Camping in Darlington, Silent Lake, Arrowhead and Six Mile Lake Provincial Parks in Ontario, August-October, 2020

Blog w języku polski/in the Polish language: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2021/12/biwakowanie-w-prowincjonalnych-parkach.html 

More photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/albums/72157720216499304

Darlington Provincial Park, Ontario

My initial vacation plans for 2020 included spending 10 days in May/June in Indiana Dunes National Park on Lake Michigan and driving across the United States for about 8 weeks in August-October. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic messed up almost everybody’s vacation plans, including mine: not only was it almost impossible to cross the border between Canada and the USA, but even local outings were hampered by innumerable rules and regulations. Overall, the slogan that used to appear on Ontario’s license plates, “Ontario - Yours to Discover”, became a reality for most Ontarians! Indeed, a lot of people ‘discovered’ provincial parks and soon it was very difficult to find vacant campsites, especially over weekends. However, overall it was not a bad year for me: in January, 2020 I spent 2 weeks in Cuba, arriving back in Toronto on January 22, the same day when a traveler from China arrived in Toronto and became the first documented person to have COVID. In addition, I managed to spend several weeks in 4 provincial parks (and one week canoeing on the French River (please see other blog entries about my vacation in Cuba and the French River trip). The major restriction in provincial parks was the lack of showering facilities. Also, group campsites were closed and thus the 10^th Group Camping at Warsaw Caves (organized by my friend Guy), which I planned to attend, did not take place.

Darlington Provincial Park, Ontario

In August I was invited by Guy to spend two days camping in Darlington Provincial Park, and of course I gratefully accepted his invitation. Each campsite could accommodate up to 6 people and 3 tents—as I did not want to share a tent (there were already 3 people on the campsite), I decided to book a separate campsite. Because the arrival was on Sunday, August 16, 2020, it was still possible to find vacant campsites. I got campsite number 173, not far from #158, where the group stayed. Although campsite #158 had poor privacy, it was just meters from Lake Ontario and offered a nice view of the lake, yet the steep cliff prevented us from actually getting to the lake at that spot. 

Darlington Provincial Park, Campsite #158

Since I had always gone to provincial parks located several hundred kilometers from Toronto, I was not even aware about this park’s existence. Before my visit I had quickly read about the park’s & area’s history (it used to be the Loyalists’ farmland and when the park was created in 1959, it was devoid of trees, but thanks to the Boy Scouts reforestation 60 years ago, there are many trees everywhere) and I was pleasantly surprised to see that many campsites were surrounded by thick vegetation, which provided good privacy. The Campground Trail, cutting through the middle of the campground, was very convenient, allowing campers taking shortcuts without encroaching on other campsites. From the Cliffside campsites #158 (ours), #159, #160 and #162 it was possible to see Lake Ontario. Once we saw an oil-tanker barge “Norman McLeod”, along with the tug “Everlast”, proceeding east. 

Once we saw an oil-tanker barge “Norman McLeod”, along with the tug “Everlast”, proceeding east.

I saw a Red Cardinal and a Blue Jay on my campsite, as well as several mischievous squirrels/chipmunks, sometimes carrying big chunks of food, no doubt pilfered from campers. I had read that the park became a home to Piping Plovers, which made their nests on the beach. Unfortunately, it rained each day, sometimes heavily, which prevented us from not only visiting the beach, but also from hiking on one of the many nature trails in the park. Bill brought a sturdy picnic shelter, which turned out to be very useful. We enjoyed campfires every evening and overall had a great time. I hardly saw any mosquitoes, but some of us ended up with plenty of nasty bites all over their legs. When I was leaving the park, I wanted to check out its other sights (fishing nodes, the store, pioneer cemetery, log cabin and the birding information board), but it started pouring and I decided to drive straight home. 

