Killarney Provincial Park - Day 2

(Click on any photo to see a larger version)

During our time in the park we stayed at the Killarney Mountain Lodge which is situated close to a small "strait" between George Island and the mainland. This location made it easy to slip out in the early morning while the rising sun was painting an idyllic, peaceful and very photogenic scene. This image looks out toward Georgian Bay and the one below is the town of Killarney's harbour.

My grandson, Drew, had told us that the hike up to the Killarney Ridge through "the Crack" was one we should definitely experience. Since this morning suggested a sunny cool day, we decided that this would be the day to attempt it.

The information about the trail indicated that it was 6 Km and that, as we ascend through the "Crack" climbing over the cascade of huge tumbled boulders, we will be surrounded by the white cliffs of La Cloche mountains. There are ample warnings that the trail is challenging and that we should take our time as some of the huge boulders that have fallen through the Crack "may be unstable and the gaps between them have been known to gulp up stray steps". The reward, once at the top of Killarney ridge "is beautiful panoramic vistas on all sides - the best views in the park".

While the reward was definitely as promised and then some, the descriptions of the hike itself did not prepare me for what we encountered!

The sign at the beginning of the trail also gave clear warning that there is good reason to be attentive to the markers and the route that we choose on the return trip.

The first two thirds, or so, of the trail is flat and tranquil, and the morning sun streaming through the trees tended to lull one into a false sense that the difficulty of the trail might have been overstated.

After possibly an hour of strolling along this horizontal tree lined path we encountered our first wall of boulders. I had trouble believing the red marker that pointed straight up with no actual "trail" to be seen, the first of other similar walls. Wish I had a photo of that first wall, but I was so taken aback by the task at hand, that I put my camera away before making a photo.

After that first clamber we reached a reasonably level area and a place to rest. I doubt you can appreciate the challenge of the climb (this photo looks down to the "trail") we had just completed, but think of a wall of boulders at an angle of 75 degrees or so.

At the top of the photo above you can just see the top of the ridge - our destination.

And this photo is looking up toward the next phase of the climb.

The white rocks in this area of the park (in striking contrast to the pink granite rocks seen in the last blog post) are quartzite, a very hard sedimentary rock composed of 80% quartz. On a Mohs Scale from 1 to 10 where diamond is 10, the quartzite here apparently is 7. It is the hardest rock in the park.

I don't recall how many of these near vertical sections there were but there were enough, each climb followed by a relatively level section that allowed us to catch our breath, rest our leg muscles and have some fluids.

Ready for the next challenge!

In this photo we are dealing with the approach to the Crack and I think this image gives a reasonable perspective on this part of the climb. If you look closely I think you can appreciate, just above Rudy's head, the "Dreamers rock", which appears to be about to tumble from its perch

The next bit was getting though the Crack and finally up to the top of Killarney Ridge and the spectacular panoramas we were promised - and there they were!

Looking from Killarney Ridge south over Kidney Lake toward Georgian Bay.

In this photo you can just see the water of Georgian Bay in the distance, and if you look carefully you can just make out the faint outline of Manitoulin Island (apparently the largest fresh water island in the world) in the upper right.

I chose this view because the tree and it's setting reminded me of A.Y. Jackson's paintings.

In this view from Killarney Ridge you see Killarney Lake nearest and OSA lake in the distance. O.S.A., formerly known as Trout Lake, is the true birthplace of Killarney Provincial Park. "It was here that Group of Seven Painter A.Y. Jackson and a group of environmentalists halted the progress of the Spanish River Lumber Company. This company had plans to cut down the great pines, beloved by Jackson, which grew along the lake’s shores. Due to Jackson’s effective letter writing campaign this area was established as The Trout Lake Forest reserve. In recognition of the efforts of Jackson and other members of the Ontario Society of Artists, the lake was re-named O.S.A. Lake in 1933." Finally in 1964, with the help of lobbying efforts by the Group of Seven, 4,000 square miles (10,000 km²) of Georgian Bay shoreline were set aside as a wilderness reserve, and Killarney became a provincial park.

After a rest, food and fluids it was necessary to retrace our steps, making sure to follow the correct markers, back down the "trail" - arguably as difficult as the climb. But we did make our way to the bottom and back to the broad level trail  and the parking lot.

It was an unforgettable experience and, fortunately, we have lots of photo images to help it remain unforgettable, since I think it unlikely that either of us will repeat this climb.

Back to the lodge to recover and think about dinner and tomorrow's hike on George Island.

Killarney Provincial Park - Day 1

This past week my friend, Rudy Neufeld, and I enjoyed 3 days of hiking in Killarney Provincial Park near Georgian Bay in northern Ontario. The weather guessers had predicted rain for much of the time we planned to be there but, thankfully, they were completely wrong - we had no rain at all and 1 very good day and two excellent couldn't be better days! And, if you luck out with the weather, this is definitely the time of year to visit this spectacular part of the province - cool temperatures, no bugs and amazing fall colours to complement the awesome natural beauty!

We began the venture Sunday in Sudbury with a very enjoyable afternoon and evening visit with my grandson, Drew Marr, and great granddaughter, Julia, before moving on to the park early Monday morning.

On our drive into the park we stopped once to attempt to capture a bit of the brilliant colours along the road. (Click on any photo to view a larger image.)

