We woke up to a grey and rainy morning. Looks like the weather was going to be this way all day long. 

Directly across the road from us the park staff had set up their Discovery Program tent where people of all ages can go and learn  about whatever topic they are featuring that day. 

Today's topic happened to be about frogs. It's a shame that Danielle's family couldn't come this year. The boys would have loved this!  There were pictures of all the different stages of a frogs life. There were identification cards to help figure out what frog was what. 

The kids were having a blast running around catching frogs with nets and bringing them back to the staff at the table to identify. The two guys running the program were terrific with the kids and were very knowledgeable. 

The highlight of the Discovery Program was when one of the kids caught a 5 legged frog and brought it over to the table for everyone to see. It had 3 back legs and 2 front legs.  

We had overheard the kids talking about the 5 legged frog earlier but we didn't think we would get a chance to see it. 

As with all the frogs that were caught, it was only handled for a minute and then it was let go again so that it didn't die from over handling. 

After seeing the frogs we went back across the road to our campsite. We noticed that the roof in the dining tent seemed to have a leak at the very top. So we took a small tarp and tied it to the roof to stop the leak.  It looked a little funny but it did the trick. 

We didn't want to sit around in the rain and the cold all day so we decided to get out and do something. Marten River Park has an outdoor Logging Museum. So, we decided to go and take a look at that. I had been there before but Carsten and Penny hadn't. 

Unfortunately, like last time, everything was locked up and you could only see it from the outside. But this didn't stop us. With an umbrella in hand, we walked all around the buildings and interacted with anything that was accessible, such as this big metal dinner bell. 

And we could still peer in the windows to try to get a glimpse of what is inside. 

There was one tiny little log cabin that I found particularly interesting. 

This was not because of the cabin itself, but because of the logs that the cabin was made of. Some of the logs had a naturally occurring flower design in them that came from knots in the wood. 

The building wasn't the only thing with a pretty flower. There was also some White Meadowsweet flowers growing nearby. 

When we were done looking at the buildings, we discovered a path near the museum and we decided to see where it led.  The path wasn't a long one and it mainly ran along the shore of the lake. 

There were some white water lilies floating on the surface of the lake..

We followed the path all the way to a quiet little out-of-the-way  picnic area. It was like a hidden gem. You would hardly know it was there if you didn't look for it.  It had a picnic table and a little fire pit.  We might just  have to come back here for a picnic lunch one day. 

There was an old dead tree nearby that I thought looked quite interesting because it had one very long and very straight branch on it. I have never seen a branch so straight before except in kids drawings and in cartoons. 

After exploring the museum it was still raining and we still had a lot of time on our hands. So we hopped in the car and drove about 10 minutes north to a little roadside shop called "Gramps". 

This store is packed to the brim with all sorts of interesting decor and Knick Knacks. There were wooden garden gnomes, mushroom lights, and ceramic snails. 

There were decorative bunnies, moccasins, and salt and pepper shakers. After spending about half an hour in there looking at everything we purchased some delicious fudge and headed back to the campground. 

The rain still wasn't letting up so we went into the dining tent where it was dry and played board games like Azul for the rest of the afternoon. 

It was too rainy to make a fire in the fire pit.  So instead we headed over to the laundry facilities and put Carsten's wet, rained on clothes in the dryer. He hadn't brought another sweater or jacket and it started to get chilly once it started getting dark. 

We charged our phones and did Sudoku puzzles while we waited.  There were some moths that had come in to the shelter of the laundry room to wait out the rain too.  Both were grey but one was a Carpet Moth. 

And the other was a Moss-eating Crambid Snout moth. 

Once the clothes were dry and the phones were charged and the puzzles were completed, we headed back to camp and called it a night. 

The next morning there was another Discovery Program set up across the road from us.  This time it was run by a girl and a guy and it was all about birds. I was particularly interested in this program because they had a book that played various songs of birds when you pressed certain buttons. There had been some birds I had heard recently and I wanted to see if I could find out what kind of bird they were. 

