We woke up to the sounds of a huge thunder storm. There was lightning and peals of thunder crashing all around us. The wind was something to be reckoned with.  Our tent was flapping all around and I was sure that it was going to come crashing down on us at any moment. It wasn't even supposed to rain at all, and yet here we were wondering if the tent was going to hold up. 

After about a half an hour, the storm subsided and we could finally hear the waves on the beach again that we weren't able to hear during the storm.  We heard the first cry of a sea gull telling us it was ok to come out.​

We opened the tent door to discover the dining tent had moved in the wind. Half of what had been inside was now outside and was soaked. Penny's hiking boots had been in the dining tent. Now we were literally pouring out the water that had collected inside of them. 

The fire pit was now surrounded by a little lake.  

What was just as surprising as the storm was how quickly it got hot and muggy.  It was only about fifteen minutes later that the sun was out in full force and drying everything up. It was a good thing too because we had to pack up today and go to a different park. 

We started to lay everything out on my car and on Carsten's car to dry.  I kid you not, you could literally see the steam coming off some of the items as they dried, that's how hot it was.  It was amazing how fast everything dried out. 

After the storm, the birds were very happy. Robins were out looking for worms in the drenched  grass. 
A couple of Merganser ducks were swimming contentedly in the lake. 

The rain had also brought about a surprisingly quick bloom of certain fungi and mushroom.  Where there had been none the day before, all of a sudden there was an ink cap mushroom growing by the bathrooms. 

To our delight, we were fortunate enough to see a  Baltimore Oriole.  Its vibrant orange and black colouring made it easy to spot. However, the fact that it wouldn't sit still for more than a few seconds, made it incredibly hard to get a decent photo. 

It continued to dart around back and forth and sing quite loudly. 

It wanted all eyes on him. But not because he was vain. He had a very different reason to want our attention. 

He was trying to divert our attention away from a cute little fledgling that was hiding in the branches of a near by tree.

The fledgling sat still and just waited patiently and quietly. 

Well, mostly patiently and quietly. When its dad came near it would open its mouth in anticipation of food and would make some calls saying "feed me please!"  If it wasn't for that, I might not have even noticed it was there. 

But once I spotted the fledgling I knew that the dad would not go far. So, I was able to just have some patience and sit and wait for the dad to come back whenever he disappeared. 

The downy feathers on its belly looked more like fur than feathers. 

We sat and watched them for a very long time. And they watched us right back. 

Eventually we had to leave them because we had to finish packing up so that we could get to the next park that we were heading to today -  Sandbanks Provincial Park. 

I really didn't want to leave Darlington. But at the same time I was curious to see what Sandbanks would be like. By 2 pm we were packed up and ready to go.  We said goodbye to Darlington and headed out to our next adventure. 

We woke up to the sounds of the Mourning Doves calling and the waves crashing on the beach below us. It was heavenly! 

It was such a beautiful morning. The yellow Meadow Salsify flowers seemed to be shining as bright as the sun. Penny said that she had been up earlier that morning and that it had down poured for about 5 minutes. You couldn't even tell it had rained at all at this point. 

The Robins were hopping around in the grass looking for their breakfast. 

I spotted a Spotted Wood Wasp on the screen of our tent. I had never seen one before and was intrigued by its white antennae and white spots on the underside of it. 

Today was the perfect day to do some hiking.  We decided upon starting with the Burk Trail.  It was not too long and we were interested in seeing the cemetery that is along the trail. 

We didn't drive there. It was within walking distance of our campsite. We walked the roads until we got to the trailhead. 

Most of the trail is a wide, easy to walk path nestled under the shade of the cedar trees and pines. 

Every once in awhile the trail crosses the road and continues on the other side. 

We didn't have to go very far before we arrived at the little historical cemetery.  It was fenced off with just a single head stone in it. 

However, there was more than one person buried here.  There were multiple members of the Burk family here. This family is who the trail is named after. 

Not far away from the cemetery we came across a sign that informed people that they too could scatter the ashes of their loved ones in this park.  It was an odd sign to see and I have never seen a sign like it in any other park that I have visited so far. 