Darlington Provincial Park-my campsite #173

There was a pronounced noise coming from the highway (401), but since it was so incessant, after a while I stopped noticing it. Train whistles, on the other hand, were very loud and ear-piercing, and even though I consider myself a heavy sleeper, they awoke me several times during the night, albeit for just a minute or so. Indeed, for some light-sleepers the train’s blaring horn might ruin their stay at this park.

Silent Lake Provincial Park and Six Mile Lake Provincial Park, Ontario

 Silent Lake Provincial Park, Ontario

 As I already mentioned, it was very difficult, if not outright impossible, to reserve campsites at provincial parks on weekends, but there were still quite a few vacancies on weekdays. This time I booked a campsite in Silent Lake Provincial Park, located south of Bancroft. We stayed on campsite #39 for 4 nights (Pincer Bay Campground), from September 7 to 11, 2020. The weather was not very good (raining, cloudy), so we ended up spending most of the time on the campsite, often sitting under the tarp while it was raining. The park—especially our campground—was very scenic, there were plenty of swampy areas and small bogs close to campsites, yet we did not experience any mosquitos. Because it had rained a lot before our arrival, there were plenty of amazing mushrooms everywhere—unfortunately, despite bringing several books on mushroom identification, I could positively identify only 3 of them. 

Silent Lake Provincial Park, our campsite #39

A lot of campsites which, according to the Ontario Parks reservation website, had been booked during our stay in the park, turned out to be vacant—most likely the rainy weather had resulted in many cancellations (which this year did not incur any penalties). 

There were a lot of swampy areas just meters from campsites

There was a mountain bike trail as well as three hiking trails, which unfortunately I did not have a chance to do. However, during my past 2 visits to the park I canoed on Silent Lake as well as on several lakes in Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.

Silent Lake Provincial Park, campsite #40, on which Guy, I and several other people camped in 2009. I also camped on this campsite in September, 2021. I loved the rock!

 Our campsite #39 was nice, although a little on the small side for 2 cars and 3 tents (including one for 8 people that Robin brought). Incidentally, in 2009 Guy and I (and several other people) had stayed on the adjacent site (#40), which had, as an added cool feature, a large rock formation. We could enjoy relative privacy because the adjoining campsites were vacant during our stay. The toilet was maintained daily by the park staff. We hardly saw any animals, save for a couple of small woodpeckers, squirrels and chipmunks. I was told that no black bear sightings had been reported for many weeks. Park wardens frequently patrolled the park, keeping it SILENT!

Bancroft: Firewood for sale-based on an honour system!

The firewood sold by the park was not very dry, so I decided to look for better firewood in Bancroft. Just before entering Bancroft, I stopped at a place called “The Bike Doctor” that was fixing bikes & ATVs and spent some time chatting with the owner. I also renewed my motor vehicle permit—usually there are long lineups in Toronto and I always try to do it either online, or in smaller towns, where there is no waiting at all. I asked several people where I could obtain firewood and I was told that there was a place just past the town. Indeed, I saw a pile of wood, which was already separated in various sizes. It was a self-service, honour system stand, where buyers were supposed to leave money in provided envelopes in a special box! Each time I see such contraptions I wonder if they could be viable in bigger cities, like Toronto. For some reasons I think that soon all the firewood would be gone—along with the money! 

Arrowhead Provincial Park, Ontario

Arrowhead Provincial Park, Ontario

 In Ontario September is usually an excellent month to go camping—no bugs, less people in parks and spectacular fall colours! Yet September may be also much cooler and temperatures often drop to zero at night. But this time I decided to make sure cool temperatures were not going to spoil our stay. 

Big Bend Lookout. Whereas it is the shortest ‘trail’ (75 meters from the parking lot!), it leads to the spectacular view of the Big East River. 

I had visited this park the first time in 2001 and this was my 6^th visit. I noticed some changes—there were ten camp cabins and one soft-sided shelter available for rent (two of the cabins were erected on my favourite campsites). In addition, a new Visitor Center and Park Store had opened not long ago. The new Visitor Centre had a warm-up room with a fireplace for enthusiasts of winter activities offered in the park (skating, tubing, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing). Huntsville’s Arrowhead Nordic Ski Club works closely with the park and operates its programs.

