It rained during the night. Despite the fact that I was using my mother's tent that was mostly all screen walls with a fly on top, I was happy to find that I remained dry and warm the whole time. It was quite comfortable actually. 

Unfortunately, my dining tent did not fare as well. I hadn't bothered to peg it down and the wind had tossed it around and one of the legs was broken. I was able to prop it up for the rest of the time we were there, but upon folding it up to put away, the leg tore off of it completely and it is now beyond repair. So, I will just save the screens as back up screens and buy a new one next year I guess. 

I had breakfast and then headed down to the beach to see if I could find the sandpiper that was mentioned the previous day at the Discovery Program. It was not at the beach and I even tried the dock at the boat launch but it wasn't there either. 

I did, however, see the family of loons that we had been hearing over the past couple of days. 

Since the sandpiper wasn't at the beach I decided to drive down to the other beach to see if maybe it was there or to see if there was anything else of interest there. 

As I was driving I noticed a Ruffed Grouse on the side of the road. And then I saw another and then another. It was a mother Grouse with her family of baby Grouse. She must have had at least six to eight babies with her. 

And they were attempting to cross the road. So, I stopped the car and waited. The mother sat in the middle of the road calling to her young and watching them cross one by one. However, the little ones were taking their sweet time crossing so this was a bit of a slow process.  As I sat there waiting another car came up behind me and slowed down and stopped. The gentleman got out of the car to see what was going on. I pointed out that the momma was in the middle of the road and was refusing to move until all her babies were across and that they were not wanting to come when they were called. He chuckled and got back in his car and we both waited until we were slowly able to pass the Grouse family and continue on. 

The Day Use beach that I was headed to, also doubles as a dog beach. 

The Day Use beach is a nice, sandy beach with a nice view. 

However, just like the other beach, it was flooded too. 

It was flooded enough to make frogs feel right at home. 

Here too the Water Smartweed was growing in pretty, pink, bunches. All the pretty flowers floating in the water but no sandpiper to be seen. 

I took a walk around the area and discovered the park office. The laundry room is located in the bottom half of this building. 

The covered picnic pavilion is also in the area. 

I also took a quick look at the baseball diamond. It is one of the better baseball diamonds I have seen in a park. Most of the parks I have seen lately have let their baseball diamonds get over grown and are pretty much abandoned. But this one was in great condition and even had picnic tables around the perimeter so that people can sit and watch the game. 

I returned to the campsite and asked my mom if she wanted to hike the Recreation Trail with me. She thought that was a good idea. So, once again we left dad to read his book and off we went to hike a trail. 

The Recreation Trail starts at the road and circles around back to the road again. 

It runs all through the woods and does not go around or near any body of water at all. 

This trail has fewer pines than the Lonesome Bog trail did and so everything was much greener here. The Alder Trees had nuts that looked like little, tiny, green, pine cones hanging from the branches. 

The ground plants were different here too. Interrupted Clubmoss lined the edges of the path in some places. 

There were poisonous mushrooms. 

And there were edible raspberries.

A Dot-tailed Whiteface Dragonfly landed to say hello. 

The Recreation Trail is a fairly short trail and, despite taking our time, we were at the end of it in no time. 

We were still in the mood to hike so we decided to do a second trail. The Prospector's Trail which starts down by the Day Use beach. 

As we approached the trail head, we looked across the lake and noticed a tee-pee structure just barely visible among the vegetation. There was also a dock to the far right. Looking at a map later on, we found out that there is a small parcel of land that belongs to the First Nations on the other side of the lake, as well as a Ranger Camp of some sort. The general public is not permitted over there. 

The Prospector's Trail begins right beside the Fish Cleaning Station. 

So when we saw this blue and red contraption near by we wondered if it had something to do with the fish cleaning station. It was strange looking and we didn't know what it was. 

The trail is more of a road than a trail; at least most of it is. However, access to public vehicles is blocked off. 

A little ways down the road we came across another strange contraption embedded in cement. Once we saw that we realized that this, as well as the blue and red contraption we had passed, were both parts of drilling machinery. Of course! As if I didn't realize that right away! After all, it is called the "Prospector's Trail". 

A little further down the trail we saw a yellow mining cart on display. The trail was like a mini outdoor museum but it was lacking any information about any of the displays. 

The trail runs parallel to the shoreline of the lake and from time to time we could get near the waters edge and see the frogs hiding in the weeds. 

At one spot there is a big bat box hanging up on a post. I thought it was a great idea, however, it was painted black and it was sitting in the direct sun on a hot day. I suspect that bats might not be too comfortable in such heat, so I imagine it was probably empty. 

Shortly after the bat box, the trail that used to look like a road turned into a much smaller path through the woods. 

The birch trees were big and beautiful. One of them jutted out in an "L" shape which I think is somewhat unusual for a birch tree. The wooded part of the trail is rather short and soon we were at the road. The trail is not a loop so in order to get back to the car we had to turn around and go back the way we came. Mom didn't want to walk all the way back because she wanted to stay and explore some places along the side of the road. I wasn't interested in doing that so, I walked back to get the car by myself and told her I would drive over to her and pick her up. 

On my way back I saw a Two-striped grasshopper laying eggs in the dirt.

And I saw a female Blackpoll Warbler watching me from the tree top.