We saw some plants that looked kind of pretty with yellow spots on the leaves, Unfortunately, the spots are not actually part of the plants natural colouring. It is something called "mayapple rust" which is a fungal parasite that forms tiny bright orange cups on the underside of leaves and shows through the tops of the leaves as yellow spots. 

A little further up the trail we came to what they have labeled as a "look out" on the trail map.  There is a cute little balcony area and a picnic table, however, I would personally not call this a "look out" .  where there may have once been a view of some sort , the trees have grown too tall to allow for a far off scenic view anymore. It is still a pretty spot to stop and take a break though. 

We stopped for a rest here and we saw a female cardinal on the ledge of the railing. It flew off too quickly for me to get a picture of it though. As a matter of fact we saw cardinals many times while we were in Darlington Park, but I was never able to get a picture. For a bird so brightly coloured, they sure are camera shy. 

From the look out railing we could see the trail below us. It looked more like an old road than a trail. That was fine by us though because it meant easy walking. 

At the lookout there is an intersection where you can choose to go north where the trail joins up with the Waterfront Trail or south where it joins up with the McLaughlin Trail.  We chose to go to the McLaughlin Trail. 

Where the Burk Trail and the McLaughlin trail connect the trees are large and shady, which was perfect because this was turning out to be a super hot day. 

Through the trees we could see the tall grasses and gleaming waters of McLaughlin Bay. 

It was the entrance to a beautiful marsh land area. 

There was a little side trail that took us right down to the waters edge. 

It was so peaceful and beautiful. As we stood by the water looking around , there was some movement far out in the water that caught our attention. We could make out some white forms moving in the water. 

To our surprised we realized that it was a mother Mute Swan with her cygnets following close behind. 

She had five little cygnets and they all swam in a straight line behind her. 

We watched the swans for awhile, but then something else caught our attention.  There was a Midland Painted turtle out sunning itself on a log. 

Eventually we looked up from the turtle and noticed that there were even more Mute Swans and these ones were even closer to us. 

Darlington Park is a birders paradise.  There are so many different varieties of birds here. Many of them are here to nest and raise their young. 

​A female Red Winged Blackbird was perched in the tree above our heads. 

While a male Red Winged Blackbird was catching insects on a log near the water. 

There was some other duck like bird swimming in the water. Not sure what it was. Perhaps a duck? Perhaps a Cormorant? 

In the water the Pumpkin Seed Sunfish were swimming around. Their colouring is perfect camouflage for them. 

In case you can't see the Sunfish in the picture above, I have altered the lighting in this picture so that you can see exactly where it is. 

By now the mother swan had safely guided her cygnets to their nest on the far side of the bay.  We could barely make out the shape of her through the tall reeds and grasses. 

The tall grasses on this side of the bay waved in the breeze as I stood for a moment taking in the whole picturesque effect.

But we couldn't stay in this spot all day long. We had other parts of the trail that we wanted to see. So, we made our way back to the main trail. 

The main trail had a beauty of its own.  There were many Bindweed flowers that lined the path. 

The thistles were starting to bud but hadn't quite opened yet. 

We saw a worm in a life or death struggle with an insect of some sort as it tried to carry off the worm that was about five times its size. 

There was evidence that a beaver had been in the area. 

There was also evidence of a Glodenrod Gall Fly by way of a hole in a gall where the adult had exited (or perhaps a predator had entered through the hole).

The fly's eggs are inserted near the developing buds of the plant. After hatching, the larvae migrate to an area below the plant's developing buds, where they then induce the plant's tissues to form into the hardened, bulbous chamber referred to as a gall.

A black squirrel was taking a break from the heat on a shaded branch above us. 

The trail became a bit wild and grassy. 

But then it opened up into a large open area. 

Turns out that the open area was the parking lot and one of the trail heads to the McLaughlin Bay Trail that we were already on. We had entered it at the half way point and now we were at one of the end points. 

The parking lot was empty and there was no one here but us. 

This was a beautiful spot for a picnic if you were so inclined. There was a wonderful large tree near the water with a picnic table and a BBQ pit under it. 

