We walked down to the car and got our food.  I grabbed the Pure Flame camp stove that Heather had given me as a birthday present this year. We were about to try it out for the very first time. 

This neat little gadget is more than a camp stove. It is also a charger. And get this.... you provide energy to the charger by burning sticks in the camp stove!  Then after the fire is  out you can plug in your devices that need charging and charge them up! 

I would have liked to have taken it with me on my backpacking trip this year, but I was thinking that it weighs a little bit too much for backpacking.  What I didn't know at the time was that you don't have to take the charger (the heavy part) with you when you are backpacking. You can use it by itself as just a regular camp stove and you can even use it with fuel canisters. But today we were just using twigs and sticks. 

We gathered up some twigs and went about getting a fire started and boiling water for breakfast and coffee. 

I was glad that the picnic tables here have a metal plate on one end of them. This was designed just for such occasions as this. The little burning twigs were falling out of it from time to time. I must remember to use it in an area where there is stone or sand when I take it out camping with me if I am going to use sticks to fuel it.

It had no problem holding a pot of water and it folds down nice and small into its own little bag.. Now that I know how it works I will be using it more often. 

We got breakfast eaten and everything cleaned up. Next on our agenda was to go for a morning hike on the Paroi-aux-Faucons trail.  (Translates to "Falcon Wall")

The start of this trail was right at our door step practically. It begins down by the bathroom and parking lot.  So we brought our food back down to the car and began our hike from there. 

There are no dogs allowed on this trail. It didn't surprise me really because there are no dogs allowed in this section of the park at all. Actually there is only one section in the whole park where dogs are allowed. We asked the people at the park office about this and they explained that it is not them who made the rules, it is actually the government of Quebec that makes the laws about where and when dogs are allowed. 

Since May 17, 2019, dogs are allowed in all Québec national parks, except for Anticosti Park and Bonaventure-et-du-Rocher-Perce Park. The places in the parks where dogs are allowed vary from one national park to another and from one season to another.  Dogs are generally allowed on the summer trails from early May to late October. 

There are trails in this park where dogs are allowed but this wasn't one of them.

The following maps show where the province has allowed dogs to be (in green) n this park and where they can't be (in red). 

​There are not a whole lot of flowers in this area at this time of year, but you can still find a number of mushrooms. 

An interesting discovery on this trail was a number of laminated trivia questions attached to various trees.  This was fun for us in more than one way. You see, all the questions and answers were in French.  Since neither Heather nor I had any practice with French since high school, it was fun to see how much of the questions we could actually understand before trying to answer them. 

We surprised ourselves with how much French we actually remembered. There were one or two questions that we were a little unsure of what they were asking but we understood most of them. 

The answers to the questions were printed on a slip of laminated paper below the question. You just had to flip it over to get the answer.  There were 10 questions in all. I think we answered 7 or 8 of them correctly. 

The trivia questions added an element of additional fun to this trail. Like I said before... they think of everything at this park! 

The trail starts out straight but then you come to an intersection where the loop begins. You can choose to go right or left.  We chose to go left. 

Now that we were going around the bend, we couldn't see what was up ahead and we didn't know what to expect or what we would see next. 

Needless to say, the trail did not disappoint.  At times it felt like we were Alice In Wonderland when we came across strange and unusual mushrooms growing out of the sides of thee trees. 

Other times there were moments that felt comforting and natural.  It would be as simple as stumbling upon a toad that seemed oddly familiar, almost like an old friend. 

When we got about half way around the trail we came to a sign that leads you up a little side trail to the Paroi aux Faucons look out. 

At the look out there was a picnic table. This would be another very nice spot to have a picnic lunch. Or, to just sit and enjoy the view. 

There were no falcons here today. However, Roxane at the office had said that there had been some sightings this year on this trail.   There was an information board about the peregrine falcon. So, we did get to see pictures and read about them. 

This was a great spot for a scenic view of Lake Temiskaming. 

And the closer to the edge of the cliff that you got, the better the view became. 

A tiny patch of yellow pine needles caught my eye. It was like the tree was saying "I want to dress in fall colours too!" 

Behind the yellow pine needles in the water is a trail of white foam that could be seen on this side of the lake near the shore that ran for miles.  It made me think of a lake monster for some reason.  Just for fun, when I got home I looked it up to see if there were any sightings of lake monsters in this lake. To my surprise, there are! Who knew!

Apparently the monster that lives here is called a "Mugwump" and is known the name "Tessie". Lake Temiskaming  is a deep lake; around 720 feet at it’s deepest point. And it is a long lake. Long and deep enough to hide a sea monster I guess.  