I picked up mom in the car and we drove around for awhile and looked at the various campsites at the other end of the park. We were scoping out some potential sites for my parents RV if they wanted to come back next year. As we drove along we started noticing that some of the permit holders has a big "S" written on the permits instead of the usual writing. Turns out the "S" stands for "Seasonal". The Ontario parks have started up a new seasonal camping program where you can put your name in, and if you are chosen, you can pay a seasonal fee to use the campsite for the entire summer. According to the Ontario Parks website, more and more of these parks will be offering the program. Some of the parks have 30 or 40 sites available for seasonal permits.  I am not sure how I feel about that. It seems like a whole lot of prime sites being given to people who will not even necessarily be there for the whole time. For example, the site right beside us,( # 67) had a seasonal permit and they had only stayed for the weekend. The other days we were, there was no one on it (which explains why it was so quiet).  I think maybe a few sites (10 or 12 at most) is one thing for seasonal sites, but 30 or 40 seasonal sites... seems rather unfair to the rest of us. After all, isn't that what trailer parks are for? At least at Selkirk Park there are only monthly reservations instead of the whole season. I dunno... I think it would be disappointing to want a particular site only to find out that you can't have it for the entire summer because someone has a season pass on it; you know what I mean? 

After hiking the trails we went back to camp and had lunch. We took a nap and then we played dominoes for awhile. 

Just before supper I took a stroll down to the beach again to look once more for the sandpiper. And there it was! At least I thought that was what it was. In the end, it turns out that it wasn't a sandpiper after all. There never was a sandpiper here. It was a case of mistaken identity. The sandpiper turned out to be a "Greater Yellowlegs" bird.  (Yeah..."Greater Yellowlegs". I don't know who named it but they could have been more creative, don't you think?) 

It spotted me and began to nervously make it's way across the sand towards the children's playground equipment. 

When it reached the flooded area behind the jungle gym it joined up with two more Greater Yellowlegs.  There was not one, but three of them!

And to top it off, there were a couple of mallard ducks there too. 

​I stood very still and watched them all for awhile. Eventually some other people came down to the beach and I knew that the birds probably wouldn't stay much longer once the beach filled up with people so I went back to camp. 

When I got back to camp I sat at the picnic table and tried to relax but once again, like each of the previous days I had been here, I heard the sound of something chewing on a tree. It was only very faint and I could only hear it when no one was talking. It was driving me crazy not knowing what it was. So I got up and started searching for the source of the sound. 

The sound led me to a pine tree with a pile of sawdust (also known as frass) at the bottom of it. I looked up as far as I could see but I didn't see any animal or any large holes in the tree. Nor were there any birds. It looked like just a normal, every day tree.

The sawdust was mixed with little black things that looked almost like mouse poop only smaller. As far as I can tell it was some sort of wood boring insect causing this. Perhaps a group of carpenter ants or a Pine Engraver bug or something. I guess I will never know for sure. 

As the sun was setting over the trees, so too was it setting over my camping for the season. We have to go home tomorrow and soon I would be back to work. I was all out of vacation days for the year so I had to be content with keeping all the beautiful things I had seen this year in my memory. I will anxiously await next years camping season and I will spend my winter planning out where I will go to next. There is always another adventure and another provincial park just around the corner. 

For a Sunday morning, the park was much quieter than I am used to in a Provincial Park. There is usually sounds of kids yelling and pots and pans clanking and car doors slamming as people make their breakfasts, But not here. All was peaceful and quiet. It was serene. 

After eating a hot breakfast on this cloudy and misty morning, I headed down to the beach to see if there any nature photos to be taken. I was hoping for a picture of the loons I had heard last night. Instead I found that the beach was occupied by a children's group doing the discovery program. I watched as the kids excitedly tried to catch frogs under the watchful eye of the camp staff member who was leading the expedition. 

The beach was a good place to look for frogs, not just because there was the shore line of the lake to look, but also because much of the playground area was flooded. This meant a nice shallow place where frogs like to hang out and, at the same time, the kids could easily wade into the water without fear of drowning. 

The wet and flooded ground was also home to some pretty plants with flowers. Most notably the pinks of the Water Smartweed and the whites of the Pearly Everlastings. 

The ground was flooded enough that a trail to a picnic table was no longer accessible unless you were willing to wade out to it. 

The kids were so involved with catching frogs that the playground equipment was completely abandoned. 

On the picnic table was a chart of some of the different kinds of reptiles and amphibians in the area. One of the parents and the staff member and I started talking about the different kinds of frogs. When one of the kids brought over what they thought was a tiny frog we determined that it was actually a baby toad. 

There was a laminated chart for all sorts of things like butterflies, moths, caterpillars and dragonflies. These charts were created by the University of Guelph and are perfect for these Discovery Programs in the provincial parks. 

Before I left the beach, the staff member told me that there was a sand piper living on the beach. So, I will have to come back later when there are no kids around to see if I can spot it. 

When I got back to camp we decided to go to the Visitor Center. Most Visitor Centers have displays and educational information on animals and birds and plants and things. So we hopped in the car and drove up there. 

Unfortunately the Visitor Center was closed. It is only ever open when they are doing special presentations or special events. We had to content ourselves with looking at the outdoor displays instead. there were three or four roofed boards with artwork of different birds and animals on them. 

And there was a display of an old dug out boat hanging from a chain under a roofed area. There was not much else to look at so we went back to the camp site. 