Even though there have been bear sightings in the park, we did not see any, not even usually ubiquitous raccoons!

I arrived on Sunday, September 20, 2020 and after lining up for about 5 minutes to the office’s window, I was on my way to campsite #254 at East River Campground. Even though we were tent-camping, we decided to book an electrical site and I managed to get the last one available in the whole park. Incidentally, in the past it was very easy to find a campsite in this park (and almost any other park) after the Labour Day weekend—I did not even bother making reservations; now, because of COVID-19, literally 100% of campsites were booked over weekends and it was difficult to get any site for 5 consecutive days from Sunday to Friday. We brought two heaters—what an excellent idea! Not only did they keep us warm at night, but also removed dampness from the tents. The site offered good privacy—because of the thick vegetation we hardly saw our neighbors. Although it was adjacent to a (clean!) toilet, it did not bother us—besides most tourists used toilets in their trailers/RVs. Of course, showers were closed this summer due to the coronavirus. We were also lucky because every day we could see more and more fall colours; after 5 days, when we were leaving, they became quite spectacular.

Arrowhead Provincial Park. Our campsite #254 was quite good. I took this photo of this campsite one year later, in 2021 and it did not look very nice... Well, we were very lucky in 2020 that it did not rain, otherwise our tents would have been flooded!

 I also drove around the park and checked out other campsites in Roe Campground, they were very nice, too. The cabins were all occupied and I did not have a chance to take a look inside them, but they seemed to be an excellent choice for a family or a group of friends who would like to enjoy the park in a more ‘civilized’ way. 

Wildlife Sighting board in Arrowhead Park. There were 3 bear sightings!

According to the “Wildlife Sighting” board in the park store, there had been three black bear sightings recently, but we did not see any of those imposing creatures. The only animals that we spotted at our campsite were squirrels, chipmunks, a pair of gorgeous blue jays and a very friendly black capped chickadee which actually sat on my hand, hoping for a snack! And I saw a fishing spider in the toilet—it is the largest spider in Canada. I remember that many years ago we had experienced a lot of problems with raccoons; this time we did not encounter any of those pesky mammals. The park was very quiet at night and a park truck regularly drove by the campsites. The campfire wood sold at the park was wet—eventually we got a few bags of very dry wood at a store in Huntsville. Since both highway 11 and railway tracks were just over 1 km from the park, we could hear the road traffic and occasional loud train whistles, but it did not bother us.

Stubbls Falls Trail: This tree looked like a walking tree with many ‘legs’, albeit it did not go anywhere while we were there (but I will certainly check its location during my next visit).

 The park has a number of hiking trails (some allow cycling), of which we managed to complete three: 

•         Big Bend Lookout. Whereas it is the shortest ‘trail’ (75 meters from the parking lot!), it leads to the spectacular view of the Big East River. This is a meandering river and there are many theories as to why and how they become sinuous. The flow of the river erodes its banks and changes its course, causing a neck. Eventually the neck becomes very narrow and is breached by the flow of the river. Ultimately the abandoned curve turns into an oxbow lake—the satellite map of Arrowhead Park and the area along the Big East River shows plenty of oxbow lakes and meander scars. Unfortunately, one day the part of the river we now admire will also become an oxbow lake. 

Homesteaders Trail

•         Homesteaders Trail. This 3 km loop trail starts near the main office. According to the park’s tabloid, “there is evidence of an old 1870s farm. All that remains today is the foundation of a stone milk house, wagon parts and cleared land.” The trail is a little hilly, but it cuts through the forest and is absolutely wonderful. At one point we were a little confused which path to take, the signage could have been better. I was also looking forward to actually seeing the remnants of the old farm, but did not find anything. It would be a great idea if the park could post a sign on the trail pointing to the location of the farm. 

