Here is the Heritage walk bridge over the Saugeen River in Durham on Dec.25th 2015.
Bright blues sky and no snow. As the weather was so mild we decided not to take our drive to the beach this Christmas Day.
Instead, Natalie, Elijah and myself took a walk to our little beach here in Durham.
And so the winter continued. Yes, we did have some dandy snow storms, not too many, a few ice storms, some cold temps., but not very cold.
Heavy flooding at times too.
So, why did it take so long for us to get away camping?
Mother Nature just didn't want to let go of winter and allow the spring to arrive. We had sit and wait like good children!
THEN FINALLY.
FRIDAY APRIL 15th 2016. 155053
Start of the camping season and our opener in MacGregor Point Provincial Park.
MacGregor Point has been our start and finish park for our camping seasons for many years now. It is one of the few Provincial Parks that remain open all year, and is quite close to home for us.
We took a site we had never had before. It was good for a fair amount of sunshine and a very large site.
However, we did find there was one downfall with this site. The fire pit was a long way from the actual camping area. Not to worry, the exercise will do us good!
It didn't take long to set up as the site was good and level. That's a bonus.
Then we hit the trails. Our site is at the edge of the Old Shore Line trail, so we started there and made our way to sunset point.
Mike managed to wander out on the boulders, and as you can see the Lake is very clear again. What you cannot see from the picture is the fact the lake is quite a bit higher this year. It looked as if the tide was in. It was mentioned on the news that Lake Huron is the highest it has ever been since records first started. Yes, we can believe that. There was a slight breeze off the lake, but certainly not too cold.
Again there was evidence of some very artistic people having been in the area, and had built a large Tee Pee out of the drift wood.
In fact there was a fair amount of interesting drift wood along the shoreline.
From the pond we made our way to the Huron Fringe trail where we could hear many frogs in good chorus. Unfortunately we did not see any of the frogs, unlike last year when the pond was alive with the frogs.
Guess where we headed next?
The water in the pond was also high right now. There were no turtles to be seen. Which was quite surprising as the nice bright sunny day was quite warm in the shelter of the pond.
Once on the trail again you could see the results of the heavy rains and storms that had hit the area two weeks previously, leaving a lot of flooded bush areas.
We made our way through the Nippising Camp Ground on to the Deer Run Trail, which gets us in the direction of our camp site.
Suddenly - no trail, just a large flooded area where the trail once was.
So we had to turn around and blaze our own trail through the trees on to the road way.
Didn't go too far on the road as we could see through the trees that the tail we needed was now on higher ground and no longer water logged.
Once back on the Deer Run Trail we came across a very sheltered spot where you could still see the snow and even a tiny Christmas Tree growing.
We didn't really need to see any more signs of winter, but it was rather pretty.
Then we made it back to our site. It had been a very good walk and now time to relax with a nice "cuppa" .
We found a good sunny spot and enjoyed the entertainment, laid on by the squirrels, chipmunks, chickadees and Blue Jays.
A great way to speed the afternoon.
Yes, we were joined by all the local entertainers once again. Guess they like us!
The fire worked well and did prove to us how much we were enjoying the outside, the fresh air and the peace and quite of the park.
About 8 p.m. we decided it would be a good time to fire up the BBQ and cook our Tuna Burgers. Which turned out to be quite delicious. The remainder of the evening was spent relaxing inside and listening to the Toronto Blue Jays game. Which did not end the way we had hoped. They lost 5-3 to Boston. Oh well, we will see what tomorrow brings.
So far this has been a perfect start to our 2016 camping season.
Saturday April 16th 2016.
It appears the Robins here are the early birds that catch the worms and woke us at 5.45 a.m. followed by the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Finches. So we were early risers today. By 7.15 a.m. the sky was a deep blue and the sun was brilliant. Breakfast was cooked on the BBQ and the plan for the day laid out. Due to the flooded areas on the Deer Run Trail we decided we would use the Old Shore Line Trail as much as possible this morning. And a fine morning it had turned out to be.
