A weekend escape to the northern Ontario woods this past weekend ... to our favourite destination ... Algonquin Park. It never disappoints.
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| Gordon Lake along Booth's Rock Trail |
The weather was incredible, and we wore shorts and t-shirts all day.
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| Rock Lake (I mistakenly posted earlier it was Lake of Two Rivers) |
We hiked a couple of trails on Saturday. We used to drive up to the park, hike a couple of trails, and then drive home all in the same day. But it's a very tiring day with the walking and the long drive (3 hours each way), so now we pull the trailer up and we camp for two nights to ease things up.
We're barely at the campsite for fall camping. We take a packed lunch with us on the trail ...
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| Booth's Rock Trail |
... and settle into a nice spot with a view to eat it.
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| Rock Lake |
Can you imagine a better place for eating lunch than at the top of this cliff?
After lunching here, we clambered down the rocks on this trail, hopped over to another trail, and clambered back up another cliff.
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| Two Rivers Trail |
The fall colours in the park attract a lot of visitors. There are a couple of trails that offer great views with very little hiking. We avoid those trails because that's where the tour buses stop and the trail is absolutely packed with people. There's lots of chaos along the highway that runs through the park with many people pulling their cars onto the shoulder to take pictures. Dangerous place to walk! I prefer the quiet of the woods.
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| Two Rivers Trail |
The evening star display was not to be missed either. We walked down to the lake in our campground and sat looking up for a half an hour and were just blown away with the billions of stars visible on the two clear nights we stayed. There are no towns close by to impair the visibility of the stars ... pure magic!
On Sunday we headed out for our favourite trail that has the best view in the park.
You can see for miles from the top of Centennial Ridge.
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| Whitefish Lake from Centennial Ridges Trail |
The best part is that the hike up to the top is fairly long and rocky, so there aren't many people at the top!
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| Whitefish Lake |
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| Whitefish Lake |
The woods fairly glowed with colour yesterday.
Eventually, it was time to head back down the road to the campsite to pack up and head for home. All too soon for our liking :(
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| Road to the trail |
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| our campsite |
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| the road in front of our campsite |
Thanks for stopping by
Wendy
What a truly beautiful place! Your pictures are wonderful, it is grey and gloomy here, sitting with the lights on, so this has added a bright spark to my day. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Amy, it has turned gloomy here today too. Glad we got up there when the weather was fine :)
DeleteOh, that is just so so beautiful! x
ReplyDeleteThanks, glad you enjoyed the photos :)
DeleteAbsolutely G O R G E O U S!
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to live in such a wonderful place....that is truly God's country!
Thanks Shari. I wish I DID live right there in all that beauty. I hate just visiting, and I want to live there year round ... not everyone here agrees with me however.
DeleteWow! Wow! Wow! What a beautiful, spectacular, incredible place! The views, the colors, the water and your campsite! AWESOME! I'm amazed at all the color already too....although, that may be normal for your area. It's something we get very little of here and not for another month or so, usually. I totally get why you went for the weekend instead of the day and why you wouldn't want to leave. Breathtaking!
ReplyDeleteWe have just bits of colour starting where I live, but Algonquin is north of us in what is considered "Algonquin Highlands", and their temperatures are usually a bit colder than where we are close to Lake Ontario. The hardwoods (maples, oaks) turn the beautiful reds & oranges, and they're almost finished now. The birches & aspen are just starting to turn yellow there. I've actually seen much better colours than what we saw this year, and I think it has to do with the temperatures not being so cold this fall.
DeleteHi Wendy, You are an excellent photographer !!! I love the rock lake, and all the autumn colours are just so beautiful.I am inspired do some painting.
ReplyDelete- have a lovely week, - Gaia
Thanks Gaia ... I would love to see your paintings!
DeleteWhat amazing scenery, I'm always blown away by the beauty of the stars, real awe and wonder stuff! :) x
ReplyDeleteThe stars were just stunning!! To see the Milky Way like you could touch it is really incredible. I mentioned to Tessa (far below here) that you could see the reflection of the stars in the black water of the lake ... I wish I could've got a photo, but haven't done night photography before.
DeleteWow, what amazing photos, and such beautiful scenery.....America has such wonderful places to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mitzi :)
DeleteIt's beautiful there. Wow, what gorgeous leaves and the views are incredible. It looks like the perfect place to camp!
