” She instructed Ethan to crouch in a small natural depression while she activated their emergency locator beacon.
“I kept thinking about that story from 2019, when those hikers were stranded for nearly 18 hours during a similar storm,” Julie said. Ottawa-based wilderness guide Trent Morrison later told me such quick thinking likely saved their lives.
The rescue operation mobilized rapidly. Park warden Kevin Desjardins was among the first responders. “The conditions were extremely dangerous,” he explained during a phone interview. “We had multiple emergencies happening simultaneously across the park.”
As lightning continued to strike dangerously close, Julie covered Ethan with her rain jacket and used her body as a shield. “I kept telling him stories about when he was little, anything to keep his mind off what was happening,” she said, tears finally breaking through her composed demeanor.
It took rescue crews nearly three hours to reach them, cutting through multiple fallen trees. Dr. Sophia Chen from the Ottawa Hospital’s Trauma Unit told me: “Exposure in those conditions can lead to hypothermia even in summer months, especially in children.”
When park rangers finally reached them, Ethan was showing early signs of hypothermia. Ranger Desjardins and his team created a makeshift stretcher using jackets and branches to carry Ethan through the obstacle course of fallen timber.
The extraction was complicated by continuing dangerous weather. “At one point, lightning struck so close I could feel the electricity in the air,” Julie recalled. “The rangers never hesitated though – they just kept moving.”
By 8:40 PM, they reached the emergency vehicles stationed at the trail entrance. Ethan was immediately transported to the Pembroke Regional Hospital where he was treated for mild hypothermia and released the following morning.
This incident highlights the unpredictability of our changing climate patterns. Environment Canada meteorologist Samantha Wright explains that summer storm intensity has increased by approximately 12% in Eastern Ontario over the past decade.
“We’re seeing more violent storm cells developing with less warning time,” Wright noted. “Even with advanced forecasting, these systems can intensify rapidly.”
Julie has since become an advocate for enhanced safety protocols in provincial parks. “I’ve always considered myself well-prepared for outdoor adventures, but this experience taught me how quickly things can go wrong,” she said.
Ontario Parks has responded by accelerating the installation of emergency weather alert systems at major trailheads throughout Algonquin. The initiative, previously scheduled for completion in 2026, has been moved up to next spring.
As our interview concluded, Julie showed me Ethan’s backpack – still caked with mud and bearing a long tear from their ordeal. “He wants to keep it as a reminder,” she said with a sad smile. “He says it helps him remember how brave he was.”
For Ottawa families planning wilderness excursions this summer, Julie offers hard-earned wisdom: “Always have multiple emergency plans, check weather updates obsessively, and remember that no hike is worth risking your child’s safety.”
The Cartwrights plan to return to camping later this summer – though Julie admits they’ll start with something closer to home. “Maybe just Fitzroy Provincial Park for now,” she said. “Baby steps.”