On the other side of the tree was an outcrop of rock and sand that led to the edge of the bay.  I am guessing that people use it as a boat launch for canoes and kayaks. 

You get a great view of McLaughlin Bay from here. 

Looking over to the left, we could see another outcrop area that had a picnic table on it. 

There were more swans over at this end of the bay too. 

And more Red Wing Blackbirds in the reeds. 

We walked down a wide grassy side trail to get to the other outcrop with the picnic table on it to see what was over there. 

There were a bunch of Pumpkin Seed Sunfish in the water on that side. 

There were also some Flowering Rushes growing along the banks of the bay. 

As we walked back we saw more kinds of Bindweed flowers. This park has all sorts of different colours of Bindweed. 

We saw the larva of  a Skeletonizing  Leaf Beetle hanging out on one of the plants. 

Back at the big tree with the picnic table under it, we sat for awhile to take a break. We had been walking for quite awhile and we were beginning to get a bit tired in the heat. 

While we sat, we watched a black squirrel romp through the grass. It had a small white tuft to its tail that made it look like it was a cross between a squirrel and a skunk. 

A Red Wing Blackbird became brave and flew down and landed on the end of the picnic table. 

A young female Robin was taking cover in the shade of a fence post. It stayed there for some time and didn't move. I think she thought that we couldn't see her if she stayed really still. 

By this time we were ready for a bathroom break. Checking our map we found that there was one near by just down a side trail. 

The bathroom was near a large covered picnic area. 

There were some wild roses growing near by. 

The trail from this point changed dramatically to one of thick trees.  It was still easy to navigate though, and we welcomed the shade. 

We came to a bridge that was just before a road crossing. The bridge looked like it was in rough shape at one end. It was warped and the boards were coming apart and we had to be careful crossing it. 

There was another bridge after that which was in much better condition. 

The lush plants growing along the edge of the little creek made it look like a carpet of green. It was a cute little fairy land area. 

We were no no longer in Darlington Provincial Park.  We had crossed the border of the park and were now in the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve. 

​The McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve borders Darlington Park. This is where Lady Google had sent us the day before instead of the park entrance.  It knew that the park border was here but it didn't know that the entrance technically wasn't, even though you could get there through the connecting hiking trails.  

We stood in the shade of the gateway to the Wildlife Reserve as we decided what we wanted to do. We had already come a long way and we still had to walk back yet.  However, we were curious about what this Wildlife Reserve had to offer. 

As we talked I looked up and saw an old abandoned nest of some Organ Pipe Mud Dauber Wasps. 

We looked at the map that was posted and found the red "You Are Here" star on it.   We decided that we would walk just a little bit of the trail to see what was there.  But not the whole thing. We would aim for "Jim's Pond" and then we would see how we felt after that. 

The Wildlife Reserve Trail was very much like an old farm road. It was wide and grassy on both sides.  From time to time you could see a bird house on a post in the middle of the grasses. 

The trail was equipped with a Port-A-Potty incase you needed one. 

There was a bench too, but it would have been nicer if the bench had been in a place where there was some shade. The sun was scorching and there was very little shade. 

We made it to "Jim's Pond" but were surprised to see that the signs called it "Greg's Pond"  I guess Jim was having an identity crisis.  On the back of the sign post was a couple more bird houses. 

The pond covered a large area and was filled with the sounds of birds and frogs. 

There was a sign pointing towards aside trail called "Beaton Path" . We declined to go down that path because we thought it might be too long.  Carsten made us laugh when he jokingly said  "Well, we are off the Beaton Path".

Instead we decided that the Dogwood Trail would be a shorter walk and it seemed to have some shade. So we made our way in that direction instead. This trail also had some Bindweed flowers growing along the sides. Once again they were a different colour and type of Bindweed. These were Field Bindweed. 

The Dogwood Trail encircled the edges of another, much smaller, pond. 

There were big Flowering Dogwoods and other trees on this trail.  (One person on iNaturalist has argued that this is not a Flowering Dogwood tree despite there being a sign below it indicating that it is. He says this is either an apple or a cherry tree. He thinks that the sign was put in the wrong spot.  Perhaps he is right. I don't know. I will let you be the judge of that). 

