May 24 at Silent Lake Provincial Park

We hitched up early and hit hwy 62 north early May 19 to head to the other side of Bancroft to Silent Lake Provincial Park.

http://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/silentlake

We haven't been to this park for a few years so we were looking forward to it.  Once we pulled into the park we noticed the fill/dump station so we were thankful we noticed it as we drove in so we didn't need to do a turn around to fill up after we checked in.

We were booked in site 148 (electrical) that I had got up for early to book 5 months in advance. Well we had wanted  a different site but some earlybird  beat up to booking it!!!  We pulled in and were setting up to discover the plug in's were way too far away from the trailer.....my first instinct was to ask at the park office if they had an extension cord we could borrow (the 2 RV plugs we attached were about 10ft too short) however we drove back into Bancroft to Canadian Tire.

 http://www.ontarioparks.ca/pdf/maps/silentlake/park_map.pdf
 
Once that problem was solved we wandered around the campground and checked things out. The blackflies were horrendous.  Clearly that was one part of growing up in Port Carling (Muskoka) that I had blocked from my memory.  We quickly started a fire and put the screen tent up !!!

The campground wasn't super full Thursday but in conversation with others the outlets were spaced far away as others needed cords. We were told by other campers that the office has some to loan out (lesson learned!!!) which is good to know.

We wandered by the main beach away by the trail head and discovered a peaceful waterfall gurgling.

Thursday night was an early night due to the bugs but falling asleep listening to the loons was magical. I had missed that over the winter time.

Friday morning we woke at 5, got a coffee in our travel mugs and headed for the water to kayak while the sun was rising.  Silent Lake is a motor (gas & electric) free lake which is wonderful for kayak, canoe & SUP enthusiasts. I stayed out on the water for about 3 hrs and paddled the circumference and Pete stayed on the water till 3, pausing only to grab a BBQ sausage for lunchtime.  We were the only ones on the lake the whole time - very serene. Lots of wildlife to see - beavers ducks, and lots of loons playing in the water!

posted by the day use beach area.

sunrise May 20

Pete fishing

There are 2 beach areas here - the camper beach (which is a short walk from the canoe/kayak rental area and the day use area.  Both swim areas have floating docks out for some fun jumping!!!  I didn't see anyone swimming while we were here but I am sure sure were!!!

kayak/ canoe rental area

kayak/canoe rental area

Day Use beach area

 Even though years ago Silent Lake was a private fishing camp, the fish are not that plentiful.  Pete put in about 12 hrs of fishing time over the weekend and only managed to catch 2 lake trout.  We stopped at the MNR (as we drove past it in Bancroft) for a stocking list but we didn't see that Silent Lake was listed as being stocked as of late for any of the species in the stocking book.  He did enjoy his time out trying to catch a big one though!!!

Even though we were here over May 24 long weekend, we did not see a lot of Park staff patrolling through the sites, nor was it loud or rowdy.  I am assuming the blackflies kept things at bay!!  Silent Lake is one of the parks that allows alcohol over the long weekend but  we didn't see that it was an issue at least in our area, or the surrounding areas when we went walking.

The comfort stations were well maintained and clean, as were the outhouse buildings.  We stopped quickly at the office and they did have a small amount of park merchandise for sale and coffee also.  I believe they also sell ice but I didn't notice it.

There is a notice to beware of bears - we did not see any.  Nor did we see any deer (we have in past trips). I was always looking while kayaking along the shore for a moose or deer having a drink by the water but not this time  unfortunately.  We did see this little critter close to our site:

martin

 

 

 

 

Being the long weekend, most sites (including most of the walk in sites) were booked up. We headed home on the Sunday afternoon as we opted to work on Monday but it made for an easier time at the dump station and also on the 2 hr drive down hwy 62 home.

Would we go again...not in blackfly season...perhaps in the fall to take in some of the great hiking trails and enjoy the fall colours (we didn't get any hiking in due to the bugs)!

http://www.ontarioparks.ca/park/silentlake/activities

The town of Bancroft is about 24km from the park, although Kawartha Dairy is about 15km from the park - always a favourite place to stop !!!

http://kawarthadairy.com/location/kawartha-dairy-bancroft/

http://www.bancroftdistrict.com/

Mothers Day weekend at Presquile Provincial Park 2016

Up early with the birds & sunshine on Friday am, we were all set to head the short distance to Presquile Provincial Park from Picton.

