Day two began with breakfast at the restaurant at Fort William. It's a 35 kilometre drive from Justin's cottage through Chapeau. Though, if you had a boat, you could take the direct route 10-12 kilometres up the Ottawa River door-to-door.
I don't remember what time we arrived last year, but this year we were a bit late. We made it in time for breakfast, but they ran out of home fries as a side so they substituted French fries for them. It just wasn't the same.
Also, like last year, we visited Parc Des Chutes Coulonge (52 kilometres straight east of the restaurant). Last year we just paid the $8 entrance fee and walked through the park. This year Peter wanted to try the zip-lining and "rock climbing".
Keith is deathly afraid of heights. He probably wouldn't even stand on top of a kid's wagon. I don't think Justin was that enthused about it either. In my case it was the $97 cost that scared me. That just left Emily, Ken and Peter to try it. They were joined by a mother and her teenage son.
Their first stop was the long zip-line over the Coulonge River. It took a while for everyone to cross. Justin and I were there with our DSLRs trying to get decent shots of them.
After they crossed the river we lost sight of them. Justin and I decided to head to the next point we thought they'd reappear (which would be the observation deck for one of the falls). Keith hung back. He was a bit too nervous of the height.
While we waited I set my camera on the wide deck railing and took a 1/4 second exposure of the falls there. It was overcast enough that I could take a fairly long exposure without a neutral density filter.
The overcast skies quickly turned into rainy skies. At first the rain was relatively light and I took shelter under a tree. But then it got heavier and didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon.
When it seemed to break, I ran for cover to of one of the buildings near the park entrance to wait it out. Emily, Ken and Peter weren't so lucky. They waited out the rain clinging to the side of a cliff for over half an hour.
Two hours after they started they were done. After returning their harnesses and helmets we drove the 52 kilometres back to Justin's cottage where they quickly changed out of their soaking wet clothes.
The sun had returned by then and we cooked some of our dinner over the campfire. Justin did the rest on his gas barbeque.
After eating Peter and I convinced Justin to come out to the beach to try some more star shots. We started earlier this time to avoid having the bright moon light up the skies.
Peter and I were out there just over an hour. Justin left about half way through. Just before he left we saw a bright shooting star over the north horizon. Just before it went out it broke in two. That was pretty incredible. I've never seen anything like that before.
Back inside the cabin we played Saboteur for a few hours before hitting the sack. For the second night in a row it was warm. Ken and Emily joined Peter and I outside in the tents. They had been bothered by a fly buzzing around inside while they slept. Imagine that... going outside to sleep to avoid insects.
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