Look Close To Find The Hidden Gems

We survived another cold night. Since we were prepared for it this time, it wasn't so bad.  We woke up to a nice sunny day and the birds were out.  Even the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker came to pay us a visit. 

The morning air was a bit chilly still, but basking in the sun helped with that. By mid-morning it was back to regular summer temperatures again. 

This meant that we could enjoy the hike that we had planned for the Teck Lake trail today. 

The Teck Lake trail starts off wide open with a pine needle covered path. 

This eventually turns into a more dense trail with lush vegetation. It is a beautiful trail. 

The orange Jewelweed flowers were eye catching and drew attention to themselves and their beauty. 

But other things on this trail were hidden gems that you had to really look closely to see.  A little brown White-Throated Sparrow was hidden quietly among the tree branches and watched us carefully as we walked by. 

We followed the blue arrows on the trees that marked the trail. 

But if we didn't look down once in awhile we would have missed the mushroom that was hiding and growing from inside a hole in an old tree stump. 

The sparrow may have hid well, but nothing beats the camouflage of a Grouse. If I didn't tell you there was a Grouse in this picture, I bet you never would have seen it.  Another hidden gem on this trail.  

We continued along the sun dappled trail and enjoyed the peace and tranquility here. 

The trail eventually brought us to the lake. On one side, you couldn't see the shoreline for the bushes and plants growing along the edge of the water. 

But to our left, there was a muddy shoreline. The mud was also hiding some hidden gems. 

Sitting in the mud, in the shadow of a log was an amber coloured dragonfly. 

The mud itself was host to many different footprints of animals that had walked through here in the not so distant past. 

I am no tracker and can only guess what animal left these prints behind. Perhaps a fox or an otter or a racoon. 

In another section of the mud there were tracks that looked like they could have been deer tracks. 

Close to the waters edge, almost out of sight, we noticed some Northern Purple Pitcher Plants growing. 

The Pitcher Plants were the same colour as part of this plant that was growing nearby. At first I thought it was a younger version of the same plant but then realized that the leaves were different. I didn't know what this plant was and had to look it up. It had a pretty long name. It's called Fraser's Marsh St. John's Wort.

Another plant with bright red tipped leaves was the Bush Honeysuckle that ran along the edge of the trail in places. 

A little Green frog was trying to blend in but we spotted him anyway. Hopefully the predators didn't spot it. 

Speaking of spotting....We noticed a large white spot on one of the trees. At first we thought someone had painted the spot as a trail marker of some sort. However, upon closer inspection we saw that it was actually a type of lichen called Mapledust Lichen growing on the bark. 

Near this tree we also noticed some mesh netting sticking out from under the moss and dirt in the ground. We are assuming that this was being used to help fight against soil erosion and to help keep the trail looking nice. 

We finished our hike all too soon and were headed  to the trail exit.  

But not before stopping to watch a Bumble Bee fly around from flower to flower among the purple Asters. 

We may have finished our hike, but we were not ready to go back to camp just yet. Instead we decided to walk down the narrow road to see what the Group campsite looked like. 

Site number 200 is the Group campsite. We were hoping that no one was on it so that we could explore a little. We were in luck. No one was there. 

The Group site was nice and large as a Group site should be.  There were plenty of picnic tables all around a fire pit. 

There was plenty of open space for setting up tents or for playing outdoor games and sports. 

It was a really nice site with a view and access to the lake. 

However, it was not the best for swimming because it was much too weedy. 

The site did have it's own private bathroom though. 

And it's own water tap too. However, you can't drink from this water tap unless you boil it first. 

After exploring the Group site, we still weren't ready to go back to camp yet.  We looked at the park map and saw a long winding back road with no campsites on it. It did show a picnic area though. It seemed odd to have a picnic area so far away from absolutely everything in the park. We were curious so we jumped in the car and drove to it.  

When we got there, we parked the car and got out to look around. Right away we could see the beauty in this spot and why it would be made into a picnic area.  There was a large welcoming sign letting people know that this section was maintained and cared for by the Friends Of Ivanhoe Lake group. 

We left Sylvie in the car for a few minutes while we did a quick look around. We were thinking that perhaps we would have lunch here since we had all of our food with us in the truck of the car.  We just had to figure out if it was a suitable place to stop to eat or not. 

Ahead of us was a cute little wooden footbridge that seemed to lead to what looked like an island. 

