There is nothing better than seeing kids laughing and having fun with their friends! What better place to have some fun than the great out doors! There were two things that we had on our list of things to do today.  One was to go floating down the lazy river in our inflatable  boats and the other was to go on a hike. We decided to do the hike first. 

We drove our cars to the other end of the park where the trail begins. The kids were excited. The weather was beautiful. It was a great day for a hike!

The trail that we chose was the  Wabashkiki Trail. It is an easy trail that is a one kilometer loop. It is on a peninsula in the middle of Moore Lake. I like it because you can explore a marsh and its resident wildlife on this trail. Danielle liked it because there were no major hills to climb.

Right at the very beginning of the Wabashkiki Trail there is a very short side trail that leads you to the Amable Du Fond River. We went could see some dead fall in the water that looked like it may have been the work of a beaver. We were hoping to see a beaver but  we never spotted one. 

The trail starts off as a very wide path; almost a road really. It was so level and super easy going. 

We came to a little foot bridge where we stopped to gaze into the water below. It was so calming and relaxing at this spot. 

Near the bridge we found some Forget-Me-Not flowers in bloom. These tiny flowers remind me of my mother every time I see them. Not sure why. Possibly because she was the one who taught me their name and so now I associate it with not forgetting her. 

We found a shady spot to stop and take a rest by the shore of Moore Lake. 

A little further on we came to another bridge. This one was quite a bit wider than the previous one. It was big enough to hold all of us at once. 

Instead of Forget - Me - Nots growing nearby, there were orange Spotted Jewel Weed.

Even the fungi growing on the boards of the bridge were vibrant oranges that whispered of the coming of autumn. 

On the other side of the bridge we came to a lovely spot. It was a wide open area nestled under the shade of some pine trees. It would have been the perfect spot for  picnic if we had brought one. 

​ I took some fruit roll ups and granola bars from my little pack and we had a bit of a snack instead of a full fledged picnic lunch.

Everyone headed down to the water's edge to see what could be seen. 

From across the lake we could see the beach and our campsite. It looked very tiny from way over here. 

Nevaeh was full of excitement and went rushing down the hill. 

Her big brother had to stop her from sliding right into the water. 

Once Nevaeh was a safer distance from the water's edge, the boys were able focus their attention on the more important things.... hanging out and looking for frogs. 

Danielle just loved this spot.  Gonna have to come back and do a 'no kids day" one day. 

After a good rest we left the lake behind us and continued back onto the main trail and into the woods. 

By this point we were about half way through the trail and since it was a loop, we were on our way back. 

We left the trees and got back out to where the marsh grasses grow and back across the bridges. 

By the end of the trail the clouds were starting to fill the sky. We were hoping that the weather stayed good because we had some plans for the rest of the afternoon that relied on good weather. 

Despite some cloud cover, the sun was still on our side and the weather was still warm. This meant that we could fill our inflatable boats up with air, get into our swim suits and head down to the lazy river near our campsite called the Amable Du Fond River. We had three boats, each containing one child and one adult.  There was Danielle and Navaeh in one boat, Marvin and Jay in another boat and myself and Hunter in the third boat. 

We started our adventure at the top of the river between the Jingwakoki and Babawasse campgrounds.  Our route would lead us under a bridge and we would end our ride just before the river meets up with the Campion Rapids.

Despite having floated down this river before on more than one occasion, I was still a bit nervous at first because I had a child with me that was not my own. I had only ever gone down this river with other adults.  Hunter and I were the first to go, followed by Danielle and Navaeh, and Marvin and Jay were pulling up the rear.

In no time at all my nervousness left me as the kids laughed and squealed in delight.  It also helped to see that kids even younger than ours were also going down the river. When I remembered that the water was actually only up to about my thighs and at any point I could get out of the boat and walk to shore without too much difficulty because it was that shallow and not crazy forceful that gave me a sense of "you got this". 
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Actually, our biggest problems were watching that our butts didn't get bumped as we went over the rocks, and trying not to get stuck on the rocks because the water was not always forceful enough to get the rafts over them. 

All was going well until Danielle lost her shoe in the water. It was a croc so it was just floating away. Luckily Hunter and I were able to catch it and we pulled it into our boat. 

 At each rocky section we kept getting hung up on the rocks. It is tiring work to try to free yourself. We were definitely getting a work out.  However, the more they got hung up on the rocks the more that Marvin and Jay were getting frustrated. They weren't having quite as much fun as the rest of us. 

As Hunter and I went under the bridge we looked behind us and saw the rest not too far behind. Once you go under the bridge the river curves though and you can't see anyone until they also come around the bend.  So we grabbed onto some rocks and anchored ourselves while we waited for everyone else to show up.

