Massasauga Provincial Park - Day 4

Peter, Cynara and I woke relatively early on Monday morning. At about 6:30 we took to the canoes and paddled out onto Captain Allan Strait and headed eastward into the mist.

As well as getting some good shots of the sun rising over the water, we got a number of decent shots of Cynara paddling around too. Peter said there was less mist compared to the day before. Still it was fine.

When everyone else woke up we made breakfast and finished up most of the rest of the food. Mostly eggs and bacon again. Yummy. Then we put our bathing suits on and jumped in the water by our campsite.

Being a Monday it was much quieter. A lot of the other campers had left so the motorboat traffic in front of our site was greatly reduced. Our site was actually situated on one of the busier points in the park. Captain Allan Strait leads out to the open waters of Georgian Bay.

The water seemed a little chillier in front of our site than other places we had swum at. I put my PFD on and floated around a bit. Then I took it off and sat on the rocks in the water by the shore. The water covered my shoulders. I only kept my head out.

After sitting for awhile I felt a gentle poking around my back. Peter was sitting in the water behind me, so I thought it was him. In fact a small fish was sampling me it seems. I had sat still enough that it didn't feel threatened in approaching me. Another one swam between my outstretched legs in the water too. They couldn't have been more than 2-4 inches in length.

On our way back to the city after dropping off the rental canoes we stopped in Barrie for ice cream at Kawartha Dairy. Instead of the usual cone, Peter and I decided to split a prepackaged 1.5 litre tub of Black Cherry ice cream. A regular cone is nearly $5, while the tub was $6.30 after tax. Less expensive and you get more. The tub was too large even for the both of us, so we shared it with the others.

After that we went to Chaopaya Thai Restaurant on Dunlop Street for dinner. Peter and I split some chicken fried rice with basil, and beef with red curry. A bit on the spicy side for me, but very tasty indeed.

Massasauga Provincial Park - Day 3

Jess, Eric, Lily; Me, Peter, Cynara and Jonathan and Chris.

Peter awoke early on the third morning. He went out to take sunrise shots with the mist on the water. Cynara suggested going out the night before, but slept in. Oh well.

Today we planned on hiking the nearby Moon Island Trail. It's right across the strait from our campsite (though the trailhead is on the opposite side of the island). A 20 minute paddle perhaps. We had to wait for Eric's group to arrive though because we thought they wanted to do the hike too.

After breakfast Peter and I went out for a short paddle. I don't remember exactly where we went. Maybe up and down Captain Allan Strait in front of our campsite. After awhile we came back and relaxed.

Jonathan decided to take a canoe out on his own to go fishing. Eric had left his rod there and Jonathan thought he might try it. A short time later he came back completely soaked. The canoe had flipped and he had lost Eric's rod and reel.

It wasn't far from where our campsite was, so Peter and I donned our PFDs and swam over. Cynara and Jonathan paddled there. Jonathan and I searched the riverbed while Peter and Cynara observed.

Jonathan hadn't flipped too far from shore, so we thought we were in the right area. He carried heavy rocks (which weighed him down) and searched the bottom with his feet, while I dove down headfirst and searched with my hands.

The bottom was murkier the deeper you got. In some parts there was seaweed growing from the bottom too. So the view was obscured. We searched a fairly large area for quite a long time but never found it. Too bad.

It was around the end of our search when we saw Eric's canoe coming in. There were four of them in it - Eric, Chris, Jess and Lily. As well we saw what we thought was a dog swimming in the water around them. We thought it might have belonged to them (who we didn't recognize at first) or to a motorized boat nearby. It was only when the "dog" got out of the water and scrambled up the rocks by our campsite that we realized it was a bear cub. No one got any photos unfortunately.

After Eric's group got resettled (and we broke the bad news to him), we split up to do different activities. Jonathan and Jess took a canoe to paddle to the LCBO at Moon River Marine to get some beverages while Eric, Lily, Cynara, Peter and I took the other two to Moon Island to do the 4 kilometre hike there. Chris stayed at the campsite to rest up.

