Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Canoeing in the Massasauga Park, Ontario, July 15-22, 2011

Blog in Polish/blog po polsku: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2011/07/massasauga-on-2011.html
More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/sets/72157627573094734/with/6104393117/



It was our 5th canoe trip to the Massasauga Provincial Park and still not jaded, we were really looking forward to it! On July 15, 2011 we departed Toronto in the morning, stopped in MacTier, bought and broke some wine and soon arrived at Pete's Access Point.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

After picking up and paying for our campsite permits, we drove to the ramp and unloaded our car. While doing so, a gentleman with two kids was getting his canoe and kayak out of the water. He showed us photos of two Massasauga Rattlesnakes that he spotted at night at his campsite—not a very common sight, as this species is quite rare and endangered. Once we loaded our canoe with the numerous pieces of our belongings, it (again!) attracted attention of some campers; one of them, upon seeing it, said, 'it's crazy! I did it once like that... and the canoe capsized!' Well, it has always been our problem, too much stuff, but we do want to camp in comfort and be prepared for every eventuality.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

In 2010 our group had stayed on two campsites, 508 and 509 and we liked both of them; this year we booked campsite #508 for the first four nights of our trip (as apparently 509 is no longer reservable for reasons unknown to us and the reservation clerk) and expected five other people to share this campsite with us. It was located just next to the channel, yet unlike campsite number 507 on the other side of the channel entrance, this one was pretty well sheltered from the boat traffic by a rock formation, quite spacious and offering a nice view. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the campsite; the first thing we did was have a (still) cold beer. Catherine unpacked the canoe and I set up the new tent—we just bought Eureka's “El Capitan 3”, the same blue model I bought in 2006 (it developed a zipper problem), but this one came in green.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario, Campsite #508

Once we were done, we went over the other side of the rock, sat down and observed entering and exiting the channel and enjoyed the sunset. Once it became dark, we started a campfire; probably all the campsites on the shores of Blackstone Harbour were occupied and we saw campfires and laud laughter of other campers. At about midnight I heard some splashing in the water, but did not see anything, so we got into the canoe and paddled about 10 meters offshore. The splashing was occurring everywhere around the canoe, we saw water rings, but despite using powerful flashlights, did not see anything. I was pretty sure it was garpikes, long and ancient fish, that made those splashes—if it's hot, they often swim just under the surface and stick out their long jaws out of the water from time to time.

Friday, July 16, 2011 was very hot a humid, so we decided to go for a swim. There was a scenic bay between campsites # 509 and 508, with a rocky island in the middle, so we swam to the island (it was very muddy and shallow and we could have probably walked on the bottom of the water) and laid down on the rock.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

After a while we saw an aluminum houseboat coming out of the channel and parking just at our campsite—and saw a couple of people disembarking from it. Catherine shouted, “what are you doing on our campsite?”—and they yelled back, “we're your friends”. Well, it was of course Mike and his friends Barry and Janet—we expected them, albeit not arriving on a water taxi, but in a canoe! Soon, we swam back to the campsite and greeted them and their two dogs, Finn and Jack (yes, the latter dog's name was somehow a source of confusion, I never knew if they were calling me or the dog). Janet set up her tent, Barry and Mike slept in hammocks. Later they paddled to the Moon River Marina and got some cold beer; in the meantime Sue and Ian arrived and pitched their tent. Once we had fire, we grilled some food, I had several Polish sausages to share and we sat till probably midnight talking and enjoying the food, beer and wine.

On Saturday, July 16, 2011 we paddled to Moon Island, where the Moon Island Trail started. While the gang went for the hike, I was fishing from the dock, but soon it was so hot and sunny that I had to find a shaded place in the forest and red some magazines.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

About two hours later they came back, tired and bitten by horse flies, but raving about the scenery. We were planning to paddle to the Moon River Falls, but due to the heat and humidity decided to paddle to the Moon River Marina, where we bought cold beer and had some ice cream outside and then returned to our campsite.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

While leaving the marine, I caught a nice bass which we had for dinner this evening, after a lesson from one British friend on how to fillet it. Even though the park staff said there were no bear problems on our and adjoining campsites this year, we still hung our food in the barrel, just in case.

Next day, Sunday (17/07/2011) Catherine and I were up very early in the morning and we decided to go for a paddle. We paddled to the north end of Blackstone Harbour, passing by a number of campsites, some of them vacant.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

We were back at the campsite by 10:00 am, just in time to give Janet a canoe ride back to Pete's Place—Mike & Barry paddled to the marina to pick up the car. Also Sue and Ian were heading for Toronto that day. Once we dropped off Janet, we drove to MacTier and bought some supplies for the second part of our trip and drove back to Pete's Place. Although we were supposed to stay on campsite #508 till Monday and then paddle to campsite # 202, we wanted to paddle there as soon as possible since a big storm was forecast for later in the evening through early morning today. It turned out that campsite #202 was available for the night, so we changed the reservation. Back at the campsite, we rested a little, then packed our canoe and about 5:00 pm (relatively late) departed for the other campsite.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

