Algonquin Park – June 2016 – REVISITED

I haven’t been out anywhere to be able to put anything of interest on my Blog.  So, I went back to June 2016 and am re-posting this Blog post.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Algonquin Park (Ontario, Canada)  and we spend a few weeks every year there, in all seasons.

This was one my favourite trips there.  Now the old fox in the photo below (he’s on the right) passed away about a month ago.  He was amazing to photograph and he was an amazing Dad.  That is one of his kits on the left.

Anyways Enjoy!   Hope to get back out there one day !

I love Algonquin Park in the spring !   I love seeing all the babies, they are on the trails, on the rivers and in the woods!  And quite often the loons are still sitting on their eggs.  So we finally were able to secure site 77 at Lake of Two Rivers.  We have always wanted to try this site.  Very big, on the water (but not really good water access) private except on one side is a valley area of bush between us and the sites on the southwest side.  We had a few people tromping through that bush and ending up in our site !    Happened more than you would think lol.  And they always look surprised as if our 20 foot trailer and truck are invisible !

When we arrived and went in to register, the parks staff told us a bear had just walked by the gate and was very active in this campground.  So we will see if we see him or her.  Lots of black flies though!  There always is this time of year but actually the last two years were worse.  I think due to the long icy winters and late start to spring.  I hope it won’t be too bad this year but I don’t care !!

We do a lot of canoeing, gets us away from the black flies !  Smart eh?  Nah, we really love canoeing so we canoe anywhere we can drop our canoe into the water; even if we get in trouble for it !  If there’s water, we’re in it………..that’s our motto.

Saw a couple of loons sitting on nests, in different spots of course.  We don’t bother them.  Paddled past and snap a few discreet photos from a distance.  It is their home after all.

I love to see the ducks and their young ones.  We usually see different groups of them and some groups of babies are very small and some a little bigger.  It’s amazing so many survive, they are so small and quite coveted by certain other hungry wildlife.

We actually put into one lake that I love to paddle, it’s not big but I like it and we saw a sandpiper and her babies.  Holy cow, talk about tiny.  And I have a photo but I can’t find it, I think they are so little and light coloured that I probably overlooked it haha !

We had a huge big raccoon come into our site one night, right up behind us and around the chairs and the campfire and picnic table and on his way.  We never leave food out in our campsite, except for the beer in our hand…..

We always go to the same spot to see the foxes.  Anyone who goes to Algonquin a lot and does photography knows where this spot is…..This year I was very fortunate to get a photo of an adult fox taking an egg home for his kits.  We are relatively sure it’s a loon egg.  Saw lots of kits as well interacting with their parents.  They are super cute and such beautiful tails.

We rode our bikes on the bike trail one day to Rock Lake and shortly after we started, we ran into some people going the opposite way and they were being followed by a bear.  Well, we decided to turn around and walk back with them.  The bear followed us a long way, keeping pace, but keeping the same distance.  He was a young bear, domesticated and looking for food.  We finally made a bunch of noise to scare him off.  This makes me sad because we all know what happens to the domesticated bears.  He actually came into our campsite a few times.  One day, late in the afternoon we were sitting having a beverage (we had paddled all day) and I looked up and he was right at our campfire, less than 20 feet away.  He wandered around looking for food but as you read earlier, we do not leave anything outside.  He wandered down the road examining each site and then seemed to leave.  We sat back down and 1/2 hour later he came back.  The park rangers were trying to catch him as we found out the next day.  We were getting our coffee the next morning and they yelled into our trailer that he had just walked through our site again.

When we registered this year, we had to sign a form saying we would not leave food out etc etc.   This was the first time ever that we had to sign a form (not just us, everyone !)  Well one day we were paddling along the shore by the southwest section of Lake of Two Rivers campground and saw a tent upside down on the shoreline and we had an idea it was bear related.  Sure enough, some people had come in to camp and left all their food in the kitchen tent.  Seriously people?  So yes we found out it was the bear trying to get the food.  Do you blame the bear?  I do not.   Long story short, we came back to Algonquin in October this same year, and I spoke to one of the Park Rangers and yes, they had transported him.  Poor little guy, I did feel sorry for him being relocated but in some ways I felt sorrier for him having to deal with dumb people at the campground getting him into trouble.

We saw lots of bears this year, more than usual and we have been coming up here for years and years.  And noooooooo, it’s not the same bear in different areas on different days !

We always try to take a trip into Dorset; I love to go to Robinsons General Store.  If you haven’t been there, please do go.  It’s a big store with everything in it and I mean everything.  Some unique items also.  And we try to get to Lake of Bays Brewery every once in a while.  Not every trip to Algonquin Park as we are here several times a year, but at least once a year.

We also went into Gravenhurst for a day trip; Sawdust City Brewery.  I believe it opened in 2014 and has 12 different brews on tap.  We tried most of them and the fellow working there was awesome.  Very knowledgeable about beer, which always impresses me and super friendly.  So great job random brewery working guy !   I forget his name.

We have seen lots of moose this trip, not just bears.   Okay so this is NOT a good shot but I thought it was cute; all his feet appear to be off the ground as he races across the highway to get back with his mom and sibling.  We also saw a couple of mom moose with just one calf as well as moose mom with twins and various single moose.

We wanted to put our canoe in at Canisbay Lake and on the road in to the launch area, a black bear ran across the road in front of our truck.  One of the other lakes we paddled on, we spotted some eggs sitting by themselves and most of them broken.  Not entirely sure, but think loon eggs.  Another day we got up at o’dark thirty and headed out in the canoe.  Even before my coffee and that’s taking a chance.  So we paddled down this river and spotted a rabbit sitting on a little beach grooming himself and just having some nice alone time.  We tied our canoe off across from him and honestly the whole time we were there, he did not seem to spot us, or if he did, he didn’t care.  We were there quite some time photographing him (we are NIKON peeps by the way) So this is my little beach bunny.

So we had a great 3 weeks there, saw lots of Merganser families, Grebe families, Duck families, Fox families, Moose families, etc  We did not see any bear cubs though, the one in our site was probably about 2 – 2 1/2 years old.  We also saw an Egret which we have not seen in Algonquin before.  All in all, lots of paddling and hiking and the bugs were not too bad, well maybe sometimes………