Back at the camp I had a little visitor on one of my storage containers. It was a little Banded-wing Fly. 

Other flying visitors we had were some Long Horn Pine Beetles. These guys were quite plentiful actually. I had them land on me a couple of times and so did mom. Which is a bit disconcerting considering  they are known to bite. 

My mom and I had been eyeing up the hiking trails and we were excited to go hiking on the Lonesome Bog Trail. I mean, with a name like that, who wouldn't want to go and check it out. So we left dad behind with a good book to read and off we went to go on our hike. 

The trail is an easy 1.5 km walk around a small lake called Sausage Lake. There is a lookout on the far side of the lake. 

The trail winds along the shore of the lake and beside many old, dead, and dying pine trees.

In a brochure that I read about the trail it says "Beaver are helping to speed its transition to a bog meadow". And sure enough, there was a beaver lodge out at the far end of the lake. 

 The Lonesome Bog had all kinds of berries growing there. From blue berries (edible) and Blue Bead Lilies (poisonous)

To pin cherries and Northern Comandra berries.

The landscape felt wild and rugged. 

There were fuzzy insects like a St. Lawrence Tiger Moth caterpillar and a Tawny-tailed Bee Fly. 

The Lonesome Bog was aptly named. Looking out over the marshy bog, you got a sense of gloom and loneliness, but at the same time, it was also beautiful. 

The height of the trees made you feel small and insignificant. I stood looking up at them in awe and wonder. The pine trees here are mainly Black Spruce and Jack Pines.  Jack Pines have cones that will only open to release its seeds after being exposed to very high temperatures such as the heat of a forest fire. Since the park had endured forest fires in the years 1875, 1910, 1925, and 1940 the Jack Pine has become a dominant species here. 

We came to a boardwalk through the tall, bare pines. On either side of the boardwalk there were different bog plants to be seen. 

There were a whole lot of Pitcher plants filled with water, waiting to catch their insect prey. 

The flowers of the Pitcher plants rose up out of the bog on long stalks. They looked like the periscopes on a submarine crossed with sunflowers or something. They were quite unusual looking. 

Tendrils of Creeping Snowberry were climbing over and around other plants. 

At various places on the trail there are places to stop and read about the area on information posts. 

On the opposite side of Sausage Lake we came to the lookout. 

The lookout was not the usual lookout that you would expect to find. It was not at the top of some big hill overlooking the world below. Instead, it was a boardwalk out to the middle of an island like tree stand in the middle of the bog. There was a platform there with a bench to sit and rest and look around. However, the beginning of the boardwalk to the lookout was flooded and we almost didn't go to it. But we decided to brave the possibility of getting wet feet and we found a muddy path around the flooded area and managed to make it to the dry part of the boardwalk. We had to still be careful as we walked and not stay to close to each other because the board walk sank into the water a little with each step. But not enough to get soaked shoes so it was okay. 

We made it to the bench and sat down for a rest and a snack. I was glad we had decided to go to the lookout because it was beautiful here. We were hoping to see a moose on the trail. This would have been the perfect spot to see one. But, I guess it wasn't really the right time of day because we didn't see one. 

Even the subtle differences in colour of the bog grasses was a pretty sight. 

The last leg of the trail was back through the woods again. We saw a tree that had some sort of odd shaped berries on it. I had never seen one like this before. I think it was a Service Berry Tree of some sort, but I am not too sure. 

Near the very end of the trail we got a close up view of the beaver lodge that we had seen from the other side of the lake. We didn't see any beavers though. 

The end of the trail comes out at the road. It was only a short walk down the road and back to our car. 

Back at the campsite there were Beaked Hazelnut trees with their fruit dangling low on the branches. 

A little red squirrel was taking the opportunity to gather these Beaked Hazelnuts to hide away for his winter stash. 

And, although it was only August, there were other signs that winter wasn't going to stay away forever. The tips of some of the ferns were already turning yellow, as were some of the leaves on some of the trees. 

We had a late supper and cooked some hamburgers on the fire. We didn't have the fire going for too long though because the wind started to pick up and it started to rain a little bit. We moved into the dining tent to stay dry and to  play some board games for awhile before bed. 

Later on, as I lay in my sleeping bag in the dark, I listened to the strong winds blowing and the call of the loons from across the lake. It was like a lullaby to me as I drifted off to sleep. I loved it! 

I had almost overlooked Esker Lakes Park when making my camping plans but luckily my mom suggested it when we were figuring out which camp to go to together. This park is a quiet little gem. It is a place to disconnect from the world and connect with nature. And by this I mean literally disconnect. There is no cell service here at all. So put away your phones and other hand held devices and enjoy the beauty all around you. 

The park may be a bit remote but it is not hard to find. The signs showing how to get there were great! There was a new sign every 5 or less kilometers as well as two big welcome signs. 

Despite having come from different directions and having left at different times, my parents showed up at the park only about 2 minutes after I had arrived. We went into the office together to register and I bought my Ontario Parks passport sticker and a bag of firewood. The staff were very friendly and helpful. 

The roads are a bit winding with a lot of curves through the park and it was a little tricky to find our site. However, it didn't take too long to find our site (#68). The permit post had a spot for the main permit and another for an additional vehicle permit. 

