WHEATLEY PROVINCIAL PARK

MONDAY AUGUST 24TH 2015.                                   152585

Yesterday we got all packed up ready to leave at a reasonable time today.  Well we thought 9.30 a.m. sounded reasonable.  It was a cloudy morning but not cold.   This time we are heading south towards Windsor area, Wheatley Provincial Park.  Once again a new park for us.

The drive was an easy one.  The only traffic we met up with was through the City of London.  We did stop in London for some gas,as it was cheaper than it was at home, and it seemed a smart thing to do.   Most of the drive was through farmland.  I am pleased to tell you Perth County did not have "manure day" this trip.

A little ways past London we ran along Lake Erie shore line, which was very pretty.  And from the look of the magnificent properties, just a little expensive.

We pulled into Wheatley about 
1.30 p.m.  Took site number 90. Which was ideal for us, trees all around.

Lunch followed our set up, then we relaxed for a while before studying the park map for an exploratory walk.  We do not usually drive four hours to a park, so it felt good to relax for a while.

Not far from our site was the footbridge over Boosey Creek.

Which was more like a lake of it's own, rather than a creek.

To the North East was Boosey Creek, then to the south was Two Creeks - both like small lakes, not creeks.  To the North was Sugar Creek, equally as big.

All these creek were well used by kayaks. 

However, may be this one "was up the creek without a paddle"! 

Once over the bridge we were only a few steps away from the shore of Lake Erie.  It too was really nice and we are looking forward to exploring a lot more tomorrow.

So far the weather remained good.  It was quite breezy along the shore, but not cold.  In fact it did remain breezy all evening.

Made it back to our camp in time or Happy Hour.

My Chef did well with dinner again.
And I am sure you all know how the remainder of the evening went.  Yes- the fire was great.  Along with the stories, the fireflies and a lot of very loud frogs.

However this time there was no indication of wild life roaming around. Except for a few other human campers, and they proved to be no problem at all.

So, although a longer drive to get here, it appears it was well worth it.


TUESDAY AUGUST 25TH 2015

It was a cloudy, late start to the day.  A lot cooler this morning too.  Hopefully it will warm up soon.

There are not so many walking trails here so we may become beach combers today.

Some where around 11.15 a.m. we started off to find the Loop Trail, which does eventually meet up with the beach.

To get to the trail we had to cross the footbridge again. 

Then the trail headed off to the right.  It was a very narrow trail, but did get very interesting.

This is where the trail appeared to turn into the South Carolinian Forest Area of this part of the countryside.

There were a lot of tall tropical looking grasses growing, and a lot of very swampy areas.  If we had been back in Louisiana we would not have been surprised to see alligators here.
Luckily we didn't, but we did hear a lot of very loud frogs again. 

The trail did end up running into the shore line.  The sun had appeared when we reached the beach, and once again it felt like August not September


There were very few people walking the beach.

However, someone, who was very artistic, had managed to build a very interesting building out of the drift wood.

We wandered the beach area for sometime.  It was very peaceful, relaxing and now the sun was out, it was comfortably warm.

From the beach we crossed the footbridge again and back to our camp site.  It had been a very enjoyable couple of hours walking.

We sat relaxing in the sunshine for a while before lunch.

After lunch the wind got up and it cooled right down again, then the clouds blew in over the lake, making it quite overcast.

Late afternoon we lit the fire and by dinner time we had a real good fire going, so we decided to cook over the fire.  It was a perfect thing to do. Dinner was really good.

There were a few raindrops early evening, but it didn't last - thankfully.

Once again the frogs were in good chorus.

We spent the rest of the evening recalling some of our trips when we were on the road with our Truck.

A great way to end the day!

WEDNESDAY 26TH AUGUST.

Still a cool, breezy and cloudy morning.  We are hoping to find another hiking trail similar to the one we found yesterday, as this is really good walking weather.  Set of about 10.15 .m. the same way as we started yesterday.  After crossing the footbridge we turned left towards Boosey Creek Camp Ground instead of going towards the beach.  

It was here we found another footbridge built over an even bigger swamp area.

Although it looked like grass, and flowers were thriving as if it was grass, it was actually swamp ground.  It was still very pretty to look at.

There was a fair amount of very different types of vegetation.  All quite different to what we have been used to seeing.

From the bridge we made our way to the cliff edge of Lake Erie.

Today the lake was quite calm, and I am pleased to say it is getting a lot warmer than when we started out.

There were several Red Headed Woodpeckers along this part of the trail.