Eric, Chris and Jess had actually gone over to Moon Island to hike when they were here earlier. But somehow they got lost and ended up wandering around off trail. They never actually completed it. So it would be mostly new for him too.

After hiking we made dinner. Eric's group brought some new food like wild salmon and cheap steak. They tried cooking it over the campfire first, but it didn't turn out so well. So Peter re-cooked everything in the skillet which turned out well. No one wanted to eat the salmon still, so I finished it off.

More star shots after eating. No more Northern Lights. With the extra bodies, there wasn't enough space in the tents. So Chris and Jess slept on the rocks under the stars.

Massasauga Provincial Park - Day 2

Cynara jumping off the dock at Calhoun Lodge by the Baker Trail.

Saturday started off at a relaxing pace. I woke up around 10:00. I think Cynara was up first. Peter and Jonathan soon followed. We had eggs and bacon for breakfast. The night before we ate sausages and ramen noodles.

In the early afternoon we paddle out to do the Baker Trail by Calhoun Lodge. It's a little northwest of Pete's Place. But, even with Peter's GPS, we still got lost again. It didn't help that he entered the wrong coordinates. Still, we were in no rush. It gave us a chance to paddle around more.

There weren't many boats at the dock by Calhoun Lodge when we arrived. I was a bit surprised at that. I thought more people might want to get out for a hike. Perhaps, at this particular park, water sports are more highly favoured. We noticed a lot of people in motorboats with their fishing gear.

The hike around the island wasn't too long. Only 5.5 kilometres. It shouldn't have taken us too long. But, of course, with Peter and I taking pictures things tend to drag a bit. We completed it in a little under 3 hours. The scenery was fine. Nothing spectacular. All of us had our bathing suits. So we jumped into the water for a quick dip.

Dinner was more of the same from last night. We added one of Eric's Kraft Dinners for variety. Afterwards Peter and I tried taking more night shots. The Northern Lights weren't so bright this evening. We all chilled around the campfire again. This time we built one out on the rocks.

Massasauga Provincial Park - Day 1

Northern Lights over Moon Island at Massasauga Provincial Park.

Cynara's friend, Eric, organized a camping trip to Massasauga Provincial Park over the Labour Day long weekend. Along with three of his friends - Chris, Jess and Lily; Jonathan, Peter and I went.

Eric, Chris and Jess went first on Thursday. Cynara and Jonathan and Peter and I drove up Friday. Eric and his group had to come back early on Friday evening because he forgot he had to shoot a wedding the next day (Saturday). They would all return with Lily on Sunday.

Peter and I met Cynara and Jonathan at Swift Canoe and Kayak rentals at their Georgian Bay location off Highway 400, north of Barrie Friday afternoon. Eric had arranged canoes for us up there. After affixing them to the roofs of our cars we drove an hour further north to the park.

For our particular campsite (#406) you'd normally launch your boat out of Pete's Place after registering. But they only allow parking for one car per campsite there. So the girl there told us to go down the road to one of the marinas and find private parking there. We found a place near Moon River Marine that charged $8 a day and launched our canoes from there.

Eric's group tried to wait for us before returning to Toronto, but we arrived at the campsite a little late. Even with Peter's GPS we made a few wrong turns and ended up in dead end bays at one point. Ideally we would have come counter-clockwise around Marion Island and bump into them on their way paddling out, but we came in on Captain Allan Strait from the east side.

It was around 8:00 p.m. by the time we got to the campsite. My tent (which I had lent Eric) was still there along with all their other gear. But they were long gone. Peter and I and Cynara and Jonathan set our stuff up and prepared dinner. We had bought three bags of wood from the camp store (at Pete's Place). As well, Peter brought his portable stove.

After eating we went out onto the rocks by our site (which overlooks Captain Allan Strait looking northward to Moon Island and Woods Bay) and started taking night pics. The skies were pretty dark when we began shooting. That's great for seeing the stars. I did notice what I thought was light pollution on the horizon at one point. Then Peter figured out it was the Northern Lights as it got brighter.

I was surprised to see them at this time of the year and so far south. Nevertheless we got some pretty decent shots of it as well as the Milky Way. They started to dim by 1:00 a.m. which is when we turned in for the night.