We took the same route we did last year, so it was quite familiar. Since it was so terribly hot and humid, the relatively easy (12 km) junket was quite exhausting and demanding; I was sweating and kept drinking a lot of water. As we were paddling, we passed campsite #211 on which we had camped last year and soon were about to enter Three Fingers Bay, where our campsite was located.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

We had selected and booked this campsite months in advance—at least on the map, it looked great—a blind bay with three smaller bays, with only one campsite—we expected to experience plenty of serenity. Yes, it did say on the map that it was a 'mooring area', but there were so many empty mooring areas that we did not really pay much attention to this detail. But... once we entered the bay, we soon spotted the distinct orange sign on our campsite—as well as a big yacht moored just a couple of meters in front of the campsite and actually tied to a tree on our site. As we were approaching the campsite, we saw another big motorboat... and another... and another... Altogether there were about 10 sizable yachts in the bay, albeit only one so close to our campsite. When we approached it, we saw it was tied to the tree on our campsite; to make matters worse, its generator was constantly working and it was quite noisy. The campsite was on a hill and we could have either take a more direct route, albeit a steep one, from where the yacht was, or a less steep, but longer. Catherine informed the yacht owner that it was our campsite and asked him if he could shut off the generator, but he said something about having problems with his motor and that he would shut off the generator later. He was not friendly or helpful—it was surprising, since he was virtually trespassing on our site. As it was getting darker, I wanted to get our stuff to the campsite as soon as possible, so we got to the rocky shore and started lugging our bags up the hill, which was the long circuitous route.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

Once I got the tent, I was setting it up, while Catherine was bringing the remaining things. We managed get everything in place in a record time and soon were sitting atop the hill in our chairs, on our campsite, enjoying the view—i.e., looking at the moored motorboat, listening to its running generator (which, thanks God, was shut off soon) and watching their 2 kids swim off the rocks below. Catherine was very irritated and tried calling the park office which of course had closed hours earlier. I was so thirsty that gulped the last cold beer in a second and then drunk about 1.5 liters of water—and still was thirsty! It took me a while to cool off. Eventually we started the fire and had our supper. Exhausted, we went to bed relatively early.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

A violent storm, with thunder and lighting roared over our area (yet, the weather report had been correct), but all I remember was seeing at one point an almost incessant lighting, yet I was so sleepy that simply did not care much (as if I could have done anything about that!). Catherine apparently was totally unaware of the storm, dreaming of ways to get even with the yacht owner, I imagine.

Monday, July 18, 2011 was hot and dry—but there were plenty of water puddles all over the campsite, especially under our tent (which was set up in a hollow), yet it did not leak. We dried the tent and the tarps and then moved it to a different area. The yacht mooring in front of our campsite now was even more visible than before, but eventually it departed; the other yachts were moored farther away and did not really bother us; in fact, their lights provided quite an interesting show at night as several of them tied up together.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

While camping on Wreck Island in 2009, we paddled to the famous Henry's Restaurant on Frying Pan Island—and also 'discovered' an LCBO store that sold cold beer! Since we were camping not that far away from that island—and it was so hot and humid—on July 19, 2011, after listening to the weather forecast, canoed to the store. The area was relatively sheltered, but in the event of stronger winds it would be difficult for us to paddle. We passed by a few islands, several cottages and striking rock formations. I was trolling all this time and near Breen Island caught a nice, 3 kg. pike. Upon arrival at the LCBO store dock, we were helped by its employees to tie the boat (not that we needed that!) and proceeded to make a number of purchases, including beer and ice.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

An hour later we were on our way back to our campsite—and while paddling near Breen Island, I caught another pike, at almost exactly the same location I had caught the first pike! Once we were back, I cleaned the pikes and filleted them, albeit with some difficulty. So, we enjoyed grilled pike and cold beer—and so did some marauding animal, who stole the leftovers, unbeknownst to us; because some sizable bags were dragged a few meters from the campsite, we think that it might even be a small black bear.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

On July 20, 2011 we got up in the morning; it was a little misty and otherwise very quiet. We paddled to the small bay located behind our campsite; it was very picturesque, with steep rocky shores and there was a beaver dam at the very end.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

Then we went to the opposite bay, passing a few moored yachts along the way—and finally paddled to the third bay (after all, the bay we were staying on was called “Three Fingers Bay”, each bay forming a distinct ‘finger’), but only went to the narrows where Catherine approached a park box, supposedly containing some information bulletins... and instead was ‘attacked’ by a small mouse which had been living there!

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

Then we paddled back to the campsite. However, we paddled there in the evening—fortunately, there were not any boats (probably the passage is too shallow as well as a felled tree blocked it—it's a pity the park did not make a campsite there) and we were lucky to enjoy the serenity and peacefulness... which I thought was interrupted by a sound coming from the very end of the bay.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

Indeed, there were a mother-moose and her baby, a small moose, enjoying en evening stroll on the muddy shoreline and water plants! We kept coming closer and closer and eventually she slowly left, the cub following her.
In the evening we again sat on the top of our campsite and admired the bay.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

Looking at the motor boats, I was so glad I did not own one—the last thing I’d like to deal with would be getting (very expensive!) gas, fixing it, carefully navigating treacherous and rocky waters of Georgian Bay, listening to the sounds emitted by generators, inhaling gas fumes and roasting in the sun in the middle of the day. It’s true that the best things in life are free—or at least very inexpensive!