One of the kids had brought a yellow and black feather with them to show the program directors. I recognized the feather as a similar one to what I had found on our campsite. The girl running the program was busy pouring over a bird book looking for an answer. Finally she said "It's the tail feather of a Northern Flicker". I said "No way, that can't be. Northern Flickers are brown and almost peach in colour. They aren't yellow. " But sure enough, when we looked at the picture the feather did seem to match one that could be found on the Northern Flicker!

I had just learned something new. I had seen these feathers around from time to time over the years and always thought they came from a bird that had more yellow on them than that.  The kid wanted to keep his prized feather so he took it back with him to his campsite. I think the program directors were a bit disappointed that they couldn't add it to their collection. So I went back to the campsite to look for mine. I didn't find it until after they were gone, but I did bring it to the park office and asked the girl at the desk there to make sure that they got it for their program. She assured me that she would. 

It was time to pack up the car to go home. As I was packing up I noticed a little Treehopper sitting on my car window. I like these little guys. They have an odd shape body and some cool little beady eyes.

The ground was still wet from the day before and this brought out all the slugs in the area. I had to move a Western Dusky slug off of the trail so that it wouldn't get stepped on. 

We took down the tents wet, knowing that we would have to set them up again at home in our back yards to dry them out again.  

Despite the rain we had a good time camping. For now it is back to work and back to civilization. But not for long. In only one week we will be out camping again and out in the back country for a backpacking trip!  

Here we are back at Marten River Provincial Park again. The previous weekend my brother and  sister-in-law went to camp ahead of me and set up the tents before I got there. This time it was my turn to set up the tents before they arrived. 

Once again I had reserved site 147 which is right across from the beach and a swing set. Originally I had planned to come here with my friends Danielle and Marvin and their kids, however, they moved to Alberta a few weeks ago and were no longer able to come. 

While I waited for Carsten and Penny to arrive, I had a little visitor come and check out the site.

It was a Grackle. The white eyes and shiny metallic blue head feathers make this an impressive bird in my opinion.

I met Carsten and Penny up at the park office. Penny and I both purchased a new hoodie that had moose on it. Mine was grey and Penny's was green. They are very soft and comfortable. 

We made a small fire in order to cook our supper. 

We had the traditional camping fare .... hotdogs. 

After supper we played board games in the dining tent for awhile until it got dark. There was a chill in the air and we were all tired so we decided to go to bed early.

Tomorrow will be busy so, best to rest up!

I woke up to a bright, sunny morning. The kids were still asleep so I got up and went outside the tent. Dylan and Victoria were also still sleeping. The whole campground was pretty quiet actually.  

I walked down to the lake to see if there was anything interesting down there. I saw a Merganser duck swim by.  I am always amused by the Merganser duck because it always looks like he has Bed-Head, the way his feathers stick out the way they do.

Red-eyed Vireos were singing in the trees. 

When I got back to the campsite, everyone was up and ready for another day at the beach. When it got close to lunch time, Victoria and I went back to the dining tent to whip up some food for everyone. That's when we first saw the little brown rabbit. 

It was just hanging out near the edge of the campsite, chewing on some leaves and grass.  The kids were still down at the beach so they didn't get to see it. 

While we were watching the rabbit a Banded-wing Fly landed near by.  They are harmless. I just like the unusual pattern on the wings. 

Later in the afternoon I decided to take a drive around the park to see what the dog beach was like and to check out some of the other areas. 

The  dog beach is also a boat launch. I would say it is more of a boat launch than anything else. There was nothing special here for dogs. No benches or picnic tables to sit at while your dog swims. It was a bit lacking really. 

The group campsite was near the dog beach so I stopped to check it out. It is situated on site number 89. 

The group campsite was very large and very open. There is plenty of space for many tents on this site. It was a very nice area. 

There was a cute spot under some cedar trees where there were a couple of picnic tables. 

The fire pit here was an unusual shape. 

I drove over the bridge and noticed that there was some green fencing running along the side. 

On the other side of the fence was an area for playing horse shoes. 

By the time I got back from exploring the park, Victoria had supper cooking on the grill of the fire pit. 

We had hamburgers with cheese melted on top. They were delicious! We all gathered in the dining tent to eat our supper. 

While we were eating our supper, we noticed that the little brown bunny was back.  He was hanging out underneath my car. 