Many of the trees had a sign in front of it that identified the type of tree it was. The signs were written in both English and in braille.  

The bridge across the pond looked new and was aesthetically pleasing. I believe it was made out of recycled materials too, if I recall correctly. 

The little ponds had algae growing in them that may seem unsightly to some people but is actually creating a good home for its inhabitants. 

The frogs are particularly fond of it. 

And the turtles seem to like it here too. 

Among the treetops the Song Sparrows sang and flitted around. 

Other birds were singing their songs too, but I was not familiar with them all. 

Eventually we decided it was time to head back to camp and make the long trek back. 
We went back the way we had come and we got to see all the wonderful swans and visit all the beautiful spots again for a second time. 

We also got to see a few new critters along the way, like a toad hiding in the grass. 

And a Northern Crescent butterfly posing for us on some pretty pink flowers. 

I madly chased a bunch of these White Spotted Sable moths before I finally got one to land long enough to take a picture of one. They were plentiful but they are also fast and very active. 

As we left the trail a Blue Jay came to bid us farewell. 

After a long, hot, day of hiking we decided to stop at the park store to treat ourselves to some ice cream before heading back to camp. 

And when we got back to the campsite, it was chips and dip on the menu. 

While Carsten and Penny stayed at the camp to relax, I took the time to go by myself to see if I could do some birdwatching. I had just come back from a hike and here I was walking some more. Call me crazy I guess.  Sometimes I just can't sit still. 

I started searching the trees to see what birds I could find. I could hear them but I couldn't really see them through the thick foliage of the maple leaves that were striped in various shades of green. 

A cute little red squirrel kept an eye on me as he ate a peanut that someone had left for him. 

My walk took me to where the showers were. 

I took a quick peek inside. They seemed clean enough and in good repair. 

Just outside the showers was a tall lamp post. It had 2 holes in it.  The holes looked just like the ones you would see in a bird house. 

The only reason why I had given it any notice was because I saw this little House Wren land there.  At first she landed on the smaller hole at the top. But then she darted into the bigger hole at the bottom and disappeared for a bit. 

I stood and waited to see if she would come out again. I assumed that she had a nest in there. As I waited I could hear the cheerful trilling song of another House Wren. And moments later a male House Wren landed on a near by branch.  He seemed to be on look out.

As the mother came and went with food for the babies, he would sit and watch and warn if he saw any danger. 

I stayed silent and didn't move a muscle, so I was able to watch them for quite sometime before I finally got tired and headed back to camp. 

Back at camp we could see a ship out in the distance on the lake. As we looked over the cliff at the boat, it made Carsten and I want to go and explore the shores below the cliff. Penny had enough walking for one day so she chose to stay at the camp. 

We followed the shoreline to see how far we could go before we either made it back to our campsite or before we had to turn around and go back the way we came. 

Even out here on the lake we found some swans swimming past us. They were headed in the direction of the bay so they were probably on their way home for the night. 

Behind us the sun was starting to get lower on the horizon. 

A flock of seagulls were soaking up the last of the evening sun on the shore. 

The cliffs began to get taller and taller. They got steeper and steeper with a wall of loose sand between the ground and the trees at the top of them. They would be a difficult climb if we had to climb them.  We figured we would probably have to turn around. We couldn't see what was around the bend yet though so we kept going. 

When we rounded the bend we found some very large cement X's all along the shoreline. I am unsure what these are for. Looking further ahead we were not sure we would be able to get past them. 

Looking up we could see the roots of trees above us. 

To our surprise we did find a trail up to our campsite and we didn't have to turn around and go back the way we came.

We took a moment to look around and enjoy the view of the gulls silhouetted against the evening sky before attempting the climb.  

The trail actually joined up to the one that Penny and I had found on the other side of the fence when we first arrived at camp. It was a bit steep but we had been on much more difficult trails on previous backpacking trips so we were able to navigate it with a bit of effort. 

​​From the top of the cliff we turned around and looked at where we had come from. The view of the lake was as marvelous up here as it was down below. 