On July 21, 2011 we were hoping to again paddle to Frying Pan Island and get some beer—it was so hot and humid—but due to the wind, we waited till about 3:00 pm. Even thought it was windy, the waves were not very high and our canoe kept moving quite fast, reaching up to 5 km. However close to Emerald Island we started to paddle on a relatively open water and suddenly both the wind and the waves significantly slowed the canoe’s speed—and we knew that soon there would be more and more open water! We rested a few minutes in a bay, gave it the last try—and eventually paddled around Emerald Island and turned back (so long, cold beer!).

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

Instead, we paddled to Jenner Bay nearby; one yachtsman had recommended us to camp there instead. The narrow passage to this bay at least prevented bigger motorboats from using it as a mooring area. There were three campsites in the bay; all were rather dark and none was occupied. We docked at campsite #601. Once we went into the forest, it was like being in a different world—there was something scary and creepy about the forest, so much so that I suggested a horror movie could be made at that very location. When we left the bay, we tried, once again, to paddled towards Frying Pan Island, but gave up and paddled back to the campsite. We spent some time exploring Three Fingers Bay and then were back at our campsite.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

July 22, 2011, the last day of our trip!

It was exactly 5 years ago today (in 2006) when I joined www.meetup.com; since then I have attended well over 100 various events and organized about 20. It was also 30 years ago when I was spending my last summer camping vacation in Poland, in Mazury, near the town of Spychowo. On that day, exactly 30 years ago, my friend, I.P. and biked to Ruciane-Nida. Well, Poland was experiencing a huge crisis then, there were shortages of literally everything, money were becoming worthless and when we were passing by a store in a village of Zgon, the saleslady was just closing it because the store had NOTHING to sell, not even the proverbial vinegar! Four months later I left Poland for good, and 17 days after my departure, on December 13, 1981, marital law was imposed by the communist government. Well... the time flies and everything changes!

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

We packed up and lowered some of our possessions down the steep rocky shores directly to the canoe in order to avoid carrying this stuff to the bay where we usually kept the canoe. On our way back we set up the emergency tent and had a nap (after all, we were up at 6:00 am, very early for us!) and continued our 16 km. trip, arriving at Pete’s Access Point at 5:00 pm. While packing up the car, I heard the news about the terrorist attacks in Norway which resulted in 67 deaths. We drove to Oasler Provincial Park where we quickly took a shower, then drove to Perry Sound, to the Sobey’s Supermarket where we were planning to buy salad and dressing and then have a supper on the shores of some lake. But we saw that the store had a very good variety of hot, ready-to-eat items and due to the closing hour, their prices were slashed by half. Thus, we purchased a pack of “Southern Style Fried Chicken”, some ‘Chicken Fingers,” wedges, chicken patties and similar items, hoping to bring some home. Then we drove to the dock where the Thirty Thousand Islands cruises depart, sat on a dock, facing the cruise boat and opened our food items. What a nasty surprise awaited us! The ‘southern chicken’ were tasteless, dry, tough and basically not edible; half of the wedges were not edible either (hard and dry), the remaining portion was partially edible—provided one likes eating bland, over-cooked and tough potatoes; the patty was terrible. I’m glad Catherine purchased ready-to-eat salad (which she planned to take home), at least we could eat something normal and fit for human consumption.

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

Perhaps I had shopped at Sobey’s once or twice in my life before and I had the impression it was a rather good store, offering high-quality food. This experience, however, immediately changed my opinion about Sobey’s—I cannot understand how it is possible to MAKE such bad food, let alone SELL IT (regardless of the price—even if the store were giving it away, I’d not touch it). The next day we wrote a letter to Sobey’s requesting the refund and enclosed the receipts along with some labels; so far (September 2, 2011) we have not heard from Sobey’s. After an email to their head office a chintzy $15.00 gift certificate with a letter of faint apology was received.
Anyway... so, after this terrible lunch we probably should have gone to McDonald’s, but although we were somehow hungry, we had enough food and did not feel like eating for a while!

The Massasauga Provincial Park, Ontario

Over all it was a nice trip, but we were quite disappointed with our campsite location and the mooring boats. Catherine took time to write a letter to the park warden. They engaged in a short phone conversation and the refund request for one night was granted but as of today (October 13, 2011) not processed though. Most likely we will contact the park and the Ministry of Environment to discuss some of our observations as I do not think the park treats us, the campers, and those big boats, equally—it was quite disturbing to discover that yachts had not been asked to pay the $10.00 mooring fee and most likely, were not even aware of such a fee.

Blog in Polish/blog po polsku: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2011/07/massasauga-on-2011.html
More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/sets/72157627573094734/with/6104393117/

Canoeing on the French River, Ontario, south of Lake Nipissing, July 03-08, 2011

Blog po polsku/in the Polish language: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2011/07/french-river-dokis-2011.html
More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/sets/72157627463526200/


In my last blog about your trip on the French River-Dokis Reserve (http://ontario-nature.blogspot.com/2010/08/french-river-ontario-dokis-july-2010.html ) I said that the French River is like a magnet—I never tire paddling on it—and it must be true as less than one year later we’re visiting the same area!