This time the kids saw it too. It was all we could do to keep the kids sitting still enough so that they wouldn't scare it away.  

I had to leave to go home later that evening, but Dylan, Victoria and the kids stayed an extra night. I waved good bye to them as I drove away and I saw the bunny still quietly eating grass near the edge of the campsite. Maybe if we come back again next year, the bunny might come back to visit us again. 

After a night of rain, I woke up to a bright sunny morning. The park was quiet and peaceful and I ate my breakfast while watching the squirrels play in the trees near by.  I was enjoying the peace now, because in a few hours I knew that my nephew's kids would be arriving and the quietness would quickly disappear after that. But that is the nature of kids, and I was excited to see their happy, eager faces. 

It would be a few hours before they arrived so, I decided to go on a nice quiet hike all by myself. I figured it was early enough in the day that the trails wouldn't be full of people yet. I walked to the trail head that was not too far away from my campsite. The map that was posted there showed one large trail called the Transition Trail and two smaller loops on the same route. The largest loop is about 5 km long and goes to the edge of Marten Lake. I decided to take that one. 

At the bottom corner of the map there was a sign that said "Please report fallen trees and branches" . I was happy to see this sign. It meant that the staff in this park cared about the condition of the trails and were ready to fix them if need be. Vastly different from the backpacking trail at Halfway Lake we had hiked earlier this year. 

There was a registration box at the beginning of the trail. I am sure that there used to be some brochures and possibly a guest book inside at one point in the past. However, they had long since run out of paper. That didn't stop people from signing in though. Inside the box were scraps of paper and even some pieces of tree bark that people had written their names on nd where they were from. When people want to leave their mark, they will come up with a way to do it. I guess it's not all that strange considering paper comes from trees in the first place. 

The trail started off narrow and with a bit of roots and rocks under foot. But it wasn't in bad shape at all. 

It wasn't long before the trail opened up a bit and the first boardwalk came into view. There was no one else on the trail so far and I was enjoying the serenity of it all. 

In the damp soil from yesterday's rain I spotted some bright red mushrooms. I am not the most familiar with mushrooms, but I believe these are Waxcaps.

The sun was spilling through the trees and over the pine needle covered trail. You could smell that earthy smell in the air. 

At one spot, where the trial splits off onto another loop, there was a cleared area with very large felled tree logs that you could sit on to take a rest if you wanted to. 

There was an educational sign posted at this site, with a little "You Are Here" map in the bottom corner. I had the option to take the shorter trail loop (red trail) from here, but I was happy to continue on the longer trail (blue trail). 

I came to more boardwalks that were bordered with lovely green bushes. 

The next section was a narrow foot path. It was at about this point that I started to notice that my ankles were starting to become itchy.  I had only worn light weight leggings, but they did cover my ankles and legs pretty good so I figured that it couldn't have been from poison ivy or some such plants. 

I looked around for what could be the cause. It didn't take long to figure it out. I could see the tiniest mosquitoes I had ever seen before flying around my legs. Up until this point I thought that there were no biting bugs at all. It was late in the season and most biting bugs are almost gone by now.  But there they were; about 10 of them. Not only were they small enough that they were easy to miss, but they also never flew up any higher than my knees.  That is probably part of the reason I hadn't noticed them. Since they never flew higher than my knees it meant they never came up close enough to my ears for me to hear them. And so they had gone undetected until now.  I pulled my socks up as high as they would go under my leggings which gave me a double layer of cloth between me and the mosquitoes. It was all that was really needed. But the damage had been done. When I checked my legs later on, they were absolutely covered in mosquito bites. But only below the knees. 

With the mosquito attack taken care of, I was free to continue on and enjoy more pleasant insects to be found in the woods. A beautiful Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly landed on a maple leaf near by. It's amber  colour looked like shiny gold in the sunshine. 

From time to time I would come across an old placard that had worn away. I presume that there used to be some sort of educational sign on them. But now they were just blank pieces of wood that looked like a preachers pulpit out in the middle of the woods. 

There was one tree that had some leafy looking lichen growing on it. It looked like someone had stuck some lettuce to the tree. 

