Resting In Restoule

With the craziness in the world that has been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, I am grateful to God to still have the opportunity to go camping this year. For a few months I was worried that the parks would remain closed and that I wouldn't be able to go at all. Needless to say, things are slightly different this year in order to make that happen. One of my personal decisions on the matter was to choose to do my camping fairly close to home and not drive clear across the province. Luckily, there are still a number of parks near me that I had not camped at before. Restoule Park is only an hour away from where I live so I wonder why I had never camped there before. Oh well, there is no time like the present. 

**Disclaimer...I did not feed that piece of bread to the chipmunk in the picture. He got that from another campsite.**

I was really looking forward to this trip. Work had been pretty stressful and I was much in need of some relaxation. My original plan was to take my nephews two girls camping with me; just the 3 of us. However, my nephew loves camping too so I invited him, and his girlfriend, and her son to come along too. I went up a day ahead of everyone to get the campsite all set up. Since my nephew had to work the next day, I will go pick up the kids in the morning and he and his girlfriend will join us around supper time. 

First stop was the park office. The first noticeable change was that only 2 people were allowed in the office at a time. While  you waited you stood in line outside, 6 feet away from the next person in line. There were only about 2 people ahead of me so I did not have to wait in line long. 

Next stop was the wood house where I picked up a bag of wood. As in previous years, the wood was somewhat damp and does not burn very well. It needed to sit for another year before being sold. But it was the only wood there was so we had to make do. There is no park store here so if you wanted anything you had to drive 20 minutes outside the park to the nearest convenience store. But I was able to purchase the patch and sticker for my Provincial Parks Passport book.
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I drove to my site (number 262) and took a look around. It was not the site I had expected to be on. Before I reserved it online, my sister had told me about the site that they had one year and how it was a very short walk  to the boat launch. She couldn't remember the site number though but she thought it was this one. Unfortunately it was not the right one. The boat launch was a full section over from this site. 

No matter though, this site was pretty big and had a nice layout. It was a corner lot so the only neighbours I had were across the road from me. Those neighbours were quiet and polite and were gone for large chunks of the day. The boat launch might not be steps away from the campsite, but the smaller beach was a short walk from this site. 

​ I could have done with out the horse flies though. They were plentiful at this time of year. But I find that as long as I am wearing a hat, I am not really bothered by them too much. So I made sure to put my hat on. 

The other feature of this campsite is that it is right next to the bathroom. However, this is a double edged sword. Although the park gets points for putting in a composting toilet, the smell from this one was very strong. So strong that every once in awhile I could smell it from my campsite it the wind blew just right. This composting toilet was not the same as the one at the  Kiosk campground in Algonquin. That one was made by a different company and was much easier on the nose. This one was very clean though. Another noticeable change was that there was a hand sanitizer station just by the door of the bathroom. The hand sanitizer smelled like lemons and, as far as hand sanitizers go, I liked it. 

I got my site set up within an hour and sat down at the picnic table for some supper. As I ate, a crow strutted his stuff around my site checking me out. 

Actually, there are all kinds of birds here. So many different songs were being sung in the tree tops. It was early evening so the sun wasn't as high in the sky but I could make out a couple of blue jays in the trees. I also saw robins and sparrows.

After supper I decided to do some exploring. I started off by going for a walk down to the beach that was closest to my site. It is the smaller beach and it was pretty empty at this time of day.. 

But it wasn't the swimming area of the beach that caught my attention. I was more interested in the marshy area off to the side of the beach. 

The marshy area was filled with leafy green water plants and marsh grasses as well as vivid purple flowers of the Pickerelweed plant. 

Running along the shoreline, among these plants and flowers were a couple of Spotted Sandpipers. I was thrilled to see them because last summer I had gone looking for some at Esker Lakes Park and hadn't found any there. They aren't a rare bird by any means but they are also not a bird that you see every day like a robin or a sparrow. Here, there were two of them not more than a few feet away from me.

I followed the shoreline going further and further away from my site. It was so peaceful with no one around. It was just what I needed. 

Different types of yellow flowers were growing along the shore line. There were Earth Loosestrife just beginning to open. 

And there were Birdfoot Trefoil in full bloom.

Since I was picking my way slowly along the shoreline through marsh grass, I was not really disturbing much of the wildlife. This afforded me a rare opportunity. I came across an area where there were about 20 or 30 Tule Bluet damselflies all clinging to the tall grasses. As I slowly walked by one or two of them would leisurely fly up off the grass and then back down again. They moved so slowly that it looked like they were floating in the air, not flying. They seemed quite unconcerned that I was there except for a fleeting moment. They allowed me to get so close to them that I could almost touch them. It was an amazing sight. 

The shoreline led me to the boat launch dock. There were some people fishing there. 

The canoes that are available for rent were located near this dock. 

I continued to walk the shore line until I reached the second beach. The second beach was much larger than the first one was. There were more people at this beach too, but still not a lot. I imagine that was because it was getting to be too late in the evening for most swimmers. 

People left their boats and paddle boards lying around, unattended, on the beach. I guess there is a feeling of trust here. No one seemed afraid of things getting stolen. It was a good feeling. 

Rather than taking the shoreline back, I found a path near the beach which led to the road. The path had some benches along it so that you could sit and rest and enjoy the view of the lake. 

A red squirrel watched me from a nearby tree as I walked by. 

The walk back to the campsite brought me close to the comfort station.

It too showed signs of Covid-19....well, signs about it anyways. The rules are that now there are only 2 people allowed inside at a time. ​Another thing to note is that all the showers in all the provincial parks of Ontario are not in service due to the Covid-19 virus. 

Outside the comfort station there is a bulletin board. Posted on it was information about the different types of turtles that could potentially be encountered while in the park. 

I was also impressed by the poster they had explaining what to do if you were to accidentally catch a turtle while fishing. 

As I walked by an empty neighbouring campsite, I noticed that they had left behind a partial bag of wood. So, I grabbed it up and brought it back to camp with me, I decided not to bother with a campfire tonight, but tomorrow night I will have the kids and we will definitely make a fire then. 

As it got dark the mosquitoes started coming out in full force. I had brought with me an old bottleof Skin So Soft body lotion that I had found around the house. People used to say that Skin So Soft was the best mosquito repellent ever made. But then they stopped making it. I figured I would test this theory out. I put some on and waited for a mosquito to land (which was a mere couple of seconds). One landed on my hand and I watched to see what it would do. It started smelling around looking for a good place to bite. Just before it went in to take a bite, I squashed it. So, I figure that either the Skin So Soft doesn't work, or it's too old, or it was the wrong stuff. I only had the body lotion, not the liquid kind that most people used to be familiar with. 

As the evening draws to a close, I sit and listen to the sounds of the campground. Families are chatting, dogs are barking, fires are crackling, and, over the top of it all, is the sound of frogs calling out to one another. All of these sounds made me happy and relaxed. It is so great to be away from the busy hustle and bustle of the city. It's just the slow restful pace of Restoule Provincial Park.