On this windy but sunny morning we made plans to hike the Beaver Dam trail. The weatherman called for rain and a thunderstorm between 3 pm and 7:30 pm. So if we were going to do any hiking today it would have to be earlier in the day. Mom and I had breakfast and got ready to go. We were far enough away fromt he trail head that we had to drive there. 

Once we parked the car and got out, the first thing we noticed was that there was a section just off the side of the trail that was set aside as private property for the First Nations people. 

The trail head map gave us a general idea of what to look for and what to expect. Beavers once created dams and lodges here (known as "impounds") and changed the the landscape. They are nature's ecosystem engineers. They create wetlands that benefit both wildlife and people. 

This trail was pretty wet which shouldn't have been too surprising, It was even more so than the Swan Lake trail that we had hiked the day before. 

The cat tails and reeds were tall. Very tall. Taller than we were. 

Here and there, through the reeds you could see the open waters of the marsh and all the lily pads sitting on the surface of the water. 

Since it was the beginning of September, the leaves were turning red and orange and yellow. They were beautiful against the green backdrop of the pine trees. 

There were plenty of boardwalks on this trail, but one of the first ones that we came to was one that really made you work to get to it. The ground before it was flooded out from the recent rains. In order to get onto it I had to go around to the side and grab the first post and swing myself around and up onto it in order to avoid getting my feet soaked. 

Once we were on it though, it was worth it. It was peaceful here and it was pretty. We stayed here for a few minutes just to enjoy the quiet and to take in the view. 

A red Meadowhawk dragonfly joined us to do the same. 

The next part of the trail had a boardwalk that went through the forest. The ground was not as wet here as it is in other parts of the trail but I am guessing that there is a whole lot more water here in the spring time. 

All over this area were fuzzy, rusty-brown, Virgin Tiger moth caterpillars. These little guys were quite plentiful here. 

A fallen log made for the perfect bench to watch the caterpillars and for my mom to wait for me to catch up. 

In between the slats of the boards on the boardwalk we found some orange, jelly-like fungi, called "Witch's Butter", growing there. 

As we emerged from the trees, the area opened up to reveal blue skies and a beautiful wetland landscape.

It was about here where the trail splits into two. You can continue up the trail or take a side trail to the exit. However, if you aren't careful, you may miss the exit trail because the sign for it was lying on the ground. 

We weren't even nearly ready to end our hike yet, so we opted to continue on. The boardwalk, was so overgrown with the flowers and plants from each side that it all but disappeared beneath them. 

It was so beautiful here. Orange Jewelweed flowers lined both sides of the boardwalk and were dwarfed beneath the heights of the ever so tall cat tails. 

There were also some very tall, pink, Joe-Pye Weeds.

In some places the white Aster flowers were so plentiful that it almost looked like there was a covering of snow or a pile of cotton balls. 

Attracted to all the colourful flowers were White Admiral butterflies. 

Butterflies weren't the only ones who were biding their time here. There were many types of bees and insects here. There was one bee (not the one pictured below) that seemed to have a white face. We weren't sure if that was the bees actual face or if it was just covered in pollen (unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out so I guess we will never know). 

Eventually the boardwalk led back into the tree line again. 

But the butterflies were just as happy in the pine trees as they were in the flowers. This Grey Comma butterfly followed us for a little bit and landed on pine branches every once in awhile for a rest. 

You never know what is around the next bend when it comes to Ontario landscapes. As quickly as it went from marsh to forest, it then went from forest to rock. We climbed up a bit of a rock hill and looked down at the marsh below. 

Just as surprising as seeing butterflies in pine trees was finding frogs this high up on the rocks. And you thought that frogs were good at camouflage in the water... They were amazingly camouflaged in the moss on a rocky hill! And there was not just one frog hiding up here; there were at least 3 or 4 of them that we spotted.  

The point of interest from the top of the rocks was the Heron Rookery far below. At this time of year there were no herons nesting here. However, I am sure that come spring time there will be a number of nests here. 

As we sat on the rocks and had a snack, we were joined by a number of different visitors. It was to be expected since we were sitting in the middle of their home.  The first one to come along was a White Pine Sawfly caterpillar. I like how shiny black their heads are. 

