Ontario – 12-25 September – Summer 2017

Back in Ontario !  And getting a campsite in Rushing River Provincial Park, one of my favourite provincial parks.   We had our pick of sites as there were not many people here camping.  Site 10 for us, near the front of the park.  We stayed here last year and had a beautiful campsite at the other end of the park but that one was taken this time around.

 

Still hot weather and sunny which is great.  There is a nice trail going down one side of the river and you cross a bridge and hike back the other side.  It’s only about 2 km but a nice trail.  Walked down around the cascade area which is really nice.

 

 

 

 

If you like canoeing, these are some of the canoe routes you can do from the park.  Dogtooth Lake is a big lake at the back of the park.

 

 

Drove into Kenora and stopped at the Lake of the Woods Brewery which is in an old firehouse. What a great building, they did it up nice.   Beer was pretty good too.  We sat and had a beer with the brew master/owner who talked to us about the beer they make and what they have planned for the future.

 

This area is known for pelicans but we didn’t see any.  Last year we came through here and drove around a few times looking for them but didn’t see any that trip either.

 

 

The next day we left for Aaron Provincial park which is close to Dryden.

 

 

 

Our site was 42 at Aaron and it was a seasonal site but at this time of year the park is self-serve so that’s the site we picked. We were told later that day that it was seasonal and we shouldn’t have taken it but there was no indication on the site posts.  I emailed the Park and they simply said yeah we should look into that.

On to the town of Dryden.  We drove around the city and then parked and walked around downtown.  We decided to head into Kuppers Bakery and restaurant.  We had coffee and pastries and the owner chatted with us.  The pastries were really good and it was a nice spot to have dinner or just a coffee/pastry.

We left for Thunder Bay KOA on Friday.  We stopped at Sandbar Provincial park first just to drive through.  The Park Warden was at the gate and said there were lots of bears in this park.  We did not see any but they did have a trap set up right beside one of the sites.  On to Thunder Bay; we stayed at the KOA here last year when we did the Lake Superior Circle Tour.  It’s an okay park, close to the city anyways.

Stopped at Kabab Village for dinner, it was an okay meal. The food mostly tasted like garlic but really no other flavours seemed to be involved.  We stopped here last year on our way through the city and we remember it being better.  Oh well………………..

We went to Sleeping Giant Brewery which we also stopped at last year; they changed locations from when we were here last.  Really nice spot and much bigger.  They have a big retail store and a big upstairs that overlooks the downstairs.  Quite nice.  Beer is so-so.

 

 

We decided to stay a second night at the KOA and ended up driving to Trowbridge Falls,  scenic spot.  We walked up the river and around the campground. The Campground is closed now or we would have stayed here.  Nice park.

 

Dawson Trail Brewery next !  They only had 5 beers and I liked 3 of them, not bad.  It’s a little place but the beer is worth it.  This has been an overcast rainy day but we still enjoyed it.

Sunday we are off to Pukaskwa National Park, one of my favourite parks anywhere.  This is a beautiful park and the sites are nice.  We were able to pick our own and we chose site 23E with hydro and $20 a night.  This site is private and huge.  There is a tiered area at the back for a tent or kitchen tent.

 

 

The visitor Centre was closed but we headed around Horseshoe Bay and up to the Red Chairs.   What a view !

 

 

 

We walked along the trails to another beach and then on to “Log” beach for sunset pics.  I call it Log Beach because it’s covered with logs that have washed up on shore from Lake Superior.  We did see a hawk and an eagle but not close enough for my lens.

The next day we did all the trails except for the big long trail which is 18 km long.  We didn’t have time to do this trail but one day I would like to come back and do it.

The trail around Halfway Lake is also nice and we took our lunch with us on this hike.  It was a beautiful day today and this park is spectacular.  As you can see, Trum went with us, he isn’t always in the truck.  I spotted 2 dragonflies being passionate and a hummingbird moth. We sat and watched him for a long time.  The only other time I have seen a hummingbird moth was last year when we were at Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario.  He was on the beach and we were so happy to see one in person.

 

Leaving for Lake Superior Provincial Park, Agawa Campground.  We snagged a site right across the road from the water, site 105.  It was pretty busy in this part of the campground.  We drove down to Sinclair Cove which is beautiful and then to the Sand River and hiked a bit of the trail.  We did the whole trail the next day but it was getting dark so we just did a bit.

The Sand River trail is nice, pretty much follows the river the whole way.   I was trying to get photos of the trees reflecting in the pools of water on the rocks.  It looked pretty cool.

 

 

 

Stopped at Sinclair Cove again on the way back.  Such a beautiful spot.

 

Well on our way again, this is a fast trip home!  We stopped in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario to have lunch with our friend Jacques and then headed to Chutes Provincial Park.

 

I liked this park, it’s not a big park and not a lot to do here but I like it anyways.  We stayed at the same site we stayed at last year.  Way in the back, very private and big sites here too.  Walked all around the trail that follows along the river.  Really nice spot.  The morning we left, the couple down from us came over and asked if had seen their shoes.  Um No?   Apparently they had left their shoes outside and the raccoons had a hey day with them !  They found all their shoes except for one sandal.  One pair of Crocs had been chewed and eaten.  Those raccoons must have been super hungry.  Lots of mosquitos here too, what’s up with that?  It’s September already…………..

We headed out to Arrowhead Provincial park on Friday, 22 September.  It was a hot and sunny day.

When we got to Arrowhead, there was literally only one site left and that was in a part of the campground they had opened for the weekend because they booked the rest of the Park up so fast.  No hydro at this site but it was a nice site, #228.  Huge site and trees all around.  Could only see one other campsite from where we sat.  The trees are all in colour, quite lovely here.  We were staying until Monday so while we were here we did the Beaver Meadow Trail and the Arrowhead Lake trail.  It was really hot the day we did these trails back to back.  It was only about 10-11 kms but felt like more because it was so stinking hot.  We also drove into Huntsville for a few hours.  Walked around downtown and had lunch at a restaurant on the water.  I like Huntsville, it’s a nice town.  Lots of nice stores, especially outdoorsy type stores, restaurants on the water, kind of touristy but nice.

End of the Trip

And so………………that is that.  We headed home on Monday 25 September.  We had left Sunday 11 June and stayed at 52 campgrounds in total.

We went to Ontario, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon, Alaska, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

We saw lots, did lots, apparently after reading this……..drank lots……….. and all in all had a wonderful trip.  Bucket List got whittled down a bit too.

Trum had a great time as did his little friend Digby who went with us on this trip.  Thanks to Dale and Sherri at Monkeysandmore.com for making sure I received him in time for our trip !

And a  BIG thanks to my husband, Clint.  Thanks for being my traveling partner and thanks  for proof reading all my posts prior to publishing.  For viewing of Clint’s photo galleries please go to http://www.pbase.com/clint_guy

Thanks for reading my blog……..if you got this far; it couldn’t have been too boring !!