It took a bit but finally Danielle and Nevaeh came around the corner.  They too waited for Marvin and Jay to come.  We waited. And we waited.  Eventually we were becoming concerned because they should have been here by now. Maybe we ought to get out and walk back along the river bank to find them?
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And then we saw them. But they weren't in their boat. They were walking along the bridge up above us!  They had given up and were walking back to the campsite.  Now that we knew they were safe we could continue on our way. So we let go of our rocks and floated on down to the meeting place. 

Hunter and I made it to shore first. We pulled our boat out of the water and then we waded into the water to wait for Danielle and Nevaeh to help them bring their boat to shore. It's a good thing we did too because all of a sudden we hear a shout. Danielle had gotten out of the boat to get unstuck from some rocks and had inadvertently let go of the boat. So Nevaeh was floating down the river in a boat by herself. She was headed right for us. I was prepared to dive in and swim for her if I needed to, but she wasn't that far from shore so Hunter was able to jump in front of the boat and bring her to shore. 

Meanwhile, Danielle was stuck upstream in the water on slippery rocks with only one shoe on. I grabbed her other shoe from the boat and tried to walk upstream in the water to give it to her so that she could at least try to get to shore in some comfort. The two of us were having a heck of a time standing up. Even with shoes on the rocks were slippery. We kept falling and splashing and we were just laughing and laughing!  Someone up on shore called to us and pointed out a path that would be easier to use than to try to walk in the water to the meeting point. So we got out there instead of further down stream and walked on dry land back to the kids and the boats. It was a little bit of an adventure! We told Hunter that he was a hero for saving Nevaeh. (She was never in any real danger. I would have been able to get her with no problem, but I wanted him to feel like a hero). 

Now that our river ride was done, we had to make the long walk back to the campsite. We picked up our boats and carried them as we walked down the road. Along the way other people passed us who had the same boats as we did and had also just floated down the river. We saw one truck go by that had giant inflatable swans that they had gone down the river on.  Many people, old and young, were having a good time on the river today. 

When we got back to camp Marvin was already busy preparing supper. The kids headed down to the beach where they found some kids playing laser tag. They joined in for  bit and played until it started to get dark. 

The kids would have played down at the beach all night if we had let them. But the sun was starting to set and supper was ready. So they said good bye to their friends and came back up to the campsite. 

We had another great evening of roasting marshmallows, making S'mores and drinking hot chocolate. It had been a long day and everyone was tired so we didn't stay up too late. With all the excitement of the day, everyone slept well that night. 

The next day we had to pack up to go home. We took down the tents and rolled up the sleeping bags. Of course we had to release the air from the inflatable boats that we had used the day before. What better way to empty the air than to just lie on them and relax in the sun while you wait. 

After everything was all packed up we decided to make one last stop before leaving the park. We thought it would be nice to take the kids to the Visitor Centre to see the displays inside. The kids were very interested in seeing the stuffed bear that was on display. Hunter had his own stuffed bear that he wanted to bring in with him to compare his to the real thing.  

As we walked from the parking lot to the building we encountered a garter snake that was trying to make its way from the pavement to the woods. 

We spent about 20 minutes looking at the various displays of taxidermy animals inside the Visitor Centre. The kids loved it. It was a nice way to finish off the trip. We have had fun at this park two years in a row now.  Next year we think we may change it up and go someplace different. Marten River perhaps. I guess we will see what next year brings. 

Back again!  Same site (# 169) and same friends as last year  at Samuel De Champlain Provincial Park. This time we decided to come a bit earlier in the season so that we could have the opportunity to go in the water if we wanted to. Last year we went in September and it was too cold. But today is a beautiful day for camping and the whole weekend promises to be good too. 

Danielle and Marvin arrived just before supper and brought with them their brand new tent. It was the first time they had ever put it up so, it was exciting. 

It is a nice large tent. Lots of room. Perfect when you have kids and need your space. 

While we were setting up camp, the kids were already getting out their frog catching nets. This is one past time that they never get tired of. 

It was not long before they were down at the beach and catching frogs. This is where they are happiest. 

While the kids hunted for frogs, I hunted for flowers. There were white water lilies in bloom. 

And purple Pickerelweed flowers were also floating in the water. 

For Hunter's birthday I bought him a toy tennis set. This game came is a very close second to the frog catching. It was good to have something else to grab their attention so that the frogs could have a bit of a rest once in awhile. 

But the frogs don't get much reprieve when the boys are around. Even night time is frog catching time! 

Frogs aren't the only ones trying to avoid their nets at night. The minnows have to be careful not to get caught too. Of course anything caught in the nets are always released a short while later. 

Another little critter that caught their interest this night was a slug that was sliding along on a damp log. 