We had asked for a site with a view to the lake. Looking at the map, this site was one of the closest to the lake but there wasn't much of a view. There were too many trees between us and the lake; most of them were old, dead jack pines. But the site was definitely private and the ground was nice and flat for our tents. We were pretty happy with the site. 

After setting up camp we were free to just sit and relax and enjoy the dragonflies. And there are a great many dragonflies here. There were large, green Darners that refused to sit still for a picture. And there were bright red White-faced Meadow Hawks that would still and sun themselves on the raspberry leaves. It was so nice to feel free to relax and enjoy the dragonflies. Work had been hectic for me and my parents had been stressed over their RV that needed many costly repairs so it was nice to just forget all that and leave it behind us for a few days. 

Our site was not too far away from the comfort station. I headed over there to take a shower. 

On the way over I spotted a ground hog who I think lives in the grassy area around the comfort station. The colouring on him was quite striking. We both stopped and eyed each other up for a minute or two until I finally conceded the staring contest and let him win. I walked away and he went back his supper of grasses, clovers, and dandelions.

The comfort station was adequate. It was not very big and it was not very fancy. But who needs fancy when you are camping. The thing that concerned me about this bathroom was that it was never properly cleaned. Throughout the number of days we stayed, we watched the cleaning crew go in and spend less than a couple of minutes in here each day.

Nor were the showers cleaned properly. A word to the wise... wear sandals or some sort of foot wear when taking a shower here. The water was hot, but you have to keep in constant motion in order to keep the water running so that the motion sensor knows you are there. 

There are very few things that I didn't like about this park. Aside from the lack of cleanliness of the bathroom and showers the only other thing that gave me cause for concern was the sign posted outside the comfort station on the Event Board. It stated that an AED device was available at the gatehouse during store hours but when the gatehouse was closed we were to phone the Duty Officer's cell phone. That's great that they have an AED machine in case of someone having a heart attack, but as you may recall me mentioning previously, there is no cell signal in this park. Zero. So, in the case of an emergency, there wouldn't be a way to phone this duty officer after store hours. Looks like a bit of a catch 22 to me.  

We had arrived late in the afternoon so there was limited amount of daylight left on our first day. We decided to make a fire and get supper started before it got too dark. I got out my box of water proof matches. There was only one left in the box (I had another box, so that was not a problem). When I pulled out the match I laughed because the match was smaller than a toothpick! It was a teeny, tiny, baby match! How cute! 

Needless to say, we got a fire going using the other matches and enjoyed a nice meal cooked over the fire. 

We sat around the fire until it was nothing but coals. Then it was off to bed. The park is so quiet. There is no noise from neighbouring camps. No partying, and no talking. It is oh so wonderfully peaceful. The only noises I hear are that of a loon with a funny sounding call from across the lake, and the sound of something, ever so faintly, chewing on a near by tree. II would never hear the chewing sound if the park wasn't so quiet. Perhaps there is a porcupine up in the tree. But seeing as I was already nestled snuggly in my sleeping bag, I decided that was something that could be investigated tomorrow.  

Someone please help this park! Kap-Kig-Iwan has some gorgeous scenic lookouts and some great hiking trails but the facilities and structures are falling apart. This park needs and is deserving of an infusion of money. Anyone want to start up a "Friends of Kap-Kig-Iwan" group like so many other provincial parks have? 
  This is a very small park and it feels like it gets over looked a lot. It is not even in the online reservation system on the Ontario Parks website (although the website does say that they will be adding this park to the reservation system as of 2020).  It is mainly run by the township and when I called the first number listed on the website just before I left to ask if there were any sites available, I got the township office and had to call back on the second line (705-544-2050). There are about 61 sites in the park and when I asked if there were any sites still left open they said "Yes. 61"  Sounds like I might have the whole park to myself! 

I pulled in on a Friday evening just before the staff was ready to go home for the night. The gatehouse is a tiny but cute little structure just off of Hwy 11 in the town of Englehart. I told the girl at the gatehouse that I would be staying 2 nights. She pulled out some forms to fill out and explained that they had no internet here, therefore, no computer system to pull up my information based on my phone number like the other parks do. She seemed apologetic about it, but it didn't matter to me. 
​
   Unfortunately, no internet also meant no debit machine. And I hadn't had time to go get money out of my account before I left. She was completely understanding of this (I am sure this happens more often than she would like here) and when I said that I would just run to the store that I passed about a kilometer back and get money from the ATM there, she said not to worry about it. She was about to go home and wouldn't be there by the time I got back. Instead, she said that I could pay the next day and that if no one was in the office, there were self serve envelopes to put the money in. This was easier for both her and I so we agreed to that. Besides, she already had my license plate number and address so she could track me down if I didn't pay up. She told me I could choose any site I wanted and to just put the permit on the post. 

She handed me a colourful, map of the campground, complete with cute cartoon characters. She also apologized that everything on it was so tiny. It was a shame that it was so tiny because the map was actually well done and I could tell that a lot of effort had gone into designing it. 

She did point out though, that there was a giant version of the map posted up on a billboard just on the other side of the office. So, if I couldn't read something then I could read it better from there. Neither the small, nor the large map showed the individual campsites on it though (I made my own versions when I got home and posted them here. Perhaps once they get on the online reservation system there will be better maps of the individual sites)

The tenting area is down in the section called the "Lower camp Loop" (There is a section for RVs up closer to the office). At first I wasn't sure I was going the right way. Especially when I came to a rather steep hill that was a bit washed out and had suffered greatly from frost heaves over the winter. This section of the road really needs to be paved or at the very least leveled out. 