Also many butterflies, who did not want their picture taken.

It was quite a step cliff down to the beach and we had to walk a fair way to be able to descend on to the beach.

This end of the beach had a lot of drift wood to climb over.

Quite a lot of the drift wood looked like whole trees.

Mike enjoyed some of these trees.

We wandered the beach for an hour of so, until we came to the entrance of the trail we found yesterday.

There was a small river leading to the creeks along the trail.

Once on the trail we could hear some squirrels chasing around, but none of them wished to pose for pictures.  It was a good trail through the forest area.

Then back across the bridge.

We did manage to find a rabbit enjoying the peace and quiet, and it was not at all bothered by us.

After a couple of hours we made it back to #90.

A very enjoyable walk - now time for a "cuppa"

It cooled down again after lunch, but we did manage to have our washer toss game.  

I hate to tell you, but I really had a good win.  Me 30 - Mike 10!  For some reason Mike quickly put the game away.

It cooled off again quickly through the afternoon, so the fire was, once again, lit early.  The cool weather did not deter the noisy frogs through the evening.  Nor did it prevent the fireflies from dancing through the bush.

So the end to another fun filled day.

THURSDAY AUGUST 27TH 2015.        152927

Today we woke to brilliant sunshine, not a cloud in the sky.  Go figure, we are heading home today.   Still a cool morning though.

When we left the park we headed into Kingsville to try to find Don and Helen.  It was to be a surprise visit, so who knows if they will be home or not. Unfortunately Don and Helen were not home.  Oh well - next time.  We did enjoy our visit to Kingsville though.  A very nice town.

From Kingsville we made our way towards home.  There were so many detours we were not sure which way we were going.

One detour sent us to Light House Cove.  Yes, it was quite picturesque, except for Lake St. Clair being so rough.  Then came the fact that once at the Light House and cove, there was only one way out - the way we came in.  Unless you wanted "Door #2"  The rough Lake!

So back the way we came where the road we needed was closed.  Our GPS Lady could not find a way to get us out of this.  So Mike called upon his MRP (that's Moi!).   Map Reading Person.  it turned out to be quite simple once the map book was open.

While all this was going on I made a corporate
decision, to go to Kincardine for dinner, at the Erie Belle.  Good job I was in control of the route home!

It was a good drive, mainly through farmland and not terribly busy.

Arrived at The Erie Belle about 5.30 p.m.  Sat in the bar area and caught the end of the Blue Jays Game.
Shame - they lost to Texas.

Regardless dinner was excellent.

Then the inevitable - the last leg of our journey home.  Once again an easy ride.

Arrived home about 7.30 p.m. Everything all put away by 8.15 p.m.  Sitting at our bar relaxing, when Natalie and Elijah stopped in for a visit.

A great way to end a good few days.                            153376.                         

Return to EARL ROWE August 12th 2015.

Wednesday 12th August 2015                   152371

It has felt as if we haven't been camping for months, but in fact it has only been a couple of weeks.   It has been a very busy couple of weeks at home, I must admit.  So with a few good weather days ahead of us we are now on our way to Earl Rowe Provincial Park.

Left Durham about 10.15 a.m. and it was a drizzly rainy morning.  It remained that way all through Mount Forest, then once on to Highway 89 the wind got up and gradually the clouds diminished and thankfully the sun took over.

It was a quiet drive to Alliston and Earl Rowe Park.  In fact we were all set up and enjoying lunch by 12.15 p.m.

We took site # 272.  A good sized site.

Although sunny there was a very cool breeze - guess I could say cool wind.  But this actually worked in our favour as we had planned walking the Look Out Loop Trail again.  It should prove to be very good today, as the sky is clear.  Unlike our last trip here, when it was hot, hazy and humid.





With lunch over we started our walk to The Look Out. 

First we had to get to the Rainbow Run Trail to gain access to the Look Out Trail.

Rainbow Run is an 11 km trail, which goes all around Earl Rowe Lake.  Today we will only do a portion of that trail.







Then we started our ascent to the top of the Look Out Trail.

Yes, it was just as steep, but I think we must have had good training for it this time around, as it didn't seem as difficult. However, it was far more picturesque as there was no haze soaking up the scenery.

This time we remembered to take our fancy compass that Vince and Barb had bought for us.  It is very handy as it also gives us altitude.  So we now know that the Look Out Tower is 758 ft above sea level.  At the top of the tower it almost felt as if we had climber the whole 758 ft.  However, that was not true.  We probably climbed about 475 ft on our 5 km hike, so far.  