Eventually we were able to pull the kids away from the lake and over to where we had the fire going. 

We had thrown some colour changing packets into the fire to make the flames change to blues, and pinks, and greens. It was a rainbow of colours dancing in the dark. 

We got out the chocolate and marshmallows and made ourselves a bunch of S'mores. It was tricky to do in the dark by the light of a flashlight, but we managed. And they tasted delicious! 

After washing our sticky hands and brushing our teeth it was time for bed. There is talk of doing a hike and possibly taking a ride down the river on our inflatable boats. So we need to get rested up for a big day tomorrow. 

We slept well and we were warm and cozy. There were no mice to be seen when we woke up. 
It was a bit of an over cast day, but there was no rain. 
After eating breakfast, we began our "Amazing Race" all over the park starting at where yesterday's last clue took us, which was the Kettle Trail. 

We did not see our next clue at the trail head so we figured maybe it was at the half way point.  It was a good excuse to go for a hike. 

The trail is a big circle. We decided to start on the right leg of the trail. It led us down to one of the small kettle lakes called Pine Lake.

Down one of the embankments we noticed a rather large hole that looked like the den of some medium sized animal. It was too big for a chipmunk or snake, It looked more like the size of something that could house a rabbit or a groundhog. There was no scat around or other signs pointing to whose homeit was, so we never did find out. 

The bunch berries that earlier in the year had white flowers were now sporting red berries in their place. 

Not many trees were changing the colours of their leaves just yet, but those that were changing, were quite beautiful. 

Off in the distance, we could see a beaver lodge. 

The trail led us closer to it so that we could get a better view, but we didn't see any beavers. 

Way out in the long marsh grasses we could see some pitcher plants growing. 

The Kettle Trail, after leaving the marsh area, turns into a wide open space on either side of the trail. It looked as though there was a carpet of green. We had gone more than half way around the trail and we still had not found the next clue yet. 

We may not have seen much in the way of animals, but we did find some interesting looking mushrooms.  

And these caterpillars were also in abundance. 

Near the end of the trail there was a little bench to sit on and take a rest. We didn't rest though. We were on a mission. We had to find that clue. 

We were almost at the very end of the trail. We could see our parked car at the side of the road. And then we found it. The clue was located right at the exist. We laughed because if we had taken the left leg of the trail instead of the right leg then we would have found it right away.  But that's ok because then we wouldn't have gone on a nice hike. 

Our next clue led us to Hughes Lake. 

This lake is one of the biggest lakes in the park. 

We figured that this one would be worth taking a canoe out to see more of it. But we were too busy with our clues right now for that.  We quickly and easily spotted our clue and didn't stay long before we were in the car and on our way again. 

The next clue had us drive down a long winding road to the opposite end of the park where we came to  us to Point Lake. 

Point Lake had a large picnic area and a beach. 

It had a firepit with the initials of the park engraved on it. Actually, that was part of our clue; to look for this particular fire pit. 

Point Lake was not as large as Hughes Lake, but it was still one of the larger lakes in the park. It would probably be fun to take a canoe out in this lake too. 

It had a set of bathrooms up a ways away from the lake.  

The were just your regular non-flushing vault toilets.  Nothing fancy. 

We grabbed our next clue which took us down another lonely dirt road to our next destination. The only people we saw down this road was an older couple who had stopped to pick blueberries  and a ministry truck that passed us by. Other than that, it was nothing but trees.

This road led us to the Oh-Say-Yah-Wah-Kaw  Trail. 

It would have been nice to hike another trail but we had already done one and the sky was getting grey and looking like it might rain. So we decided not to hike this one today. Besides, it would give us something to do the next time we came to the park. And we are definitely planning on coming back.  Instead we found our next clue, which was not hard to find, and we continued on to our next stop. 

The next clue brought us to a horseshoe pit.  This is a nice set up for horseshoes that they have here. there are 4 pits and some benches so that people can sit and watch the games. 

The horseshoe pits are located in the part of the park where the regular campsites are.  There were a few more roads in here instead of just one straight one, so we got a little bit turned around.  But eventually we found our clue and continued on tot he next stop. 

Our next stop was Island Lake. This lake has one of the main beaches on it. It is walking distance from many of the campsites. 

To get down to the beach you go down a set of stairs. 

This beach isn't very big but it has a couple picnic tables and a bouyed area for swimming. 

To the left there was a rack of rental canoes and one of the paddle boats that you can also rent. 

One of the clues sent us to Slab Lake which was the same place that we had gone for the presentation on loons the evening before.  This lake had the main day-use beach with a huge picnic area, a playground for the kids, and a comfort station. 

