The Park

I Love Algonquin Provincial Park!
I just returned from 10 days in the park, complete with deer, moose, otter, mouse AND bear sightings. The last neighbour made for interesting nights, and some very early mornings (although we were never in any real danger....you just need to be alert, careful and cautious.)

I loved all the hikes, the paddles and all the buns I prepared.

The best part was spending all 10 days with family. Four days in Achray and the Barron Canyon on St Andrews Lake and 6 days at the All Ontario Camporee "the Algonquin Experience". The Camporee was in the Pog Lake, and Whitefish Lake group site. There we spent time with my family, 100 Cadets, almost 50 staff people and counselors. The Staff campsite became our"home away from home" for 6 days and we had awesome weather the WHOLE time. Not one activity was rained out! We had such fun around our campfire every night!

We had bit of rain in Achray when we paddled out, got a bit wet but had rain gear on, and all our stuff was bagged. It arrived dry. It was dry when we set up camp and cooked supper, but we had a bit rain during the night. Our tent area was under a bunch of cedar trees and it rarely got wet under there since the showers remained light . We had an awesome few days with the four of us... Our campsite was HUGE, and one of our favourite features was a waist high table that a previous camper had ingeniously rigged up with a small slice of plywood on two slender poles. Or else you end up balancing your "sink" on a log and you bend over it....now you wash, put the dish down and you dry. You can also set your stove up there and cook standing up. This is a HUGE luxury in the interior. If you look closely at the picture on the right, you might spot it.



I started this post yesterday and now that I have time to upload, there is so much more that I want to tell you. The first picture on this post is of St Andrew's Lake, the view from our campsite. We hiked over the ridge in the distance, in this picture on the left, one morning. It is a 4305m unmaintained portage to Tarn Lake. When you hike over a ridge, there is a long ascent and a long descent....which basically means it's uphill both ways :) Unmaintained means that there is no real interference from man to keep the portage open, free of blowdowns, nor is there gravel on the path to make it smooth. It was rocky, muddy, slippery, and had really boggy sections. We figured by looking at the trail that only one group had used it in the last little while. The portage is rarely used which means there are lots of plants growing on the path, and it had recently rained so you got this feeling that you were under the canopy of a piece of Canadian rain forest, trees still dripping, lush green growth everywhere, including on the path beneath our feet. We saw fresh piles of moose dung, and even two incidents of wolf scat. Amazing to know that they were probably nearby watching us, hidden in the undergrowth. I saw some plants, fungi, and mushrooms that I've never seen before. This is the biggest thrill for me when I am hiking and I took some pictures for later identification before the batteries gave out. The ghostly little flower in this picture is called Indian Pipe, and it is actually quite prolific in Algonquin, it was growing beside my tent in the staff camp site at the Camporee. It is really neat to see things like this, that I recognize from my plant book but have never actually seen. Real WOW moments, that are actually God moments. You become so aware of His amazing creativity and you are privileged enough to be able to see right at your feet, not just on a page. I think it is time to invest in a book of fungi, mushrooms, and toadstools:) My pictures do NOT do them justice, but gives you some idea about colour and shapes.

We made a day trip to a place called High Falls. These waterfalls are only accessible to people who are camping in the interior. There is a natural waterslide at this location as well, and Ray and the boys had an awesome time sliding down, entering the white water swirl at the bottom, and swimming back out. There was a rope fastened in the rock that you could use to pull yourself back up the sloped rock. The falls were quite a ways from the slide. This is a picture of Ray and the boys admiring a two foot watersnake. Yum. It was a beautiful sunny day for this outing, and I brought a book with me. BUT, I can't concentrate on a book, when there is so much to see!!! So for the past 10 days I have read all of 25 pages, and I really couldn't tell you what it was about. What is UP with that.


I loved being at the Camporee. We didn't have any rain , although a big storm passed through the area on Sunday before we arrived. We only had a bit of spitting.... The Cadets began to arrive on Monday....and the fun began. I really enjoyed meeting new people. There were a lot of people helping from our area, and we knew quite a few kids as well, but also lots of new people. The staff stayed together in one area mostly in trailers and some tents. The bikes that the kids used were parked right beside the staff area, which was a HUGE treat. They were at our disposal when there was no mountain biking session, and we used them to bomb around all over the place....to go to the car for something, the food trailer in the other campground, the flush toilets, and the swimming area. Our kids had an awesome time too. Craig helped Ray with Canoeing, and Joe was a Cadet attending the Camporee. The boys learned how to kayak (including a wet exit!), canoe, proper fishing techniques (and we had expert fishermen teaching!!), as well as mountain biking, and a service project. The Cadets' main reason for coming to Algonquin was to finish a rebuilding project at the Beaver Pond Trail that was begun at the International Camporee, but never finished, since that Camporee was evacuated due to all the rain. There is a commemorative plaque on the trail by the guest book. This is actually the first service project ever done by a volunteer group in Algonquin Park. And the Park staff was so impressed! This picture was taken at a scenic lookout on the trail...so beautiful.

So if you're ever in the area....you should take the time to look it up. Someday Cadets will walk that trail with their own kids and hopefully show their piece of history.

A few years ago, Ray and I went to Killarney Provincial Park, which is right on Georgian Bay. Beautiful place. Also bear country. I must admit that I was very nervous about that aspect of our trip. Almost as nervous as I am when Ray goes canoe camping in early May, where risk of a dunking could end with hypothermia. Since those days, my bear knowledge has grown and I have a healthy respect for the creature. The park is its home. I am the guest. Many people are uneducated and careless in the park, and in a sense abuse it. Bear attractants left out on your campsite overnight, like coolers of food, beer, even tubes toothpaste and sunscreen....are irresistible to a bear. A normal, wild bear, will eat mostly berries, grass and in the spring...fish. When it comes across easier ways to fill its tummy, it remembers and visits these same areas over and over. So once a bear discovers the taste of human food, and loses its fear of the smell of humans...you have a bear that regularly goes from campsite to campsite. Algonquin Park offers wonderful evening programs like the "Bear Talk" and the "Wolf Howl". So you gain respect for the animals that live in the park and learn how you can visit the park respecting their territory. The bear visiting our cooking area in the wee hours had visited it several times, always while we were away, and it is still afraid of humans, but the smell of humans alone is no longer enough to keep it away. The smell of humans is now associated with easy pickin's....it also visited the food trailer on the last evening. Unfortunately, this bear will have to be put down, since it has this nasty habit that people allowed it to learn through their carelessness. This is sad....and unnecessary.

Ray and I slept in a tent for 10 days, with no food or fragrances in our tent and were in no danger at any time. On the last night, I DID have a sleepover in the Martin's RV since Ray was away on an overnight canoe trip with all the junior counsellors.


But at the end of the day....this picture says it all. Sitting on the beach at sunset, drying off and warming up after a swim. Just looking out. This is a rare shot of Joe, content, relaxed, quiet.





(What the picture doesn't tell you is that there is a leech on his left foot. Moments after the picture was taken Joe found it and started flailing away at his foot and in his panic flicked it right off...there was much hollering...no more stillness. But...still, a moment he'll always remember....I'm not sure he'll ever swim again in naturally occurring bodies of water since there leeches in fresh water and JAWS in salt.)