This lichen is called Tree Lungwort. 

When I was just about halfway through the trail and almost to the lake, I could hear a group of people coming up the trail behind me. There were 3 of them and they were talking loudly and were barely paying attention to the beauty of their surroundings. 

 Since I wanted to be left alone in peace, I let them pass by me.  However, they didn't get far before they stopped for a rest at the lake up ahead. It was where I had wanted to stop. But I didn't want to hang out with them. Besides, they were talking very loud and what were they talking about?.....Covid!  I couldn't believe it!  Here I am in the middle of the woods and I couldn't even escape the topic out here!  Of all the topics in the whole world, why that one?!?  I was actually upset by this. This was no place for any conversation of Covid to be on anyone's lips. 

I couldn't hack it and I turned around and went back to a tree with an over hanging branch that I had passed, and waited there on the side of the trail for about 5 minutes, hoping that they wouldn't stay too long. 

I walked far enough back where I could no longer hear them. But they had ruined my mood. A little brown sparrow came along and landed on a branch near by. That helped to lighten my mood a little. 

After a few minutes that seemed like forever, I started to go forward again. I could see them in the distance starting to leave the area that they had stopped at. I slowed my walk down so that they could get way ahead of me. I didn't want to catch up to them. 

Finally I came to the spot where they had been sitting. It was a perfect spot to take a break and enjoy the view. So I decided to stop here too. Besides, it would put more distance between us. 

I sat on the rock under the shade of a big tree and looked out at the beautiful marsh that lay in front of me. I took out my snack and sat and ate. 

The white fluffy clouds matched the white fluffy puffs on the Tawny Grass in the marsh grasses. It was a beautiful day and I was alone in the peace and quiet once more. 

When I was ready, I got up off the rock and continued on my way. There was a bridge to take me across the water and over to dry land on the other side. 

From the bridge I could see white water lilies floating in the water. 

There was another rock under a shade tree on the other side of the bridge too! So no matter what end of the loop you started from on the trail, you would always have a rock to sit on about half way through. 

Some parts of the trail were twisted with intertwined roots from nearby trees. At least I assumed they were from near by trees. But who knows. Perhaps the roots were also from trees that were much further away.  I guess there is no way to really know. 

I was nearing the end of the trail now. Another "You Are Here" sign showed me where I was and all my options. I was almost at the end of the trail so I just followed the "Exit" markers. 

Someone had fashioned a chair out of an old tree stump. I thought it was kind of neat. 

It wasn't long before I could see the cars in the parking lot through the trees. I had come to the end of the hike. 

I checked the time and found that I had just enough time to make a bathroom trip before heading up to the office to meet my nephew and his family. 

​While I was in the bathroom I noticed a pretty Maple Spanworm moth just hanging out on the wall. 

I headed to the parking lot outside the park office and waited. I watched cars come and go but none of them were the one I was waiting for. Finally, I got a text saying that they were just leaving town and they were on their way. This meant that I had a full half hour before they arrived. 

I didn't feel like going back to the campsite. So, instead I decided to explore the Day Use beach which was very close by. 

The Day Use beach had a very large parking lot, but there were only 2 or 3 cars there. The beach was not very busy at all. 

Only one family was in the water swimming. The beach was decent enough here but it wasn't anything to write home about. As a matter of fact, I think the beach right across from our campsite was much nicer than this one. 

At first glance it looked like this beach had a playground. The swings were available to swing on. 

However, the jungle gym was closed off to the public. 

At first I thought the jungle gym was closed off due to Covid. But then I saw a sign saying that the playground area was actually open. So I guess that there must have been something that needed repair on the jungle gym or something. 

While I was at the beach I noticed  a path that led into the woods. Since I had time to explore, I decided to follow it. The path led me to a field with log cabins in the middle of it. 

A large sign let me know that this was the replica of an old historical Logging Camp. There was a map showing where all the different buildings and sites were. 

I started to look around. I headed to the first log cabin. 

I wanted to go inside and see what was in it, but there was a sign on the door that said all the buildings were closed and that there would be no tours. Sure enough, I checked the door and it was locked. 