Not too far away from the comfort station, just up on top of a hill, was the amphitheater.  It was close to the comfort station so I did take a moment to take a quick peek at it.  It was cute and with the benches being on a hill, the audience would easily be able to see the stage below. 

I went back tot he car and we headed down the dirt road towards our next clue. 

This brought us to the Bike Trail. Julie and I got out of the car to look for the clue while Anika parked the car. 

Julie found it first. It was attached to the post of the big trail head sign.  This was our last clue and now we had all the letters we needed to finish our puzzle and find out what the secret message was. 
While she was reading, I took a look around. This trail looked wide and open. It had a red gate across the entrance that kept cars out but left enough room for bikes and hikers to get by. 

The trail consists of 3 connecting loops . The smallest loop is 2 km, the medium loop is 5.5 km and the largest loop is 8 km. We didn't have bikes with us but perhaps one day when we come back we will bring some bikes with us.  Or perhaps, one day we will just walk it on foot. 

Near the trail head sign was a picnic table. The forest floor was a carpet of green. 

Upon closer look we realizes that this carpet of green was actually all blueberry bushes!  So many blueberry bushes!  The older couple that we drove by on the road earlier would be in heaven if they had come here to pick their blueberries. They could have had sooo many! And a picnic table to sit down at when they got tired. 
Now that we know where this treasure trove of blueberries is, we will have to make a point of coming here to pick some next year. We could have blueberry pancakes for breakfast. 

While we were exploring the area nearby, we came across a strange little building.. We had no idea what it was for.  A note on the door said it was the "Assistant Superintendent And Resource Steward's Office" .  That is quite a mouthful of a title. Try saying  that 5 times fast!  

Outside the ​Assistant Superintendent And Resource Steward's Office was a phone booth.  You rarely see those anymore!

We were curious to see if it still had a working phone in it. So, we went to take a peek inside. It did! 

With our puzzle figured out and our secret message in hand, we headed over to the Visitor Center. That is where the puzzle directed us to go. 

On the wall outside the Visitor Center there was a big bulletin board made of plexiglass. 

This was the final stop for our Amazing Race. We had a great time finding the clues and we thought that this was a fabulous way to get people to see most of the park. Especially when many people probably wouldn't normally explore much past their own campsites. We thought it was a very creative and fun way to get people out there and moving around a bit. 

Since we were already there, we decided to go inside the Visitor Centre to see what it was like. There were all sorts of tables set up with different nature displays. And there was Sarah, the staff member who had done the presentation on loons the night before. Today she was telling all the kids and visitors about the different displays. She had a wealth of knowledge to share. I stopped to talk to her for a few moments. I had noticed that there was a collection of old birds nest in a display in a corner. I remembered the empty birds nest we had found near the bathroom up at the cabin. So, I asked Sarah if she would like us to bring it to the Visitor Centre to add to the collection. She said no and that it would be best to just put it in the bush so that the other animals and birds could take it apart and recycle its materials to make new nests of their own. So I did that once we got back to the cabin. 

While Sarah talked to some of the other visitors, we wandered around and checked thigs out.  I liked the "Touch Table". It was filled with thigs like animal furs, and deer antlers, and feathers and many other things that could be picked up and examined up close. 

There was a display of various animal bones. There were also some taxidermy birds. It was interesting to see just how big a loon is in comparison to a duck or a Canada Goose. Loons are surprisingly big. 

There were also displays about insects and plants. There were bookshelves full of books on various nature topics. There were also brochures and kids coloring books that you could take home for free. I took a couple of the activity books and a couple of business card sized magnifying glasses to give to some kids that I would be camping with in just a few days from now. It is something that I knew the kids would love. 

Even the ceiling inside the Visitor Centre had something you could learn about!  There were paintings of the constellations all over the ceiling. 

Now that our Amazing Race was over and we had seen all there was to see inside the Visitor Centre, we headed back to the cabin. We were getting hungry and it was past time for our lunch.

We ate our lunch out on the desk and relaxed in our chairs and soaked up some sun for a bit. But the canoe was calling to us and we finally decided to go for a canoe ride. 

There were life jackets in the corner of the cabin, however, they were a bit old and didn't fit the best. Plus there were only 2 of them and 3 of us. We will have to remember to bring our own life jackets the next time we come.  As an alternative to one of the life jackets, we decided to inflate one of the tubes that we had brought with us. We knew it wasn't a great substitute for a life jacket but it was certainly better than nothing. So we went with it. 

The lake itself was pretty small. It took hardly any time at all to get to the other side. We were surprised to find that what we had thought was a log on the other shore, was actually a dock. There was also a cabin over there too. We had been under the impression that we were the only ones on this lake but it turns out that we were actually sharing the lake. We had heard a guitar the previous night and had seen a light from this direction. Now we knew where it was coming from. We don't know if this is someone's private property or if it is where the staff go when they are not working. Either way, we had no intention of pulling up to the dock. Instead we just paddled on by. 

