Leap Frogs and A Search For Bears

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. Way too early for my liking. Heather was awake too. We peeked outside the tent door hoping to see a moose across the lake. But no such luck. Heather got out of the tent and I tried to go back to sleep. But at 7:45 I was still awake so I got up too. It was over cast  and looked like it could rain at any time. So, it was probably best that we got the day started. 

We had a quick breakfast and then we got packed up. We spent a few extra minutes down by the water\s edge before we had to leave.

Momma loon and her baby were still swimming nearby. 

​ I was sad to have to say good-bye to the loons. It would have been nice to be able to stay a few more days to watch the progress of the baby loons diving and flying lessons. But we had places to go and things to see. 

We left the campsite at about 9:40. There was a bit of climbing and a bit of scrambling over rocks and water. But nothing too crazy. 

Despite the overcast skies, the flowers were out in full bloom looking for the sunshine.

We got to the bridge at the Clutes loop and stopped for a rest. Once we got this far we knew there wasn't too much further to go.

We stayed here for about 20 minutes and enjoyed the view.

We finished the trail and got out of the bush at about 11:50 a.m.  Surprisingly, the last stretch of trail had more roots and stones on it than any other part of the entire trail. 

The last thing to do was to cross the road to the parking lot where our car was waiting. We were hoping to make it on time to the boat cruise that takes you to see to see the petroglyphs on the cliffs of Lake Mazinaw but we missed the boat by about 10 minutes. The next one wasn't for another hour and a half and we didn't want to wait. We figured we would come back here to go camping another year and we can do the boat cruise at that time. 

So we left the park store where they sell the tickets and we headed back to the car. Along the way we passed the area where the Art Exhibition had taken place a few days earlier before we began our backpacking trip. The space was so big and empty now.  I noticed a gentleman sitting at one of the picnic tables beside a yellow thing. 

Then I noticed that there was another yellow thing at another picnic table. So I went closer to see what it was. It was an electrical outlet where you can sit and charge your phone or other devices. What a great place to have these!  Trying to find a place at the comfort station can be tricky sometimes. These take all the frustration out of it. You can sit and read a book or talk with friends or eat lunch while you wait for your devices to charge. 

​Once we were in the car we headed off to Bonnechere Provincial Park. 

We were tired and hungry so, when we spotted a little restaurant in Palmer Rapids, called Kim's Hometown Restaurant we decided to stop and eat there.

It was a cute, family run, business that was only open until 2 p.m. Monday to Thursday and until 6 p.m. Friday to Sunday.

Kim was the cook and the waitress. There were some regulars there who knew her by name. Every once in awhile her 2 little kids would peek around the counter to see who was there. 

The food was good. Especially after eating dehydrated food for the past few days. Heather had the All Day Breakfast and I had a Club Sandwhich. For dessert, I had a home made butter tart. Kim warmed it up before bringing it out to me. I had never had one warmed up before and it was delicious! 

After eating we continued on our way. Here is a warning to anyone using the Google Maps app on your phone to go from Bon Echo Park to Bonnechere Park.....Don't trust Lady Google! She told us to turn right down some road but it turned out to be someone's laneway. We actually needed to travel one block further before turning right. (Can't remember where this was exactly but it was near "Old Barry Bay Road" or something like that).  

There were about 6 drops of rain on the windshield as we drove, but no real rain all day.  Everywhere we looked there were signs that said "Total Fire Ban". But the funniest signs were the ones we passed that said "Firewood for sale $10" and about 5 feet away was a big sign saying "Total Fire Ban".  I am guessing the people selling firewood didn't get many sales.

We got to Bonnechere Provincial Park at about 2:30 p.m.

As we drove in we noticed a sign saying "Active Bear in the Park". Heather was happy to see this and was hoping that she could see the bear while we were there.  We went inside to check in and Heather asked where the bear had been sighted. The staff said not to worry and that  it had only been sited a few times near the waste management site. I guess they misunderstood when Heather asked about it. I think that they thought we were afraid of running into it when it was quite the opposite. 

On the outside of the office was a big sign letting everyone know that there was a fire ban in effect. Even though Bon Echo and Bonnechere are only about an hour and 45 minutes away from each other, the Bon Echo ban had been lifted but the Bonnechere ban had not. 

Bonnechere had gone so far as to print out forms about the fire ban that you had to read and then you had to sign your campsite permit saying that you had read and agreed to the fire ban rules. 

We got site number 94. On the side of the permit post was a sign telling you how to manage waste and recycling. 

The site was, large, clean, and private.They even raked the ground around the fire pit. 