The scenery was amazing.

                   

Yes you could see for miles.

And yes, on a clear day you really can see the CN Tower from here.  Too bad my picture didn't do the scenery justice.

The CN Tower is 91.6 km from Alliston via the road.

Next came the easy part of this hike.  It's all down hill from here!

Again we stopped to check out the Ghost Train area, and no I would not like to be on a train in this terrain, regardless of the scenery.  It felt good to have the ground solid under foot.

Th remainder of the trail was equally as pretty, and still very comfortable with the nice breeze.

Back at #272 it felt good to sit back in the sunshine and spend a little time reading our books, with the breeze keeping us cool.

Some time later we decided it was, once again, time to take a walk.   This time we headed to The Earl Rowe Lake.   It was really quiet and peaceful around there.
In fact we were amazed to see so many campsites still available.  This is a really great, interesting park, and very well laid out.  Bonus - the weather is perfect right now.  We are really enjoying it here.

My Chef did his usual magic and dinner was great.  Unfortunately we had to eat inside as there was a very cool wind.

However, the camp fire was really good, and we had a very enjoyable evening sitting around the fire, listening to, and getting excited with the results of the Toronto Blue Jays Game.  They were playing really good ball and just won 10 in a row.  Then bonus - The New York Yankees lost.  Looks like the weekend could prove to be very interesting when TO plays NY at home.   Too bad it is a sell out.  That would be a good time to go to The Rogers Centre.

And that bought an end to another wonderful day of camping.

Thursday 13th August  2015.
Oh Dear!  Woke up late.  Guess the climb wore us out yesterday.  So far today looks good - I did peek out the window, and it's brilliant sunshine, not a cloud anywhere.

Better get going and do my famous BBQ breakfast and plan the rest of the day, before we are eating breakfast at lunch time!

It didn't take long for us to be ready for a walk along the part of the Rainbow Run Trail that we have not yet done.

We did come across quite a few very colourful wild flowers.

Next we wandered towards Fletcher's Pond, which also allowed us to view part of Earl Rowe Lake.

Then we had to cross the water via the two bridges.

Always a very pretty spot.

This was followed by a walk along the regular trail.

Earl Rowe has it's own one acre swimming pool in addition to the beach areas of the Lake.

The swimming pool was very busy.

While the beach was very quiet.

The weather was indeed, ideal for a swimming "hole" of some sort.

               





There were more flowers along the trail.                    

And an area with many large, fern like "trees".

Now that was pretty.

Followed by another extensive view of the lake - also very pretty.

There were quite a few campers out on their bicycles enjoying the weather.

Also, a very interesting group of dogs busy walking a young man and young lady.  

All of whom were very well behaved, and enjoying the wonder weather.

More Flowers.

Further along the trail we came upon another area of very tall pine trees.

We were wishing there was a little more of this type trail as it was very shady, and right then the sun was getting quite warm.

We came across another bridge over the river, but this one was actually outside the Park grounds.

The trail took us over the dam and fish ladder area.   Once again there were no fish there.

Guess we are not getting there at the correct time.

From there we crossed the Boyne River, then continued along the way to our campsite.

We got back in time to listen to the Toronto Blue Jays win their 11th straight game.  That was great!

We spent the afternoon listening to the game, relaxing in the sun and the shade, catching up on some reading -

and enjoying a visit from a lone chipmunk.

There really had not been much wild life or even birds to see this trip.

After a lazy afternoon it was time to use up the extra stored up energy we had.  Yes - time for the Washer Toss Championship Play Off Game.

OK - So I didn't do so good this time.
Mike 30 - Me 26.  I must start practicing throwing washers around.

Guess I needn't tell you all how the remainder of the evening progressed.

Yes - another wonderful campfire and stories about our couple of days here, which have been fun.










Friday August 14th 2015   

We had a good down pour of rain through the night and although very humid and cloudy Mother Nature was kind enough to allow us to cook and eat breakfast outside.

Heading home again today.  All packed up and ready to leave the park about 11.30 a.m.

Took a drive through the town of Alliston and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Then just meandered along our way back to Durham.

For a Friday in August the roads were really very good, not at all busy.  We made it home in time for a late lunch.                              1.30 p.m.                                         152579

Still very hot and humid in Durham too.  Storms predicted for the remainder of the day, and it feels like they will hit any time.

SO, where to next?  You will be the first to know when we know.