On July 3, 2011, the Sunday of the Canada Day long weekend we were again arriving in the Wajashk Cottages on the Dokis Indian Reserve. We met a Russian couple who had just completed their canoe trip; the lady complained about mosquitoes, but I hardly paid any attention—after all, most people complain about mosquitoes—and most people usually exaggerate.

Canoeing on the French River, Ontario, July 3-8, 2011

While canoeing last year, we had seen many very nice campsites and especially one of them, campsite number 117, located in Bob’s Bay, was especially alluring, so this time we decided to paddle there, hoping it was not occupied. The weather was great, it was sunny, hot and humid. We passed a number of campsites on our way and none appeared to be occupied; there were some boats passing by, but otherwise we were hardly disturbed by any human activity. After less than 2 hours (7.4 km) we entered Bob’s Bay—just behind a small motor boat which we thought might be in competition for the site. But yeah! The occupants were just fishing and the campsite was vacant! Indeed, it was a very nice, rocky place, giving us a wonderful view of Bob’s Bay; since it was a blind bay, we did not expect a lot of boat traffic (and we were right—we saw no more than 5 boats there during our stay). Like last year, there were PLENTY of blueberries all over the campsite.

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

Having set up the tent, we went for a swim, then spread the tarp to get some protection from the sun and read some magazines. As the evening was approaching, we paddled around Bob’s Bay, circled two big islands and with a considerable difficulty found out way out—it was dark and the passage was somehow narrow and rocky. We arrived back at the campsite after 10 pm and started the campfire. Unfortunately, it was literally impossible to sit around the fire—there were swarms of mosquitoes flying all over us! Even though we sprayed our clothes and exposed skin with Deet, they were still all over us, getting in our nostrils, ears, mouth... Never before have I seen so many mosquitoes! Catherine quickly retreated to the tent despite being covered in a burka style but outfit; I managed to sit outside for a while, constantly waving the hat and towel, each time pushing tens of those insects into the fire, but it was the proverbial drop in the bucket. Soon I gave up too and went to the tent—but before entering the tent, I was accosted by hordes of mosquitoes sitting on the tent, like in a horror movie! Once inside, we spent some time eliminating a number of blood sated mosquitoes, but still heard their noisy buzzing—we were glad our tent’s zippers worked—but not for long, as it turned out—they would fail in a day or so, necessitating the purchase of another Eureka El Capitan tent. Normally when camping, we tend to sit around the fire till after midnight, but this time we decided to start our campfire early, grill the food and get into the tent by 9:30 pm—exactly the time the mosquitoes commenced their attacks!

'aurora

Next day we paddled in the afternoon near Hunt Island, around the islands where campsites number 118, 119 and 120 are located. On August 5, 2011, we took a longer day trip. We departed just after 7:00 am, passed Comfort Island, crossed the river’s Main Channel and stopped on campsite # 126 on Wright Island, near Russell Island, where we set up our emergency tent and took a nap—we were sleepy, but also wanted to avoid paddling during the middle of the day when it was very hot and humid. The tent was quite nice, although I had to bend my knees to lay inside.

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

Later we paddled to the Riverview Cottages Marina, bought ice cream, viewed a handmade houseboat a man had built for his deceased wife and paddled on to the Big Chaudiere Dam. There is a 600 m portage—but for hundreds of years another portage, the historic Chaudiere Portage, was used first by the Native People and later by all the other Europeans (early explorers, voyageurs and courtiers de bois), as the most efficient way to avoid the Chaudiere Rapids.

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

Alexander Mackenzie (1764-1820), a Scottish explorer, travelled on the river at the end of 18th century and thus described the Chaudiere Portage:

In about six miles is the lake Nepisingui, which is computed to be twelve leagues long, (one league=about 5 km) though the route of the canoes is something more: it is about fifteen miles wide at the widest part, and bounded with rocks. Its inhabitants consist of the remainder of a numerous converted tribe, called Nepisinguis of the Algonquin nation. Out of it flows the Rivere des Francois, over rocks of a considerable heights. In a bay to the East of this, the road leads over the Portage of the Chaudiere des Francois, five hundred and forty four paces, to still water. It must have acquired the name of Kettle, from a great number of holes in the solid rocks of a cylindrical form, and not unlike that culinary utensil.

The Portage was still discernible on an aerial photograph taken in the 1940s. Unfortunately, it was almost totally obliterated in 1949 and 1950 during the construction of the Portage Channel. Only the beginning and end of it are still more-less the way they appeared in the past. For those interested in French River history, I recommend “French River. Canoeing the River of the Stick-Wavers” by Toni Harting.

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

I just walked about 50 meters along its original path, but it soon it became overgrown and full of poison ivy. Incidentally, we found a fanny pack at the current portage containing a compass and some other personal belongings, but since we could not identify its owner, we decided to leave it where we found it, just in case its owner (who had probably just portaged his canoe) might return looking for it.