We stopped in the middle of the bridge to admire the water. It was crystal clear and you could see the bottom . The lake bottom made it look like the water was a green-blue colour. Very pretty.

The view on both sides of the bridge was beautiful. There was no one else around and it was so quiet.  We stood there in the tranquil silence, just soaking in the peacefulness of the place for a moment or two. Nothing was said between us because we didn't want to break that silence. 

I began to walk closer to the island and looked down to see beautiful pink flowers of some Water Smartweed.

The island had some large open areas but still enough trees to give a good balance of shade and sun. The longer I stood here the more I wanted to stay. This was truly one of the park's hidden gems. 

We found a couple of picnic tables and knew straight away that this was where we were going to have lunch. 

I headed ack to the car to get Sylvie and our cooler full of food. We had a bag of Beef Jerky with us so we let Sylvie have a little snack while we ate lunch. 

As we were eating a gentleman on a bike stopped by and we chatted for a bit. Apparently he lives in a town about an hour and a half away from Ivanhoe Lake Park. And he had gone to see the Polar Bears yesterday too. We talked about the weather and how it had been so cold lately. He informed us that there was a frost warning out for tonight. 

When the guy on the bike left, it became very quiet again. After eating we explored the island a bit more. The opposite side of the island opened up onto the lake. It looked like it would be a great place to swim. 

Nestled among the trees was a bench. If I wasn't paying attention, I could almost have missed it. 

The bench had been placed there in memory of a lady named Kathy Robichaud Weir. 

Soon we had packed up and were headed back to the car. We stopped to take one last look at the stunningly green colour of the crystal clear water. 

We continued to drive down the back road and that eventually brought us to the gatehouse, which is also where the Park Store is located. 

We didn't stay too long in the store. Just long enough to take a quick look around and to buy some ice and some firewood in case we decided to have a fire tonight. 

Penny also bought a Park blanket that had the names of all the Ontario Provincial Parks on it. 

I went outside to wait while Penny finished purchasing her new blanket. It was too small of a space to have too many people in there at once and some new campers were on their way in. 

As I waited I saw a boy fishing down at the lake and asked him what that was floating out in the water. I couldn't quite make it out. He informed me it was a duck. Sure enough when I got close enough I could see that it was a female Mallard duck. The reason why I couldn't make it out from a distance was because she had her head tucked into her body and it had looked like it had no head from where I had been standing. 

I got talking to the boy while I was waiting for Penny. He was having a tough time with his fishing rod because the rod kept falling apart into two pieces every time he cast his line. He told me it was a rental from the park store. 

Since we were driving full circle around the park and we were driving past the Day Use beach, I made a quick stop there to check it out.  Penny didn't feel like joining me so she stayed in the car with Sylvie.
It was big beach area with lots of picnic tables. 

There was a play structure for the kids at this beach. 

​It was pretty empty right now though because it was too chilly and a bit too windy. There were no lifeguards here (which is pretty standard for most beaches in the parks now a days). But there were also no buoy lines either. And that was unusual. 

There was a set of bathrooms here that doubled as change rooms. 

There was plenty of room to swim but there wasn't really much of a sandy beach. What sand was there had weeds growing in it. Come to think of it, the pet beach had a better sandy shoreline than this beach did. 

I only looked around for about 5 minutes and then I headed back to the car. 

We were getting closer to camp now, but Penny wanted to stop off at a comfort station along the way.  This comfort station was not large but still had flush toilets. So, you can't really complain about that. 

It also had one of those cute little book lending libraries. 

Outside the comfort station was a park map that said "You Are Here". Looking at this map, I realized that there was another beach directly across the road from where we were parked right now.  I decided to go take a look and compare it to the one I had just come from. It gave me something to do while I waited for Penny, and I was curious.  

A little green cross walk sign saying "Slow" pointed me in the right direction. 

Now this beach was much more like what people expect from a typical beach. It was a large, beautiful, sandy beach.  There were sections of buoy lines and a rack of canoes for rent. 

No lifeguard here either, but there it did have a wheelchair accessible flotation device parked under the sign.

The sandy beach went on and on in both directions. The view was lovely since there were no people around. 

There were benches sprinkled here and there in case you wanted to come down tot he beach to watch the sunset or something. 