As this was our first and shortest day we decided to hike the Cranberry Bog trail - a 4 Km trail described as "Moderate".

One of the things we discovered was that descriptions for the trails that we hiked tended to understate the degree of difficulty and the time required to complete the hike, at least for 2 reasonably fit guys in their 70's.

For example, the time suggested to complete the 4 Km Cranberry Bog trail is 2 1/2 hours - at that pace one would have little time for taking photos and enjoying the ambiance of the trail, and there was plenty to enjoy, especially with the fall colours at this time of year. (Contrary to what you might think, I did not put those red leaves there.)

The Cranberry Bog trail is in the southern part of the park and the precambrian rock in this area tends to be granite which it seems contains feldspar and it is this material which gives the rock its strikingly pink colour.

More of this pink rock appears again on the George Island wilderness hike that we covered on our 3rd and last day in the park (photos in a later blog post). And the pink is even more striking when compared to the white quartzite of La Cloche and the Killarney Ridge which we experienced on Day 2.

Unfortunately, the photos do not really do justice to the natural beauty of this or any areas of the park that we visited.

This is the largest wetland area that we saw on this 4 Km walk.

If you look closely you will find Rudy surveying the scene while standing near the A.Y. Jackson-like pine.

The terrain on this trail was not all rock, bogs, marshes and swamps (and beaver dams and lodges) but included abundant woodland areas replete with a variety of woodland plants including an array of ferns and trees with the accompanying web of surface roots to negotiate.

Nearing the end of the trail we came on a second fairly large body of water, again with pink rocks around the shoreline.

I think we completed this trail in about 4 hour having taken lots of time to enjoy the scenery and to take photos and rest breaks.

Then off to register for our B&B at the Killarney Mountain Lodge and to consider our plans for Day 2, about which more in the next blog post.

Anniversary #53

Well, a couple of days ago, on September 5th to be precise, here at Crow Lake Ruth and I celebrated our 53rd wedding anniversary! Who can believe it? Fifty-three years since that sunny Fall-like wedding day in Regina, followed by a long-weekend "honeymoon" during which we established ourselves in a basement apartment on University Avenue in Saskatoon.

Including that first home we have lived in 16 different apartments or houses in 9 different cities: 4 in Saskatoon, 2 in Salem, Massachusetts, 1 in Boston, 2 in Minneapolis, 1 in Silver Spring, MD, 2 in Delmar, N.Y., 2 in Halifax, 1 in Albany, N.Y and 1 in Dundas.

We have now resided in Dundas for just under half of our 53 years together.

Of course, if we count Crow Lake, we have had a "home" in 17 locations.

(A couple of images of Crow Lake where we have been for
almost 6 weeks so far this summer; and we look forward to another 10 days.)

Remember to click on any image to see a larger version.


Back to our history.

Over the course of our years together we managed to work through the complexities of each of us establishing and maintaining professional careers in medicine in several institutions in two countries.

We have engendered and raised two amazing children and are fortunate to have two wonderful grand-children and an exceptionally fine son-in-law.

And, to add to all of our good fortune, several years ago we discovered my son, from a previous relationship, and his family, so adding a second son, a daughter in-law, 3 terrific adult grand-children, a grand daughter-in-law and one great-grand daughter to our family! Followed, more recently, by the addition of a second grand daughter-in-law.

Family doesn't get better than this.

Along the way we have found so many good friends who have enriched our lives enormously. In our numerous moves we have left many behind but, thankfully, we still live close to several.

And, while in recent years we have managed to develop a few aches and pains, we are both, gratefully, in very good health.

Healthy enough, in fact, to celebrate this anniversary by hiking in Frontenac Provincial Park! And here is where we spent most of our day.

As usual, I include far too many details in my blogs for most but, as we spent our day learning about the environment in this park, some bits are duly recorded for those who might be interested.

One of the things one learns in 53 years is that if someone doesn't want to be in a photo, this is as close as it is reasonable to get.







These photos were taken in Arab Lake Gorge very near the park entrance.This trail is about half boardwalk through a swamp area filled with plants like Button Bush, Winterberry and Silky Dogwood, which are adapted to wet living.

As one moves further up the gorge where it is slightly drier the wetland plants give way to plants like ferns, mosses and jewelweed which seem to thrive in the rich sediment of this part of the gorge.

I believe the plant spilling over onto the boardwalk in this photo is jewelweed.

Our other hike was a 3 Km walk around a small lake, Doe Lake. This one, though not really difficult, required a bit more energy expenditure than the Arab Lake Gorge trail, enough that we were pretty tired at the end of it. But it was an enjoyable walk with lots of ups and downs, through a mix of rocky terrain, some wetland areas as well as woodland open enough for the sunlight to stream through the trees, and lots of shoreline as shown in the images above and just below.

I think the area shown on the right qualifies as a swamp, one of 4 or 5 different types of wetland. A swamp, apparently, is a wetland associated with streams, rivers or lakes which has water flowing through it. Swamps are distinguished by the presence of trees and shrubs and are flooded for most if not all of the growing season. So, I think this looks like a swamp.



Well, there you have a bit of our day. It was a very good day followed by an evening of pizza and a movie (interestingly, "Four Weddings and a Funeral", shown on my 11 inch Macbook Air screen! ) at our cabin on Crow Lake. A great way to end the day!