That was when we noticed the mama loon and her two babies. We made sure to keep our distance so that we didn't spook them or stress them out. As we paddled around we found a few wooden boxes that were submerged under water. We thought that it was a bit strange and wondered what they were for. Later on, we did some research and found out that the submerged boxes used to to be old nesting boxes for the loons. They were no longer needed by the loons so they were abandoned and eventually they got water logged and sunk. 

After reaching shore, we decided to go for a walk to the ed of our road way and see if we could see the beaver at Heart Lake. We didn't see any beaver today but we were not ready to go back yet so instead we walked to the next lake, which was Spring Lake. 

From the road we could see what looked to be a wooden wall. We were curious to see what it was. perhaps it was the foundation of an old boat house or something. 

When we arrived, we found it to be some sort of support wall to keep the dirt from falling into the lake. 

There was a set of stairs that led right down to the waters edge. I am assuming this is some sort of boat or canoe launch. We really didn't know for sure; it was just our best guess. 

Spring Lake is a small lake. It is even smaller than the one our cabin is on. It was very quiet and there was no one else around. 

The only one who seemed to notice that we were there was a little Green Frog. 

We still weren't ready to head back yet, so we continued walking to the next lake, Hughes Lake. We had been here earlier that day on our Amazing Race, but now we were less rushed and had more time to take look around. 

We noticed a bird house out in the middle of the lake. We wondered if anything was living in it. 

​By now we were ready to head back to the cabin. We had been walking quite a bit today and we were starting to get tired. The idea of getting back to the deck and putting our feet up for awhile was seeming rather appealing. 

On the way back we discovered a side trail off to the side of the road.  I was curious, so while Anika waited by the road, Julie and I took a quick walk down the path to see where it led.  Before we got too far, we were startled by the wooshing sound of the flapping of wings as a couple of Ruffed Grouse made a mad dash for the higher branches of the trees.  It made me jump because I wasn't expecting it. 

The path was a short one and it lead to the road outside the boundary of the park. So we turned around and went back to where Anika was. Apparently while we were gone, Anika had the opportunity to see a humming bird fly by. 

When we reached the private road to the cabin, we noticed a path that we had over looked before. Anika and Julie were tired of walking so they headed back to the cabin. However, my curiosity urged me to explore this path despite my energy levels starting to wane.  

Unlike the path that had the grouse on it, this path was much longer. It went through the pine trees and through the ferns. 

Eventually the ferns turned into scrub brush. There were some fallen logs but the path was pretty easy to navigate. There were some foot prints and dog tracks in the dirt and I could tell that this trail was probably used by some local people who most likely lived just outside the park boundary and used this path as a personal dog walking path. I thought about how lucky they were to be able to live so close to a provincial park to be able to do that. 

The trail ended at a road and at the park boundary. there were big blue signs posted tovlet you know where the park begins and that you couldn't hunt or ride ATVs past that point. 

With my curiosity satisfied, I turned around and headed back to the cabin. On the way back I noticed a piece of an old fence off to the side of the trail.  I hadn't noticed it when I passed by the first time. I might not have noticed it this time either because it was so over grown with plants, if it wasn't for a little squirrel that was climbing over it. I thought it strange that this one piece of fence and no other pieces was way out here in the bush with no particular purpose that could immediately be found. It was a bit of an oddity. 

When I arrived back to the cabin, Anika was getting ready to cook us some hotdogs on the BBQ.  Julie made some home made nachos to go with the hotdogs and voila.... we had a quick and easy glamping meal! It was delicious! 

After supper, we spent the rest of the evening playing board games until it was time to get ready for bed. We didn't see our mice friend all evening while we played our board games. 

However, when we went outside to go to the bathroom and to brush our teeth, up in the rafters of the bathroom roof, there was a mouse!  This mouse was bigger and a much more lighter colour grey than the other two had been. We left the mouse to its own devices and headed off to bed to get some sleep.

But the story of the mice does not end there....  We may not have seen the mouse from the night before in the cabin all evening, but he was still there. He made his appearance in the wee hours of the morning after we were all in bed. At about 6 in the morning I was awakened to the sounds of Julie and Anika talking about the mouse. The mouse had been running around inside the cabin for hours and was keeping them awake. Apparently it had run up on the bed and had run right across Anika. In the dim light of the morning I could see it sitting near the door. So I climbed out of the top bunk and grabbed a blanket and tried to catch it and throw it outside like I did with his brother the day before.  The blanket landed right on top of him and I was sure that I had caught him. Unfortunately, when i went to scoop him up he escaped from under the blanket and ran under the bed.  I sat there in the semi darkness for the longest time just waiting for another opportunity to throw the blanket on him. But the opportunity never came. I guess he decided that he was tired and was going to hide in whatever hidey hole he had. He never came out again. When it was almost 8 a.m. I finally gave up waiting for him to show himself. By this time I figured there was no point in going back to bed. We had to be out of the cabin by 10 and we still had to pack up. So, although we were all pretty tired, we decided to just get up and get packed up. Despite the mice, we had an excellent time and we will definitely come back. But next time, we will bring a live trap with us..... just in case. 