With all of our hiking done for the day, we settled in for an evening of board games and fun. 

We played board games until long after the sun went down. Before we knew it, it was midnight and time to turn in. 

As we walked to the washrooms to brush our teeth and get ready for bed we felt blessed to be able to see the bright orange moon in the sky above us and to have experienced such an amazing day. 

I had just gotten off the plane from London England and was now on my way towards Darlington Park for my first camping trip of the season.  I was very much looking forward to getting out there and just relaxing. 

My brother and my sister-in-law had already gone ahead of me to set up the campsite. Since I couldn't pack food for the trip because it would have probably gone bad in the trunk of my car at the airport parking lot, they were supplying all the food for me. All I really had to do was just show up. 

Having never been to Darlington Park before, I was relying on "Lady Google", as I call her,  to get me to where I needed to go. However, once again, Lady Google was not reliable.  I started to suspect something was a bit off when, at my supposed destination, there was a giant energy building instead of a park gatehouse. 

At the far end of the parking lot there seemed to be a dirt road. Perhaps that led to the park?.... It did not. 
Instead it led to the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve.  There were a lot of people and cars there. It seemed to be a popular place, but it wasn't  where I needed to be. 

Another look at the Google Map told me that the reason Lady Google sent me here was because the border of the park and the border of this Wildlife Reserve were actually joined.  Technically she brought me to the park. It just wasn't the entrance to the park. 

A quick change of description in the directions search was all that was needed to fix the situation.  As long as you either write the words "Gate House" after Darlington Provincial Park or drop a new pin in the map to where you actually need to go, it will re-route you and get you there.  Just make sure you take exit 425 and not exit 419 off the hi-way. 

The park was not all that far away.  Only a few more minutes of retracing my steps and getting onto the right road and soon I was pulling up to the window of the gatehouse.  The staff let me know that my brother had already registered and that I could go straight on through. 

My brother and my sister-in-law were waiting for me in the parking lot.  We exchanged stories about our getting misdirected by Lady Google. 

We decided to make a stop at the park store before heading to the site. I wanted to buy the Darlington Park passport sticker for my book of parks that I have been to. However, I was disappointed to find out that even though it was only June, they were already sold out. Oh well, at least I can buy them online now. 

The site I had chosen to reserve online was site number 116. Lately some of the parks no longer require a paper permit for the posts anymore. This park was one of those parks. 

The park is made up of three sections, Lakeside, Hilltop, and Cliffside.  None of the campgrounds had sites directly on the water. I had chosen Cliffside because the pictures online made it seem like there was a nice view of lake Ontario from here. 

And it didn't disappoint.  We were actually on the side of a cliff overlooking Lake Ontario, and it was beautiful. You could hear the waves crashing on the shore below and see the seagulls flying overhead. 

The sites were nice and big and easily fit our 2 cars and a very large tent, plus a dining tent. We probably could have gotten another tent or two on the site if we had needed to. 

There wasn't much of a privacy line on the border between our site and the one to our right. But there was plenty of privacy to the left and what little privacy we had on the right didn't seem to bother us really. 

We were envious of the site next to us though (site number 115) because they had this big, gorgeous tree that afforded them some shade. We did not have as much shade on our site.  We made a note to ourselves that the next time we came we would like to see if we could get that site. 

The big tree has its pros and cons. For us it would not be a problem, but if you have one of those tents on top of a car or a tall RV then you have to be careful of the low lying branches. It took this couple a little bit of maneuvering to get just the right spot under the tree where they wouldn't do any damage to their tent. 

To our left there was not road access for cars. There were two large rocks that prevented cars from driving through. You can, however, walk through that access point to get to the camp sites on the other side. This meant that our site did not have a whole lot of noisy traffic driving by all the time. It was a really nice and peaceful little spot. We were quite happy with the site. 

In the other direction,  the road led to the other campsites. There was little to no traffic and it was peacefully quiet in that direction too. Penny and I decided to walk a little ways down the road to check it out. 

The road was bordered by a fence to keep people and cars from going over the cliff.  Where the road curves and two fences join, there is a large sign warning people to stay away from the cliff edge. 