I drove around the entire loop looking for the best one. There was only one other camper on the campground and they had site  number 11. (Guess I didn't have the whole park to myself after all, ah well). I chose site number 5 and noticed that the post for putting your permit in had seen better days. 

I chose site number 5 because it was a very big site. It was nice and flat and open. 

And it had one of the better views of the Englehart River in the ravine down below. None of the sites had a fantastic view of the river, but at least I could see some of the river from here. 

I set to work putting up my tents before it got too dark and before the mosquitoes got bad. 

A little toad came to watch me as I worked. 

After setting up and grabbing a quick bite to eat, I decided I wanted to walk the loop and look for the water faucets and the bathrooms. The map didn't show either of these on it.  I looked down the road to see if I wanted to go right or left. I noticed how very tall the trees were here. My camping neighbour had already passed by towards the left (presumably looking for or going to water/bathrooms like I was).  I figured he might already know the right direction for these things so it would probably be smart to just go in the same direction he had gone. I grabbed my water container and headed to the left. 

Other sites were very spacious and would certainly hold a number of tents. They were great sites for camping. 

My search for a bathroom resulted in locating a port-a-potty. Definitely not what I was expecting. It was the only one on the entire loop. It was clean though and didn't smell bad like many of those vault toilets do so I could count my blessings there. I was just thankful that there wasn't a whole bunch of people camping here at the same time or the line up for the port-a-potty could get lengthy and uncomfortable. 

Before bed I texted my family to let them know that I had arrived safe. Cell signal is spotty here so sometimes messages would go through right away and other times it would take some time. In one of my conversations my mom said that she and my dad were going to meet up with me to do some camping too. But instead of camping here they wanted to try out Esker Lakes Provincial Park. So it looks like I was only going to be spending one night here instead of two. So it worked out that I hadn't paid for the site yet. 

I didn't have a campfire because I hadn't bought any wood and the office was closed. There didn't seem to be a park store in the first place. I don't know if they even had any wood for sale, come to think of it. 

It is so quiet and peaceful here, which isn't surprising considering there is hardly anyone here. I did end up with more neighbours who pulled in to the site next to me at about midnight. But all in all, there were not a lot of people here. It was almost as quiet as it is when I am backpacking. I was actually thinking that most backpackers wouldn't mind this at all. We are used to not having a bathroom, running water, or people when we are in the back country. Not much different. 
 The moon came out and shone very brightly and the sound of the river was soothing. It was a gorgeous night for camping. 

In the morning, after breakfast, I made a quick trip to the store with the ATM and got the money to pay for the night I had just spent here. No one was at the office when I got there so I put the money in the self serve envelope and placed it in the deposit box. I was just about to leave when the park ranger truck pulled up and two of the staff members were inside. I explained that I had paid for the night and put it in the deposit box and they thanked me for that. Then I asked them if they had any of the passport stickers that I had been collecting. But unfortunately this park doesn't have a sticker even designed for it yet (another example of how this park seems to be overlooked by the powers that be). Then I asked them what time I needed to be off the site by because I had some time to kill before meeting up with my parents at Esker Lakes. I was surprised that their answer was " Leave whenever you want". They seem completely unconcerned about how long I stayed on the site for. I guess when there is not a high demand for sites, the level of worrying about how long one stays is very much diminished. Needless to say I was happy with that answer. 

Next on my list of things to do was to explore the park a little and check out some of the trails and scenic look outs. This park seems to have quite a few of these.  I noticed, as I was leaving the office, a sign that said "Caution. Bears Hike Too". While I realize that this sign is supposed to be a warning sign, I found it to be somewhat amusing and it made me smile. I dunno...anyone else find this amusing or is it just me? I just pictured this couple hiking the trails when along comes a bear and says "It's a lovely day for a hike. Mind if I join you?" And then off the three of them go hiking through the woods checking out flowers and doing some bird watching together. 

Just when I thought the park only had a port-a-potty for a bathroom I discovered the comfort station up near the RV campsites. 

The comfort station is a cute little stone building. 

I noticed the sign on the door indicated that there was no drinking water here either. 

The showers were just stalls with slated closet doors on them. The tiles inside seemed relatively new but the doors and the floors were calling out for some help. 

The floors in particular are pretty bad off and need re-tiling. 

Right outside the comfort station is the path to one of the scenic lookouts. 

The path is actually a road and you can drive a car right up to the lookout. 

There is a picnic table there in the event you would like to have lunch at the look out. 

And the view is very nice. 

The Fireweed flowers were all in bloom. 

And Puffball mushrooms were growing here and there. 

And then I came across this strange mass of orange fungi growing on the ground. I had never seen anything like it before. Once I got home I submitted the photo to iNaturalist.org for identification. I am told this is a Lobster Mushroom. 

From comfort station you can find one of the trails to the Uplands Circle hiking trail. I didn't get a chance to hike this trail because my time was limited and this is one of the longer trails. 

I hopped in the car and drove down the road to the next scenic lookout.  The second scenic lookout also has a road leading up to it but there is a boulder in the middle of it so you can't drive right up to it. 

The railing for the scenic lookout is similar to the last one, but there was no picnic table at this one.

A raven joined me in looking out over the horizon from the lookout. 

