Algonquin - Kiosk- Day 3

During the night I could hear a few raindrops hitting the tent but it didn't rain very hard. When I got out of the tent in the morning the grass was still wet and the trees had some left over raindrops clinging to the branches. But the skies were clearing and the sun was starting to peek through the clouds. 

Once again I took Balto for a walk along the shoreline before breakfast. Once again we headed towards campsites J1 and J2. 

Today I saw only one Canada Goose instead of four.  I didn't see the Cormorant at all. 

I did, however, see another Mergenser duck fishing for it's breakfast. 

In some places the water's edge was very grassy. 

The fall colours were wonderful to look at in the peacefulness of the morning. It was a windy day but the sun was out and it was relatively warm; especially for October. 

When we got to campsite J1,  I saw a grouse hiding in the bushes. It stood very still hoping that we didn't see it. Balto did not notice it at all. I pretended that I didn't see it so that it wouldn't be scared and fly away. 

So I headed with Balto in another direction so that the grouse could be left in peace. 

There was a spot near the shoreline that had  an old turtle nest still visible. The eggs had long since hatched and the baby turtles were gone. All that remained were some empty turtle egg shells. 

When we got back to our site I built a fire and boiled some water for oatmeal. While I was doing that, two loons were calling to each other way off in the distance. I could barely make them out from where I was standing. But there was no mistaking the calls. These two were very vocal today. They weren't making the long drawn out calls that you hear at night. They were making the shrill chuckling noises, and they were going pretty much non stop for a full 5 minutes. Nothing but back to back calls with no pausing in between. It was quite a show they were putting on. Eventually the quieted down a bit and I watched them travel all over the lake while I ate breakfast. But they continued to call off and on through out the morning. 

The camping neighbours with the dog on site #21 started packing up and left around 10:30 a.m. I knew that I would have to pack up today too, but I didn't want to leave so I dragged it out as long as I could. 
   I walked back down to the waters edge to see if I could see what had made the loud splash in the water the night before. But there was no evidence of anything unusual even in the daylight. So that will always remain a mystery. 
   I took some time to enjoy the flowers like the "Butter And Eggs" flowers blooming a pretty duo-toned yellow colour.

And I watched the flocks of wrens playing in the grasses. 

And I watched a frog sunning itself on the rocks. 

I thought to myself "Wouldn't it be nice to stay one more night with no other neighboring campers near by?"
But I knew that I had to work the next day and I had to head back. So Balto sat and watched me under the pines while I started to break camp.  

The pine  trees he was sitting under were going through their "needle casting" phase. This is when pine trees shed some of their old needles to make room for the new growth. The old needles were turning yellow just like the autumn colours of the deciduous trees. 

As I took down the screen tent I noticed a Soldier Fly caught inside. Soldier Flies are one of a number of types of flies that look like bees in order to protect themselves from predators. They are all harmless though and they don't bite or sting. 

Balto was not the only one to watch me take down the tents. I had a Raven come and visit me and watch me as well. Every once in awhile he would fly down to the ground to see if I had left anything behind in the way of food that he could take with him. But he was disappointed when he found nothing and would fly back up to to the top of the pine tree again and watch some more. 

Eventually I was all packed up. It was pretty good timing too because a couple of groups of new campers were heading in as I was heading out. I think they wanted my spot so they were probably happy that I was leaving it. I headed back to the gatehouse to see about buying a T-shirt for my trip. All the T-shirts were much too expensive so I didn't buy one. It was for the best since there was no one at the desk to take my money anyways. I decided to take a quick look around at the beach since I was already here.  The beach wasn't huge but it was nice and sandy and clean. 

There were plenty of canoes lined up and I assumed that they could be rented, although I had never asked. Maybe next time. 

Looking out past the canoes I could see the cabin out on the point. I had almost considered renting the cabin for this trip just to see what it was like and because I thought it might be colder than it was. But it had already been rented ahead of time so I did not have that option. 

I took a last look around at the colourful trees and wished that I didn't have to go. 

But the city life awaits and I had to get back to it. I am already considering my options for where I plan to go camping next year though. It's never too soon to start day dreaming about your next camping trip.