Of course, like naughty little kids, Penny and I had to test our boundaries by going on the side of the fence that we were not supposed to be on. 

Penny stayed on the path that ran close to the fence. 

While I dared to go go closer to the edge.

The view of the lake was better here and unobstructed by trees. 

I can see why there would be warning signs. There was what looked to be a possible trail down to the beach below that people had made. But it was quite steep and I wasn't going to chance it. 

I preferred to just enjoy the view from up here. 

Eventually we made our way back to the proper side of the fence and back to our campsite. 
My sister, Anika and my brother-in-law, Dean, had given me a selfie stick for Christmas that I had not had the opportunity to use yet. She said that I didn't have enough pictures of myself in my blogs. So, I decided to play around with it for a bit. Works pretty good! 

As we sat in our chairs at the campsite, it didn't take long for us to notice that there were quite a few different birds in the area than we were normally used to seeing.  Apparently this area is a favourite stop over for travelling birds and for those wanting to nest. Some of the birds we saw but I was not able to get a picture of because they wouldn't sit still long enough, like the Cardinal and some other orange bird. I was a bit disappointed by that.  But other birds were happy to spend some time near us and get their pictures taken. 

We saw a momma Grackle with her two little fledglings. 

The two fledglings were hopping along and following momma. They stopped to look for food when she did and moved along when she moved along. They were pretty cute to watch. 

A Blue Jay was making its presence known. 

We heard them before we saw them. It was the unmistakable sound of two Mourning Doves cooing to each other. The male was darker in colour.

The female was a bit lighter and rosier. Especially around the head. They both came down to join the family of Grackles in a search for insects in the grass and along the road way. 

Oh and the Robins! Robins, Robins, everywhere!  So many Robins!  Most of them were females. I am guessing that the parents had all nested here and  were just not ready to go out and make their way into the big wide world just yet. Or maybe there was just naturally a high population in this area.  I am not sure.
​There were 20 or 30 of them in the grass at any given time, especially near the comfort station where there was a wide area of grass for them to forage in. 

Penny and I took a walk down to the comfort station that was just down the road from our campsite. As we went we noticed the beautiful blooms of the Multiflora Rose growing everywhere in this park.  ​

It is a scrambling shrub, climbing over other plants to a height of 3–5 m . There were so many of them covering other plants.  It was beautiful!  It looked like the bushes were covered in snow. ​

This park had signs outside the comfort station saying  that it was a comfort station. Other parks usually show them on the map and might have directional signs but it is unusual to see one that basically says  "hey! This is the comfort station you were looking for!"  I thought it was a nice touch. 

The comfort station had plenty of room for parking (although we walked there).

There was potable water located right on the side of the building. 

To one side of the building there was a large open field with a fire pit and some benches. I would imagine this is where they hold some of their events and activities. 

Once again we saw a multitude of Robins foraging in the grass near the comfort station. 

Inside, the bathroom was remarkably clean. The only thing that looked out of place was the old hand dryer that had some peeling paint. 

As we walked back we took a look at some of the other sites that would be good for reserving for future trips. Site118 seemed particularly large and open. 

It was early evening by this point and the moon was already out despite the sun still shining brightly. 

We all wanted to take a walk down to the beach to explore and to hopefully see the sunset. There is a set of trails that connect the campgrounds together called "Campground Trail" that we decided to take. 
​Along the trail we took notice of some pink Fleabane growing along the side of the path. 

And once again we saw bushes and bushes of ​Multiflora Roses. 

They have pretty white and slightly pink flowers, but true to a rose, they also have thorns. 

We were absolutely amazed at how high these roses can climb. We even saw some growing right up to the top of some very tall pine trees. It was incredible! 

The trail we were on that connected the campgrounds would sometimes cross roads.

Next thing we knew, we were walking by the Lakeside Comfort Station. 

This one looked just as clean as the Cliffside ones and also had showers in it. . 

We came across a trail marker that told us we were heading in the right direction for the beach and that we would also pass the amphitheater and store along the way. 

There were Dames Rocket flowers dressed in both purple and in white blooms. 

The Meadow Buttercups were a brilliant yellow. 