This trip was a Glamping Getaway trip.  Just three of us; my sister, Anika, our friend, Julie, and myself.  We were headed to Kettle Lakes Provincial Park and instead of a tent, we had rented a cabin. We had been looking forward to a much needed rest from the busy world.

Since this was going to be a luxury trip for us, and we wanted to be as lazy as we possibly could, we decided that we didn't want to have to do much cooking. So, we stopped at a Subway along the way and bought some subs to bring along with us to eat for supper.

We arrived at the gatehouse at about 3:30 pm. The staff was super friendly and made us feel very welcome. 

Inside the gatehouse is a little store. It had the usual souvenirs and such. The clothing was quite pricey though. They were asking $85 for a basic zip-up hoodie, which is about twice the price I would have been willing to pay for one. 

They did have the sticker for the provincial parks passport book though. I got the last one for Kettle Lakes because my sister let me have it.  They also had stickers for a couple other parks there too (Kap-Kig-Iwan, and Tidewater). 

We just happened to arrive at a time when they were doing an Amazing Race in the park. They were running it for the month of August.  You got your puzzle page from the gatehouse and then you followed the clues around the entire park and looked for letters to fill in your puzzle.  We are puzzle lovers so we were excited to play.  Plus it was a great way to see the whole park!

We got our keys from the gatehouse and then drove a short distance to the little road that leads up to the cabin. Julie hopped out of the car to unlock the gat for us. 

Attached to the gate was a mailbox with a combination lock on it. We had no idea what this was for. Our best guess was a place to leave the keys when you were leaving if the gatehouse wasn't open. But we didn't know for sure. 

There are two sides to the gate that can be swung open. If you drive carefully, you can get away with opening just one side though. 

We drove down the dirt road and passed a sign that said "Cabin occupants only". This made us feel special; like it was our own private "No Trespassing" sign or something. 

We pulled up into the parking lot and got out of the car and put our permit in the holder on the post. The cabin is site # 200. 

We just stood there in the driveway looking around for  moment and already we were in love with the place. This place seemed to have just about everything! 

At one end there was a ramp for those who used a wheel chair or walker. 

There was a wide open, grassy area between the washroom and the cabin.  We didn't put it to much use on this trip.  But now that we know it is there, we will probably bring a game of Croquet or Bocce Ball the next time we come. (And yes, we plan on there being a next time!)

There was a fire pit with both a bench and a picnic table to sit at. 

And there was even some wood that someone left behind for us. Although, truth be told, we never did make a fire. So, I guess the wood was actually left for the people that would arrive after us. 

The cabin is not huge or anything, but it was the perfect size for a peaceful getaway. It had a deck and some chairs to sit on. It was very cute. 

We eagerly opened the door with the key to see what it was like inside. 

It has a little closed in porch that housed a couple more chairs if we needed them. 

The key to the first door also opened the second door that led to the main part of the cabin. There were 2 keys on the keychain. One for the cabin doors and one for the gate.

We opened the door and were very happy with what we found on the other side. The whole cabin was made of cedar planks and logs. The floor was a dark brown faux wood finish. It was beautiful!  And it was very clean!

To the left was a double bed.  This was where Anika would sleep. 

To the right was a bunk bed with a double bunk on the bottom and a single bunk on the top.  Julie would take the bottom bunk and I would take the top bunk. 

There was a little wooden night stand between the two sets of beds. 

Across the room was a round wooden dining table and 5 chairs. 

To the right was a gas fireplace with a mirror above it. 

On the mantle was a lamp, a battery operated lantern, and a few other items. There was a sign that told us that the cabin was run on solar power. 

There was also a guest book where we could write what we thought about our stay and read what other people had wrote. But we didn't have time for that right now. We were too busy checking out the rest of the place and getting settled in. 

On the other side of the room were some empty shelves, a cabinet with some pots and pans in it, a drawer with some BBQ utensils in it, a mini fridge, and a small vacuum off to the side that was plugged into the wall.
 
The only thing that was missing that would have been convenient was a microwave.  We had anticipated that there would be a microwave and Anika had brought some microwavable popcorn, but we could easily do with out it. We were still very happy with the place. 