Next was a tiny little inch worm.

And then there was a Tussock caterpillar (which you don't want to touch because their bristles can irritate and sting your skin). 

Not far from where we stopped for a snack we found a cozy little spot that had a picnic table. If we had known it was there we probably would have had our snack at the table instead. This spot is a perfect place for a picnic. I would come here again just to do that. It's quiet and it has a beautiful marsh view almost all the way around you. 

This picnic spot was also the furthest you can go on the trail, as was indicated with the "turn around and go back now" arrow that was painted on the ground. The trail is not a straight line and it does loop around until you get back to the exit sign that was lying on the ground. But it is still the furthest point on the loop. 

The next part of the trail had some very interesting root work on it. Some of the roots were entwined with each other and joined together and were far enough above ground that you could probably hide things under them. It would probably be a great place for a geocache. 

The bright yellow flowers of the Nodding Beggarticks were like little, mini-sunflowers growing near the water's edge.

Eventually the trail circled back around to the boardwalk that was lined by all the jewelweed and aster flowers. Up from the cracks of the board walk popped a garter snake. It didn't stay long and as soon as it felt the vibrations of our feet walking on the wooden boards, it dipped back down into the cracks and slithered away; probably to look for some of those camouflaged frogs we had seen earlier.

Soon we were on the exit trail towards the way out. Above our heads we could hear a hawk calling. I could barely make it out as it flew past and into the trees somewhere out of sight of the trail. 

Although that hawk did not stay to have its picture taken, this hawk did. Meadowhawk that is. This White-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly was basking in the sun under the pine trees. 

Also basking inthe sun was this little mushroom. I believe it is called a Caesar's Mushroom. 

We followed the root filled trail through the trees until we reached the exit. 

We got off the trail at a good time because the sky was starting to turn darker and the winds were picking up. We were going to get that rain we were expecting pretty soon!

It started to rain just as we got back to camp. Perfect timing!  Since it was raining, mom decided to go into her tent and take a nap and I went into mine to read for a little while.

Just before I went inside, I looked over at the neighbour's site across the road. They were still out kayaking but they must have known it was going to rain too because they prepared ahead of time by wrapping a tarp over their fire pit. Now that is good thinking. They will be able to get a fire going quickly and easily when they get back. It started raining at 4:45 pm. I could hear the thunder by 5 pm.  At 5:15 there was a big down pour and the winds really picked up. 

As I lay on my sleeping bag, reading my book, I noticed a little wasp on the roof of my tent. I was not fond of the idea of having a wasp in the tent with me. However, since it was raining and since I had nothing to capture it in, I made an agreement with it. I told it that if it stayed on the far end of the tent, away from me, then it could stay. It agreed and we co-existed in the tent in harmony. I left the door open a crack in case it wanted to leave.
​By 6 pm the storm had passed. It stopped raining at around 7 pm, just like the weatherman predicted. I left the tent to go have supper and when I came back later, I found that the wasp had left too. 

When it got dark, we once again took a walk down to the lake by the amphitheatre. The moon was just as beautiful this night as it had been the night before. The moonlight reflected and danced on the surface of the lake. All was quiet and all was peaceful. 

I woke up to the sound of rain on my tent. However, when I got out of my tent, I realized that it wasn't rain after all. It was just the residual drops of water falling from the trees after the heavy rain that we had during the night. 

Turns out that it was a good thing that we had decided to move the picnic table to the other side of the campsite and put our sleeping tents where we did. The whole are where the dining tent was located was very wet and was one big puddle, inside and out. The area where our sleeping tents were located was much drier and we did not get soaked at all. 

My mom was still asleep so I decided to take this opportunity to walk down to the designated dog beach to see what it was like. We must have had some pretty heavy rain during the night because the road between our site and the bathroom (which happens to be a slight hill) was partially washed out and little rivers of water were still running down it. 

The road was covered with puddles everywhere, but the sun was working hard to shine down through the trees to dry them up. 

The dog beach is only a short distance from our site and it was pretty quiet here at this time of day. 

The dog beach is a large, wide open area with lots of room for dogs to run and a couple of picnic tables for owners to relax at. It was nice enough here but there was nothing overly exciting about it. 