We checked in early at 1030 and headed to our site 372 in the Trails End section.  We have camped in the High Bluff section in the past but Pete likes this section a wee bit better for bird watching.

view from our site:

 We quickly set up, bbq'ed some italian sausage for lunch and went for a walk out at the  tip of the park where  Ontario's second-oldest operating lighthouse and the original lighthouse keeper's cottage are.  Typically there is a lot of migrating birds out in this area.

Unfortunately this weekend was not a spectacular  bird watching weekend as it has been in years past. We wonder if the late start to spring has held the birds back too.  Regardless Pete enjoyed his bird watching time and managed to see some songbirds and other birds along the trails and trees.

 The park also didn't seem as full as in past Mothers Day weekends.  Lots of empty sites around us when normally it was quite full.  Friday night the weather held and we were able to enjoy a great fire.  We had neighbours come over and ask if we had any dry wood to help them start a fire - as we have encountered in the past, the wood they sell at the Parks is often wet and hard to start.  We bring cuts of wood from a pallet factory close to our house that has a scrap bin. We are thankful for that, as it always burns a clean, dry fire (and we aren't transporting any kind of invasive bug as the wood has been milled).  We gave them a box of wood and a wee bit later we saw the flames in the air and the cheer of "yay fire" from their kids! We were happy to make their night for them !!

 We awoke in the night to rain coming down. Between the rain and the waves crashing against the rocks, it was easy to fall back asleep. 

Morning came quickly and it was foggy.  We decided to head into the town of Brighton, a few km away from the park and have breakfast out and wander through a few stores, and stop at a few yard sales on the way.  By the time we finished breakfast, the sun was out so we headed back to the trailer to change and get ready to do a hike or two.

The first trail we did was one of our favourites:
Marsh Trail – 1.2 km, 30 minutes, loop, easy
This trail includes 800 m of boardwalk complete with two viewing towers and a teaching platform (great for picnics too!) that takes visitors into the marsh. Sixteen interpretive panels along the trail illustrate the story of the marsh and its inhabitants.  The boardwalk portion of the trail is barrier-free.

We then headed to our other favourite here:


Owen Point Trail – 1.6 km, 45 minutes, loop, easy
This trail offers excellent opportunities to see migrating shorebirds along the natural beach and distant views of the waterbird colonies on their island nesting grounds. The trail can be accessed from the south end of the beach or from the west end of High Bluff Campground.
To avoid disturbing migrating birds, the natural beach is closed to foot traffic between ice-out and ice-in, but the trail provides a number of lookouts allowing views of the entire shore. In addition, pets are not allowed into any of the lookouts on this trail at any time, but can be taken on the loop. To protect the nesting waterbirds, access to Gull and High Bluff Islands is closed from March 10 to September 10 inclusive. Gull Island can usually be accessed by foot after September 10 from Lookout #5 of the Owen Point Trail.

We then drove back to the trailer and grabbed Wilson and walked down along the water to the end of the High Bluff section.  This section, as usual, was quite busy with campers in the first few rows back from the waters edge. Nice to see everyone out enjoying the sunshine and fresh spring air.

Just as we were prepping dinner to BBQ the rain started.  So we ate inside the trailer.  Thankfully it didn't last too long and we were able to have another fire till the next downfall started (still had a 2 hr fire!!!)  Pete was playing with the wood when he was stacking the fire tonight!!!

We were impressed with the work the Park had done over the spring. They have put in a double fill/dump station so that 2 trailers can access at a time at either the fill or the dump sections (so essentially 4 trailers all at once).  So great to see .... if only more parks were able to do that!!!!  They also had leveled a lot of sites with new hard packed gravel to make it more flat for those pulling a trailer.  They were also working on putting new mulch on some of the trails in and around the campsites as well!! Park staff have been busy!!!