Let me diverge here a little bit and bring up a sad story which is somehow related to this trip. Early in 2009 I was contacted by a couple from Poland, Jaroslaw Frackiewicz and Celina Mroz, who, having read the description of my canoe trip on the French River, wanted to come to Canada and do a similar trip.

With Jarek Frackiewicz and Celina Mroz--Brampton, Ontario, July 29, 2009

After exchanging several emails and posting questions in the Canadian Canoe Routes, they arrived in Canada and embarked on a very ambitious journey, paddling in their small, folding kayak the French River, Lake Nipissing, Mattawa River and Ottawa River! I had an opportunity to meet them on July 29, 2009 in Brampton—they were truly amazing people, who had done plenty of canoeing in a lot of countries. From then I followed their blog,
http://blog.kajak.org.pl/wloczykije and webpage http://www.moje-kajaki.net and from time to time we exchanged emails.

Just before departing on this trip I found out that that they had gone paddling to South America. On May 26, 2011 they wrote in their blog that they were starting their trip on the Ucayali River in Peru. On June 21, 2011 they were supposed to arrive in Poland, yet the failed to show up and nobody has heard from them since May 26, 2011. So, while paddling on the French River, it was impossible NOT to think about them—in fact, the had taken this very portage at the Big Chaudiere Dam and then paddled up the French River to Lake Nipissing, so one way or another we were crisscrossing the route they had taken 2 years ago. Since I had no access to the Internet, I had no idea if they were found or not, so the first thing I did upon our return to Toronto was log on and check the website. It’s difficult to describe how devastated I was when I found out they had been murdered by Peruvian Indians while they were paddling on the Ucayali River on May 27, 2011. The accused murderers were apprehended and confessed to this heinous crime.

Back to reality... before 7:00 pm we arrived at our campsite, having paddled almost 22 km, just in time to start the fire and grill the food before the ferocious assault by the clouds of blood-hungry mosquitoes!

On July 6, 2011 we were planning to paddle to Lake Nipissing, but since it was windy, we decided to stay on our campsite and paddle on Bob’s Bay. In the morning a Hobie paddled by us—a combination of sailboat, paddleboat and catamaran (http://www.hobiecat.com/ ). We chatted with its owner who had come to view a family of playful otters up the bay. We also spied a big turtle swimming along the shores of our campsite, not such a rare sight.

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

Later I got lucky and caught a Pike—we put it into a strong bag and immersed in the water, to consume later in the evening. While paddling on Bob’s bay, I again caught another pike, but when I saw about to pull it out of the water, I lost it. To beat the mosquitoes, we were back at the campsite relatively early. I prepared by filleting knife... only to find out that the pike was gone! I thought it was a joke at first, only to discover a gnawed gaping hole in the bag. Well, it was most likely the turtle who easily made a hole in the bag and ended up having a feast of his life!

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

On July 7, 2011 we were up just after 5:00 am (thanks for Catherine, of course), had coffee, breakfast and at 6:00 were on the water, paddling towards Lake Nipissing. The weather was perfect (in terms of wind—yet it was very hot and humid) and it was such a pleasure paddling in the morning! We were avoiding the main river and paddled through channels and narrows, passing a lot of bigger and smaller islands (Drunken Island, Bragdon Island, Partridge Island) and cottages, some very charming. Eventually we reached the beginning of the French River at Lake Nipissing—we saw the boundless waters of this huge lake—and I was full of admiration for Jarek Frackiewicz and Celina Mroz who had paddled on Lake Nipissing in their small kayak two years ago! Well, certainly we were not going to follow in their footsteps... although we did discuss going to North Bay!

Canoeing on the French River, Ontario, July 3-8, 2011

We paddled to Burnt Island (which had a number of campsites) and were on Lake Nipissing. Not far from us were Target Island, Little Sandy Island and Sandy Island; beyond those islands we could not even see the opposite shore of the lake. Finally we turned left into Canoe Pass (used also by motorboats) and arrived at campsite no. 105 where we relaxed a little—it was a nice area, but quite noisy with all the motorboats using Canoe Pass. Later we went though another passage near Gibraltar Point, around Cleland Island and reached an island where Keystone Lodge was located.

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

A nice gentleman told us that we could go to the lodge where we ordered some drinks and food. This fellow and his wife were the caretakers of the lodge and after a late lunch she showed us around. Indeed, the lodge was impressive—it had several cottages for the guests, restaurant with a meal plan as the cottages only had a small fridge, its own generator, a helicopter landing pad, its own newly installed water system, a wood burning outdoor furnace pumping hot water heat to the cottages, a few boat docks (where the “Commanda” sometimes stopped on its way from North Bay to Dokis, dropping off and picking up tourists) and other facilities. She told us a lot of interesting stories about its history—apparently, in the early 20th century it was mostly Americans who came here to spend vacation and also purchased most of the properties on the French River, enchanted by its beauty. One of the tourists who stayed at the lodge before the Second World War was Harry S. Truman and supposedly there is a photograph of him standing just in front of the “Keystone Lodge” sign. By the way, talking about her and her husband’s job, she referred to Stephen King’s novel “The Shining”, which also featured a caretaker with his family who eventually goes mad. In the novel his name was Jack Torrance; the name of the island Keystone Lodge was located is... Torrance Island!