You do, however, get a nice view of the lake from here though. 

​Over by the waters edge I saw only one person and their dog. I got to talking to her and found out that she is camping only a few sites away from us on site 150. 

She told me that her dogs name is Lila. We watched Lila play and fetch her ball from the water as we talked. Eventually I left them there to enjoy the morning together as I headed back to my campsite to see if my mom was awake yet. 

   My mom was awake when I got back so we sat and had breakfast and talked for awhile. Slowly the sun dried up the rain so that the trees weren't dripping on us anymore. It's quiet here. There are a lot of trees so, it muffles the extra sounds quite a bit. Even the kids and the dogs in the area don't seem too loud. 
   My mom took notice of an interesting looking orange tent on a campsite just across the way from us. She decided to go over and ask more about it from the campers there. The tent belonged to a couple named John and Dawn. They told my mom that the tent was a "Marmot" tent which is the same brand as my new raincoat. So, if it is made by the same company, then I know that it is great when it rains. 
   Dawn and John told my mom that they had gone hiking on the Beaver Dam trail and said that the flowers were all in bloom there along the sides of the trail. They suggested that we hike that one. However, we told them that we already had planned to hike the Swan Lake trail today and we would probably do the  Beaver Dam trail tomorrow. They said that they too were planning on hiking the Swan Lake trail today too but not until later in the day. 

So, after grabbing our hats and snacks and sunscreen, my mom and I drove over to the trail head of the Swan Lake Trail. The parking lot and trail head had flooded during the night due to the rain. I wondered if I should have brought some rubber boots. If this was any indication, this area is for sure a "wetlands" area. 

 It may be wet here but it reminded me of a poster I once saw that said :
ADVICE FROM A WETLAND
Make a Splash
Take Time To Reflect
Reed More
Don't Get Bogged Down
​What's the Rush? 

Almost immediately you step onto a nice wooden boardwalk. I could see all the wet foot prints on the boards where people had come out of the flooded parking lot. I am pretty sure the parking lot was the wettest part of this trail. 

The boardwalk, at first glance, looks like one sturdy bridge all the way along. However, after my mom crossed one section we realized that the boardwalk was actually multiple sections that were only attached to each other by some black rubber material at our feet. As she stepped from the first section to the second one, the balance was disrupted and the sections started to sway unexpectedly. It took us a couple of seconds and a bit of adjusting our balance in an effort to not fall over before we got used to it and were able to walk comfortably across it the rest of the way. 

The boardwalk led us to a round landing in the middle of the marsh. It had benches all along the edges of it where you can sit and enjoy the view. 

And what a beautiful view it was. On the one side was a landscape of rocks and pines. You could still see the wet places on the slopes of the rock in the distance where the rain water had run down to the lake below. The sun hadn't quite dried it all up yet. 

On the other side was a green field of water lilies with rain drops still dotting the surface of their leaves. 

On the edge of the water lilies was a Painted Turtle basking in the morning sun. 

Close to the turtle I spotted some Pitcher Plants. Interestingly,  I did a bit of research online when I got home later and found out that this variety of Pitcher Plant is called a Northern Purple Pitcher Plant and that it is actually a fairly rare plant. 

Off to the side a little ways out was an old beaver lodge. I am sure that beavers are pretty happy campers in this place. 

While I was looking over the railing at all the marsh life, a little fly came and landed near me. It was the most beautiful fly I had ever seen! (the picture doe not do it justice). And I had never seen one like it before in my life. It was coloured in shiny metallic greens and blues from head to toe. It's eyes were big and shiny black. I later found out this was some type of Cuckoo Wasp.  

The boardwalk eventually ended and came up to dry land. Well, almost. Before getting to dry land you had to jump over a big puddle. 

In that puddle sat a little speckled tadpole. 

We made it to the rocky area on the other side of the puddle. Hiding in the cracks of the rocks was a little mushroom, He looked like he was just leaning against a rock taking a smoke break or something. Just chillin'.

Parts of the trail were covered in intricate designs of root systems. They were weaving their way over the surface of bare rock until they find their way to some ground somewhere. 

Here and there you would find unexpected resting spots, like this picnic table at the end of a little side trail. 