They were particularly pretty because they were growing amongst a little white flower that looked almost like Babys Breath. It made them look like something you would see in a vase. 

But these were not Baby's Breath. They are called Bedstraws.  They are so tiny and fragile looking. 

Other tiny things were to be found here too. This Amber Snail was making its way slowly across a Maple leaf. 

The trail crossed a little wooden bridge. 

The further we went the more wilder looking the landscape seemed to get. 

The landscape eventually turned into a marshy area. I love marshes!  

The Reed Canary marsh grasses grew tall here. They had a pretty purple hue to them. 

In the midst of it all was a bat house. We didn't see any bats though. 

We took a short detour down a side path to check out the amphitheater.  It had seen better days. 

There was orange fencing around it serving as a warning that the area probably wasn't very safe. The grass grew tall and uncut all around it. I doubt it was even used anymore. 

However, the tall grass did attract a different kind of audience. A little Cottontail rabbit was quietly enjoying a meal under the tree. 

When it spotted us it high tailed it for some even taller grass. We stood still watching it for quite some time. 

I guess it didn't think we could see him because he stayed around and continued to eat the grass. 

We went back onto the main trail and noticed that it was becoming less marshy and more tree lined. 

The trail came to an end and opened up into a clearing with a log cabin off to one side. 

The log cabin was an Historical Site and had been restored by the township. The doors were locked so we couldn't go inside. 

But we could peek in the windows. We were surprised to see a large stuffed deer standing in the middle of the room. Not something you would expect to see in the middle of a log cabin. 

The trail that led to the log cabin was also a trail leading to the beach. 

There were plenty of picnic tables around as well as above ground fire pits for making a nice meal with. 

The beach was wheelchair accessible with large blue mats that allowed for wheelchairs to be able to roll over the sand. 

There had been a notice in the park brochure that the northern part of this beach was the nesting grounds of the endangered Piping Plover and that people were not allowed in that section. There were also signs right on the beach to indicate this as well. 

Although we couldn't go into the nesting grounds, we were still hoping that we would see a Piping Plover somewhere else along the beach.  The beach was long and sandy and would be welcoming to many types of shore birds. 

It was getting late and the sun was starting to set so we doubted we would see any Plovers at this time of day. 

Way off in the distance we could make out the city sky line of Toronto. 

The combination of the breeze and the clouds and the sounds of the waves on the shore made for a peaceful walk along the beach. Especially since we were the only ones there at this time of day. 

We came across a place that was sectioned off. At first I thought it might be where the Plover nests were, but upon closer inspection we noticed that it was actually sectioned off in an effort to protect the environment for other species such as monarch butterflies. 

When we got to the border of the nesting grounds, there was no mistaking it. There were ropes and signs to clearly mark the area. 

I was kind of surprised to find a spot with a sign that allowed you to walk through as long as you didn't stop.  I am not sure why anyone would need to walk in that section at all.  We didn't feel the need to walk through and we stayed on our side of the ropes. 

We never got to see any Piping Plovers the entire trip. We did get to read a little bit about them though. 

I was surprised to come across a sign that warned of hunting in the area during hunting season. I would have thought that a park that was protecting one species of bird would be protecting all the birds within its borders, But it doesn't seem to be the case. 

The sun was really starting to sink low by now and we still had to walk back to the campsite yet. So it was time to head back. 

As we walked back we noticed some white shells in the sand. Not to worry though. They weren't bird egg shells. They were turtle egg shells from nests that the hatchlings had already left. There were quite a few of these old turtle nests along the shores. 

We may have a beautiful view from the cliffside up where our campsite was, but it still didn't beat the beauty of the sunset on the beach. 

Instead of going back the way we had come we opted to go a shorter route that took us up the road instead. It also took us across a cute little walking bridge. 

The street lamps were starting to come on now in certain areas and they illuminated the trees. 

But we preferred the illumination of a campfire. So when we got back we got the fire going and we roasted marshmallows. 

When the fire had died down and the moon had come up, it was time for bed.  We were looking forward to exploring more of our darling little Darlington Park tomorrow. We had already fallen in love with this place.