Canoeing on the French River, Ontario, July 3-8, 2011

We wished we could have stayed and talked to her longer, but it was getting late and we still had a long way to paddle to our campsite. It took us over 2 hours to reach our campsite—unlike last year, there was no wind and it was a very easy, pleasant paddle. Overall we paddled 36 km—so far, our record.

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

The last day, July 8, 2011, welcomed us with windy, unstable weather. After loading the canoe, we basically selected the most direct, yet sheltered route, trying to ‘hide’ behind islands, but we had to rest a few times; the wind and waves started to pose a problem. Finally we reached Chaudiere Lodge, located just vis-à-vis Wajashk. It was not only quite windy, but also very ominous black clouds were gathering around us. We were talking to a young Australian employee of the lodge—and still not knowing whether or now we should paddle or wait out the storm. However, only one kilometer separated us from our destination... and we decided to just paddle! Even though we were paddling against the wind, we reached speeds of 7 km/h. All this time we saw more and more black clouds gathering above us; at one point the temperature must have dropped by 5-7 degrees literally within a second—it was as if I entered an air-conditioned room! Exhausted, in less than 10 minutes we reached the dock. Catherine ran to get the car, I was frantically unloading and carrying our stuff and then putting it inside the car. A gentleman who was renting one of the cottages helped us put the canoe on the roof. We finished the whole unpacking/packing process in a record time and amazingly, just before it started to pour!

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011

On our way back we stopped at an abandoned motel/gas station—the remaining sign showed the price of gas to be 84.9 cents... per gallon (and we just paid $1.36 per liter!). Then we proceeded to the Hungry Bear Restaurant for a late snack—our visit to this place has by now become de rigueur—and finally set out for our 300+ km. to Toronto.

Canoeing on the French River (Dokis), Ontario, July 03-08, 2011


Blog po polsku/in the Polish language: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2011/07/french-river-dokis-2011.html
More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/sets/72157627463526200/

Six Mile Lake Park, ON

Blog in Polish/Po Polsku: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2011/07/six-mile-lake-park-2011.html


Camping in Six Mile Lake Provincial Park and Canoeing on Various Lakes in Muskoka, Ontario, June 18-24, 2011

My first visit in Six Mile Lake Provincial Park probably took place in the early 1990s, almost 20 years ago. The park, located just north of Port Severn, off highway 400 (although in the 1990s it was still a narrow, two-lane highway 69), is easy to reach from Toronto (less than a 1.5 hour drive) and offers a lot of very good campsites and plenty of canoeing and fishing opportunities. I have visited it numerous times, often staying for two nights only while fishing on nearby Georgian Bay. Due to its proximity to Toronto, the park is usually quite full in the summer; that's why I always try to camp there either in May/June or September/November: in 2010 we camped there twice and enjoyed our stay very much, so we booked a very nice site (where I had camped in 2009) and arrived on June 18, 2011.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

I knew it was an excellent site: relatively secluded, spacious, facing a marshy pond—but this year we noticed something new: an imposing beaver lodge just a stone's throw away! The beavers also build a dam, so the water level has gone slightly up since my last visit there. I expected to see beavers on a daily basis, but for the first few days neither did I see nor hear one and started to suspect that the beavers somehow were gone... but one day we saw a beaver, quietly swimming in the pond, then diving, then emerging again some other place. We soon set up the tent and drove to the town of Port Severn. Last year the bridge over the locks was being repaired and we had to use highway 400 to get to the other side of the town; unfortunately, the bridge was still being under construction. Port Severn has a small LCBO store, post office, a few small stores and several marinas. After all, here ends (or begins, depending on the direction of travel) the Trent-Severn Waterway, a canal system allowing boats to get from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay. After purchasing cold beer we drove back to the campsite. In the evening we embarked on a short hike along the Living Edge Trail

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

It is a beautiful trail, meandering through marshes, crisscrossing a snowmobile trail and then leading on the other side (north) of the pond where our campsite was located. After reaching the boardwalk, we spent some time observing playful water bugs, 'dancing' on the surface of the water. Once the darkness had fallen, we were sitting around the campfire, being serenaded by a choir of tree frogs. Although we closely examined the trees and shone our flashlights at them, we never managed to see even one frog! Since it was Saturday, we heard laughter and loud conversation coming from various campsites, but since the adjacent campsites were not occupied, we enjoyed plenty of privacy.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

Just before we were about to go to bed, we saw a raccoon who took a look at us and went away, no doubt to visit other campsites. He would visit our campsite every night; despite our precautions, he managed to steal our newly-purchased fresh corn.