Someone had left some birdseed on the railing for the birds. 

But the birds seemed more interested in the berries in the tree.

I noticed that the some of the trees here were not only tall, but had no branches or leaves except at the very top. 

And when I looked out over the ravine I could see more of these trees standing much taller than all the other trees in the distance. 

Down below I could see some falls and a long wooden bridge. 

With a closer look at the bridge I could see that, unfortunately, the bridge was broken. 

I got in the car again and drove further down the road. I came to a parking lot and parked the car and got out. I was at the beginning of High Falls Trail. Another couple was there too and they began walking the trail. I stayed behind to look around. There were multiple signs telling people not to swim here. 

And there was the broken bridge that I had seen from the lookout up above. 

The entrance to the bridge was barricaded at both ends to prevent the public from using it. It was once a nice bridge across Englehart River. It was disappointing to see it sitting there getting older and more broken as time goes by without anyone coming to fix it. I looked it up online when I got home and apparently this bridge has been broken for at least 10 years. It's sad think that it has sat there neglected and forgotten for so long. What a shame.  

There were plenty of birds down by the river. Chickadees flew by. 

While other small birds sat in the tree branches. 

The berries on the Round-leaf Dogwoods were starting to make an appearance.

At the far end of the parking lot I noticed another set of bathrooms. I wondered if these bathrooms were also shut down so I decided to go and check them out. 

They were not shut down. They were just your everyday vault toilets. 

There was a ramp up the side for wheel chair access. But it was looking a little old and worn. 

On the bathroom door was another warning about bears in the area.

It was getting close to the time for tearing down camp because I was going to meet my parents at Esker Lakes Park and I still wanted to check out the Disney Trail (with a name like that it made me curious). So I got into my car and began to head back to the campsite. I was just about to leave the parking lot when I noticed a trail to the picnic area that I had missed on the way in. So, I parked the car again and got out and walked over to the picnic area to check it out. The picnic area was actually in pretty good condition. The structure looked good and the picnic tables were in good shape too. 

There was an interesting looking fire pit built into a cement and stone pit. There were two other metal rings situated a little farther up. I am not sure what they were for. If I had to guess I would say maybe they were planters with no plants in them. But considering how close they were to the fire pit it doesn't seem likely. Unless, of course, the large ring wasn't intended to be a fire pit at all. Maybe there were supposed to be flowers there too and someone just used it as a fire pit. 

The picnic area has one of the best views of the falls. I sat and enjoyed it for awhile. But eventually I had to go back to my site and break camp. 

After breaking camp I decided that I might have just enough time to be able to squeeze in a quick hike on the Disney Trail. The Disney trail is a small loop that is part of the Long Trail.

The long trail looks more like a road that runs through the woods than a trail. It is very wide and easy going. 

The trail markers looked pretty new and are much nicer than those I see in other parks. As a matter of fact all the trail signs look much nicer than those in other parks. It was clear to me that the emphasis on this park is more about the trails and the look outs than about the camping. The trails are used year round here. 

The trail took a bit of a  turn to the left and all of a sudden I was out of the trees and into an area that looked more like a meadow. It was more open and grassy. 

The grassy area didn't last long and soon I was back in the trees again. There is a map posted on one of the  trees indicating the ski trails that are available in the winter time. I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to find the Disney trail because it wasn't noted on this map and I hadn't seen a sign for it yet. I had passed a split off of the trail not far back but I had thought that was the "Small Loop" so I didn't venture down it. Now I was beginning to doubt myself. 

But just a wee bit further and I found the sign for the Disney Trail. Under it was a sign for the chalet that I presume people use to warm up in or to put on skis or snowshoes in the winter time. I never got that far so I never found out. The Disney Trail didn't look any different than the rest of the trail. There were no Disney characters pictured anywhere like I had imagined there might be. It was a bit of a let down. I began to ponder the reasoning behind naming it the Disney Trail. The only thing I could think of was maybe this is the kids loop on the Long Trail for skiing and snowshoeing. So, maybe they wanted to give it a name that would be in keeping with a kids trail. This is all just a wild guess though. 

By this time I was debating about whether to  turn around and going back or continue going forward. I was aware that I was running out of time before I would become late to meet up with my parents and the trail was not offering much of interest really.  The most interesting thing about the trail so far was the birds. A White-throated sparrow was being friendly and not playing shy at all. So, I stopped to watch if for a few moments and to take some pictures. 

That was when I heard a very loud crashing noise in the trees not far from where I was. It sounded like a tree falling. And maybe it was, but of course I had seen the warning signs about bears in the area so my mind went straight to that. I stood perfectly still for a moment. I didn't see or hear anything else. Nothing large was moving in the bush. Up ahead the trees seemed to swallow up the path and I thought to myself "Decision made! Just to be on the safe side I am going to turn around and go back the way I came! 

I turned around and walked back. I nervously listened and looked back from time to time to see if anything was following me. But there wasn't. So after awhile I began to relax again. I started to notice the flowers and the birds again. I caught sight of a Downy woodpecker hanging out in the trees.

The orange abdomen of a Prionyx wasp also caught my eye. I don't see these wasps very often. They are mostly solitary and they hunt grasshoppers. The female will paralyze a grasshopper and bury it in a hole in the ground. Then it lays an egg on the grasshopper and seals up the burrow. The grasshopper becomes food for the baby wasp.  

