Yesterday we headed east to check Oxtongue Rapids. At the base of the trail there was a sign which identified the 'hike' as difficult with a steep incline/decline. Since we had the dog with us we opted to skip the hike as she doesn't hike well while on a leash and she's in confined areas. Next we went to Ragged Rock Falls which were quite something. The girls and I hiked down along the side of the falls to get a better look - unlike when we were at Wells Gray Provincial Park with Auntie Mel, we weren't able to walk behind these falls.
Next we were on to Algonquin Provincial Park to take in more splendor. We stopped at Canoe Lake where we ate lunch lakeside. It wasn't long before we understood the meaning of the lakes' name - in the 45-60 minutes we were there we watched about 30 canoes get dropped into the lake and groups begin their paddle. Some spoke of multi-day trips so the girls and I schemed that in maybe 4 years we'd come back so we could do a 2-3 day canoe trip, camping along the shore.
When we paid for our lunch the gal took the money but excused herself with one of our $10 bills for a moment. Upon her return she explained that it was a counterfeit bill. Interesting thing though is that we got the bill as change when we paid for our park pass. Another memory from the trip.
Next we were off to Peck Lake for what was thought to be a 1.5 hour moderate hike but it was closer to 45 minutes, including all the time the girls spent screaming at the sight of snakes. We saw 2 of them but we don't know what type they were. We also saw frogs and salamanders and I'm pretty confident the animal sounds we heard along the lake just ahead of us where those of a moose. According to the Park literature chances of seeing a moose were pretty good and that there are so many black bears that on average they'll be 1 in every 3 km squared. Apparently they're more evasive though - no evidence of those along our walk yesterday. (I went for a walk on Wednesday night here in the campground and found a pile of berry filled skat which apparently was left by a black bear the night before. His hiking route doesn't happen to pass by our campsite which is very good news.)
Today we rented a 15' boat with a 90 horsepower motor, good enough to pull the tube. Get this - for those of you who knows what people in Shuswap or Kalamalka Lake charge for a boat rental, we had the boat for the whole day (until 6:30) and paid a mere $200. We had barely pulled away from the shore and, you're not going to believe this, we got stopped by Ontario's finest, the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) with blue lights a-flashing on their decked out boat. There were a couple nice guys just making sure that we had the right safety equipment and that Scott had his boat licence. All was good and we headed off into the 32 degrees heat. We had an excellent day with many opportunities seized for jumping into the water. We went to Dorset, a very small but thriving town at least along the water, where we pulled the boat up to the dock and had lunch on a patio. We thought we were pretty cool until a float plane landed, pulled in to the dock, and got ice cream. Trumped us I guess but we've got no regrets.
We are amazed at how great the kids are doing when the swim now. Emily is completely free without the use of anything to hold her up and Katie is almost there. Sometimes especially in deeper water (100' plus in spots,) it's just more comforting to have something to help you stay above the water. Even I took a life jacket in with me and sat on it - we were calling them a close relative of the adironack or muskoka chair but actually the "Lake of the Bays" chair, since that's the lake we were in.
Tomorrow the forecast calls for showers so we're contemplating checking out Bracebridge, a town about 50 minutes away. Not sure yet though. We should find time to do laundry tomorrow too as on Monday we're into a series of 1 night camp stays x 5 nights.
Hope you're enjoying the summertime wherever you are!
Enjoy today - it's the only one you get until tomorrow is here.
Oh - here's a quote that Emily found: "I don't need a Prince, I just need a guy who thinks I'm his Princess." I thought that was sweet.
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