It took no time at all to get on to the trail
as it is adjacent to our site, may be about 10 steps and we were on our way.
There was a large vessel out in the lake, but from where we were we could not tell what or why it was there.
Like yesterday the lake was once again very clear.
It was a great morning for a walk.
From the beach we made our way to Merganser Cove.
Merganser Cove really did show the higher level of the lake as a good deal of the trees and boulders, where we usually walk, were indeed way out and under water. However, still very picturesque.
Next stop was the near by pond, where we were lucky enough to find 8 turtles sunning themselves on the rocks.
So on our way again, trough Nippising Camp on to part of the Deer Run trail. Yes we did have to blaze our trail again to avoid the flooded areas.
Today there were many birds enjoying this spring weather.
Could this be my Prince Charming? I guess not, as he is already here camping with me!
We got back after a couple of hours of good walking and feeling like it could be almost lunch time.
It had been a great morning. The plan for the afternoon was to use the Old Shore Line Trail out past the Dog Beach area and the Day Use beach to the park boundary on Concession 4. Then be back to camp by 3.30 p.m. ready for the Toronto Blue Jays Game.
Lunch over, we headed out to complete our walking plan for the day.
First stop was the Turtle Pond, where we did find several more turtles, like us, enjoying the sunshine.
We continued on our way along The Old Shore Line trail, which was very well groomed and quite interesting.
As you can see there had been a few woodpeckers enjoying the area too.
The day use beach was really quite nice with sand dunes, but we really enjoyed this large long rocky area of the beach. It was fun to hike the rocks.
We got to see Sunset Point from the opposite side of the lake.
Still a very pretty area.
From there we had to get back to Cedar Lane Camp ground to get to our camp site. Cedar Lane is a really nice camp ground, mainly used for reservations.
Made it back to #22 by 3 p..m., already to enjoy (we hope) the game.
We were joined by the usually squirrels, chipmunks and birds, none of whom wished to have their pictures taken.
The Blue Jays lost the game.
Two rabbits came for a visit. They were a good size too.
Managed to play our game of dominoes later that evening. I won one game, Mike won one game. Play off next trip.
It was once again another really fun day and the weather was unbelievable after such a cool start to the spring.
Sunday April 17th 2016.
Awoke to the sound of tiny feet pitter pattering across the roof of El Campista. Yes the squirrels were awake and enjoying the stat to another beautiful day.
Today is pack up time for us. It's been so good to get back to camping and we are really looking forward to the next trip. However, with the end of winter (we hope), the beginning of spring brings us quite a bit of yard work to get through. So a few days at home turns out to be a must.
We had a guest drop by for breakfast, followed by several of the usual guests we have made friends with this trip, the squirrels, chipmunks, chickadees, B.J's and even a few sparrows.
A very large Red Headed Woodpecker stopped by but didn't want pictures done, so I took a shot of his favorite tree instead.
Before leaving the park we drove to the Tower Trail. It was a great day for a nice walk before heading back.
The view from the tower looked really calm. We could hear all kinds of birds, ducks and geese even though we couldn't see them.
Back on to the trail, which appears to be high and dry right now. Hopefully it will remain that way.
As you can see we had to share the trail with some feathered friends.
They were not too willing to share so decided they would retreat back to the water.
Further along the trail we found another of their friends taking a stroll in the sunshine.
We could hear a lot of birds but unfortunately we couldn't see any of them either.
So from there we got back on the trail.
There was only one small area of the trail that was flooded and it was quite easy to get around.
This trail is 3.5 km so by the time we got to El Campista we decided would head to the day use area beach for a nice picnic lunch before heading home.
As we hadn't been to Southampton Market for quite some time we made a slight detour before leaving the area. There is always something of great interest to be found at the market. A splendid way to finish up this first camping trip. It has been really great and we are looking forward to the next one.
Hopefully Mother Nature will continue being kind to us. 155243
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