If you are interested in that sort of thing, you can red about people's sightings of Tessie here:
​Tessie The Temiskaming Lake Monster 

But we didn't see any lake monsters. We weren't even thinking about them at the time. 

Instead we were too busy wondering what it was we were seeing on the mountainside on the other side of the lake.  From where we were standing it looked almost like there was some sort of trail winding down the cliff and out to the shore.  We wondered if there was some sort of hiking trail over there that we should try to go see some day in the future. 

However, I took a picture and zoomed in close to see if I could get a better look at it.  We didn't have any binoculars with us so that was the next best thing.  Turn out our mysterious trail is actually just  natural rock formation. 

After awhile we left the look out site and continued our hike down the trail.  By this point we had passed the half way mark and were on our way back to camp now.

We passed by a side trail that had "Do not enter" signs posted at its entrance.  We are curious about this. Is this a new section of trail that they are working on?  Is there something dangerous around that bend? Or are they just trying to rejuvenate the forest along that section of the trail? Questions, questions, questions. But no answers. 

So, we went back to our trivia questions along the trail. At least we knew we would get answers to those. 

Some of the rock formations along the side of the path were draped in hanging Fringed Bindweed plants. They were changing into a peach colour to match the autumn colours of the other plants and trees.

As we rounded a bend we had a couple of Pipits cross our path. They were foraging in the gravel and fallen leaves for any sort of insects that they could make into a meal.  We stopped for a few moments to watch them. They were less timid than some birds but when we decided to get going, they flew off. 

When we got back to camp it was time to pack up our gear and put in the car. We were heading home today. 

However, we wanted to make one last stop before we went. We had seen much of this gorgeous park but we had not seen the main campsites that were located down by the park office. So, once we were all packed up we drove down there to take a look. It was along the way so it wouldn't be much of a bother to do a quick looksie. 

​We pulled into the main campground and parked the car and walked around to the various sites for a bit. 

There were still people camping in this campground and we didn't want to disturb them with our nosiness so we drove past the first few sites and  parked the car in the driveway of one of the sites. The first site we investigated was site number eight. 

This particular site was a decent size. It had your standard picnic table and fire pit. This is an electrical site which you can connect to at a post off to one side of the camp site. 

The fire pits here were different though. The grates on them could swing so that you could either have a grill to cook on or you could have an open fire pit for night time relaxation. 

A little chipmunk was calling this site home as he sat and watched us while eating some sort of berries. 

Number nine was across the road from 8. It had a long drive way before you got up to the site. It was also a bit too close to site number 11 in terms of privacy. 

For the most part it looked much the same as site number 8 though. 

Site number 10 still had a former campers permit on the post. I like the permit holders on the posts better than the Ontario ones. It seems cleaner and there is definitely less chance of sticking your hand in a spider web or a cocoon like you might in the permit holders that are in the Ontario parks. 

Again the layout here at number ten was similar to the previous ones. Nothing wrong with that.  Seemed to be a decent amount of space in this one. Not all the sites were big though. A few that we saw seemed to be a bit small. 

One thing we noticed about this site though, was it was at the bottom of a hill. That means that when it rains this site was bound to get pretty wet. 

Just a little further up the road, in walking distance, we found the path to the bathroom.  It is the only bathroom in this section of the campground. 

The bathroom was built in the same architecture as the main office. It was super sleek looking. This was not  only the bathroom, but the comfort station as well.  

It was equipped with flush toilets and had white subway tile walls for a nice clean look. Of course the clean look was also due to the fact that it was actually clean. 

The showers had the same subway tiles.  Unlike the Ontario Park showers where you step into the shower stall and push a button to turn on the water, the button for these showers was in a cubby on the wall beside the shower.  In Ontario Parks the water usually shuts itself off after a limited time. 

The instructions here are to "Press the button to start the shower"  and then "Press the button again to stop the shower" . They say that 4 minutes should be enough. 

On the outside of the building are the bathroom sinks.  They are big stainless steel sinks that make it look always shiny and new.. There is also a soap dispenser and a mirror. 

And for anyone looking to charge their devices, there is an outdoor electrical outlet that you can use. 

There is even a bicycle rack outside the bathroom. Very convenient!

I still can't get over how clean and tidy this park is. They take pride in their park and it shows. They provide doggie doo doo bags  and a special receptacle to dispose of it. They also provide  recycling bin for bottles and cans. It's just so wonderful to have the opportunity to camp in a clean park. It is the way all parks should be.  

