Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 33

We arrived after a long day's journey at Blueberry Hill camp, just north of Sault Ste. Marie. As we had decided to stay in Algonquin an extra day, we needed to do a "double-day", so needed to get going early. We did well, and were on the road by 6:15am, having set our alarm for 5:30am. We stopped only to get snacks, use the w/c and gas up the car, which does about 400K when towing the trailer and with our canoe on top of the car. We needed to be at the Tobermory ferry depot before 12:30pm and managed our time well and arrived at just before noon.

We walked around a bit on the docks on this inland sea and were soon on the sailing to South Baymouth, about 2hrs from Tobermory. There was a Coast Guard vessel that made us think of nephew Fisher, who works for the Coast Gaurd, and his family   On board "the big canoe" we took photos of the Ojibwe artist team painted smoke stack and also found the painted image on children's puzzles in the gift shop and bought a few for some little ones in our lives who enjoy puzzles and colouful art.

The final stretch of rural roadways took us fron Manitoulin Island to Sault Ste. Marie where we ate a nice Italian meal out, and got a kick out of a sign at the restaurant that read, "the problem with Italian food is that about three or four days later you are hungry again". We returned to our trailer with about half of what we had been served on our two plates! We then settled in to our camp, had day-end showers and blogged for a bit.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 32

It was a very nice day today - our best yet with regards to fall colours and canoeing and being in synch! The sun was shining and our plans for the Lookout Colours Hike and Two Rivers Lake Paddle happened! We also drove to Tea Lake to see the sun set. Overnight it was apparently -2C, so we were pleased with the morning sun shine to warm things up a bit while we made our espresso and oatmeal (with cinnamon, our own dehydrated pears and some purchased pumpkin seeds and cream). We had put cloths over our warm pjs and so ate breakfast and then drove up to the comfort station to shower and then continued on to the stunning Lookout colours hike.

It was gorgeous and relatively un-busy as two bus loads were just leaving and another two just arrived as we were leaving. We admired the light through the leaves and read about the three-part, billion year old geology of the region.

This was the walk we had been waiting for, with so many deciduous trees in so many colours and the forest floor strewn with coloured leaves as well. We returned to camp to heat one of our turkey lunches from sister Carmelita, and we made time to prepare a picnic dinner as well. The turkey dinner left-overs were fantastic and filling.

Our drive to Two Rivers Lake was short and we were soon paddling into the wind towards the south end.

There we found a slough through to another small lake called Pog, where we expected to maybe see a small animal (or maybe a moose!). But, alas, we were again reminded that we were in the Algonquin Route 60 corridor, and it is all very accessible and with drive-in picnic areas if not camp sites. One needs to be in the back county to see more of Algonquin's wildlife.

From Two Rivers Lake and Pog Lake we drove north about half an hour to Tea Lake to see the sun set while we ate our picnic dinner. Both were super.

Our evening ended with a few hours of blogging and drawing, but first we prepared our car and trailer for a 6am departure, as we need to make a 1:30pm ferry to cross from Tobermory to South Baymouth, and Tobermory is about 7hrs of driving from our Algonquin camp.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 31

After an early coffee & oatmeal we checked in at the camp gate. We also took time to book our ferry passage from Tobermory to South Baymouth as we decided to take the Manatoulin Island route, even though it would be another 3hrs of driving plus the 2hr ferry ride. We stopped at the Algonquin Visitor Center and took time to wave at the Web cam (we also bought two draw tickets on a kevlar limited edition - 8/150 - Canada 150 canoe - hope we win!). As we headed back for our camp lunch, we spotted a Marten.

In the afternoon we went for a very nice 2hr paddle at Cache Lake and in the evening we attended a very interesting naturalist program about moose through the four seasons. We then settled in to our camp chairs do some blogging & drawing in the laundry room (where there was also plug sockets, warmth, and good light).

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 30

Bob went out early to the local-to-Ottawa Mazda dealership for a scheduled oil change. Yolanda went out on errands with Carmelita, finished the laundry, and packaged Thanksgiving leftovers for two camp dinners (yum!).

Brian was thrilled to show Bob female and male cardinals in the back yard and was a sport about getting photos of our canoe on their above-ground pool - we had the canoe off the car for the oil change earlier in the day. We sadly said good-bye and drove away wishing we could have stayed longer.

For lunch, we stopped for French Toast at Wheelers Maple Sugar Bush (i.e., Grove) and we bought a lot of maple sryup to bring home. We also stopped briefly in Perth (which is a lovely town in a gorgeous setting - nephew Matthew M studied building conservation/restoration there a few years back at Algonquin College) and we stopped at St. Ola's Church, where Bob's paternal grandmother's father was a minister at the turn of the 20th century. Bob's Grandmother was born in 1902 and named Ola after the St. Ola village.

Our late arrival at Mew Lake Campsite nearly resulted in nowhere to stay, but we drove into the camp anyway and encountered park staff who said the camp was supposed to be full, but to look around (as there were a few no-shows). We happily found a spot and booked site83 for Wednesday night & site30 for Thursday night and went contentedly to sleep.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 29

Our day started with brunch of Lac St. Jean tourtiere with Carmelita's home-made chili sauce & "traditional" coleslaw (which we have been making and enjoying a lot with apple cidre vinaigrette from Quebec!). Bob went out birding in the afternoon and came back elated, saying this was the "best birding day yet!"

Yolanda and Carmelita had a super afternoon visiting & setting out Thanksgiving dinner. It was a relaxing and fun evening.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 28

Though it was extremely stressful, we felt we should depart our out-of-park camp spot before sunrise, so rose early, showered and started our drive to Ottawa, where we were expected by Yolanda's sister Carmelita and brother-in-law Brian for lunch.

Shortly before arriving in Ottawa, a bridge was out and the detour route was such a mud bath that we needed to find a car wash, which happily was a drive-through with two bays in line, so Bob used one system to clean the car and canoe and Yolanda, with a little help from the attendant, cleaned the trailer.

We arrived for lunch at Carmelita & Brian's place and then walked to nearby fields to look for birds before dinner time. It was such a good visit and dinner and we settled in for our first house-sleep in a while.

Gr@y & Blue Fall Road Trip 27

On our drive from Mauricie National Park to Quebec's Mount Tremblant area, we stopped at the south end of Lac Vide Botielle for a 12K paddle to find and sit in a pair of Canada 150 red chairs (btw: they are available on the Parks Canada Web site for about $700 for the beaver insignia pair with joining table). 

We stopped at a farm to pick up a few supplies to add to our picnic lunch and then carried on to our destination camp. We stopped briefly for soup at Tim Hortons and found the camp gate closed at 6pm. As we arrived at about 9pm, we were obliged to stay overnight outside the park gates, but close enough to access the w/c and showers.