The Great Outdoors - Part 2

It's time to continue the tale!  When I left off we had just decided to shorten our camping trip by a day due to weather.  We did the long haul out of the park and were fortunate enough to be able to get our room at the lodge a day early.  One of the big advantages to being in Killarney that early in the season was that there were still very few people up there.  We got into the lodge late Tuesday afternoon, just in time to get cleaned up and have dinner.  There's nothing quite like a hot shower and a good meal after a couple days in the bush, and that feeling is amplified when your last day was a rainy one.

The next day we did a bit of hiking out from the lodge.  The Lighthouse Trail (guess where that leads) was a bit flooded near the start of the trail so we just followed the road to the lighthouse and picked up the Tar Vat Trail which starts nearby.  After a lunch composed of leftover food from the camping trip we just wandered around the lodge grounds.  We weren't feeling to adventurous at that point.

On Thursday we got a guide to take us out fishing.  Fear not!  No fish were harmed in the making of this fishing trip.  The wind, still brisk and coming out of the south, had the Georgian Bay stirred up, and even the sheltered coves we were fishing in were quite murky.  I don't think the fish could have found our lures if they'd wanted to.  I did manage to catch something, although it turned out to be a bit unusual.

Yes, that's a clam.  Don't ask me to repeat the performance, I'm still not entirely sure how one goes about enticing one of those to take the bait.  You can see that I was using a three-pronged hook, and the clam seems to have closed down around one of the prongs.  We just slipped that out of his grasp and tossed him back to his watery home.  Still, the entire situation was quite humorous.

Despite not catching enough clams to really make a meal (and incidentally no fish either) it was a terrific nature-watching voyage.  We saw a few Bald Eagles, which is an exciting sight in this part of the world.  I've seen them in British Columbia when I've been out that way, but in Ontario they still seem to be pretty rare.  We saw more than one at a time though, which I'm taking as a very good sign.  We also spotted a Sandhill Crane, which Dad informs me is a rare sight.  The water-dwelling creatures were in abundance as well, and we got close to a couple River Otters, and saw Beavers on numerous occasions.  Heading back we rode up the Chikanishing Creek (I apologize to the people of Killarney if I spelled that wrong) and got a great sight of a Beaver, who even stopped to pose for a few photos.

Back at the lodge we got to spend some time with a more tame variety of wildlife.

There was some discussion about getting kayaks out and going for a sunset paddle, but we were both viewing the prospect of lifting those boats with a certain hesitation.  They we securely fastened to the car, and seemed quite happy there.  Those boats spent a great deal of time on our shoulders Tuesday afternoon.  The decision to stay on land proved to be a bad one.  You can imagine what this sunset would have been like out on the water.

Friday was our last full day in the area and we decided to finish off the trip with a nice hike.  We headed back to the George Lake campground and set off on Cranberry Bog Trail.  It was a pleasant hike that got us back in time for lunch at Herbert's fish and chip truck, our last chance to do so.  Here's a shot from the trail that I particularly liked, showing the industriousness of the Beavers, who really seem to be having a great year.

We spent the afternoon at the lodge, and after dinner managed to find the motivation to actually get the kayaks out one last time.  Having missed a rather spectacular sunset the night before we were didn't want to risk missing out again.  As you can see, it wasn't quite the riot of colour that the previous evening had in store, but it was lovely all the same.

That just about finishes off this adventure.  We got up Saturday morning, enjoyed one last breakfast at the lodge, and hit the road.  It was an uneventful trip back, and I got into Toronto in the early afternoon.

Well, that's all for now.  It was great to get out for a trip, since I still have to wait till mid-August for my journey to Iceland.  Still, that has become my sole focus right now.  It's time to ramp-up my research and start coming up with ideas about what to do with my time in Reykjavik while I'm not diving.  I will, of course, be sure to keep you posted.