We were done with our investigating of the park and now it was time to go home.  We walked back to where we parked our car and then headed out. 

This was the last camping trip of the season for us and I didn't really want to go. But at the same time I also wanted to rush home and tell the rest of the family just how wonderful this park was.  

Now that we have found this place, we are definitely going to to make many more trips back here.  This park makes me want to explore more Quebec parks. I am already looking forward to camping in new places next year! 

Waking up in the morning in a beautiful provincial park is the best feeling ever. It's like you're in a whole different world, surrounded by nature and fresh air. There's nothing better than starting your day with a quick  stroll down the path to the car to get your breakfast. It's so peaceful and calming, and it really sets the tone for the rest of your day. And the rest of our day would be all about hiking the trails. 

We planned to spend pretty much the whole day out on the trails. So, Heather went about making sandwiches and packing a lunch for us to eat on the trail. 

The trail head to three of the trails begins right in the parking lot so we didn't have to go far to begin our hike. We locked up the rest of our food in the car and headed across the parking lot. We intended to hike a couple of the trails today and decided to start off on the Inukshuk trail. 

We noticed that the trail markers were big red dots that were spray painted onto the trees. We thought this was a great idea. Not only was it very visible and would not get knocked off or torn down, but also because it did the least amount of damage possible to the trees. 

We found ourselves ​surrounded by towering trees, pine needles beneath our feet, and the earthy scent of the forest. As we navigate the trails together, we'll have the chance to engage in meaningful conversations, share stories, and create lasting memories. 

Each Ready-To-Camp site had a number and an animal name that seemed to be neither in French nor English. I can only guess that perhaps it is one of the First Nations languages.  Each site had it's own parking spot. 

I had seen pictures of the Ready-To-Camp sites on the parks website and I had wanted to see them in person. This was the perfect opportunity to do that. The purpose was to see if we could find one that might be wheel chair accessible for a future visit by some family members.  We located the sign that marked the beginning of the path to the Ready-To-Camp sites and headed in that direction. 

We were off to a good start. The path was very wide and made with gravel  that seemed fairly well packed and not too difficult to navigate. 

The first one we came to was number 4 - the moose site. 

No wheel chair was getting down here. There were too many stairs for that. 

At the bottom of the stairs we came to a structure that was almost like a cabin of sorts and had a little porch in front of it.

Outside the structure was a picnic table, a firepit, and some Adirondack chairs. ​ Despite going down some stairs, we were still pretty high up above the river and this gave us a great view from here. 

The cabin had a big glass door that let in a lot of light, however, it was locked. So, we peered in through the glass to take a better look.  Inside there were two sets of bunk beds. Each bed looked like it could hold two people. So, you could probably fit 8 people in here I would imagine. 

There was a table and some chairs, a kitchen area with a mini fridge and some dishes and utensils. 

Outside on the porch there was also a stainless steel counter. Under it was a jug with what looked to be a filter on top for drinking water. 

We left number 4 and continued on down the path. We saw that there was a little white truck parked in number 3. It was a park employee who seemed to be fixing or cleaning the stairs. We didn't want to intrude so we skipped number 3 and went on to number 2 which was the falcon site. 

We could see as we approached that this one also had some stairs. 

However, there was an area beside the stairs that looked like people had been walking on to get to the top instead. Although it looked nice and wide and unobstructed for a wheel chair, it was a bit too steep really. 

The layout on this one was a bit different than the last one though. You had to go down some stairs to get to the fire pit. 

The site had a little shelter for wood just like we had back at our own site.  

I looked up the hill and could see the cabin structure. I imagined sitting around the fire here at night and having to walk up the hill to go get anything you needed from there to bring down to the fire.  

This site also came with Adirondack chairs and it over looked the river as well. 

Next stop was site number one. To be honest I am not sure exactly what animal this is supposed to be on the sign. Perhaps a Pine Marten?  I just called it the weasel site. 

The path up to this site is longer than the path to the other sites and it goes up a bit of a hill. 

It is significantly longer actually.  You would definitely benefit from using the wagons to get your gear from the parking lot for this one. 

Part way up the path we saw a tiny little parking spot. We don't think this is intended for campers. We are pretty sure it is only intended for the park vehicles, like the one the employee had at site number three. 

When we finally reached the site we saw that it had stairs to get to the cabin structure. However, we think that with a little bit of effort you might just be able to  get a wheel chair up tot he cabin on the far right of the stairs through the grass. It is not as steep as the first site we saw. However, I couldn't say for sure if this would be possible or not. We just felt that out of all 4 sites, this one looked the most promising.  However, it is also the furthest away from the parking lot and the bathroom. 

