Old Walt and the Pictographs

It rained during the night. My tent was muggy but still dry. It wasn't raining anymore but the sky was still grey. We had set an alarm and got up early in order to get to the boat before all the tickets were sold out.

We arrived at the store at 9:30 but it doesn't open until 10 so we had some time to wait. We were the first ones there and we were first in line. A staff member, named Chris, arrived to open the door at 9:50. By this time there was a line up gathering behind us. As we waited in line, Chris explained that this past winter had been particularly harsh and the ice had damaged 2 docks as well as the larger of the 2 boats (called the Wanderer) which holds 27 people. There was about $20, 000 worth of damage done. 

They are in the process of fixing everything and had already rebuilt a section of the dock. Before they can get the larger boat up and running, the Ministry Of Transportation has to come in to inspect it. So, in the meantime, they are only running the smaller boat (named the Mugwump) that only holds 11 passengers (not including the driver(s) and the tour guide). They were using only one small  boat  to make both the Cliff Top Trail ferry run as well as the Pictograph tours. That is why the tickets were all sold out so fast. However, the larger boat should be back in service later this summer. 

We got our tickets for the first Pictograph boat tour which didn't leave the dock until 11 a.m. Since we had about an hour or so to kill while we waited, we did a little more exploring. We noticed a set of stairs going down to the waterfront so we went down them to see where they led to. 

At the bottom of the stairs was a trail that was a bit overgrown but still usable. It followed the shore line and I eventually popped out at the North Beach. The North Beach is just a tiny little beach tucked away in a quite little corner of the park. I didn't stay to investigate it much though because it looked like it might start raining and we were supposed to be at the dock 15 minutes early before the tour began and I didn't want to be late. So, I turned around and headed back. 

When we got to the dock the little Mugwump had just returned from dropping off a load of people at the Cliff Top Trail across the lake. 

The tour boat guide was a a girl named Katie  and there were 2 drivers piloting the boat (One named Karen and I didn't quite catch the name of the other gentleman. 

The pigment used to create the pictographs was made by grinding up Hematite into a powder and mixed with an organic binder such as blood, animal fat, egg white, fish oil, or plant oil. They last for a remarkably long time.

There are over 263 pictographs on Mazinaw Rock. Many of them are hard to see unless you get up fairly close to them. 

The creature depicted on the right of this pictograph is a lake monster called Mishipizheu (an Ojibway word meaning "Great Lynx") who is known as "god of the waters". This creature is thought to guard sacred rock art sites, such as this one.  This pictograph symbol is seen only in areas where there is deep water. Mazinaw Lake is a pretty deep lake. The deepest part of Mazinaw Lake is 145 m (476 ft), making it the seventh-deepest lake in Ontario, including the Great Lakes. Mishipizheu can use his power to create storms on the lake by thrashing his tail in order to over turn the canoes of disrespectful travelers. Beneath the lake monster is the symbol for a canoe full of people. 

Tally marks are one of the most common symbols found on Mazinaw Rock. It is believed they were put there as counters, but it is not clear what exactly was being counted. They could represent the number of days of fasting on a vision quest or how many times a person went on a vision quest. 

The symbol on the far right with what looks like bunny ears is Nanabush. Nanabush was sent to earth by Kitchie Manitou to teach all living things to cooperate and live in peace and harmony. He is a shapeshifter and has the power to change into things like trees, rocks, beavers, birds, etc. 

This symbol represents a turtle with a message for the sky spirit. 

Of course when we saw the symbol of the turtle with a message for the sky spirit, you have a natural inclination to look up. 

It was about this time that the driver of the boat pointed up to an old dead tree way up at the top of the rock. He told us that in the tree were two peregrine falcons perched among the branches. They were difficult to make out from such a distance but when we looked real close we could see them.

This symbol, that looks rather like a picket fence with rays of sun coming from it, has not been seen at any other pictograph site in the world. It is believed to be the the symbol of Mazinaw Rock itself. 

One of my favourite symbols is that of the Thunder Bird. It is thought that every time lightning strikes, it leaves a streak of quartz running through the rock. That is why the Thunder Bird is painted with the line of quartz in the grip of one of its talons. 

Another one of my favourite symbols is that of Maymaygwayshi. It is represented by what looks like a pair of crossed hockey sticks with a head on top. Maymaygwayshi is a hairy-faced man that stands about 3 feet tall. They feel that they are ugly looking and are ashamed of the way they look. So, they keep themselves hidden and are only seen if they want to be seen. But even then, they will lower their heads and keep their faces hidden. 

Maymaygwayshi live in the cracks and the shallow caves of the cliff. 

Some of the pictographs were old and fading with newer ones painted on top. So sometimes you didn't know for sure what was painted there. Sometimes there was a repeat of a symbol we had seen previously. I don't know what this one is about in particular but I do recognize the canoe of people. 

Katie pointed out a rock formation that juts off the main part of the cliff. This rock is called Turtle Rock because it looks to have the shape of  a turtle. 

They stopped the boat in front of one of the cliff faces and talked about how Bon Echo Park got its name. Katie asked us to pick a one syllable word and had us all shout it at the same time so that we could hear the echo bounce off the wall of rock. No one made any suggestion at first. They were all too shy. I wanted to choose the word "Vinegar!" thinking that it would be funny to have 11 or so people yelling that after hearing it so many times the previous day. However, it was too many syllables so I suggested the word "Dog" instead and that is what we all yelled.  

