Taking Advice From The Wetlands

I woke up to the sound of rain on my tent. However, when I got out of my tent, I realized that it wasn't rain after all. It was just the residual drops of water falling from the trees after the heavy rain that we had during the night. 

Turns out that it was a good thing that we had decided to move the picnic table to the other side of the campsite and put our sleeping tents where we did. The whole are where the dining tent was located was very wet and was one big puddle, inside and out. The area where our sleeping tents were located was much drier and we did not get soaked at all. 

My mom was still asleep so I decided to take this opportunity to walk down to the designated dog beach to see what it was like. We must have had some pretty heavy rain during the night because the road between our site and the bathroom (which happens to be a slight hill) was partially washed out and little rivers of water were still running down it. 

The road was covered with puddles everywhere, but the sun was working hard to shine down through the trees to dry them up. 

The dog beach is only a short distance from our site and it was pretty quiet here at this time of day. 

The dog beach is a large, wide open area with lots of room for dogs to run and a couple of picnic tables for owners to relax at. It was nice enough here but there was nothing overly exciting about it. 

You do, however, get a nice view of the lake from here though. 

​Over by the waters edge I saw only one person and their dog. I got to talking to her and found out that she is camping only a few sites away from us on site 150. 

She told me that her dogs name is Lila. We watched Lila play and fetch her ball from the water as we talked. Eventually I left them there to enjoy the morning together as I headed back to my campsite to see if my mom was awake yet. 

   My mom was awake when I got back so we sat and had breakfast and talked for awhile. Slowly the sun dried up the rain so that the trees weren't dripping on us anymore. It's quiet here. There are a lot of trees so, it muffles the extra sounds quite a bit. Even the kids and the dogs in the area don't seem too loud. 
   My mom took notice of an interesting looking orange tent on a campsite just across the way from us. She decided to go over and ask more about it from the campers there. The tent belonged to a couple named John and Dawn. They told my mom that the tent was a "Marmot" tent which is the same brand as my new raincoat. So, if it is made by the same company, then I know that it is great when it rains. 
   Dawn and John told my mom that they had gone hiking on the Beaver Dam trail and said that the flowers were all in bloom there along the sides of the trail. They suggested that we hike that one. However, we told them that we already had planned to hike the Swan Lake trail today and we would probably do the  Beaver Dam trail tomorrow. They said that they too were planning on hiking the Swan Lake trail today too but not until later in the day. 

So, after grabbing our hats and snacks and sunscreen, my mom and I drove over to the trail head of the Swan Lake Trail. The parking lot and trail head had flooded during the night due to the rain. I wondered if I should have brought some rubber boots. If this was any indication, this area is for sure a "wetlands" area. 

 It may be wet here but it reminded me of a poster I once saw that said :
ADVICE FROM A WETLAND
Make a Splash
Take Time To Reflect
Reed More
Don't Get Bogged Down
​What's the Rush? 

Almost immediately you step onto a nice wooden boardwalk. I could see all the wet foot prints on the boards where people had come out of the flooded parking lot. I am pretty sure the parking lot was the wettest part of this trail. 

The boardwalk, at first glance, looks like one sturdy bridge all the way along. However, after my mom crossed one section we realized that the boardwalk was actually multiple sections that were only attached to each other by some black rubber material at our feet. As she stepped from the first section to the second one, the balance was disrupted and the sections started to sway unexpectedly. It took us a couple of seconds and a bit of adjusting our balance in an effort to not fall over before we got used to it and were able to walk comfortably across it the rest of the way. 

The boardwalk led us to a round landing in the middle of the marsh. It had benches all along the edges of it where you can sit and enjoy the view. 

And what a beautiful view it was. On the one side was a landscape of rocks and pines. You could still see the wet places on the slopes of the rock in the distance where the rain water had run down to the lake below. The sun hadn't quite dried it all up yet. 

On the other side was a green field of water lilies with rain drops still dotting the surface of their leaves. 

On the edge of the water lilies was a Painted Turtle basking in the morning sun. 