The other thing that this site had going for it was that the fire pit was on the same level as the cabin structure. 

The view of the river wasn't quite as good but you could still see it. Plus it was pretty private up here. 

We walked up the steps to peer into the glass of the locked cabin structure again.  I noticed a little bumble bee sitting and hanging out on the steps.  It was the cutest little bumble bee ever!  He was so fluffy and he looked like he had a little bit of a wild hair-do going on there. 

Every time I got a little too close to him he would raise up his middle left leg. When I backed away he would put his leg back down. Then if I got too close again, he would raise his leg again. It was as if he were saying "Just hold it right there! Don't come any closer!" 

Apparently this is a thing that they do and it even has a name.  It is called the "Disturbance Leg-Lift Response"  or "DLR" for short. 

I didn't want to upset him so I left him and went to see inside the cabin. 

The inside was pretty much identical to all the other ones. Same layout and same accessories. 

We turned around and started making our way back down the path towards the parking lot.  I spotted a little Green frog in the grass along the side of the path. At first I thought it was a Wood frog but then I realized it wasn't.  I wondered what a Green frog was doing so high up here and so far away from the water. 

As we walked back down the path we heard a vehicle coming. It was the park employee in the little white truck who had been working on the stairs at site number three. She stopped and talked to us for a few minutes. She was super friendly and we enjoyed talking to her. We explained that we were checking out the sites to see if any of them were wheelchair accessible. She said that sadly they weren't, however, she had gotten a lot of requests for one this year and that she was going to talk to her supervisor about it and see if they can get one made or adapted for the future. We told her that number one would probably be the easiest one to convert since the firepit is on the same level as the cabin and the slope near the steps could easily be turned into a ramp. She thanked us for the feedback and told us that they love to hear feedback like that and they are always trying to improve the park.  Seeing how pristine this park is, I believe that to be the truth. They seem to always be paying attention to detail here. 

She told us that we should go and check out site number 3 because it had the best view out of the 4 sites. So we said goodbye to her and went to check it out. 

Site number 3 is the bear site. 

This site, the same as the others, had stairs leading down to the cabin and fire pit. 

The fire pit was also on the same level as the cabin on this site. 

She wasn't wrong about the view. There were fewer trees blocking the view here. 

And there was a big flat rock that you could climb up on to use as a lookout. 

You could see clear across the river from up here. It was beautiful. 

We had finished exploring all four of the Ready-To-Camp sites so we headed back to the parking lot. On the way back we noticed that there was a little bathroom that looked identical to the one at our site.  This is a communal bathroom; shared by all four sites. There was also a large water tank there, like at our site.  The water in it was not drinkable. 

When we arrived back at the parking lot we noticed that there was a large wood shed there. It looked brand new. This one was locked up for the season though. 

Tucked back away along the tree line was a large solar panel. I am guessing this provides power to the Ready-To-Camp sites, but I don't know for sure. 

At the far end of the parking lot was a large sign with a map indication that this was the start of the Inukshuk trail. 

One of the signs said that there was a picnic area at the water access which was just over one kilometer away. That is where we would have our lunch. 

Around one bend we came across the charred remains of a burnt out tree. We wondered if this was a tree that had been hit by lightning or perhaps a forest fire had gone through here at one point. There didn't seem to be charred trees anywhere else round the area, so we were thinking it was probably lightning. 

The scenery unfolded before our eyes like a breathtaking masterpiece, leaving me in awe of nature's wonders.  ​

​One part of the trail had flat rocks laid out like stepping stones beneath our feet. 

In one spot the path closely followed the contour of a steep-sided ravine. ​

Then we found ourselves following the trail away from the lake as it wound its way through dense forests of towering trees, their branches reaching out to create a canopy overhead. ​ It felt like you were entering a tunnel as you headed back into the woods.. 

It began to get rocky as we made our way up to the top. 

And then all of a sudden right in front of us was an Inukshuk in the shape of a stone man. I was truly surprised by this because I hadn't really read about the trail or paid much attention to what was described in the description of it before hiking it. But it all made sense since the name of the trail was the Inukshuk trail. I was only just now putting two and two together. 

Off to the side was an information board that told a little bit about the Inukshuk and the lake itself. 

We went up closer to get a better look. I noticed that all the stones had been cemented together so that it could not fall apart or have people knock parts of it off. 

I wondered how he would look to canoers paddling by from way up here at this height. How often was he mistaken for a real person at first glance? 

