Our Darling Little Darlington

I had just gotten off the plane from London England and was now on my way towards Darlington Park for my first camping trip of the season.  I was very much looking forward to getting out there and just relaxing. 

My brother and my sister-in-law had already gone ahead of me to set up the campsite. Since I couldn't pack food for the trip because it would have probably gone bad in the trunk of my car at the airport parking lot, they were supplying all the food for me. All I really had to do was just show up. 

Having never been to Darlington Park before, I was relying on "Lady Google", as I call her,  to get me to where I needed to go. However, once again, Lady Google was not reliable.  I started to suspect something was a bit off when, at my supposed destination, there was a giant energy building instead of a park gatehouse. 

At the far end of the parking lot there seemed to be a dirt road. Perhaps that led to the park?.... It did not. 
Instead it led to the McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve.  There were a lot of people and cars there. It seemed to be a popular place, but it wasn't  where I needed to be. 

Another look at the Google Map told me that the reason Lady Google sent me here was because the border of the park and the border of this Wildlife Reserve were actually joined.  Technically she brought me to the park. It just wasn't the entrance to the park. 

A quick change of description in the directions search was all that was needed to fix the situation.  As long as you either write the words "Gate House" after Darlington Provincial Park or drop a new pin in the map to where you actually need to go, it will re-route you and get you there.  Just make sure you take exit 425 and not exit 419 off the hi-way. 

The park was not all that far away.  Only a few more minutes of retracing my steps and getting onto the right road and soon I was pulling up to the window of the gatehouse.  The staff let me know that my brother had already registered and that I could go straight on through. 

My brother and my sister-in-law were waiting for me in the parking lot.  We exchanged stories about our getting misdirected by Lady Google. 

We decided to make a stop at the park store before heading to the site. I wanted to buy the Darlington Park passport sticker for my book of parks that I have been to. However, I was disappointed to find out that even though it was only June, they were already sold out. Oh well, at least I can buy them online now. 

The site I had chosen to reserve online was site number 116. Lately some of the parks no longer require a paper permit for the posts anymore. This park was one of those parks. 

The park is made up of three sections, Lakeside, Hilltop, and Cliffside.  None of the campgrounds had sites directly on the water. I had chosen Cliffside because the pictures online made it seem like there was a nice view of lake Ontario from here. 

And it didn't disappoint.  We were actually on the side of a cliff overlooking Lake Ontario, and it was beautiful. You could hear the waves crashing on the shore below and see the seagulls flying overhead. 

The sites were nice and big and easily fit our 2 cars and a very large tent, plus a dining tent. We probably could have gotten another tent or two on the site if we had needed to. 

There wasn't much of a privacy line on the border between our site and the one to our right. But there was plenty of privacy to the left and what little privacy we had on the right didn't seem to bother us really. 

We were envious of the site next to us though (site number 115) because they had this big, gorgeous tree that afforded them some shade. We did not have as much shade on our site.  We made a note to ourselves that the next time we came we would like to see if we could get that site. 

The big tree has its pros and cons. For us it would not be a problem, but if you have one of those tents on top of a car or a tall RV then you have to be careful of the low lying branches. It took this couple a little bit of maneuvering to get just the right spot under the tree where they wouldn't do any damage to their tent. 

To our left there was not road access for cars. There were two large rocks that prevented cars from driving through. You can, however, walk through that access point to get to the camp sites on the other side. This meant that our site did not have a whole lot of noisy traffic driving by all the time. It was a really nice and peaceful little spot. We were quite happy with the site. 

In the other direction,  the road led to the other campsites. There was little to no traffic and it was peacefully quiet in that direction too. Penny and I decided to walk a little ways down the road to check it out. 

The road was bordered by a fence to keep people and cars from going over the cliff.  Where the road curves and two fences join, there is a large sign warning people to stay away from the cliff edge. 

Of course, like naughty little kids, Penny and I had to test our boundaries by going on the side of the fence that we were not supposed to be on. 

Penny stayed on the path that ran close to the fence. 

While I dared to go go closer to the edge.

The view of the lake was better here and unobstructed by trees. 