Much of the trail is marked with yellow markers or painted arrows on the rocks. At one point we came across this yellow marker that was different than all the rest. Someone had put a smiley face on it and it made me smile. 

Some people hike the trails so quickly that I winder if they even get to see anything. We like to take our time and hike them slowly and quietly so that we have every opportunity to see things that would otherwise be over looked or would hide from us. So, we stopped now and again to look up into the trees. 

And we were rewarded with a sighting of a Red-eyed Vireo. 

Aside from the boardwalk, there was one other notable section where we had to do some fancy foot work to keep our feet from getting wet. We almost wished we had a boardwalk to walk across here. But, we grabbed on to some tree stumps and branches and got to the other side with relatively dry feet. 

Of course, the mushrooms are pretty happy with all the rain and the wet ground. 

And so is the moss. 

We climbed up a rocky hill that opened up into a cliff top area. 

From so high up we had a great view of the other side of the lake. We could see the boardwalk that we had crossed earlier. Now it looked very tiny from this far away and this high up. 

The view was beautiful from up here.  We could see another beaver lodge way down below. 

While we were watching the world below, a couple of Turkey Vultures were circling above and  watching us. 

The trail winds down the rock hill and then through some trees until it comes to a wide open rocky area. From this spot you can see a mixture of rugged pines and swaying marsh grasses. 

The most beautiful part about this spot is the marshy fields of Tawny Cotton-Grass that dots the landscape. It's as though someone has come along and glued cotton balls all over the place. It's just lovely. 

And tucked in between the Tawny Cotton-Grass and the water lilies were some bright, yellow, Nodding Beggarticks

The warmth of the sun on the rocks drew in some insect visitors such as a bright red Meadowhawk dragonfly

as well as an American Carrion Beetle

Even an orange Crescent Butterfly was using the rocks as a place to rest. 

The rest of the way was an interesting combination of roots, rocks and puddles. 

The end of the trail was finished off with a wooden bridge that led from the rocky out crop to the parking lot below.  It had taken us more time to walk this trail than most people do but we enjoyed every minute of it. 
On the drive back tot he campsite we met up with John and Dawn who were just about to begin the Swan Lake hike. We told them how beautiful it was and to watch out for the wet spots. 

When we got back to camp we had lunch. Then I drove to the park office while my mom stayed behind to relax and read her book for awhile. At the office I bought my flannel Grundy Lake shirt that I had eyed up when I first arrived. The shirt was under $25 and was good quality and very cozy. This may become my most favourite camping shirt yet.  They have it in red too but the blue is much nicer looking in my opinion. 

Since I was already in the car and driving around, I decided to take this opportunity to explore more of the park. It is a fairly large park so driving from one end to the other was the quickest way. The first stop I made was at one of the other beaches in the park; the beach in the Poplar section. This beach was a fairly busy one but it had lots of space so it wasn't what I would call crowded. 

At one end was a volley ball net. However, the heavy rain from the night before had left a very large puddle right under it so it wasn't really usable at that moment. 

I noticed that there were no buoy lines in the water. I know a few kids who would love that about this beach. The kids here were busy swimming and running around with nets trying to catch frogs. They were having an easy time of it because the frogs were very plentiful here. 

I walked the shoreline for a bit to see what kind of nature I could see. Aside from frogs, the False Foxglove flowers were the most plentiful here. 

Soon enough I was back in my car and driving around again. As I was looking at all the various campsites, it dawned on me that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, all the group sites were not in use. This means that they were empty and I could freely take a walk in them and look around without worrying about intruding on other campers. 

So, I parked my car in the parking lot of a comfort station near Group Site # 3 and walked past the gate that was set up to prevent vehicles from entering. Almost immediately I found that this was a great decision on my part. 

I had barely started walking down the road when I spotted a large bird in one of the trees. It was a Broad-winged hawk! ​It was a magnificent looking bird.

It wasn't long before the hawk noticed me and flew away. I continued my walk and explored the empty site to my left. It looked like a regular site and not as wide open as I had expected to see for a group site. But then I realized that this was only part of the group site. There was more to see a little further down the road. 