The view of Lake Temiskaming at this spot was incredible. 

We were very close to the picnic area now, so we continued on our way.  We passed a chair that someone had carved out of tree stump. 

It wasn't long before the rocky trail started to go down hill. We could hear some people talking from here so we knew that there were already other people at the picnic site. 

There was one picnic table and some red canoes that were available for rent. Sure enough we found that there were 2 people sitting at the picnic table. We decided to look around while we waited for them to leave so that we could use the table. 

We found the dock that people use to launch the canoes from. We hung out there for a few minutes and enjoyed the view of the lake. 

We got tired of waiting and we were getting hungry. So we decided to go and sit on some rocks and have our lunch there instead of at the picnic table. We made our way to a nice spot under some pine trees that over looked the lake. Across the lake we could see what looked to be someone's house or cottage. At first we though it might be part of the park, but after studying it, we figured it was more likely that it was someone's private property. 

Just as we were finishing up our lunch, the people at the picnic table finally left.  We picked up our stuff and went to sit at it before anyone else came along and took it. 

It was from here that we noticed for the first time that there was a headstone of some sort over looking the lake. We went over to it and found a list of 13 names on it. We immediately figured that there had to have been some sort of boating accident here.  It was sad because the head stone noted that these had been kids from St. Johns school of Ontario. It didn't give any details but when I got home I looked it up. 

I found a couple of articles that covered the tragic story:

1978-canoe-trip-tragedy

​Canoeing tragedy

The boys had been on a school trip in four 22 ft canoes. The winds on the lake changed and the water became rough and capsized the boats. There were 18 survivors but these 13 had died. 
​

On a tree next to the head stone was a wooden memorial as well. I am guessing that the wooden one was placed first and the stone one came later. 

It was time to go back now. We still wanted to go to the Chutes trail to see the waterfall that Roxane, the lady at the office, had told us about.  We started to climb back up the rocky trail to the top. The rocks looked worse than they actually are. In reality they were more like stone steps. 

Attached to one of the rocks was a sign that gave us our options on which direction to take.  We could either go 3.8 km to the waterfall using this trail, or go 2 km to the lookout on Paroi aux Faucons (Falcon Wall)  or go back the way we came, which was only 1.1 km. 

We decided to go back the way we came so that we could drive to the Chute trail at the other end. That way we could bring some painting supplies with us and do some painting while we were there. 

Once again we came across a large toad. The toads here are quite a bit larger than the ones I had been seeing in the Ontario parks this summer. They are lighter in colour too. 

We got back to our camp site in what seemed like no time. We grabbed what we wanted to bring and loaded ourselves into the car. It was a quick drive down to  where the Chutes trail was.   We parked in a big parking lot that was empty except for us.  They had a cute little Family Parking sign posted in the parking lot. 

We stopped for a moment to take a look at the map that was posted at the head of the trail. 

It was only just over half a kilometer to get to the waterfalls from this end of the trail. 

The path was wide and flat and well maintained. It almost looked like it could be a road instead of a hiking trail. 

The view here was picturesque and we considered finding a spot here to sit and paint. However, the trail didn't end here and we were curious to see if there was a better spot further up ahead. We figured that we could always come back here if there wasn't a better spot. 

Not too much further up the trail we came to a little picnic area. There was a picnic table and a little play ground for kids to play in. 

The playground consisted mainly of rope swings and climbers. The red rope made me think of Spider Man. I bet there are some little boys who would totally pretend to be Spider Man while playing here. 

We would have loved to have stayed here and use the picnic table to paint on, however, there wasn't much of a view of the falls from here. So we continued down the path a little further. 

We didn't have to go far before we found another spot that opened up onto another view of the water falls. 

And this view was even better than the last one!  Through the trees we could see the white water churning by. 

 The balcony was well-constructed and allowed visitors to safely immerse themselves in the natural wonder of the falls. But better still, there was a metal balcony that took you right out over top of the falls. The sun's rays illuminated the mist, creating a stunning rainbow that added to the already breathtaking scenery. The sound of the rushing water was deafening, yet soothing. The balcony was a perfect vantage point to observe the power and beauty of the falls. 

We decided that we had found our spot and our inspiration. We sat down near the balcony, took out our canvases and paints and paint brushes and began to paint. Heather painted the falls while I painted the autumn leaves. 

We sat painting for at least a good hour or more. We would have liked to have stayed longer, however, the weather decided to put an end to that. 