The cabins may have been locked but I was still able to peek in the windows. The first cabin looked like it may have been a kitchen of some kind. 

The next cabin was fairly short compared to the other ones. But the chimney was very tall. 

Peeking in the windows, I could see all sorts of tools and an open fire pit. I assume that this was the blacksmith.

The back of the building had blacksmithing tools hanging from the wall. 

The next cabin had a bunch of plates all set up on a long table. I figure this was probably the dining hall. 

All around the area were displays of various types of machines. I liked this one because it was called the "Crazy Wheel" . Apparently they used to run a steel cable through all of these wheels. By doing so, they were able to control the loads of lumber on steep hills. 

There were many other old machines and things on display, like this water tanker.

And this roller. 

But the display I found most amusing was the bathroom.  There was a sign that had a quote on it that let you know how valuable toilet paper was at the time. 

And the bathroom itself? Well, it looked like this. It was a trench dug out of the dirt and a long log placed over the trench and secured by trees at both ends. It was something a kin to what we use on our backpacking trips when there are no thunder boxes. 

One of the last things to see on the Old Logging Camp tour is the left over ruins of an old boat. It had a very Viking feel to it, if you ask me. 

It was at about this time that I got a text saying that the gang was waiting for me at the office. So I hurried over there to meet them. A little chickadee landed on a branch nearby and watched me go. 

The girls were excited to have a campsite right by the beach and the swing set. Right away they got into their bathing suits and went down to the lake. Mila got busy catching frogs with a net. 

And Addy got busy making sand castles in the sand. 

Almost right away the girls made some new friends. The nice thing about camping is everyone looks out for one another. Especially families with kids. In no time at all we had an extra child at the dinner table and drinking hot chocolate with us. And Mila and Addy would run next door to the other child's campsite to play with the toys there. Parents would come by and ask "Are our kids bothering you?" to which the reply was always "Oh no. Not at all."   It reminds me of the Shakespeare line "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin". 

While the girls and their dad were spending time at the beach, Victoria and I set about getting things tucked away into the tents and getting the food ready. 

The girls were bunking in with me in the big red tent while Dylan and Victoria were in the medium sized orange tent. 

As I helped Victoria to unpack everything from the car, I couldn't help but notice that they had brought cabinet with them to store some of their camping gear. It took up quite a bit of room in the vehicle but it sure made everything organized. Apparently this set of drawers is dedicated to camping stuff. They store it in the shed and then just throw it in the car when they are packing for the camping trip. 

After everything was unpacked and we were just relaxing at the picnic table, Mila came up to us and said "I think I hear a bat!" It was the middle of the day time and and there shouldn't be any bats out at that time of day. So I went with Mila to see if we could find this bat. I remember as a child I encountered a bat on a tree in the middle of the day. So, I knew it was not entirely impossible for there to be a bat around. 

Mila and I headed towards the area where we could hear the squeaking noises that did sound like a bat. They were coming from the area of the near by boat launch. 

We were just about at the campsite when Dylan, Victoria and Addy pulled up beside us in the car. Dylan said that they were on the way to the park store to get some fire wood. They didn't knw when we were coming back so they had left us a note on the chair. And then he chuckled. I wondered what he thought was so funny so I went to find the note that he had left. Once I saw it I knew why he had been chuckling.  It said "We took the girl " (meaning Addy) "Meet at the beach at noon tomorrow with 100 million dollars. Muahaha....Just kidding. Brb." 

I laughed. I kept that note. It hangs on my fridge now. :)

There were a lot of different moths to be found around the campsite. Aside form the Maple Spanworm moths I had seen around, there were also some False Hemlock Looper moths like this one. 

And there were Bronzed Cutworm moths. I liked the rusty colours on these ones. 

The rest of the day was filled with playing at the beach and relaxing at the campsite. But the fun didn't stop there.. Eventually it got dark and we brought out the flashlights. 

We headed on down tot he beach to see if we could find any frogs. 

And we found plenty of frogs. Finding frogs at night is a tradition with the kids. This one was the biggest one we found that night. 
Frog hunting is always a catch and release program with us. The kids can catch them, hold them for a minute, then let them go. Then it is off a little further down the beach to find a new frog. That way it teaches the kids to respect nature and not over handle the frogs which could stress the frogs out and cause them to die. 