When I got to the end of the road it opened up into a much larger area that was more like what I expected to see. There were multiple picnic tables and a couple of fire pits here. It was sandy and flat and perfect for plenty of tents. It was interesting that the group site is divided into two sections. One section for group members who  prefer more trees and privacy and another section for the ones that prefer the open area and closeness of people. 

One of the nice things about this group site is that it has direct access to the lake. I spent a few quiet moments here just enjoying the peacefulness.

Eventually I headed back up to the main road. Where the entrance to the Group campsite is located is also the trail head to the Pakeshkag Trail. This trail is not really laid out in the park brochure so I don't know much more about it than what is pictured in the laminated map that was attached to the gate post. 

The trail is as wide as a road but vehicles are prohibited on it. Only hikers, bikers and pets are allowed.

I started walking down the trail for a bit but I didn't go very far. As I walked I noticed that to my right there were a bunch of campsites with people getting ready for supper and busying themselves with other camping activities. They could see me and I could see them. It didn't make for a pleasant hike really. It was too noisy and there was no sense of peacefulness here. I thought to myself that I would hate to be a camper on any of those sites (sites # 349 - 369 in the Poplar section of the park ) because you would always have hikers going by and staring at you.  I suppose that eventually the trail would lead away from the campsites and it would get better. But, I didn't find out because I decided to turn around and go back before I had barely begun. 

It was getting close to supper time so I got back in my car and drove back to camp. When I got back I found that I had a little hitchhiker on my hoodie. It was a White Pine Sawfly caterpillar.

By the time I got back to camp the sun was starting to sink below the tree line and was casting long shadows on the ground.

We made a fire and roasted hot dogs for supper. 

After super, mom and I sat and talked until evening descended upon us and the trees turned to silhouettes against the sky.

We decided to go into the dining tent to play some board games for awhile because it was still too early to go to bed. When I turned on the lamp and the dining tent was all lit up, I spotted a Sweetheart  Underwing Moth up in the corner of the roof. I rarely see these moths so I was pleased to see one now. It was so pretty with its red colours peeking out from beneath the grey top wings. A few days later, when I went home to look these up, I discovered that there are more than one type of underwing moth. They have names that follow a romantic theme. In addition to Sweetheart underwings there are also Consort, Darling, Betrothed, Joined, Bride, and Mother underwings. They each have slightly different colouring from one another. There are many other types too but I found the names of these ones to be the most interesting. 

We played a few rounds of Quirkle which wasn't the easiest to do because our light wasn't very good. 

It was enough light to attract a few friends though. We had the company of a little leaf hopper.

​And a little brown Caddisfly was hanging out with us too. 

We played Qwirkle until about 11 pm and then decided to call it a night. But before we went to bed we noticed that the moon was out and was full and bright. So we took another walk down to the lake to see it better. The lake was beautiful with the moonlight reflecting off of it. It was a beautiful way to end a wonderful day. 

   Grundy Lake Park was never one that was high on my list of "must go to" parks. the name "Grundy" made me think of the word "grungy" and so I had over looked it in the past.  But, after this visit, I have changed my mind and I have put this one high up on my list of favourite parks. The first indication that Grundy Lake was a good park to go to was when we received a phone call the day before we were to arrive letting us know that they were out of firewood and that we were welcome to bring our own. That, right there, is good service! 
​    It was going to be just my mom and me this time around. We packed up the car and got ready for the 2 hour journey to a park neither of us had been to before. To get there we traveled through the Monettville and Noelleville area where my mom had grown up. She told me that there had been an increase in the amount of Sandhill Cranes in that area, so we were on the look out for them. We were not disappointed. Not only did we see some flying overhead, but we also spotted some in the local farmers fields. 

It was a pleasant drive to the park. There was one section of highway that was under construction just before the park though. It could mean that in the future, the route to the park may change. I guess only time will tell. 

Only 3 people were allowed in the office at a time, due to Covid-19 restrictions. The office staff were nice and friendly. I saw a fleece shirt for sale that I liked and will probably come back for. But for now I just picked up a park patch and sticker for my passport sticker book and we registered for our site. 

All the sites seem to have pretty good privacy. Ours looked small from the road but once we got out of the car we saw that it was actually quite large. 

