Catching Up

I've been a negligent blogger as of late, seeing that my last post was July 11!! That was way back when my brother and his two boys were visiting me for two weeks ... seems like ages ago. I broke out of my secret blogging life and told my brother about my blog, so now I have to really watch what I say ;)

Summer is flying by!! We normally take some time off for holidays in July and in August, but the PanAm games that were hosted in Toronto changed that, and we could only take holidays at the very end of August ... when the weather is usually cooler and a little less predictable. My husband had to volunteer through his work for the PanAm games. I dislike waiting till the end of the summer to take my vacation, but that's the way it's worked this summer.

We've just returned from our yearly trip a little north of us to Algonquin Park, Ontario. We had a wonderful week out in the woods, where we did lots of canoeing and hiking. The weather really was unpredictable right from the drive up there and onwards. We drove through a horrific thunderstorm during our nighttime drive into the park, and actually had to pull off the road for a while as we could no longer see the road with the rain hitting the windshield so hard. What a long drive that was! The next day shone brightly, and we eased into our vacation with a short canoe paddle and a short hike.

The next couple of days the weather heated up and up, and we went on an extremely long four-hour hike to the top of a great lookout on the Track & Tower trail. There used to be a fire tower at the top of this peak, but it has been taken down.

overlooking Cache Lake from the lookout on Track & Tower

The final ascent was a steep climb and the awful wooden staircase brought you to the tippy top. Stairs always seem to make the climb more difficult, I prefer a rocky path instead where you don't have a measure of how many more steps it will take!

Another hot, hot day and we took the canoe and kayak along the Madawaska River for a six-hour paddle. There were a few portages along the way, but nothing too strenuous. Once we got over the last portage, the waterway seemed so wild and distant from everything. It was beautiful to see, and the spicy aromas coming off the water plants was amazing. The twists and turns in the river seemed to never end. I loved this section, but not all in our party was enjoying it as much ;)

When we hit yet another beaver dam across the river without any solid-looking spot to cross, we admitted that we were all getting pretty tired by then anyway and just turned around for the easier downstream paddle back. It was much easier going with the river than against it, even though the current didn't seem that strong on the way up.

On the way back we encountered a black bear on the bike trail that we had to portage across. The bear had been enjoying the raspberries along the bike trail. A couple of cyclists were stranded on the other side of him for a while too. I don't enjoy meeting up with bears on the trails ... a tinge of uneasiness comes to me, and I really wanted to be on our way in the canoe when he kept trotting his happy way towards us.

The storm clouds we saw throughout the week were quite amazing, even though we were often in the canoe on the "wrong" side of the lakes when we saw them. Doesn't this sky look menacing?! The wind really picks up quickly, and we still had to paddle to the farthest shore straight ahead in this photo.

We were fortunate that we didn't get caught on the lake in any of the sudden storms that did whip up! One storm burst on us while we were driving along the highway, and small trees came down across the road, with leaves and branches being torn from the trees from the high winds and hail. I didn't envy the backcountry campers we saw heading out into the rain from Canoe Lake! Another day we watched determined campers heading out into yet another storm on Lake Opeongo. I don't know why they didn't wait for ten minutes to let the black clouds fly past before getting into their canoes. Crazy. We rushed to the truck when the first drops hit that day and watched the campers struggle through the high winds and rain. Five minutes later the sun reappeared.

Boats racing back to the dock ahead of an incoming storm on Opeongo

Water taxi taking some folks up to Hailstorm Creek to see moose ... an expensive trip, but apparently worth it!

Although the weather was up and down, we did enjoy our time in the woods. The time always goes by much too quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye.

A very large beaver swam out to see us off the morning we left. I think we were keeping him from coming to shore to have a munch on some branches, so we finally parted ways and let him be.

I've got lots of catching up to do, and still things to attend to here at home/work this week. Will try to get a few posts up again this week to show the things I've been up to this summer. I hope everyone is well and you have enjoyed your summer! I hope to be around a bit more now ... sorry for the long absence.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wendy