In no time at all I was off of the trail and back to my car. It was time to leave. As I passed by the office, I saw the 4 park employees hard at work. They were cleaning and maintaining the park lawns and such. I waved good-bye as I drove away. 

So, what I formulated from my visit to this park is that although things are falling apart here, there is still much care given to the place. I see new things (new signs and picnic tables) but I also see a lot of old.As a day-use park this park is pretty nice. As a tenting park, it leaves something to be desired.  I have not figured out if they are slowly upgrading things as money comes in or if they have given up on some things. I like to think that they are working on updating things and that it is just a slow process. If so, then in a few years from now this park could be spectacular. I can just imagine how much greater this park could be if it had the money needed to support it. (Getting internet here for the office would be a big win!) For now, it is just stuck in the past. 

Ever since last summer, my mom and I had wanted to go looking for a hiking trail just past Balsam Creek that we were told about. We were looking for a road with a washed out bridge on it. It was our intention to hike it and see if it was a possible backpacking campsite destination. 

We packed up some bottles of water, and our hiking gear and got in the car and headed towards Balsam Creek. It was less than an hours drive and it was a beautiful day for a hike. 

We drove down the gravel roads and passed side road after side road wondering if that was the road we were looking for. Eventually we had gone far enough to know that we had passed it and we were now on the way towards Mattawa. We figured we would go just a little bit further and then turn around. That was when we discovered the entrance to Alexander Lake Forest Provincial Park. 

Alexander Lake Forest Park is a non-operating park. This means that there are no facilities and no amenities. In short; no toilets, no office or any other structured building. Basically, you are on your own. Some non-operating parks you can camp in for free but others you can not. According to the Ontario Parks website, back country camping is allowed in this park. Best of all...it's free! 

   When we stumbled upon the entrance to this park we had been travelling down Hwy 533. There was a little area where you could park your car. There was already someone else's car parked there, but they must have gone canoeing or something because we did not see anyone else in the park the whole time we were there. 

After parking the car we started down the gravel road that goes into the park to see where it would lead us. 

The gravel road turned into pavement not far in. However, you could tell that the paved road had long since been abandoned and was no longer maintained. It was becoming over grown with grass and the pavement was cracked. It looked like it was still quite usable still though. 

On either side of the road was a marshy looking lake called Crooked Lake.  There was a spot where it looked like you could set a canoe or boat in. 

Further up the road was a giant ant hill. It looked like the ants had been building there for quite some time. It covered about a quarter of the road. 

The ant hill wasn't the only hill of sand. There is also a big sand dune. Perhaps this road used to be used as a rock quarry before becoming a park. It would be interesting to find out the history of this land. But for now it is only a mystery.  

You can either walk off the road and follow what could narrowly be described as a trail through the sand hills. Or you can continue to follow the road. Either way you will eventually you will reach a campsite. No as I mentioned already, the park is a non-operating park so the campsite does not have much to see on it. Someone has built a fire pit and there is an old tire and a log to sit on. The area is wide open and big enough for large tents and perhaps even a small RV. The downside is that it is not directly on any water front so you would have to walk to get to the lake. But it is private and cozy and .... free. 

Someone even built a makeshift toilet. It is out in the open with no privacy and I would imagine that you would need to bring your own bucket to put in it and dispose of the waste properly when you left. But it is there if you need it and probably beats trying to find a log in the bush to sit on. Well, that's just a guess anyways. 

For some reason someone hung an old hub cap in a tree. Not sure if it was their idea of a decoration or if they put it up there as a lost and found item. 

In the sand we saw tracks of something . Looks like maybe a deer. The ground was too sandy to tell for sure. 

The road does continue on past the campsite. But the further you go the more over grown it gets. And there is no place to really turn a vehicle around easily past the campsite. 

In some places the pavement is completely gone and all that is left are ridges where the roots have broken through. There is a wide open section of pavement here where you could put up a tent. But you would have to walk into it because no car would get to this section without potentially sustaining damage. On the other side of that the trail becomes more of a foot path. 

The foot path goes past another body of water. It isn't Crooked Lake and I am not even sure it is a lake at all. But it is marshy looking as well. 

The trail eventually ends back out at the highway. We walked along the road for a bit to see what else was there. 

From the road you could still see the water. There was no place that I would consider a great place to swim really. Maybe in one of the other lakes further in the park. Or maybe where the park meets the Ottawa River. 

But I would like to take a  canoe in here sometime. According to the Ontario Parks website, fishing is allowed in this park. I couldn't tell you what kind of fish are here. 

But I can tell you that there are green frogs here amongst the water lilies. 

The marshy areas were peppered with little white ​Pipewort flowers. 

From time to time we would see these yellow signs. They say "Please protect nearby boundary markers". I am not sure what that means though. Does it mean there are other boundary markers near by and to keep them from being damaged? Or was it referring to the yellow sign itself? We didn't see any other boundary markers anywhere. So these signs were a little bit confusing. 

We spotted some puffball mushrooms growing in the grass and leaves. 

On the way back we passed by the big open paved area again. There were some over hanging birch trees that arched over top of the area giving it a bit of a fairy tale look. It was a pretty little place. 

There were plenty of birds in this section too. Many of them were chickadees. 

They were probably feasting on the nearby bird cherries. 

When we got back to where our car was parked we were met with a bunch of butterflies. The orange markings on the Red Admiral butterfly were a cheery sight. 