The only concern I had was that it was situated right next to a bog (many of the sites are). So I figured that the mosquitoes would be bad (I bet they are pretty bad in May and June). But I didn't have to worry because despite the bog being right  there, the bugs were not bad at all. 

In fact, the bog was kind of pretty. 

The first thing we did after setting up the tent was to head to the showers. Now Bonnechere is a beautiful park and has so many wonderful things about it, however, the showers are not one of them. The showers were dingy and wet (not a clean wet but an stale and stagnant wet).  The water only lasted about 2 minutes before you had to push the button to get the water to run again. The water started off nice but after the first push of the button, the water became freezing cold. It took about another 7 or 8 pushes of the button to get the water warm again. Heather said that her shower was about the same. The showers definitely need an upgrade. 

After taking our showers we went to the park store. I showed Heather the room where Thunder the turtle was staying. he wasn't walking around on the floor this time though; he was in his big metal tub. 

Outside the store we saw a white board that indicated we may be in for a thunderstorm that evening.
Inside the store were many souvenirs, treats, camping gear, etc.  We found it odd that they sold Mosquito Coils and Citronella candles but not for use in the park. Our guess was that this was because of the fire ban in place. 

Heather and I eyed up the display of fudge. Each one had an interesting name such as " Wolf Paw" or "Moose Tracks". The only problem with names like that is you are not quite sure what is in them, so you are not quite sure if you are going to like them.  But it's fudge, so really, it should all taste great!  :) 

I chose the Bear Claw fudge and Heather chose the Milky Way fudge. And yes, they did both taste great. 

We took our fudge and went to stroll along the beach. We found a picnic table down by the boat launch and sat and watched a momma duck with her brood of 4 ducklings swimming near by. 

Then, a little further off I saw what looked like someone had been skipping a rock across the surface of the water. But no one was around and no one was skipping rocks. No, it wasn't a rock at all. It was a frog! I have seen frogs jump and swim, but I had never seen one skip across the surface of the water like a stone before! I was quite surprised by this. Even more surprising was that I caught it on camera. 

I really like this park. It's like they have thought of everything here. They even have a special tap where you can wash the sand from your feet after you come up from the beach!

We went back to the campsite and Heather went for a nap. I tried to take some pictures of birds because there were a whole bunch near by, but all the pictures turned out blurry. It is not easy to take pictures of birds. 

When Heather got up from her nap we went to see if there were any bears at the waste management site. There weren't any, but there was a live bear trap. The waste management site was actually pretty busy compared to most other parks I have been to. I think other people also had the same idea to come to look for bears and to check out the bear trap.  The bear trap had yellow tape and a mini barricade around it to warn people away from it. We chuckled because it looked more like they were trying to warn the bear to stay away. 

Behind the waste management site runs part of a hiking trail. We decided to explore this trail for a bit. 

The trail is called the F.I.T. trail. You may think means it's for getting your exercise, (which it also does) but it actually stands for "Footprints In Time".

The trail is a beautiful, wide, pathway that is easy for anyone to travel down. I think that it is even wheelchair accessible. 

From time to time you will see information signs that you can stop to read. 

But what we thought were really neat were the signs that are hidden inside of logs all along the trail. You just push the wooden sign down on one end and the longer end pops up with information written on bvoth sides of the post. What a unique idea! 

Some of them have a little map on the back of them.

With a "you are here" dot indicated on the map. 

We got to one section where there were many of these posts all in a row. 

At the same section there were also a couple of cabins and some picnic tables to sit at. 

Inside one cabin was a display of how an old logging cabin looked like inside. there was a bed and a wooden chest.

And there was a little wood stove and wash basin and some tools. 

Outside that cabin we noticed a time capsule in the shape of a rock. I imagine they will be having some sort of opening ceremony in the year 2042. Could be interesting to attend and to see what is inside. 

Across the way was a second cabin. 

Inside this one it was set up to look like an old school room or something.  We didn't tour the whole trail because it was going to be dark soon and it was threatening to rain. We went back to the campsite and made ourselves some supper on the little propane stove that we had. 

At 8:50 p.m. it began to rain. We had just finished supper but we were still having coffee and hot chocolate. So undeterred, we grabbed our umbrellas from the car and sat at the picnic table under them in the rain. The rain itself didn't last too long, but the trees got wet enough that water was dripping from the leaves. So even though it had stopped raining we kept the umbrellas up just the same. 

One thing about having your campsite near a bog, when it rains all the frogs come out. There were frogs everywhere! And to top it off, it was getting pretty dark so we couldn't see them very well. We had to be careful not to step on them. 

After awhile it got dark enough and it was wet enough that we went into the tent to spend the rest of our evening. We heard a few planes go by that sounded like thunder, but we never did get the thunder storm that they were calling for.