We looked up to see that the sun had gone and was replaced by a grey sky that made the pine trees turn to an eerie colour of green.  Next thing we knew, there was a crash of thunder. A storm was coming in. We had to pack up our painting gear before the rains came and ruined all of our art work. 

AS we packed up I looked across the river and noticed that there was yet another headstone on the other side. It was much too far away to read it properly and we couldn't see a path or bridge to it. 

I tried to zoom in with my camera to read it. As far as I can tell it says "Henri LaForest" . I could find nothing online about this particular person. 

Despite the weather changing on us, we were still in good spirits. We had hiked 2 beautiful trails today and we still had a very large tent that we could take shelter in and play board games for the rest of the afternoon. 

The rain stopped long enough in the evening for us to start a fire and cook our supper.  Nothing fancy, just some hotdogs. 

We were able to sit by the fire until almost 10:30 when it started to rain again.  By this time it was dark and we were about ready for bed anyways.   Tomorrow we would be packing up and going home, but we had one more trail that we wanted to hike before we went. Hopefully the weather will co-operate with us tomorrow so that we can hike the Falcon Trail. 

It is getting near the end of the camping season, but I still wanted to get one more trip in. So my sister, Heather,  and I decided to go camping for a couple of nights in Quebec at Parc National d'Opemican. 

It is a park that neither of us had been to before so we turned on Google Maps to help us find our way there. 
We were almost there when Lady Google told us that we would soon be arriving at our destination but would have to park the car and walk the rest of the way in. 

Don't Listen To Lady Google!!!
​   
When we arrived at the spot she said we needed to walk from, there was still about another 7 km to go. And we were able to drive all the way to the park office. The only time you needed to walk was to go from the parking lot to the building. 

From the parking lot we could see a big, modern looking building. This was the park office and store. 

We parked the car in front of the Service Centre sign and began to look around. It was a beautiful day and we were in a beautiful park. 

As you go towards the office, there is a large stone with a carving of some fish on it. How unique! 

Just before the walkway to the office there were three large signs. On the left was a satellite image showing the location of all 28 provincial parks in Quebec. On the right was a satellite picture of Opemican park which comprised of 4 different areas of land in yellow. 

The long wooden bridge with black iron railings leading up to the office doors, made it feel like we were entering a place of grandeur. 

The office and store had big glass doors, and glass walls. There was a door that went out to a balcony. 

They had all sorts of things for sale here. 

There were hats and coats and bags and shirt. 

There was also some artwork for sale here. I particularly loved this one that was done as a 3-D painting that popped right out of the frame itself. This was created by Francine Plante. 

I chose a new T-shirt to buy that I couldn't resist. 

At the desk we were greeted by a wonderful lady named Roxane. She was so friendly and pleasant. I just loved her! She is one of those people you couldn't help but instantly like, and she seemed to truly love her job. 

She asked if we had our access passes on our phone. Apparently they do everything digital here. I didn't have mine because I didn't have time to check email before I left so I didn't even know I needed one. I was expecting the paper version like they do in Ontario. I tried to get on the internet through their wi-fi in the office, but my phone just wasn't co-operating with us. Roxane was so patient with me. Finally, we had to give up. Roxane was able to print out a receipt that I could carry with me that would work as a substitute in this case. So, we weren't completely out of luck at least. To be honest, I really would have rather just had the paper permit. So much more simpler than dealing with digital stuff when I am trying to leave civilization and the digital world behind. 

She explained to me how to get to our campsite. It was going to be over 7 km more to drive to get to that part of the park because the park is spread out over a wide area in sections. The main campsites were right near the office, but we had reserved a walk-in site which is at the other end of the park. She let us know that there was no potable water at that end of the park.

She also told us that there was a trail to a waterfall in that section of the park. I was excited about that. I like waterfalls. 

We left the office with our new purchases in hand. We were curious about the rest of the building so we decided to look around. The comfort station was downstairs so we followed the signs to see what it was like. 

Downstairs there was a long hallway with a bunch of rooms. At the end of the hall was a door leading to the outside. We began to look into each room as we headed towards the door.

There were women's and men's bathrooms. They were so clean that you would think they had never been used before. 

Naturally, there were flush toilets. The stalls were spotless, 

In the bathrooms were showers that were also sparkling clean. 

There were double sinks and large mirrors. 

Further down the hall we found a family bathroom. It had a regular sized toilet and a cute little children's sized toilet beside it. The dividers between the toilets had some fun spiral designs on it. 

The sinks were also adult and child size. So cute!  There was a change table on the wall and a shower in here too. 

