Flowers, Rain and a place for Fishermen

It's was a cool, grey morning. It's supposed to thunderstorm in the afternoon. Funny how every time I go camping with my dog, it rains. Hoping my tent doesn't leak. But for now, no rain, so I set about to enjoy my morning. 
I ate  breakfast and sat around leisurely reading a magazine for awhile. 

Since it wasn't very sunny, I eventually got cold just sitting around. I figured this would be a good time to walk around and explore the park a little. Moving around would warm me up and would keep Balto from getting too restless. 
One of the reasons I chose this park was because I knew there were no hiking trails here. With an old dog by my side I knew he couldn't handle a hiking trail. There are, however, some great hiking trails just outside the park. I might have to come back here one day just so that I can hike up to the Caribou Mountain Lookout that I hear is spectacular.
Instead of a hike, we just walked the roads of the park. We walked in the opposite direction that we had traveled in the previous day. From time to time little red squirrels would come out to take a look at us. Balto paid them no attention and set his mind to all the smells he could smell along the way.

We started off by going down to the mini boat launch to see if there were any ducks, turtles, or even frogs, But there was nothing. I didn't even see any minnows in the water. 

I did notice that the dock had permit posts for boats though. This is the first time I have ever seen that in a provincial park. This park really keeps the boaters and  fishermen in mind. 

Right next to the mini boat launch is the second beach. It looked almost identical to the first beach, except it had two benches to sit on instead of just one. The buoy lines were only about 7 feet out here too. Maybe a bit further, but not by much. 

There was nothing exciting down by the water so we headed inland. 

Down one of the side roads we came to campsite 66. I think this is the site would make a good group site. It is pretty spacious and private enough at the same time.

You could probably fit about 5 tents on this site, but I think the rules won't allow for that.  This park has quite a few small sites but at the same time, when they go big, they go really big! 

It was at this site that Balto needed to stop for a rest. So I let him sit for a bit while I looked for birds.

It was at this site that I caught a glimpse of a little ovenbird. Sadly it wouldn't sit still for a clear picture. So I had to settle far a couple of blurry and behind the branches photos instead. 

The first signs of Autumn were beginning to show.

High up in a pine tree a raven watched as we walked by.

Eventually we went around a corner and came to site number 71. This one is located across from the bathrooms and it has an interesting set up. 

It has a wooden fence running around it's perimeter.  It makes me think of camping in a farm yard. 

It had some nice big rocks that would make for good places to sit if you didn't have a chair.  They were kind of decorative too. 

Most of the flowers here are common flowers like the "Devil's Paintbrush"otherwise known as  "fox-and-cubs", or "orange hawkweed" (although these ones were more red than orange).  

There was plenty of Crownvetch flowers.

And the Birdsfoot Trefoil was abundant in this area too.

Although the wild roses were done flowering for the season, there were plenty of rose hips hanging from the thorny branches. 

And I spotted an occasional mushroom here and there. However, I don't know my mushrooms so I couldn't tell you what kind these are. 

The road back was lined with lovely smelling cedar trees. We must have walked for about an hour. Maybe even an hour and a half. 

I was surprised that Balto lasted that long. I really didn't think I would get very far with him. He did remarkably well, however, he definitely went for a nap when we got back. 

It started lightly raining by 3:30 and by 4:30 it was raining harder. So, I retreated to the tent to watch a movie for the afternoon on my tablet. And what movie did I watch on my camping trip? "Back Country" of course. That reminds me... I should pick up some bear spray one of these days. 

Balto and I left the tent at around 7 to eat supper but it was still raining so we went right back in as soon as we were done. By 9:30 it was raining hard and every inch of my tent was leaking. The walls, the roof, the door, everything. I was sopping up little puddles off the floor with a dirty T-shirt. 

As I lay on my sleeping bag (which surprisingly, was not wet) and was looking at the ceiling with the beads of water running down it, I thought "maybe I should put my rain poncho over the roof of the tent. Wish I had brought a tarp". Then it dawned on me. I have something better than a tarp! I have a dining tent!

So I put my rain poncho on, went outside, and dragged the dining tent over top of the tent. Perfect! I was expecting thunderstorms at about 1 a.m. So, this should definitely help.  Maybe I can open my screen door open  my tent door and watch the lightning from inside my tent without getting wet. Or maybe that's pushing it a bit.  At any rate, other than my sleeves being soaked from moving the dining tent, this was keeping my tent dry. Well, at least as dry as it could be after it's already been soaked through and through. Wish I had thought of this sooner. I will definitely remember it for next time! 

The next morning I could hear Sarah and Daniel and their dad packing up to leave. When I emerged from my tent they were gone, but they had left me a little present. They left me the left over wood that they hadn't used. It was sweet of them, but the thing was, I was going home today and didn't need it. So I took it to the next camp site over and gave it to the couple who were staying on site 35. They were happy to get it and I chatted with them for awhile before going back to my site to pack up. 

Once the car was packed up and Balto was comfortably tucked into the back seat, I figured I would take a quick look around at parts of the park I couldn't walk to with Balto by my side. I drove down to the main boat launch to see what it was like down there. There was a playground and a volleyball net, but no one was playing there at the moment. The ground was a little flooded from so much rain the night before. 

Off to the side, and nestled in between some trees was a cute little picnic shelter. 

The main boat launch had many more docks and opened up to the waters of Lake Temagami. 

Up a little bit of a hill was a fish cleaning station. I can only think of one other park that I have seen a fish cleaning station at. I think it was Fushimi Park if I recall correctly. 

I stopped by the waste management site to drop off my garbage on the way out. They had a neat set up to deter bears and other animals from getting into the garbage. The garbage bin has a door on the top and you have to climb up some stairs to get to the door. The bin itself, hooks up to a truck by a trailer hitch so that they can tow it away,

The last stop on my way out was to check out the dog beach. This area is way too far away from the rest of the park, which is why I left it for last. 

Sadly there wasn't much to look at. There was no sandy beach area. It was just a picnic table pulled up to the waters edge. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised considering the human beaches are extremely tiny here. I guess it's nice that they had anything at all for dogs when you take that into consideration.  

Finlayson Point park is not the best park for swimming, but it is a pretty good park if you are a fisherman or a boater. If you are looking for something small and quiet, this is the place to go.