As were the colours of the American Lady butterfly. 

I just love the intricate designs on the underside of the wings on the American Lady butterfly. 

On our search for the bridge and trail that we never found, we had passed by what we thought might be another possible free campsite on crown land. So, we decided to drive slowly back the way we came and see if we could find it again. We knew it was somewhere near Timber Lake. 

  We were surprised to come across another sign and another road into Alexander Lake Forest Park. We must have somehow missed this sign when we passed by it the first time. This was another chance to explore a part of the park. So, once again, we parked our car at the beginning of the road and headed n on foot. There wasn't really a good place to park here and we were kind of blocking the road so we hoped that no one else wanted to come down this road while we were parked there. 

This part of the park is much more dense with trees. The trees provided some welcome shade on such a hot day. However, they also provided swarms of mosquitoes!  We had applied bug spray to our clothes before heading into the woods, but the mosquitoes didn't seem to even notice.  There were so many of them! It was really bad. Instead of slapping one or two away, I would run my hand down my arm and wipe about 5 to 10 of them away at a time. And then I would wipe my hand down my other arm and get another 5 to ten. Then the same for my shoulders, back and face.  The other parts of the park we had been in had some mosquitoes, but nothing like this! But this didn't deter us. We kept going. Mosquitoes and all!  I got into this rhythm of just swiping over and over as I walked "Right arm, left arm, right shoulder, left shoulder, back and face" Repeat, repeat, repeat.. It became like a dance. Like the Macarana or something. I am sure we looked pretty comical.

We must have walked for nearly a kilometer doing our mosquito dance. The road became pretty narrow and very steep in some places. We found bits of broken tail lights and other car parts along the way where some people's poor cars had evidently sustained some damage trying to make it down this road. There was zero place to turn around and if anyone was to come from the other direction it would be a nightmare trying to back up. I was glad we hadn't decided to drive down, despite the mosquitoes. 

Then all of a sudden the road reached the lake and there in the middle of the park was ...a cottage! What?!?  What was a cottage doing in the middle of a non-operating park? This was strange. We spotted someone and their dog out at shoreline of the lake. The owners came to greet us and explained that this section of the park was actually private property. They had been grandfathered in since they had owned the property long before the land became a park. They were very surprised to see us. Not that they don't get other people down that road. It's just that they always come in a vehicle. When we told them that we walked they said "You walked through all those mosquitoes?!?"  Now you know if the owners are shocked that you walked through the mosquitoes then there had to be a lot of mosquitoes! So my mom and I have now come to nickname this cottage "Mosquito Cottage". 

   We chatted with the owners for a little bit and asked them some questions about the park before leaving. They were quite nice. Unfortunately, we had to make the dreaded walk back through all those mosquitoes again. We prepared for the worst and we headed back to the car.  We picked up our pace and got back to the car faster than the amount of time it had taken us to get to the cottage. And we were going mostly uphill on the way back. 

When we jumped into the car and slammed the doors, about 30 mosquitoes made it in with us. We spent the next 5 minutes swatting all the mosquitoes that had snuck in as hitchhikers on our clothes. When we were satisfied that we had got them all, we continued on our way back down Hwy 533 towards Timber Lake. 

  We passed by a little area that looked like it might be private property but not far after that we spotted the section that had looked like a possible campsite on crown land. There was a nice little spot to pull a car or RV through pretty easily. So I pulled over and parked and once again we got out to explore. 

   Sure enough this was a crown land camping site. And a nice one at that! Much nicer than the one at Alexander Lake Forest Park. There was a fire pit and plenty of open space for tents or an RV. The trees gave you some privacy form the road and some shade.  

The thing that made this nicer than the one in the park was that it was on the water. Right on the edge of Timber lake. 

It has a beautiful view and there would be no problem getting to the water to go for a swim. 

But that is not all we found here. This was not just one camp site, but two! On the far  side of the site we just found there was another fire pit. 

Two fire pits actually. One was down closer to the water. This site was even nicer than the other one, in my opinion. 

It was a pretty nice spot for free camping! We could hear a loon calling in the distance. 

It has even better access to the water on this site. We sat and had a snack and relaxed here for a bit. 
When I got home I did a bit of searching online and found out that there is a boy scout camp on the other side of the lake just past the narrow section we could see in the distance. 

This site also has a make shift bathroom. However, this one has more privacy than the last one had. 

There are only about 6 or 7 cottages on this lake and the rest of it is crown land. So, there may be other campsites hidden along this little gem of a lake that we hadn't found yet.

We made one more stop along the way before going home. We stopped at a little picnic area that is located just up the road from where Hwy 533 intersects with Hwy 63. 

There was an older gentleman there picnicing with his old fashioned car. Mom and I thought it was an endearing sight to see. 

This picnic area has a virtual field of raspberry bushes. And the berries were ripe for the picking. 

This highway rest area is actually in Jocko Rivers Provincial Park, which mostly borders both banks of the river, but also has some larger sections of land a little further north. So I guess I actually visited 2 provincial parks in one day when I hadn't even intended to visit one. And although we didn't find the campsite we had initially set out to find, we did find 3 others. 

   We did quite a bit of exploring for one day but clearly there is a whole lot more to be seen. I think I will make a point of going back sometime to do some free camping and maybe even  bring a canoe with me.