Close to the turtle I spotted some Pitcher Plants. Interestingly,  I did a bit of research online when I got home later and found out that this variety of Pitcher Plant is called a Northern Purple Pitcher Plant and that it is actually a fairly rare plant. 

Off to the side a little ways out was an old beaver lodge. I am sure that beavers are pretty happy campers in this place. 

While I was looking over the railing at all the marsh life, a little fly came and landed near me. It was the most beautiful fly I had ever seen! (the picture doe not do it justice). And I had never seen one like it before in my life. It was coloured in shiny metallic greens and blues from head to toe. It's eyes were big and shiny black. I later found out this was some type of Cuckoo Wasp.  

The boardwalk eventually ended and came up to dry land. Well, almost. Before getting to dry land you had to jump over a big puddle. 

In that puddle sat a little speckled tadpole. 

We made it to the rocky area on the other side of the puddle. Hiding in the cracks of the rocks was a little mushroom, He looked like he was just leaning against a rock taking a smoke break or something. Just chillin'.

Parts of the trail were covered in intricate designs of root systems. They were weaving their way over the surface of bare rock until they find their way to some ground somewhere. 

Here and there you would find unexpected resting spots, like this picnic table at the end of a little side trail. 

Much of the trail is marked with yellow markers or painted arrows on the rocks. At one point we came across this yellow marker that was different than all the rest. Someone had put a smiley face on it and it made me smile. 

Some people hike the trails so quickly that I winder if they even get to see anything. We like to take our time and hike them slowly and quietly so that we have every opportunity to see things that would otherwise be over looked or would hide from us. So, we stopped now and again to look up into the trees. 

And we were rewarded with a sighting of a Red-eyed Vireo. 

Aside from the boardwalk, there was one other notable section where we had to do some fancy foot work to keep our feet from getting wet. We almost wished we had a boardwalk to walk across here. But, we grabbed on to some tree stumps and branches and got to the other side with relatively dry feet. 

Of course, the mushrooms are pretty happy with all the rain and the wet ground. 

And so is the moss. 

We climbed up a rocky hill that opened up into a cliff top area. 

From so high up we had a great view of the other side of the lake. We could see the boardwalk that we had crossed earlier. Now it looked very tiny from this far away and this high up. 

The view was beautiful from up here.  We could see another beaver lodge way down below. 

While we were watching the world below, a couple of Turkey Vultures were circling above and  watching us. 

The trail winds down the rock hill and then through some trees until it comes to a wide open rocky area. From this spot you can see a mixture of rugged pines and swaying marsh grasses. 

The most beautiful part about this spot is the marshy fields of Tawny Cotton-Grass that dots the landscape. It's as though someone has come along and glued cotton balls all over the place. It's just lovely. 

And tucked in between the Tawny Cotton-Grass and the water lilies were some bright, yellow, Nodding Beggarticks

The warmth of the sun on the rocks drew in some insect visitors such as a bright red Meadowhawk dragonfly

as well as an American Carrion Beetle

Even an orange Crescent Butterfly was using the rocks as a place to rest. 

The rest of the way was an interesting combination of roots, rocks and puddles. 

The end of the trail was finished off with a wooden bridge that led from the rocky out crop to the parking lot below.  It had taken us more time to walk this trail than most people do but we enjoyed every minute of it. 
On the drive back tot he campsite we met up with John and Dawn who were just about to begin the Swan Lake hike. We told them how beautiful it was and to watch out for the wet spots. 

When we got back to camp we had lunch. Then I drove to the park office while my mom stayed behind to relax and read her book for awhile. At the office I bought my flannel Grundy Lake shirt that I had eyed up when I first arrived. The shirt was under $25 and was good quality and very cozy. This may become my most favourite camping shirt yet.  They have it in red too but the blue is much nicer looking in my opinion. 

Since I was already in the car and driving around, I decided to take this opportunity to explore more of the park. It is a fairly large park so driving from one end to the other was the quickest way. The first stop I made was at one of the other beaches in the park; the beach in the Poplar section. This beach was a fairly busy one but it had lots of space so it wasn't what I would call crowded. 

At one end was a volley ball net. However, the heavy rain from the night before had left a very large puddle right under it so it wasn't really usable at that moment. 