It is amazing just how hardy plant life can be. Out on the rocks with no real soil there were plants, grasses, flowers and even trees growing, and surviving. 

Katie pointed out a particular tree to us that was growing from the side of the cliff. This tree is over 1000 years old and has been named "The Silent Watcher". She explained that usually, old trees will get very thick and have many rings inside. However, since this tree lives in such harsh conditions and does not have the same root system and does not get the same nutrients as other trees, it never gets very big. 

One of the last pictographs we were shown was on what is commonly known as "Pizza Rock" (because it is shaped like a slice of pizza). The symbol on this rock is that which represents a medicine man. 

At about this point a bird swooped down and circled above us. I was hoping it was one of the pregrine falcons, but it was only a turkey vulture. 

One of the last legs of the trip was to get a closer look at the "Old Walt" carving in the stone face. There were many more words carved into the stone than just the words "Old Walt" but they were smaller and harder to see. At one time they were much clearer and painted white. The white paint has since faded away. It only goes to show just how durable the pigment of the pictographs is compared to paint used in the early 1900s. 

In the Visitor Center there is a picture of the original Old Walt engraving that was taken at the time it was originally engraved and you can read the words in their entirety. 

They are considering repainting the letters of the Old Walt engraving but before they make a concrete decision about it, they are testing some of the various paints that might be used so that they can find one that will stand the test of time and weather. In order to test the paints they have painted stripes of different colours and brands on the rock cliff and have been monitoring which ones are lasting the best over the years. 

So why is Walt Whitman's name carved on the rock anyways? Seems like a strange place to find a dedication to the poet. Apparently one of the original owners of Bon Echo (before it became a provincial park), Flora Macdonald Denison, was a huge fan of Walt Whitman, his poetry and his ideals. 

The boat tour concluded with Katie pointing out where the old Bon Echo Inn used to stand before it was destroyed by fire. 

At the end of the tour the sky was darkening even more, but the rain had held off. But it wasn't going to hold off indefinitely. We were glad that we had been on one of the first boat tours of the day and not the last. 

We got back to camp and had lunch. As the clouds rolled in and the rain drops started falling, we grabbed our umbrellas and threw a tarp over the fire pit in an effort to keep it dry so that when it stopped raining later on we wouldn't have too difficult of a time getting a fire started. 

At about 3 p.m. a thunderstorm descended upon us and it just started pouring down rain. There was so much rain that the ground under our picnic table inside the dining tent was flooded. The firewood that had been piled up under the picnic table had to be rescued and we picked it up and put it on the bench of the picnic table instead. 

We waited out the storm by propping up our feet on a plastic tote to keep them from getting wet and playing a game or two of Qwirkle in the dining tent.

We watched as the water streamed down the sides of the screen netting on the dining tent. After about an hour the storm finally passed. 

As the rain ebbed, the birds and animals came back out of their shelters, including a raccoon. I am pretty sure this was one of the raccoons I had heard the night before. The raccoon crossed the road and a guy in a truck stopped and waited for it to go by. He told us that some baby coons in a tree nearby. We went out to see if we could see them, but we never did. 

The ground outside our dining tent was so wet that a frog was hanging out when we emerged! 

Large puddles were also left behind on the road. A Robin too the opportunity to take a bath in one of these puddles. 

The Robin looked to be having a fabulous time in the puddle. It was like watching a little kid play at the beach. Water was being splashed everywhere! 

When the rain left, the foggy mist arrived. It was on the roads and through the trees. We heard from neighbouring campers that the storm had brought down a tree branch onto the roof of one of the campers down the road. Luckily the campers were not there at the time and the Park Staff were already there removing it. But in the meantime, the power was off at that end of the park where the comfort station is located. 

In a short while the sun emerged from behind the clouds and made its grand entrance. It wasn't going anywhere for the rest of the afternoon. It was here to stay. 

A woodpecker came by to enjoy the sunshine. 

We had dinner and then cleaned up the dishes. We lit a fire in our dry fire pit (thanks to the tarp) and with dry fire wood (thanks to the rescuing of the wood from the flooded ground). We didn't have a long stick to poke the fire with when the fire was getting low (we call that our "Pokey Stick"). But some previous camper had left a pair of metal tongs behind so we used those as a pokey stick instead. 

We sat around the fire until it burned down to coals. 

The moon started to rise and it was turning into a beautiful night. We went to bed around 12:30 a.m. Thankfully, it did not rain all night. Tomorrow we would be packing up to leave. 

The next morning I woke up to the sounds of Carsten trying to shoo out a bird that had managed to get stuck inside the dining tent. We figure it may have gone in there to eat some of the bugs that were caught inside and then when Carsten came out of his tent the bird panicked and couldn't get out again. At least not quickly. The bird did eventually find it's way back out of the tent on it's own accord. I am guessing it will think twice before going into a dining tent again. 

​Today is the day we leave Bon Echo. Even though we had to work around some kinks in our plans while we were here, we all had a really good time. It's a great park with lots to see  and I would like to come back here again one day.