Stepping back outside onto  the deck we surveyed the scene before us. In front of us was our own private lake!  It was a small lake with an unflattering name (Irrigation Lake), but we didn't have to share it with anyone except the loons. 

And there was a whole family of loons on this lake. There were the parents and 2 baby loons. 

It was so peaceful knowing that we had it all to ourselves. We could feel the stress of the busy world just start to melt right off of us. 

The lake wasn't very deep as far as lakes go. But it was deep enough to swim in and there was a sandy part that was perfect for swimming. 

It wasn't perfect though. There were signs on both sides of the beach that warned of Poison Ivy. 

And on the left side, the edges were just over run with it. So much Poison Ivy.  But we kept clear of it (thanks to the signs) and we didn't have any itchy incidents while we were there. 

Instead we enjoyed the other plants in the area like these Pearly Everlastings. 

In the sand I could see the track of a snake that had gone by earlier from one side of the beach to the other. 

In the water there were small black minnows and some water bugs playing in the leaves of the water plants. 

Above the water flew a few Bluet Damselflies. 

At the beach we  had our very own canoe and kayak that came with the cabin. 

The bathroom was a quick walk not far from the cabin. When we were  booking the cabin the description on the website had made it seem as though the bathroom was quite far from the cabin but it really isn't. 

The cement floors were interesting to look at because there were leaf impressions in. You cold tell that when they had poured the concrete for the floors that some leaves had blown into the wet cement before it had a chance to fully dry. This actually made it look more artistic and almost as though it had been done on purpose. 

Outside, on the ground, was an empty bird's nest that someone seemed to have taken down from one of the walls. Later on when we read the guest book in the cabin, we found out that it used to belong to a family of Robbins. The babies had long since grown up and flew away. 

There were two sinks with cold running water outside the stalls and a soap dispenser. We realized that there were no paper towels though. So we have to remember to bring some the next time we come. 

Just outside the cabin is a water faucet since there is no running water inside the cabin itself.

After settling in we spent a great deal of time just sitting in chairs out on the deck talking and enjoying the sunshine. 

We sat around until we became hungry. Then we went in and grabbed our submarine sandwiches and ate an early supper out on the deck. 

After supper, I decided to go for a walk by myself down the road that we had come in on. I was hoping to maybe see some birds or some wildlife. 

I didn't have to wait too long. I hadn't gone very far at all when a Meadow Vole ran across the road right in font of me. It stopped for a brief moment and just stared at me before moving very quickly into the safety of the under brush at the side of the road. 

The purple pink blossoms of Fireweed lined the side of the road and caught the rays of the evening sun.

I found an old abandoned bees nest in the middle of the road. I wondered how it got there. I looked up into the trees to see if I could see where it had come from, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

At the end of the road, not far from the gate we had unlocked to get to the cabin, there was another lake. Heart Lake.  I couldn't believe how close this second lake was. 

This lake was super tiny. Even smaller than our lake up at the cabin. 

As I approached the water's edge I noticed something swimming around in it. At first it was fairly close to me but the closer I got, the further away it swam, naturally. 

It was a beaver. I looked around for it's lodge but I couldn't see one. I watched it for awhile. It seemed to be hanging out near a bunch of fallen birch trees. It would go up to the shore, take a birch branch and drag it into the water. It kept doing this over and over.  I don't think it was building a lodge. I think it was just storing some food. 

I stayed there watching the beaver until an older  gentleman pulled up in a pickup truck. He got out of the truck and proceeded to dig out some fishing gear. We had a nice chat about fishing and about the beaver. Then I headed back to the cabin and left him in peace to try his luck at catching something.

Back at the cabin, we were getting prepared to go see a presentation on loons. We donned our bug spray, grabbed our comfy blankets to wrap around us and keep the evening chill off of us, and grabbed our map of the park. The presentation was at Slab Lake at 8 pm.

We were a bit early so we decided to explore the park a little an also to see if we could find more clues to the Amazing Race puzzle. One of  the clues took us to a trail near the Pet beach. Julie hopped out of the car and ran to get the clue for us. 

We figured that since we were there and we had some time to kill anyways, we may as well go check out the Pet beach. 

It was empty at this time of day since it was getting later in the evening.  The Pet beach was pretty nice. It had a couple picnic tables and a bench. It was on a small lake with a nice sandy beach the was fairly shallow and perfect for pets to play in the water. 

This lake was larger than the one at the cabin. Across this lake I could see a swimming area for humans and I could see some people taking an evening swim over there. 

Although there were no pets at the beach at the moment, there were signs that some had been there not too long ago. 

There were also signs that some sort of bird had been there too. 