I noticed that there were no buoy lines in the water. I know a few kids who would love that about this beach. The kids here were busy swimming and running around with nets trying to catch frogs. They were having an easy time of it because the frogs were very plentiful here. 

I walked the shoreline for a bit to see what kind of nature I could see. Aside from frogs, the False Foxglove flowers were the most plentiful here. 

Soon enough I was back in my car and driving around again. As I was looking at all the various campsites, it dawned on me that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, all the group sites were not in use. This means that they were empty and I could freely take a walk in them and look around without worrying about intruding on other campers. 

So, I parked my car in the parking lot of a comfort station near Group Site # 3 and walked past the gate that was set up to prevent vehicles from entering. Almost immediately I found that this was a great decision on my part. 

I had barely started walking down the road when I spotted a large bird in one of the trees. It was a Broad-winged hawk! ​It was a magnificent looking bird.

 I realized how lucky I was to see it so close up. It's amazing what you can see when all is quiet. 

It wasn't long before the hawk noticed me and flew away. I continued my walk and explored the empty site to my left. It looked like a regular site and not as wide open as I had expected to see for a group site. But then I realized that this was only part of the group site. There was more to see a little further down the road. 

When I got to the end of the road it opened up into a much larger area that was more like what I expected to see. There were multiple picnic tables and a couple of fire pits here. It was sandy and flat and perfect for plenty of tents. It was interesting that the group site is divided into two sections. One section for group members who  prefer more trees and privacy and another section for the ones that prefer the open area and closeness of people. 

One of the nice things about this group site is that it has direct access to the lake. I spent a few quiet moments here just enjoying the peacefulness.

Eventually I headed back up to the main road. Where the entrance to the Group campsite is located is also the trail head to the Pakeshkag Trail. This trail is not really laid out in the park brochure so I don't know much more about it than what is pictured in the laminated map that was attached to the gate post. 

The trail is as wide as a road but vehicles are prohibited on it. Only hikers, bikers and pets are allowed.

I started walking down the trail for a bit but I didn't go very far. As I walked I noticed that to my right there were a bunch of campsites with people getting ready for supper and busying themselves with other camping activities. They could see me and I could see them. It didn't make for a pleasant hike really. It was too noisy and there was no sense of peacefulness here. I thought to myself that I would hate to be a camper on any of those sites (sites # 349 - 369 in the Poplar section of the park ) because you would always have hikers going by and staring at you.  I suppose that eventually the trail would lead away from the campsites and it would get better. But, I didn't find out because I decided to turn around and go back before I had barely begun. 

It was getting close to supper time so I got back in my car and drove back to camp. When I got back I found that I had a little hitchhiker on my hoodie. It was a White Pine Sawfly caterpillar.

By the time I got back to camp the sun was starting to sink below the tree line and was casting long shadows on the ground.

We made a fire and roasted hot dogs for supper. 

After super, mom and I sat and talked until evening descended upon us and the trees turned to silhouettes against the sky.

We decided to go into the dining tent to play some board games for awhile because it was still too early to go to bed. When I turned on the lamp and the dining tent was all lit up, I spotted a Sweetheart  Underwing Moth up in the corner of the roof. I rarely see these moths so I was pleased to see one now. It was so pretty with its red colours peeking out from beneath the grey top wings. A few days later, when I went home to look these up, I discovered that there are more than one type of underwing moth. They have names that follow a romantic theme. In addition to Sweetheart underwings there are also Consort, Darling, Betrothed, Joined, Bride, and Mother underwings. They each have slightly different colouring from one another. There are many other types too but I found the names of these ones to be the most interesting. 

We played a few rounds of Quirkle which wasn't the easiest to do because our light wasn't very good. 

It was enough light to attract a few friends though. We had the company of a little leaf hopper.

​And a little brown Caddisfly was hanging out with us too. 

We played Qwirkle until about 11 pm and then decided to call it a night. But before we went to bed we noticed that the moon was out and was full and bright. So we took another walk down to the lake to see it better. The lake was beautiful with the moonlight reflecting off of it. It was a beautiful way to end a wonderful day.