On Sunday most of the campers left the park and we enjoyed almost as much privacy as when camping on the French River. The weather was perfect for canoeing and we were ready to hit the water—after all, we were in Muskoka, the prime cottage country, containing about 1,600 lakes (Lake Muskoka, Lake Rosseau and Lake Joseph being the biggest) and thousands of cottages, many of them mansion-like summer estates, with impressive boathouses, separate guest/servant quarters, docked boats and even float planes. Over 2 million visitors annually come here to enjoy this unique scenery and a myriad of activities on the water or land. In fact, National Geographic just picked 10 Best Trips of Summer 2011 and Muskoka Cottage Country was voted number one trip! No wonder—after all, many top business people or celebrities (just to mention Goldie Hawn, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Mike Weir, Martin Short, Kurt Russel, Cindy Crawford) have their retreats there. Unfortunately, this area does not have any centrally located provincial parks or other accessible camping grounds, so Six Mile Lake Park is the perfect jumping board to experience Muskoka.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

We took a look at the map and decided to drive somewhere past Bala. The route took us through highway 38, a Native Reserve (Mohawk Wahta), dotted with signs advertising 'cheap smokes'--indeed, some of them cost much less than 50% of the regular price. Whereas such sales have been going to for a long time, according to a recent newspaper article, the government is going to crack down on those who buy and transport such cigarettes. Once we passed a very lovely and popular town of Bala, we continued on road 169 and reached a cozy marina in Torrance, on East Bay of Lake Muskoka. We chatted a little with a young marina employee, paid the $5.00 parking fee and soon were on our way towards the open water. Slowly paddling along the shores, we saw many cottages, some very imposing, with very elaborate boathouses and separate guest houses. We ended up in a blind bay with rocky rapids; surprisingly there were no cottages on either shore and we thought it might be crown land, but later were told it was part of an 'unorganized' provincial park called Hardy Lake. While in the bay, my GPS topographical map just disappeared and I could not get it working again, so for the remainder of the trip I only had the base map (which was pretty useless) and had to rely on regular maps, which were not very good for canoeing. The sun was gradually setting as we paddled near Morris Island and Crane Island. When we were approaching the next small island (Loon Island), we heard a lot of ruckus and saw plenty of various birds flying all over the island. Apparently the whole island was one big rookery (a colony of breeding birds): we saw at least 5 nests on tree tops with majestic blue herons, plenty of cormorants' nests and some see gull chicks with their parents on the ground. The birds were flying in and out, producing tons of noise, although I do not think it had anything to do with our presence—we circled the island and paddled away, yet hear their loud calls for quite a while.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

It was getting dark when we were back at the marina. Attacked by mosquitoes, we put the canoe on the car, killed about a dozen or so of those pesky insects that had got inside the car and drove back to the park. Even though we did not find mosquitoes to be a big problem at the park, they were extremely active near the water between 9 and 10:00 in the evening—exactly the time we were finishing our trips and transferring our stuff to the car! On the way back to the park I saw a few deer standing along the road—I tried to drive as slow as possible to be able to bring the car to a stop in case a deer or other mammal decided to cross the road in front of my car.

On Monday, June 20, 2011, we were awaken at 6:00 am by very noisy gulls who were probably fighting over something at our campsite—however, we did not leave any food (even if we did, it must have been devoured earlier by our friendly raccoon). We slept till noon, but since it was too hot and humid for canoeing, we did not mind the extra rest. Later that day we decided to drive to Gravenhurst (birthplace of Norman Bethune, a Canadian communist who went to China in the 1930s.). Mao Zedong wrote an essay “In Memory of Norman Bethune” in December, 1939, praising this Canadian doctor. ["The distinguished surgeon Norman Bethune (...) came to China in the spring of 1938. Imbued with ardent internationalism and the great communist spirit, he served the army and the people of the Liberated Areas for nearly two years. He contracted blood poisoning while operating on wounded soldiers (...) and died a martyr at his post. What kind of spirit is this that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people's liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism, the spirit of communism, from which every Chinese Communist must learn. (...) We must learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him.”]. Indeed, every Chinese Communist at least learned ABOUT him, as the the essay became an integral part of the famous “Red Book” and eventually Bethune became a hero figure in China.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

Gravenhurst is one of the three major towns in Muskoka (Huntsville and Bracebridge being the other two). There was a big parking lot along the water and a public boat ramp... as well as a big hotel, condominium and plenty of other new buildings. I remember coming there about 15 years ago, stopping in the parking lot and going fishing in an inflatable boat—yet at that time there were hardly any other buildings around. It has changed so much since then! And when I look at my topographical map, I can see that there was a rail track leading to the dock exactly where we put it the canoe. Needless to say, I did not see any tracks, only luxurious condos and hotel...

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

First we paddled to the right, where “The RMS Segwun”, the oldest operating vessel in North America, built in 1887, was docked. Then we paddled north, passing by Graevette Island (during my last fishing expedition it was near this island, while using a live bait and big bobber, suddenly I saw the bobber disappear under the water and my line becoming very tight... before I could react, the line broke and I lost what could have been the biggest fish of my life... well... the one that gets away is always the biggest fish anyway!) and finally saw a hospital-like building, visibly abandoned, yet maintained to some degree, with signs warning us to stay away. We docked at a boat ramp and Catherine, being very adventurous and not very law-abiding, decided to go ashore and explore the area. Indeed, it used to be the Muskoka Sanatorium, supposedly the first Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Canada, which later became a mental hospital. It has been unused and abandoned for some time; for inexplicable reasons, the government (or whoever owns it) has not sold it—yet I can only imagine how much money this prime property could generate! We paddled around the the property and then slowly headed back.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

Since it was getting dark, we attached headlights to be visible to passing motorboats (somehow canoes are not required to have any attached lights like other boats are, and a regular flashlight is totally sufficient). Whereas the headlights did convey our presence to other boaters so that they could avoid us, it also attracted the attention of mosquitoes—they, however, did not avoid us!

