The Lonesome Bog

For a Sunday morning, the park was much quieter than I am used to in a Provincial Park. There is usually sounds of kids yelling and pots and pans clanking and car doors slamming as people make their breakfasts, But not here. All was peaceful and quiet. It was serene. 

After eating a hot breakfast on this cloudy and misty morning, I headed down to the beach to see if there any nature photos to be taken. I was hoping for a picture of the loons I had heard last night. Instead I found that the beach was occupied by a children's group doing the discovery program. I watched as the kids excitedly tried to catch frogs under the watchful eye of the camp staff member who was leading the expedition. 

The beach was a good place to look for frogs, not just because there was the shore line of the lake to look, but also because much of the playground area was flooded. This meant a nice shallow place where frogs like to hang out and, at the same time, the kids could easily wade into the water without fear of drowning. 

The wet and flooded ground was also home to some pretty plants with flowers. Most notably the pinks of the Water Smartweed and the whites of the Pearly Everlastings. 

The ground was flooded enough that a trail to a picnic table was no longer accessible unless you were willing to wade out to it. 

The kids were so involved with catching frogs that the playground equipment was completely abandoned. 

On the picnic table was a chart of some of the different kinds of reptiles and amphibians in the area. One of the parents and the staff member and I started talking about the different kinds of frogs. When one of the kids brought over what they thought was a tiny frog we determined that it was actually a baby toad. 

There was a laminated chart for all sorts of things like butterflies, moths, caterpillars and dragonflies. These charts were created by the University of Guelph and are perfect for these Discovery Programs in the provincial parks. 

Before I left the beach, the staff member told me that there was a sand piper living on the beach. So, I will have to come back later when there are no kids around to see if I can spot it. 

When I got back to camp we decided to go to the Visitor Center. Most Visitor Centers have displays and educational information on animals and birds and plants and things. So we hopped in the car and drove up there. 

Unfortunately the Visitor Center was closed. It is only ever open when they are doing special presentations or special events. We had to content ourselves with looking at the outdoor displays instead. there were three or four roofed boards with artwork of different birds and animals on them. 

And there was a display of an old dug out boat hanging from a chain under a roofed area. There was not much else to look at so we went back to the camp site. 

Back at the camp I had a little visitor on one of my storage containers. It was a little Banded-wing Fly. 

Other flying visitors we had were some Long Horn Pine Beetles. These guys were quite plentiful actually. I had them land on me a couple of times and so did mom. Which is a bit disconcerting considering  they are known to bite. 

My mom and I had been eyeing up the hiking trails and we were excited to go hiking on the Lonesome Bog Trail. I mean, with a name like that, who wouldn't want to go and check it out. So we left dad behind with a good book to read and off we went to go on our hike. 

The trail is an easy 1.5 km walk around a small lake called Sausage Lake. There is a lookout on the far side of the lake. 

The trail winds along the shore of the lake and beside many old, dead, and dying pine trees.

In a brochure that I read about the trail it says "Beaver are helping to speed its transition to a bog meadow". And sure enough, there was a beaver lodge out at the far end of the lake. 

I found more Water Smartweed growing in the water here too. Some of the pink flowers were just starting to open. 

 The Lonesome Bog had all kinds of berries growing there. From blue berries (edible) and Blue Bead Lilies (poisonous)

To pin cherries and Northern Comandra berries.

The landscape felt wild and rugged. 

There were fuzzy insects like a St. Lawrence Tiger Moth caterpillar and a Tawny-tailed Bee Fly. 

The Lonesome Bog was aptly named. Looking out over the marshy bog, you got a sense of gloom and loneliness, but at the same time, it was also beautiful. 

The height of the trees made you feel small and insignificant. I stood looking up at them in awe and wonder. The pine trees here are mainly Black Spruce and Jack Pines.  Jack Pines have cones that will only open to release its seeds after being exposed to very high temperatures such as the heat of a forest fire. Since the park had endured forest fires in the years 1875, 1910, 1925, and 1940 the Jack Pine has become a dominant species here. 

Once a forest fire has gone through, Jack Pines are one of the first trees to re-establish themselves in the forest. 

We came to a boardwalk through the tall, bare pines. On either side of the boardwalk there were different bog plants to be seen. 

There were a whole lot of Pitcher plants filled with water, waiting to catch their insect prey. 

The flowers of the Pitcher plants rose up out of the bog on long stalks. They looked like the periscopes on a submarine crossed with sunflowers or something. They were quite unusual looking. 

Tendrils of Creeping Snowberry were climbing over and around other plants. 

At various places on the trail there are places to stop and read about the area on information posts. 

​At one of these spots we noticed a pine tree that seemed to have some white fluffy things growing from it. We do not know what they are. They were not an insect of any kind and when I pulled one off the tree branch it seemed to be dry and the base of it crumbled when I rolled it between my fingers. 

It reminded me of Tussock Cotton grass, but I found it odd that it would be growing on a tree. Perhaps it was just Tussock Cotton grass that had gotten stuck in the tree. 

Regardless, I never did find out what it was. 

On the opposite side of Sausage Lake we came to the lookout. 

The lookout was not the usual lookout that you would expect to find. It was not at the top of some big hill overlooking the world below. Instead, it was a boardwalk out to the middle of an island like tree stand in the middle of the bog. There was a platform there with a bench to sit and rest and look around. However, the beginning of the boardwalk to the lookout was flooded and we almost didn't go to it. But we decided to brave the possibility of getting wet feet and we found a muddy path around the flooded area and managed to make it to the dry part of the boardwalk. We had to still be careful as we walked and not stay to close to each other because the board walk sank into the water a little with each step. But not enough to get soaked shoes so it was okay. 

We made it to the bench and sat down for a rest and a snack. I was glad we had decided to go to the lookout because it was beautiful here. We were hoping to see a moose on the trail. This would have been the perfect spot to see one. But, I guess it wasn't really the right time of day because we didn't see one. 

Even the subtle differences in colour of the bog grasses was a pretty sight. 

The last leg of the trail was back through the woods again. We saw a tree that had some sort of odd shaped berries on it. I had never seen one like this before. I think it was a Service Berry Tree of some sort, but I am not too sure. 

Near the very end of the trail we got a close up view of the beaver lodge that we had seen from the other side of the lake. We didn't see any beavers though. 

The end of the trail comes out at the road. It was only a short walk down the road and back to our car. 

Back at the campsite there were Beaked Hazelnut trees with their fruit dangling low on the branches. 

A little red squirrel was taking the opportunity to gather these Beaked Hazelnuts to hide away for his winter stash. 

And, although it was only August, there were other signs that winter wasn't going to stay away forever. The tips of some of the ferns were already turning yellow, as were some of the leaves on some of the trees. 

We had a late supper and cooked some hamburgers on the fire. We didn't have the fire going for too long though because the wind started to pick up and it started to rain a little bit. We moved into the dining tent to stay dry and to  play some board games for awhile before bed. 

Later on, as I lay in my sleeping bag in the dark, I listened to the strong winds blowing and the call of the loons from across the lake. It was like a lullaby to me as I drifted off to sleep. I loved it!