Sunday, October 04, 2015

Saturday in the Park

I took a lot of photos while camping last weekend in Algonquin Park, but I don't want to lose any readers by trying your patience to see all of them! But I did want to share a few of my weekend away.

On Saturday we planned for a long hike in the woods. We were rather disappointed that the trees were not at their peak of colours as yet (probably this weekend would have been perfect!). Rather than doing the more difficult and much longer trail we had originally planned for, Centennial Ridges 11 km, we opted for the shorter 5 km hike on Booth's Rock Trail. Our dog Cody had been collapsing at home because he had chewed his paws raw from allergies, he just couldn't stand on his feet! We didn't want to push him too hard on an 11 km trail. I put little baby socks on his feet and wrapped medical tape around them. They stayed on the entire weekend and he was able to run along the trail without any pain.

In my opinion Centennial Ridges has the best view in the park! But Booth's Rock comes in a close second, so we were satisfied with the hike in the end. And Booth's Rock only has one steep climb up the trail, compared to countless breathless climbs on Centennial. By doing the shorter Booth's Rock, it left us some extra time to also go for a canoe paddle across Rock Lake afterwards :)

On the first section of trail it's flat, and as you can see, very green!! We were hoping for reds! oranges! and yellows!


This is a favourite part of the trail for me. These trees (which I believe are hemlock) allow a soft filtered light through the forest, and there's very little undergrowth. It's an area that a wealthy lumber baron built a summer home. The home has long since gone, although there are still remnants of their concrete boat dock along the shore and a few foundation pieces, oh, and the tennis court there in the middle of the woods (now covered with pine needles, so I didn't bother with a photo).



After all this beauty, we started the big climb, which is not too bad if you're in halfway decent shape. At the top we get this spectacular view ...


Really, the only red we could see in this view was our own red pickup truck back at the parking lot. Just a faint tint of colour starting throughout these hardwood forests. 

I loved these old dead pine trees on the side of the cliff. Their trunks were all silvery and smooth from the sun, wind, rain, ice and snow polishing them up for many years ...


We ate our lunch from this vantage point, and Cody was happy to stare me in the face watching me enjoy my sandwich. He had a couple of biscuits, but I think a ham sandwich was what he really wanted. He was feeling great despite his bout with allergies. You can see he has rubbed the fur off from around his eyes, and he doesn't even have any eye lashes!



His brown-eyed side ...


and his blue-eyed side ...


Ahhhh ... that view!! All that you can see here (and more!) is Algonquin Park ...





But what goes up, must come down ... dreaded stairs again. At least these were only on the way down, but my knees were feeling a bit jelly like at the bottom.


My son found a perfect armchair beside the sparkling waters once we got back down :)


Of course Cody had to join him ...



We took a few hours on the trail since we stopped for a leisurely lunch. Once we got back down, we immediately got the boats off the truck and set them in the water for our paddle. It was a gorgeous day with a high of around 27C, and the sun was dazzling! At this time of year it seems the sun is forever at that angle that it shines straight into your eyes. We had a couple of hours to paddle across Rock Lake before it would start to get too dark to be on the water. Motor boats are allowed on this lake, and we didn't want to get caught out on the water when it's difficult to see (well for people in the motor boats to see us!!).

From the water we can see the rock cliff we had just visited ...


These are the rock faces that have the pictographs painted on them, and here's my son being silly holding the whole cliff on top of his head ;)



The same cliff a bit further away ...


How do you like this rock garden full of ferns?


On the other side of Rock Lake were it heads far down this arm to a portage (which we didn't go through). It was then time to turn around and head back to our campsite for some well-earned supper.


And that was our Saturday in the Park!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wendy
and Cody of course!









10 comments:

  1. Ah, you make me want to be back in Ontario. All is beautiful, but I specially love that long-range shot of the lake with just the hint of Autumn colour coming through. Lovely post Wendy.

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  2. I am always reminded of what a beautiful part of the world you live in Wendy, when I read your hiking and canoeing posts. How amazing it must be to canoe along the beautiful river and see all that picturesque scenery. I always find coming down harder than going up....it's dem old knees!! Your Code is such a sweet fellow. How lucky he is to have you to care for him. What a great idea those socks were.

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  3. oh thanks a lot !!! I've never been in your country and it's a great pleasure for my eyes to see all your wonderful pics .... have a lovely day !

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  4. Thank you Wendy for sharing your stunning photos of where you live, I love the rock faces and adorable Cody.

    luv
    irene
    xxxx

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  5. I loved your photos, I would of thought as well more of the maples would of turned color by now. You have one sweet dog..so happy that you shared your day with us!
    Xo
    Dagmar

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  6. How beautiful and despite his problems Cody seems a very happy dog.

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  7. It really is such a beautiful place! I can totally see why you like to visit there and why you love it so much! It must be wonderful!! xx

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  8. Amazing photo's Wendy thank you for sharing, poor Cody he seems to be having a great time despite his allergies. Have a great week. :) xxx

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  9. Beautiful views, Wendy - looks like a great day, even for poor Cody! Love the dead snags and the ferns growing on the big rock. The water is so blue! xo Karen

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  10. I always enjoy your photo posts, Wendy, and these are gorgeous. That is really sweet how you took care of Cody's foot. He is a sweetheart. Love that photo of him in the canoe.

    -Soma

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment, it's nice to know when you've stopped by! :)

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