ReplyDeleteWell, I may be a bit biased, but I personally LOVE it there :)
DeleteOkay, you took a couple of photos that I think you should put on canvas today and place them in your home asap... now that I think of it, may I have use a photo for a canvas print? The two photos that came right after whitefish lake are outstanding, like professionally amazing. Canada is beautiful, darling! I also loved your whitefish lake photos and the little island. But seriously, how awesome would it be if your photography was up on my mantel? Yeah, I am totally serious. Love your best blog friend, Stacy :)
ReplyDeleteGosh Stacy, this is all so kind of you to say! I've not thought about putting any prints on canvas before, but my husband did print out a couple of my favourite shots from previous visits to Algonquin & they're hanging in our family room.
DeleteWendy!!!!! Your photos are just amazing !!!! And your scenery that surrounded you was absolutely breathtaking!!!! I'm not joking when I say that it looks like some of those shots were out of a movie!!!! Wow!!! I would be there in a heartbeat if I lived closer....pure magic indeed!!!!! Happy week friend!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Nicole :) Taking good photos is really easy when the scenery is so incredible. Enjoy your week!
DeleteBeautiful vistas where ever you turned; your photos are magic in what you captured, and oh those fall colors. No wonder you camp and hike there. You could make these photos in to note cards.
ReplyDeleteThanks Terra ... it really is a beautiful park, and I hate to have to come home!
DeleteOh what a fantastic holiday spot. And beautiful weather you had toooooo.
ReplyDeleteYes, the night sky, in an area without ambient light, must be sooooooooo wonderful. I long to see it. We don't have a lot of light (at night) around here, but..... Stillllllll...... Light is light and it takes its tole on what we can see.
Tessa~
The best part of the night sky was seeing the reflection of the stars in the lake ... disappointed that we didn't bring our canoe, it would've been wonderful to sit perfectly still in the black water & see the stars above & below us ;)
DeleteI am entranced by these gorgeous photos! I was just telling my husband that we need to retire to a area with such beauty!! The colors are stunning-it did my heart good to visit you today!
ReplyDeleteWarm Autumn Hugs,
Jemma
I'm so glad you enjoyed the photos Jemma. I would love to retire to this area ... although the winters are long & hard, and that's the downfall. Enjoy your week!
Deletewhat an awesome getaway-loved all the photos-like I was there with you guys-thanks
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the pics Kathy!
DeleteHi Wendy
ReplyDeleteI have to confess, I've never been to Algonquin. Our daughter and family go there every year, and now that they have a new trailer will find it that much nicer. The tent trailer didn't quite do it for them. They go to Arrow Head frequently too.
Gorgeous scenery like I've heard, thanks for sharing what I've been missing.
Judith
We had a pop-up Coleman trailer for over 10 years and loved it. This summer we saw more pop-up trailers than hard-sided trailers ... I guess they're coming into vogue again. We've camped at Arrowhead many times too ... very pretty rapids there on the river.
DeleteHi Wendy, looks like you had a spectacular time and weather! We haven't gone camping for ages and I do miss it. Thanks so much for sharing all the beautiful photos...
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Beth P
I'm actually getting a bit tired of the packing up to GO camping, but I do love it when I get there. I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. Again, I'm so sorry for what's happening to your very special place Beth, I wish there was a way to stop it all.
DeleteAlgonquin is so beautiful - thanks for the gorgeous photos, I miss the fall colours...
ReplyDeletexox
And now I can't remember, but did you say you used to live out this way Anne? My brother says fall colours & snow are the two things he misses about Ontario.
DeleteOh that's what I love about Autumn/Fall the beautiful colours..........how lucky are you to be able to access this beautiful countryside? It's stunning Wendy, your photos are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI bet it was hard to pack up and head home. I can imagine how bad the traffic would be, almost put you off going but it's well worth the effort...
Hi Claire! Yes, we're 'out of town' in about half an hour, and from there it just gets better and better! I do hate to leave the park, and it's just such a hard thing to come back home. Traffic is never bad the way we go ;)
DeleteWow, wow, wow! So beautiful. I love hiking. Not too sure about the camping, but I could definitely hike and be outdoors all day long. A beautiful place to be. Hope you are having a good week. Tammy
ReplyDeleteThe hiking is great, and it's just so nice to drive a short way back to the campsite for a warm meal and a comfy place to sit.
DeleteSo, so beautiful! I wish we had made it a priority to do something like this. But I really want a trailer rather than a tent. Too cold!
ReplyDeleteI much prefer a trailer too, because you're up off the ground when it rains. We had a campsite a few times that flooded to about 5 inches of water! Other campers in tents just left, but we stayed dry in the trailer, and slogged through the water in flip flops until it drained away. There was no need to run the furnace this weekend ... lovely & warm!
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