I can see why there would be warning signs. There was what looked to be a possible trail down to the beach below that people had made. But it was quite steep and I wasn't going to chance it. 

I preferred to just enjoy the view from up here. 

Eventually we made our way back to the proper side of the fence and back to our campsite. 
My sister, Anika and my brother-in-law, Dean, had given me a selfie stick for Christmas that I had not had the opportunity to use yet. She said that I didn't have enough pictures of myself in my blogs. So, I decided to play around with it for a bit. Works pretty good! 

As we sat in our chairs at the campsite, it didn't take long for us to notice that there were quite a few different birds in the area than we were normally used to seeing.  Apparently this area is a favourite stop over for travelling birds and for those wanting to nest. Some of the birds we saw but I was not able to get a picture of because they wouldn't sit still long enough, like the Cardinal and some other orange bird. I was a bit disappointed by that.  But other birds were happy to spend some time near us and get their pictures taken. 

We saw a momma Grackle with her two little fledglings. 

The two fledglings were hopping along and following momma. They stopped to look for food when she did and moved along when she moved along. They were pretty cute to watch. 

A Blue Jay was making its presence known. 

We heard them before we saw them. It was the unmistakable sound of two Mourning Doves cooing to each other. The male was darker in colour.

The female was a bit lighter and rosier. Especially around the head. They both came down to join the family of Grackles in a search for insects in the grass and along the road way. 

Oh and the Robins! Robins, Robins, everywhere!  So many Robins!  Most of them were females. I am guessing that the parents had all nested here and  were just not ready to go out and make their way into the big wide world just yet. Or maybe there was just naturally a high population in this area.  I am not sure.
​There were 20 or 30 of them in the grass at any given time, especially near the comfort station where there was a wide area of grass for them to forage in. 

Penny and I took a walk down to the comfort station that was just down the road from our campsite. As we went we noticed the beautiful blooms of the Multiflora Rose growing everywhere in this park.  ​

It is a scrambling shrub, climbing over other plants to a height of 3–5 m . There were so many of them covering other plants.  It was beautiful!  It looked like the bushes were covered in snow. ​

This park had signs outside the comfort station saying  that it was a comfort station. Other parks usually show them on the map and might have directional signs but it is unusual to see one that basically says  "hey! This is the comfort station you were looking for!"  I thought it was a nice touch. 

The comfort station had plenty of room for parking (although we walked there).

There was potable water located right on the side of the building. 

To one side of the building there was a large open field with a fire pit and some benches. I would imagine this is where they hold some of their events and activities. 

Once again we saw a multitude of Robins foraging in the grass near the comfort station. 

Inside, the bathroom was remarkably clean. The only thing that looked out of place was the old hand dryer that had some peeling paint. 

As we walked back we took a look at some of the other sites that would be good for reserving for future trips. Site118 seemed particularly large and open. 

It was early evening by this point and the moon was already out despite the sun still shining brightly. 

We all wanted to take a walk down to the beach to explore and to hopefully see the sunset. There is a set of trails that connect the campgrounds together called "Campground Trail" that we decided to take. 
​Along the trail we took notice of some pink Fleabane growing along the side of the path. 

And once again we saw bushes and bushes of ​Multiflora Roses. 

They have pretty white and slightly pink flowers, but true to a rose, they also have thorns. 

We were absolutely amazed at how high these roses can climb. We even saw some growing right up to the top of some very tall pine trees. It was incredible! 

The trail we were on that connected the campgrounds would sometimes cross roads.

Next thing we knew, we were walking by the Lakeside Comfort Station. 

This one looked just as clean as the Cliffside ones and also had showers in it. . 

We came across a trail marker that told us we were heading in the right direction for the beach and that we would also pass the amphitheater and store along the way. 

There were Dames Rocket flowers dressed in both purple and in white blooms. 

The Meadow Buttercups were a brilliant yellow. 

They were particularly pretty because they were growing amongst a little white flower that looked almost like Babys Breath. It made them look like something you would see in a vase. 

But these were not Baby's Breath. They are called Bedstraws.  They are so tiny and fragile looking. 