Tuesday, June 21, was a little cloudy, the forecast mentioned a chance of rain or thunderstorm, yet we still went paddling—this time drove to Port Severn and launched our canoe from the marina on Little Lake, just north of highway 400.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

As we were starting our trip, it almost rained, but the dark clouds were blown away and we did not have to don our rain gear. We paddled to Gloucester Pool, passing a lot of islands and impressive cottages along the way. We stopped at a marina near Piklington Island, bought some chips and chatted with the owner for a while, a very nice man who had bought this place four years ago. We found out that Piklingon Island was sold some time ago; a developer constructed a bridge, built four mansion-like cottages and now is selling them for about 1.3 million dollars. We paddled under the bridge, passed a marina (Narrows Marina), then slowly moved into a very grassy area, passed another small bridge leading to Darling Island and eventually turned back past Hawkins Island in Gloucester Pool. As always, I was trolling a lure behind the canoe, yet did not catch anything. I talked to other fishermen and was told fishing was not very good so far. At least I was in a good company! When we reached our put in point, the sun had already set, but it was summer solstice and the sky was a brilliant pink/orange. We paddled close to the locks, around Yellowhead Island and eventually to the marina, where we were greeted by hordes of mosquitoes—their swarms were all over us and we literally raced to put the canoe on the car and throw our staff inside the car. Catherine had had the foresight to pack her bug netting in her dry sac so suffered very little—as for me, I find mosquitoes annoying, yet put up with them without a bug netting, which I find rather restricting. Once we were safely inside the car, we closed the doors and spent at least 10 minutes exterminating well over 30 of those irritating insects.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

As we expected, it rained overnight, so the next day (Wednesday) we drove to Bracebridge, parking just below the Bracebridge Falls and old power plant (which was being renovated). The big dock was used for a cruise ship at one time. We walked along the main street (most stores were closed, however), saw an old, historical power station and spoke for a while to a gentleman walking his two dogs. Since the weather was somehow precarious and it was late, we did not put the canoe on the water, but made a promise to come to Bracebridge in the future to paddle on the Muskoka River. It was raining while we were driving to the park—I was really glad we had set up the big, white tarp over our campsite and the fire pit, as it allowed us to enjoy the campfire when it was raining.

On Thursday, June 23, due to the rainy weather, we spent most of the time sitting on our campsite; at one point it started pouring cats and dogs, a huge paddle formed just next to the tent, but it did not do much damage to our belongings inside.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

Later the weather somehow stabilized and we decided to go for a paddle on Six Mile Lake. We drove to the park's dock, parked the canoe and paddled past Maud Island; it was quite late when we turned back and at one point we were quite confused which direction to paddle.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

Even though my GPS did not show the topographical map, it still plotted our trip and helped me greatly to show us the right route—yet I realized its light did not work! Soon it became totally dark, our headlights were on, attracting mosquitoes, and we hardly saw anything, relying mostly on the GPS and occasional cottage lights—not too many cottages were occupied this time of the year (and week), yet more and more people planted those new LED garden lights, which use to sun to charge their batteries, so even if we saw a relatively well-lit cottage, it did not mean anyone was there! Finally we approached the shore, managed to find the dock and in no time drove to our campsite to enjoy our last campfire of this trip, as we were leaving the next day.

We were planning to get up earlier, as it was Friday (June 24) and we expected campers to arrive in the park, but it was raining in the morning, so we kept sleeping. When we got up, it was noon, we had breakfast and before we even started packing, a car drove by, stopped by our campsite and the guy said he was supposed to stay here... well, he gave us a big push and we were packed and ready to go in about 30 minutes. We headed on roads 34 and 17 to Severn Falls; while crossing the rail track, we saw a rather deformed aluminium shack next to the tracks—a result of a cargo train derailment that had taken place a few months ago in the winter. Just meters from that place there is a marina, restaurant, cottages and a small store; we had our Thanksgiving Day turkey dinner at that restaurant in October, 2010 after paddling on the Severn River towards the east. This time we paddled on the river towards Georgian Bay.

Muskoka, Ontario, June 2011

After passing the rail bridge, we moved westward, exploring small bays and inlets and looking at some impressive cottages along the shore. We entered Woods Bay, but eventually paddled on and ended up in a blind bay near Copp Channel where we saw plenty of insect eating (carnivorous) plants probably known as sun-dew plants. We turned back and started paddling back to the marine; on our way we went into a blind bay near Lost Channel Landing and arrived at the Severn Falls marina past 9:00 pm. On our way home we stopped in Barrie and went to Tim Horton's for a light snack of bun, coffee and chilly, but since Catherine was still hungry, I stopped at McDonald's on highway 400 & 89 where she fully satiated her hunger and after midnight arrived home.

Blog in Polish/Po Polsku: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2011/07/six-mile-lake-park-2011.html