We had nets with us, so frogs were not the only things we caught that night. We caught a couple minnows too. Dylan wanted to use them to go fishing so we transferred them into a big plastic tote box filled with water later on. However, he never did go fishing with them so later on they got released too. 

After the kids had chocolate and went to bed, the adults sat around the fire talking and relaxing until the fire was nothing but burning embers. We couldn't have asked for a better way to finish off a wonderful day.

Marten River Provincial Park is a beauty!  Despite it being only about a half an hour away from my home, I have only been here just a few times before this trip. I had been saving a trip to this park for a time when I wanted a great park to stay in, but needed to be close to home for family reasons, and the time had come. 

I would be spending the night by myself the first night but would be joined by my nephew, his 2 daughters, and his girlfriend the next day. 

I was informed by my mom before I left that there were tornado warnings in effect for our area. I only paused to think about it for maybe half a minute. The sky was clear and sunny and there was no wind. I really wasn't too concerned. Tornados are not that common in our area. So, I finished packing up the rest of my stuff and I headed out. 

Since I wasn't that far away, I left late in the afternoon and arrived at the park at about 5 p.m.  I entered the office, where they also sell souvenirs, ice, and wood,  and I checked into the site that I had reserved. I was disappointed to find out that they were all sold out of both the stickers and the crests with the park emblem on them. I guess I will have to stop in another time next summer to try to get those. The staff here were polite enough but they seemed a little reserved. 

The site I had reserved was site # 147. I chose it because I knew I would have the kids with me and this site was almost directly across from the beach. When I reserved it, I actually couldn't believe it was still available and that no one had snatched it up yet. 

The site itself was quite large. I had been worried that since it was right across from the beach, that it wouldn't have enough privacy. But it actually wasn't too bad. 

I went about setting up my big red tent for sleeping and my screen dining tent. I chose the big tent because although it was going to be just me the first night, I figured that I would have the kids with me the next night. And even though there were no mosquitoes, the dining tent afforded some shelter from the rain and the sun.

It really was the perfect site if you have kids with you. I could literally sit at the picnic table and see the beach. That meant that we could see the kids from the campsite when they were at the beach.  As I was setting up, a lady came walking down the road with her dog named Prince. She said to me "Oh you have the perfect site!"

And I had to agree with her. It even had a set of swings directly across from us. 

At the back of the site there were two paths leading up a hill. The hill was a bit steep but not too bad.

And the climb was worth it because at the top of the hill was a small bathroom with flush toilets and showers!

The hand dryer in the bathroom looked like it had seen better days. But it worked and everything else in the bathroom was pretty decent and pretty clean too. 

By the time 7 o'clock rolled around the sunny skies started turning cloudy, and then the clouds to rain. The rain came down hard and I tucked myself away in the dining tent and ate my supper while I watched the water trickle down the screen. But I stayed dry.  I thought about the tornado warning and I realized that there were still no high winds. Just a lot of rain. All the same I thought about a safety plan just in case. I decided that worst case scenario, I could always seek shelter in the washroom at the top of the hill since it was made of cement and would be the strongest thing around against high winds. But in the end, it never came to that. 

The sky did take on a faint green tint to it, which is a sign of a tornado. But it was only ever so slight. Within about a half an hour, the rain slowed down to a dribble and the sun actually came out while it was still raining. 

And you know what that means....a rainbow!  And this rainbow was not just any rainbow, it was a perfect rainbow!  Put a unicorn near it and it would look like something straight out of a poster that I had in my room when I was 9. It was bold, and bright and there were fluffy clouds floating around at the bottom of it. 

The rain stopped and the sun started to shine brighter. I walked to the beach where I could see the rainbow even better. That's when I noticed that it wasn't just one rainbow... it was two! The second one was fainter, but it was definitely there. 

I  stood alone on the beach and just marveled at the beauty that God created and shared with me. 
He never ceases to amaze me and I was looking forward to what He would show me tomorrow. 

Genesis 9:13
"I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth."
​