Other tiny things were to be found here too. This Amber Snail was making its way slowly across a Maple leaf. 

The trail crossed a little wooden bridge. 

The further we went the more wilder looking the landscape seemed to get. 

The landscape eventually turned into a marshy area. I love marshes!  

The Reed Canary marsh grasses grew tall here. They had a pretty purple hue to them. 

In the midst of it all was a bat house. We didn't see any bats though. 

We took a short detour down a side path to check out the amphitheater.  It had seen better days. 

There was orange fencing around it serving as a warning that the area probably wasn't very safe. The grass grew tall and uncut all around it. I doubt it was even used anymore. 

However, the tall grass did attract a different kind of audience. A little Cottontail rabbit was quietly enjoying a meal under the tree. 

When it spotted us it high tailed it for some even taller grass. We stood still watching it for quite some time. 

I guess it didn't think we could see him because he stayed around and continued to eat the grass. 

We went back onto the main trail and noticed that it was becoming less marshy and more tree lined. 

The trail came to an end and opened up into a clearing with a log cabin off to one side. 

The log cabin was an Historical Site and had been restored by the township. The doors were locked so we couldn't go inside. 

But we could peek in the windows. We were surprised to see a large stuffed deer standing in the middle of the room. Not something you would expect to see in the middle of a log cabin. 

The trail that led to the log cabin was also a trail leading to the beach. 

There were plenty of picnic tables around as well as above ground fire pits for making a nice meal with. 

The beach was wheelchair accessible with large blue mats that allowed for wheelchairs to be able to roll over the sand. 

There had been a notice in the park brochure that the northern part of this beach was the nesting grounds of the endangered Piping Plover and that people were not allowed in that section. There were also signs right on the beach to indicate this as well. 

Although we couldn't go into the nesting grounds, we were still hoping that we would see a Piping Plover somewhere else along the beach.  The beach was long and sandy and would be welcoming to many types of shore birds. 

It was getting late and the sun was starting to set so we doubted we would see any Plovers at this time of day. 

Way off in the distance we could make out the city sky line of Toronto. 

The combination of the breeze and the clouds and the sounds of the waves on the shore made for a peaceful walk along the beach. Especially since we were the only ones there at this time of day. 

We came across a place that was sectioned off. At first I thought it might be where the Plover nests were, but upon closer inspection we noticed that it was actually sectioned off in an effort to protect the environment for other species such as monarch butterflies. 

When we got to the border of the nesting grounds, there was no mistaking it. There were ropes and signs to clearly mark the area. 

I was kind of surprised to find a spot with a sign that allowed you to walk through as long as you didn't stop.  I am not sure why anyone would need to walk in that section at all.  We didn't feel the need to walk through and we stayed on our side of the ropes. 

We never got to see any Piping Plovers the entire trip. We did get to read a little bit about them though. 

I was surprised to come across a sign that warned of hunting in the area during hunting season. I would have thought that a park that was protecting one species of bird would be protecting all the birds within its borders, But it doesn't seem to be the case. 

The sun was really starting to sink low by now and we still had to walk back to the campsite yet. So it was time to head back. 

As we walked back we noticed some white shells in the sand. Not to worry though. They weren't bird egg shells. They were turtle egg shells from nests that the hatchlings had already left. There were quite a few of these old turtle nests along the shores. 

We may have a beautiful view from the cliffside up where our campsite was, but it still didn't beat the beauty of the sunset on the beach. 

As we left the beach and headed back to camp we passed a playground. There was a sign saying that the playground was only for 5 to 12 year olds. It was the first time I had ever seen a sign about an age restriction on an outdoor playground in a provincial park before. 

Instead of going back the way we had come we opted to go a shorter route that took us up the road instead. It also took us across a cute little walking bridge. 

The street lamps were starting to come on now in certain areas and they illuminated the trees. 

But we preferred the illumination of a campfire. So when we got back we got the fire going and we roasted marshmallows. 

When the fire had died down and the moon had come up, it was time for bed.  We were looking forward to exploring more of our darling little Darlington Park tomorrow. We had already fallen in love with this place.