When we went out the door at the end of the hall, we came out into a children's play ground.  This playground had all sorts of fun equipment to play on. There were climbing ropes, and slides, and steps.

They had an adorable snail and dragonfly bouncing spring toys to ride on. They were very whimsy looking. I particularly liked the snail. 

There was a big red boat to play in with climbing ropes inside.  This playground would delight any child. And it was all brand new looking and perfectly spotless. Much thought and care has gone into this playground.

Outside the building on the side of the wall, was a set of sinks for washing children's hands after play.

On the same wall was a set of drinking fountains. Again, there was one for adults and a lower one for kids. 

In the same unit as the drinking fountains there was also a place to fill up water bottles and jugs. We took the opportunity to run up to the car and grab our water jugs to fill up here since we now knew that there was no potable water at our campsite. 

From the playground we spotted what looked to be a nice little sandy beach. We headed over there to check it out. 

Off to one side of the beach was some sort of white structure. I have no idea what this is, but I do know that it is part of an historical site. 

On the other side of the beach was a dock with a canoe and a boat shored up to it. Oddly the beach had a rope fence around it. 

On the rope fence were signs indicating "no swimming for people or dogs" and "no canoeing" . It was unclear to us why this would be the case. 

It wasn't until I got home later and translated this sign that I understood why the beach was off limits. The sign reads as follows: 

"In the past, Opémican Bay has been the scene of important industrial activities for the region, as evidenced by the historic buildings. Unfortunately, these activities have led to contamination of the sediments of the bay, which forces us to temporarily limit access to it until it is decontaminated and rehabilitated.

This major work will be completed in the coming years. The rehabilitation in this exceptional natural site will allow the reopening of the sandy shore of the bay for water activities and swimming.

Access to the water through the sandy shore of the bay is currently prohibited.

In the meantime, we invite you to use the sandy shore near the Auberge Jodoin, which has been tested and is not contaminated. We have set up a temporary boat rental center there.

Thank you for your understanding, Opemican National Park team."

Unfortunately, even after I got home and scoured the maps and internet, I could not locate this "Auberge Jodoin" place that the sign spoke of. As far as I can tell it is one of the historical sites in the park. But where in the park exactly, I couldn't say. It would be something you would have to ask about at the desk I guess. 

Between the beach and the parking lot there is an interesting little educational display that you can walk through. 

It is a hands on educational area that tells about mixed forests and biodiversity.

The information is displayed in a fun way on circles all over the section. 

Heather and I spent a few moments here reading some of the information. 

After that we hopped into the car to go back to the highway so that we could continue on to our campsite. 
Unfortunately, we made a wrong turn and got a bit turned around. We must have looked confused because as we were slowly driving and trying to figure out where we were, some local residents pulled up beside us and kindly helped us figure out where to go. I wonder if they get that a lot. 

We actually weren't that far away from the highway and with one right turn we were back on course. We drove 7 km up the highway, past the town of Laniel.  We knew we were almost there when we saw the sign for the three different trails. Another 2 more km to drive and we would be there. 

At last we came to a parking lot with a large sign that welcomed us to our campground.  We had arrived! 

The sign had a "You are here" star on the sign and showed us the nearby hiking trails as well as the locations of the four walk in sites in this area.  We would be at site number five. 

Beside the big sign were a number of carts that were provided so that we could transport our gear up to the site. These guys have thought of everything! 

We grabbed two carts and loaded them up. I kept dropping things out of my wagon because I over loaded it just a bit. 

The first thing we passed on the way to our site was a great big wood shed. It was almost the end of the season, so the wood shed did not have a lot of wood left in it. To the left of the shed was a big tank of water. You couldn't drink it but you could use it to do dishes and stuff like that. You could also filter it if you had a water filter system with you. We had our water from the drinking fountain at the office though so, we didn't need to use any of this water. 

Within throwing distance of the wood shed, there was the cutest little outhouse that I ever did see. It looked like a tiny little cabin. 

Inside was a vault toilet and a little closet that kept cleaning supplies. Just like everything else in the park this bathroom was spotless.  The air freshener spray that they used smelled like oranges. It was the most pleasant outhouse I have ever used. 

Attached to the outside of the outhouse was a first aid kit and a hand sanitizer dispenser. 

Site number five was the first one on the walk in trail so, we didn't have far to go. 

The trail to our campsite was wide, gravel,  and well groomed. It was a lovely little walk actually. 

The campsite was a good size. The picnic table was in great condition and even had a piece of metal on top at one end so that you could place a camp stove or a hot pan there and not damage the table. This is a fantastic idea! 