Sunday am was breezy but sunny. Another walk around and sadly packing up to come home!! We will be back next spring and hope the birdies are more out and about next spring than they were this spring!!!  None the less, we were happy to start our 2016 Camping Season!!!

http://www.ontarioparks.com/park/presquile

 http://www.friendsofpresquile.on.ca/

One month till our 2016 Camping Season Starts - The Countdown is ON!

The camping countdown for 2016 is one - a month to go till our first camping weekend! Woo Hoo!

We put the slide out on the trailer last week and I had hoped to start putting things back out in it - till it snowed this week. Guess I will wait till it warms up a bit to get back out in there and Pete can un-winterize the plumbing.

We are excited to have booked a few "new to us provincial parks" this summer and are still figuring out where to go for a weeks stay right after Labour Day.  Of course the fishing has to play in with our stay - so while I research a good campground, Pete researches the lakes surrounding the park. He is in a 9 month long kayak fishing tournament this year called "Kayak Wars" so I think most of our upcoming camping trips will leave me widowed for a lot of the days!! At least I will have my kayak to explore the water, Wilson to take on some walks around, and of course the hammock, a good book on my e-reader and a summer beverage to enjoy!!

So the Summer 2016 trips that are booked so far - some far shorter in duration than we would like but even 2 nights there are far superior than none are:

Presquile Provincial Park
Silent Lake Provincial Park
Murphys Point Provincial Park
Sharbot Lake Provincial Park
Charlston Lake Provincial Park
Rideau River Provincial Park
Parks of the St Lawrence - Woodlands Campground
http://www.stlawrenceparks.com/reservations/
Restoule Provincial Park
Emily Provincial Park
Spring Rock Campground (Lower Buckhorn Lake)
 http://springrock.ca/

We are also "camping" in Windsor while Pete is fishing in a 2 day kayak fishing tournament, and we want to stay a couple nights around St Jacobs on the way there, and want to try a park near Windsor for a couple nights on the way home - perhaps Port Burwell Provincial Park - we need to sit down and figure that out...and our September week, and a few fall weekends as well, once we can book the fall Provincial Parks.

Cheers to having  a hot, sunny spring/summer/fall of camping for 2016!!

A Chilly Damp Week at Balsam Lake Provincial Park August 2015

The sun was out in Picton as we headed into the Kawarthas mid Monday morning to Balsam Lake Provincial Park.

We had visited this park a few years ago, and were looking forward to spending the week with our nieces.

Balsam Lake Provincial Park is a rather large park (506 sites) accommodating all trailer/tent sizes as well as having a cottage rental.  We were lucky and managed to reserve a waterfront site - only 8 of them there...and we couldn't wait to get there!!!   https://reservations.ontarioparks.com/BalsamLake?Map
We were pleasantly surprised to see the site was much bigger than the photos on the Ontario Parks website and quickly got set up.  We had site 513 and were the last in the row on the water. Between the plentiful trees was a trail, which after walking for about 13 min lead you to the great beach. Fun having the path right beside us!
The few sites that are waterfront all seem to have stairs down to the water, in some way. Some had pallets at the rocky shore in order to get into the water or to help secure a canoe or kayak which was super handy!


View of the water and top of staircase

 The stairs down to the water and Pete's kayak on the make shift landing on the rocks

View of the site from the water /staircase - there was two driveways into this site

The girls chilling while it was drizzling

The rocks at the shore at the campsite

 We sadly had mostly wet, damp,chilly weather but managed to have two nights of campfires and a beach day on the Thursday. Always seems to be the best weather on the day you leave - Friday was the best weather!!!

The beach is groomed and clean and a decent size. Kayaks, canoes and paddle boards and paddle boards were available for rent. We rented a SUP for 2 hrs for $15.

The washrooms/showers were always clean and usually not much of a line up, if any for the showers, and we saw park staff cleaning them daily. There was a store, just across the road from site 500, off park property, called The Park Store (there was a pathway to the store by that site) and it was a great store, having everything from gas, milk, sausages, camping supplies, candy, newspaper and clothes.   The Park also had a store selling Park merchandise and also they have bike rentals there which I believe they said were new this year.

Great park to go too - lots of sites for all camping needs - the ones along the water of course are the best, but not for large sized RVs. Lots of level large sites, and great sites when travelling with friends for ease of sites side by side.