I didn't expect to be back here so soon. Especially considering I had just been here only a couple of weeks earlier with a bunch of friends. We just left my sister and her husband at their cottage and were originally going to head straight to Bonnechere Provincial Park. However, due to a misunderstanding with some website information, we were under the impression (at the last minute) that Bonnechere Park was only a day camp. So in order to get to our final destination of the Bonnechere Caves we adjusted our plans and decided to camp at Lake St. Peter Provincial Park with Driftwood as a one night stop over along the way.
We chose site # 47. It was one that my friends and I had considered reserving for our Girls Retreat camping trip next year, so this was the perfect opportunity to try out the site and see how we liked it. It is big and spacious and located almost at the very end of the road so it was quiet too.
As we were setting up, we noticed a hawk of some sort flying above us.
And then there were two. And then there were five. And then there were seven. And then there were ten! We couldn't believe it! We had never seen so many hawks circling in one spot before. We have seen Turkey Vultures do that, but not hawks.
We happened to have a bird book with us and we compared the picture on our camera (which was really not a good picture) to the ones in the book. We still aren't completely sure but our best guess is that they were either red shoulder hawks or ruff legged hawks
After setting up the tents it was supper time. We didn't get too fancy and we didn't make a fire. We just ate some Zoodles and some trail mix.
It was nice to have a view of the river as we ate.
The water was clear and the sun was dancing over the stones and pieces of driftwood.
A little wren came down to join us.
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset ,
It didn't take long for the sun to go down.
And then the stars came out. They are so bright and clear when you aren't in the city. There were two planets (Mars and Venus) that were exceptionally bright. One was so bright that it looked almost like a tiny moon hanging over the island on the river. We made it an early night because we didn't want to sleep in too late the next morning.
The next morning we woke up to a nice sunny day. We also woke up to the sound of what we first thought was a couple of squirrels fighting with each other in the trees.
The sound was continuous and shrill and I went to investigate because it was going on for so long. To my surprise I found out that it wasn't a couple of squirrels making the noise. It was a bird.
It was a different bird than the ones we had seen the day before. Once again we brought out the bird book and we determined that this bird was a Merlin.
It stuck around pretty close and whenever a camper walked by or if I came to near to it, the Merlin would fly over to a new tree and yell at us. I think there may have been a nest somewhere near by that it was protecting. We felt pretty fortunate to be able to see a Merlin up this close in the wild.
We had a quick breakfast and packed up in no time flat. But before we left the park, Penny and I decided to go to the geocache site that is located in the park. Along the way we bumped into a little baby red-bellied snake.
After our little hike we headed out and began the next leg of our vacation at Lake St. Peter Provincial Park.
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