The picnic table was to the right of the fire pit, but we determined that a better place for it was to the left of the fire pit because the picnic table was currently sitting on prime sleeping tent real estate. The left of the fire pit was too rocky to be comfortable for sleeping on. So, my mom and I picked up the table and moved it. Later on we found out that this was a very sound decision even tough we didn't know it at the time. 

One of the best features of our site was a big, beautiful pine tree. It gave the perfect amount of shade and it had character.  The site across from ours belonged to a couple of kayakers. We didn't see them much the whole time we were there. So, it made for very quiet neighbours. 

We got everything set up by about 5:15 pm  It was too early for supper for us and  we were interested to know what the rest of this park looked like so we decided to go on a walk to the main beach. 

Instead it was a warning that the water was high in sodium. If you didn't have any health issues related to sodium then you were fine to drink it. But if you did have a sodium-restricted diet then it warned that it was best not to drink the water. 

As we made our way to the main beach, we passed by the shack for the Discovery Program for kids. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 there were no programs going on this year. So, the shack sat there, unused.

The main beach is one of 6 beaches in Grundy Lake Park. The park actually has many lakes within its borders; the largest ones being Gurdy Lake, Gut Lake, Gurd Lake, Clear Lake, and Swan Lake. The main beach is on Grundy Lake.  To be honest, this one was not as nice as some of the other beaches in the park. But this is the beach you use if you have a day pass for the park.  The water here is brown in colour and the buoy lines are in an "L" shape, which I thought was very unusual.  

The things that this beach does have going for it is that it is fairly large, with plenty of picnic tables. There is a nice little wooden foot bridge that runs from the sandy beach up to a wide open rocky area where you can get a view of the whole beach. There are many little paths that run off from here and I suspect that they lead to various campsites and other parts of the park. We didn't really explore those paths much. 

The wide open rocky area even has a picnic table to sit at so that you can enjoy the view of the tree covered shoreline and the stillness of the evening. It is a lovely spot at certain times of the day after most of the beach goers have left. 

Across the road from the main beach is a volley ball area. 

Beside the volley ball area runs Nisbet Creek which joins Grundy Lake to Gut Lake. 

It was in this creek that I saw my first ever live dragon fly nymph. I had seen many shedded skins and pictures of dragonfly nymphs but never an actual live one out in the wild. These little guys are expert hunters of  mosquito larvae, tadpoles, and small fish (even in nymph stage they are keeping the mosquitoes away!).

Here, growing along the shoreline were some delicate, pink False Foxglove flowers. 

My mom and I started to explore the paths that run along and branch out from the volley ball area. I followed one that ran close to the shore of the creek. 

Even looking down the side of a rocky cliff I could see them growing far below. 

The water was not terribly deep here, but deep enough to keep the frogs happy. 

As I turned away from the water and headed back in towards the woods and in the direction of the amphitheatre I met back up with my mom who had taken a different path. We admired the unusual rock formations ahead of us. 

We also chuckled that someone had left a pair of sandals behind.  I imagined that someone had partaken in a bit too much alcohol or something. It think it would be quite painful on the feet to walk across the pine needles, jagged sticks and rocks with no foot wear on. So I can't imagine anyone would purposely leave their sandals behind. I am sure there is an untold story here. 

The path we were on led us down to the amphitheatre. It was a nice amphitheatre too; overlooking Gut Lake. On the other side of the amphitheatre is the trail head for the Gut Lake hiking trail, a canoe access point, and Smokey Point which is a place where you can do some shore fishing. 

The snapping turtle was fairly large and impressive. It moved slowly and didn't seem at all concerned that we had gathered around to look at him.

In fact, he would stick his head out of the water from time to time to catch a breath and to take a look at us too. It was so relaxing to put the outside world on pause for a few days and just sit here for a few moments  and watch the slow moving turtle. He didn't seem to have a care in the world and I envied that. 

After watching the snapper for a bit, my mom and I headed up the road back towards our campsite. Along the way we saw another man made helping hand for the wildlife in the park. It was a bat box. We took a peek under it to see if we could see any bats, but the opening was too small and dark to know for sure if anything was inside. 

While circling the building we did find some black berries growing at one side of the building though.

The next structure we came across on our way back was the picnic shelter.