Fall Camping at Restoule Provincial Park October 2019

We finished our work weekend up, finishing packing  and hitched up the trailer - with Fenwick excited for the road trip, we headed on the long trek to Restoule Provincial Park.

We drove for just over three hours and pulled into Casino Rama to park for the night in order to break up the drive.  Casino Rama is a great spot to spend the night with a large area for RV's.  There was just over a dozen trailers/motorhomes there on the night of Sept 29th - some even unhitched with BBQ's and generators running.  We visited the casino for a bit and then got some sleep.   We woke early, grabbed a coffee from the Tim Hortons inside the casino and headed north on hwy 11.

The fall leaves were almost at the their peak colour so the drive was so enjoyable, even though the skies were grey.  There was some construction to deal with along the way but we weren't held up too long.

For some reason our GPS took us on a horrible "trail" drive for about 30km of the drive off of hwy 11.  I almost didn't think we were going to make it to park and I was never so glad to see pavement vs a dirt road.  We arrived at Restoule Provincial Park just before lunch time and got filled up with water and made our way to our site.  We lucked out on a fabulous site - # 428 in the Kettle Point Campground.  A wonderful little piece of waterfront oasis on Restoule Lake!

https://www.ontarioparks.com/pdf/maps/restoule/restoule_campground_map.pdf https://www.ontarioparks.com/pdf/maps/restoule/restoule_campground_map.pdf

This was our 4th camping trip here - this time with the mission of Peter landing a monster musky out of his kayak so he was eager to hit he water, so once we had the basics set up, he hit the water while Fenwick and I got everything organized for our week's stay.

Arriving on a Monday made for a lot of open campsites around us, although the ones along the water's end were all booked up for the most part. We fully expected it to fill up come Friday for the weekend.  This is one of the parks that has seasonal campsites at it and a few folks I chatted to on our walks had to have their trailers out by the end of this weekend.

With Pete out on the water trying to land that 50 inch musky, we didn't do a lot of hiking.  Being at the park before, I had done some of the bigger trails but Fenwick and I did a few short ones to enjoy the fall foilage.

 https://www.ontarioparks.com/pdf/maps/restoule/restoule_hike_bike.pdf
https://www.ontarioparks.com/pdf/maps/restoule/restoule_hike_bike.pdf

We had some rain off and on while here and some cold chilly weather but we were taking it all in stride and dressing warmly and layering up when going outdoors (and we were thankful for a trailer with a great furnace in it !)

Keep in mind when traveling to Restoule Provincial Park that this park is not in town, it is a fair hike to a grocery store, pharmacy, LCBO etc.. That being said there is a general store called Gerry's General Store that you will pass on your way into the park.  Should you need some hotdog buns or gas or some beer this is your closest spot (not the cheapest but your closest).

This park is in our top 5 to visit - we have been 4 times and will continue to visit over the upcoming years - summer time is fabulous and fall is spectacular with all the fall leaves in prime colours greeting you on your way.....it is well maintained, Park staff are friendly and helpful and sites are as listed on the Ontario Parks website.  We look forward to hopefully visiting in fall of 2020 for another great camping adventure.

The boat launch area in our campground section - about a 1 min walk from  our site

      At our campsite - a short walk(about 5 seconds) down a little path from where our trailer was at the top of the site.

                                                                  Relaxing

                                                          sunset at our site - a great site we had!

Last Trip of 2019 - Parks of the St Lawrence - Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary

We were up early and hit the road for our last camping trip of 2019.  We headed east down the 401 to Ingleside to the Parks of the St Lawrence Upper Canada Bird Sanctuary Campground.

This was the last weekend the park was open but it filled up fast come Friday night.  Our mission for this last camping weekend was some epic bass fishing for Pete and I was pumped to head to the Pumpkin Inferno at  Upper Canada Village.

The weather was certainly fall like.  For a couple days prior to arriving it had rained - massive puddles greeted us a we turned into the campground - fortunately our site was dry.  We were fortunate in having one of the few sites there with full hook ups.

We headed out Friday night for the late entrance for Pumpkin Inferno - so worth going too...you must pre buy your tickets and be prepared for crowds, but the later entrance in is the better time to go ..less people than the early one.  So incredible to see so many pumpkins in different designs.

The night was chilly (a toque and mitten one) so we decided to forgo a fire and watch a movie with the furnace on!

Am came early and Pete had a friend come and join him for a early am fish on the St Lawrence while Fenwick and I waited till the sun warmed things up and went on a 5km hike through the park.

The Parks of the St Lawrence don't offer as private of sites as some of the Ontario Parks but have some different features and things to do.

Fishing wasn't successful and the guys were of the water early afternoon so we  toured around town and then came back to enjoy the last camping meal of 2019 and a campfire where we were starting to plan our 2020 camping adventures!

https://www.stlawrenceparks.com/camping/campgrounds/upper-canada-migratory-bird-sanctuary-campground/

We were on site 16 an it did have a view of the water, but was not waterfront.

https://parks.on.ca/default/assets/File/UCMBS2019.pdf



 https://www.uppercanadavillage.com/events/pumpkinferno/https://www.uppercanadavillage.com/events/pumpkinferno/

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/