We stopped for a minute or two to admire the pink Water Smartweed in the water before continuing on our way to the loon presentation. 

At slab lake we pulled into the parking lot across from a large covered picnic area. 

At the top of the picnic shelter was a bat box.  We didn't see any bats though. 

A blue Discovery flag signaled to us that we were in the right place. Anika and Julie went to the nearby comfort station while I continued on alone to get us some seats. 

The beach on Slab Lake is one of the main beaches in the park.  In the distance I could see kids having fun on the playground equipment. 

I spotted a small gathering over by the picnic tables and headed over.  There was a fire going in the fire pit and people were chatting as they waited for more people to show up. There were 2 staff members there. Sarah, introduced herself and told us that she would be doing the presentation. Hailey was there to assist. 

I found a good spot to sit. As we waited Hailey came around with Park Review questionnaires.  I filled one in as I waited.  Eventually Anika and Julie joined me. They were excited because they had found another clue for the Amazing Race up at the comfort station. 

Sarah had a large map mounted on a board and she came around to each person and asked what park was their favourite park in Ontario. Then she would put a red sticker on that park. I chose Bon Echo as my favourite park but the majority of the people there chose Kettle Lakes as their favourite. 

Eventually enough people came that Sarah could get started on her presentation about loons. I learned a lot from her.  I learned that loons can dive as much as 80 meters (240 feet). They mate for life, and they always return to the same lake each year. This is called "lake fidelity". 

Sarah played us some different loon calls and explained what each call meant when the loons were communicating. 

It wasn't just the loons we learned about. I also learned that there were 22 lakes in Kettle Lakes park. 20 of them were spring fed and 2 of them had an outside water source. 

Sarah did a wonderful job as presenter.  All in all, it was an interesting presentation and we were glad to attend it. 

When we got back to the cabin we could hear the loons calling outside our door on the lake. It was interesting to now know what those calls actually meant. 

We set up a board game on the dining table and began playing. But then ,out of the corner of my eye I saw a small dark shape moving in the corner near the fridge. "Was that a mouse?" I asked.  Sure enough there was a little mouse running around. It was quite dark in colour, almost black, with tiny pink feet.  And it was small and absolutely adorable. 

​What I didn't know until that moment is that Julie is afraid of mice.  So, where normally I probably wouldn't have thought twice about the mouse being there, I figured that for her sake I had probably better catch it and put it outside.  

So, how do you live trap a mouse when you are in a cabin in the woods and have no live trap with you? Well, you have to get creative. I started off with a pot and piece of cardboard hoping to scoop it up or use the pot like a net.  It soon became clear, after failed attempts,  that it was not going to work and that I would have to come up with a different tactic. 

It was about this time that we realized that we did not have one mouse in the cabin, but two!  Now I had my work cut out for me. 

​I switched gears from a pot to using a light weight blanket that I planned to throw on top of the mice and scoop them up and carry them out side.  There were not a whole lot of places to hide in the cabin and yet they were proving to be difficult to catch because they still managed to hide. We couldn't figure out where they were getting to. 

Then all of a sudden we saw one climbing the metal grate of the gas fire place!  That was when I rushed over and put my blanket trap into action.  And it worked! I managed to scoop the little mouse into the blanket and I took him outside and released him into the yard. Off he went under the cover of the darkness of the night.

The second one, however, was not to be caught so easily. He was either smarter or more shy. Either way, I couldn't catch him. We tried to coax him out of hiding by placing a cherry on the floor. It almost worked. He came out for the cherry and grabbed it and dragged it under the bed where I couldn't reach him. We had to laugh though, because the mouse was about the same size as the cherry. So when he went to drag it away he struggled with it and decided to hop with it in his mouth. Soon we were giggling as this mouse was bouncing around with a cherry that was way too big for him. It was quite comical.  Unfortunately he was doing this under furniture so I was not able to throw the blanket over him.  

He too climbed the grate on the fire place but I didn't get to him on time so he actually made his way right inside the fire place and he wouldn't come out. We could see his tiny face once in awhile as we shined the flashlight in the crack he had crawled into, but he wouldn't come out and we couldn't get the grate off. 

The pilot light was on in the fire place but the flames were not high. Besides, he had found a place that was actually in the walls of the fireplace that had zero access for a human unless you wanted to take a crowbar to it.  So, by the time bedtime came around we had given up on catching him for the night. We would try again tomorrow. 

​Poor Julie. I offered to switch bunks with her but she decided to be brave and she stayed on the bottom bunk.   I am sure that she spent the night worrying about whether the mouse would climb into bed with her in the middle of the night. It didn't take me long to fall asleep though as I listened to the sounds of the loons calling out to their babies.  It had been a really good day and we were snug in a cozy cabin. Life is good!