To top it all off they had a toy lending center for the kids!  It was filled with brand new beach toys that kids could use to play in the sand or the water with. I was very impressed by this little detail. Such care goes into this park. I have noticed that all the buildings are in great condition, clean, and with fresh coats ofpaint. Signs are made out of repurposed wood so as not to be wasteful. I just love this park! 

We hopped back in the car and started driving again. But we didn't get far before we decided to make yet another stop. Sylvie had been so good following us around from place to place that we thought she deserved to get out and have some fun of her own for a bit. So we took her back to the dog park that we had been to yesterday. Sylvie just loves it here. 

The pet beach was empty and we easily found a picnic table to ourselves. Well, maybe not quite to ourselves. We had to share it with a firefly. 

A Sawyer Beetle also wanted to share the table with us, but since they bite we decided to evict him. We took a stick and shooed him away. 

We found a dead Dragon Hunter dragonfly in the sand. 

I was sad that it was dead because it had been a beautiful dragonfly with gorgeous green eyes. 

We found various snail shells scattered along the shore line. 

We had fun playing with Sylvie for over an hour in the water. She loved running up and down the beach and chasing sticks. Then all of a sudden we had company. A family showed up with their big white dog. I was a little unsure about how this was going to go because Sylvie is afraid of bigger dogs. But the family asked if Sylvie could play with their dog and so I decided to give it a try.  

Since Sylvie is a rescue, she didn't really know how to play.  I had to show her how. I started running up and down the beach with the two dogs and throwing sticks and chasing them both around. It didn't take long before Sylvie caught on that this was how you play and that it was fun. I think that was the turning point that opened up the world of social dog play for her..  There were a few iffy moments where there was a growl or two,. But they were short lived and only warning growls, nothing serious.  By the time we were ready to go back to camp, Sylvie had made a new friend and she was all tired out. We had been at the pet beach for about 2 hours.  I knew she would sleep well tonight. 

I had been wading in the water in my bare feet this whole time. When I went to put my shoes on to go back to camp I discovered that I had 2 leeches on me. They weren't large nd they hadn't bitten yet. So I just threw some dry sand on them and flicked them off. I wasn't surprised by them. I had been wading around in the weeds and the muck.  

At about 5 pm we were back at camp and we we grabbed our chairs and just sat and relaxed in the sun for awhile. 

We started a fire at about 6:30 pm and cooked hot dogs for supper. 

It was not long after supper when we looked across the road and were surprised to see a Pileated Woodpecker.  I decided to try to get closer for a close up picture if I could possibly manage it.   So I crossed the road and ever so slowly started to follow it as I tried to stay behind trees so as not to scare it away.  I had to laugh at the first picture I took because it almost looks like the woodpecker has a trail of poop behind it instead of some pine cones that  coincidentally lined up in a row. 

The chase was on. It had its back to me so I was able to quickly get a bit closer. 

But then it stopped and turned to listen. I froze on the spoke and held my breath. 

I let it get a little further away as I still stayed frozen on the spot, not daring to move yet. 

I moved in a little closer. But then it turned around and seemed to be looking at me. I immediately froze again. Was I caught?  Did I lose my opportunity? 

Nope. It seems it didn't notice me yet. I still had some time to get closer. 

This game of Red Light Green Light went on for quite some time. Me getting a little closer each time and then freezing in place whenever it turned around. I was having fun with this game. 

I knew that I might actually be able to get some good pictures when I saw that the woodpecker seemed comfortable enough to put its head down to forage for food.  

I cautiously went up as close as I dared, still keeping some trees between me and him. 

From where I stood I was able to zoom in with my camera lens and take the shot that I had been hoping to get. 

And I was even able to take a few more. 

Of course I am no professional photographer and these are far from high quality pictures. But I was still thrilled with them and with just the whole experience of being able to get that close to a Pileated Woodpecker. 

The woodpecker never did fly away on me. I turned and left before it noticed me and I went back to camp to watch the sunset. 

Penny and I sat and listened to the waves and talked while we watched the sunset.

Soon enough the sun could no longer be seen. 

And a loon flew by, calling out as it went from one end of the lake to the other. 

Even though the big fireball of the sun was no longer visible, the colours it left behind were still very visible and very beautiful. 

The birds and the gulls all started to fly by on their way to their nests for the night. 

Penny and I talked until the fire went out. Then we went into the tent to play board games for a bit before settling in to sleep for the night. As predicted, Sylvie was fast asleep long before we were; tired out from a full day of fun and excitement. It had been a fantastic day and we loved every minute of it.