The fire pit was clean. Very clean. As a matter of fact the whole site was immaculate. There was not one bottle cap, not one piece of paper or plastic in even the smallest amount anywhere. We found this to be true of every part of the park that we visited. The staff here took super great care of this park. 

The next thing that stood out about this site was the cute little miniature wood shed that held our own private stash of wood to use. It was a nice touch. There was even a plastic tote under it that contained some newspaper and a bit of kindling to start a fire with. Yep! Like I said, they thought of everything!

Posted to a tree at the edge of the site was a sign asking you to please not wander off the site and into the surrounding forest. This prevents damage to the surrounding area.  I could see kids being disappointed by that because there were a whole lot of areas that kids would love to be climbing and exploring in around this site. Granted, the site was situated on the top of a high, and steep, rocky, hill. So, it is probably safer for kids not to be wandering too close to the edge of that anyways. 

We set up our water jugs at the end of the table and began unloading our carts and setting up camp. 

There was more than enough room for the 10 person tent that Heather and I would be sharing for the next 2 nights. 

Once the camp was set up, we had time to relax and really look around.  The leaves here were beginning to change into their fall colours in an unusual way. The edges of the green leaves were edged in red as though someone had come along with a red magic marker and outlined them all. 

Other looked like they had been dabbed with a sponge in red and yellow paint. 

There were not many mosquitoes or other biting flies. The only fly I saw at all actually was this little Banded Thintail, It doesn't bite or sting, despite looking like a bee. 

There was no one else in this section of the park. It was just us. We had the whole place to ourselves. In light of this, we decided to walk further down the trail to see the other three campsites before the sun went down. 

The campsite next to us was number six. We couldn't see it directly from our site, but it wasn't very far at all. 

It looked rather a lot like the site that we were already on. Actually, I think ours was prettier than this one. 

Number seven was a little further of a walk, but none of them were extremely far apart from each other. 

This site had a better view of the river below. It also had a second level to it. The top level seemed to be the place that you would pitch a tent. 

While the lower area seemed to be where you would have your fire and eat your meals at the picnic table. 

Number eight was the furthest away. This meant that it was furthest away from the bathroom, but it also meant it was the most private. 

Not only was it way down at the end of the trail, but then it also had a curving side trail to it as well. You would definitely benefit from using the wagons to bring your stuff over to this site. 

That said, this was the most beautiful of the four sites and the one with the best view.  It also had two levels to it. 

Unlike site number seven though, this one had stairs leading down to the next level. Site seven only had a small sloping hill down to its lower level. 

This site was also designed to have space for the tents on the upper level. 

And the lower level was for the firepit and eating area. 

However, this site had some logs for seats that the other sites didn't have.  The view to the lake was much more unobstructed than all the others. This site is probably the best of the four sites if you don't mind being so far away from the bathroom. 

I took a closer look at the little wood shelter that was built here. I realized that it was actually made out of a couple of pallets that were turned on their side and attached with some two by fours. Pretty simple really. 

The roof on it was just some boards with some cedar shingles on top. 

We sat here and enjoyed the view and the peace and quiet for a bit. But we were getting hungry so we had to get back to our own campsite to make ourselves some supper. 

Over by our wood shelter a very large toad was hopping along. I had seen a lot of toads this year. This one was probably the biggest one I had seen out of all of them. It was much lighter in colour around its belly compared to the others as well.  I watched him as he disappeared under a pile of rocks. 

We built a fire and ate supper. Then we just sat around the fire talking and enjoying each others company until about 10:30 at night. 

When it was almost time for bed we packed up the food into the wagons and headed down to the car to store it for the night. It was a bit of a trek to put food away but we didn't mind. 

On the way back, we passed the wood shed. We had noticed earlier that there was a sign indicating that the area was under surveillance by a camera. We looked and looked but we never saw a camera anywhere. We wondered if that sign was just a bluff. Not that it mattered because we had more than enough wood at the campsite and we didn't need to steal any from the wood shed. 

Besides, while we were looking around the wood shed, we happened to see a very large spider up on the ceiling. Very large. 
Who needs a camera to keep people from taking wood when you have a guard spider? After seeing that thing, I wasn't about to go hanging around that shed, that's for sure. 

We got back to camp just as it was starting to rain. Time for bed anyways. So, we doused the fire with water (we weren't going to trust that the rain would put it out), and headed into the tent. 

Aside from the rain, all was quiet outside. There were no loons, and no other critters or people making noise. It was very peaceful and we were very tired, so it wasn't long before we were fast asleep in this picture perfect park.