Arrowhead Provincial Park, Stubbs Falls

•         Stubb’s Falls Trail (2 km) starts at the parking lot near the bridge and parallels the Little East River. The first part of the trail runs along the road leading to East River campsites and reaches the Stubb’s Falls, a very scenic waterfall with plenty of rock formations. A lot of people spend a couple of hours there, taking photos or just watching the chutes. The second part of the trail winds through a forest path and it much nicer than the first one. Furthermore, I spotted two very interesting trees on the trail: one looked like a walking tree with many ‘legs’, albeit it did not go anywhere while we were there (but I will certainly check its location during my next visit); the second one also had three ‘legs’ and grew over a very old stump of the original tree. 

Stubbs Falls Trail: The second three also had three ‘legs’ and grew over a very old stump of the original tree.

I was surprised that there were very few mushrooms in and around the park. Each day the fall colours were becoming more pronounced and we were surrounded by them on the campsite. I must say that it was a very enjoyable visit. This is a wonderful park, where everybody is going to find some interesting activity year round. 

Our campsite at night!

While in the park, we drove to the nearby Dyer Memorial. Not too many people get to see this very original monument, as it is located in the middle of the forest. In addition, the one-way narrow, potholed dirt road leading to it may be tricky to find—and then a little challenging to drive on, especially for smaller vehicles.

The Dyer Memorial

 The memorial was erected by Detroit lawyer Clifton Dyer in 1956 near the Big East River, as a tribute to his wife Betsy Browne Dyer. Mr. Dyer purchased the land where the monument is built over one hundred years ago, after he and his wife honeymooned there. The couple’s ashes are also interned there. The property had been owned and ‘managed’ by the Dyer Memorial Trust based in the USA, but in 2010 it was donated (along with the trust’s funds) to Muskoka Conservancy.

Betsy Brown Dyer and Clifton G. Dyer

The inscription on the monuments reads: 

ERECTED IN FOND MEMORY OF

BETSY BROWN DYER

1884-1956

BY HER HUSBAND

CLIFTON G. DYER

1885-1959

AS A PERMANENT TRIBUTE TO HER FOR THE NEVER-FAILING

AID, ENCOURAGEMENT AND INSPIRATION WHICH SHE

CONTRIBUTED TO THEIR MARRIED CAREER AND AS A

FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR THEIR ASHES. 

An Affectionate, Loyal, and Understanding Wife is Life's Greatest Gift. 

The Dyer Memorial

The monument is surrounded by 2 acres of landscaped land, but the total area of the property is 155 acres. It is a perfect place to meditate, walk, relax and enjoy surrounding nature. We found a trail/dirt road behind the monument (most likely used by ATVs, in spite of the “NO ATVs” sign) and half an hour later we came to another road, which led us back to the parking lot. As expected, we were the only visitors and did not see anybody else. 

Six Mile Lake Provincial Park, Ontario

All the COVID-19 restrictions made it impossible to invite, or visit friends for Thanksgiving Day. Thus, a short camping trip to a park (the last one of the season) was the best alternative. This time I picked very familiar Six Mile Lake Provincial Park. 

The only campsite (#97), which was available in the park over the Thanksgiving Long Weekend.

It is a beautiful park relatively close to Toronto (165 km), offering plenty of activities, and for this reason it has always been quite busy, particularly during COVID-19. I am glad that a week before my visit I had managed to book the only available campsite in the park (#97, Oak Campground) and thus I enjoyed camping over the Thanksgiving long weekend there. Yes, the park was 100% full! 

Campsites along a park road

The fall colours were stunning and I took advantage of the parks’ trails. I leisurely walked the Living Edge Trail and the David Milne Trail, named after David Milne (1882-1953), a Canadian painter, who used to live and paint on Six Mile Lake. Some of his paintings were clearly inspired by the prominent rocks of the Canadian Shield. The hikes were quite easy and let me enjoy the spectacular fall colours even more.

The David Milne Trail in Six Mile Lake Provincial Park

 One part of the park (Maple Campground) was already closed for camping, but it was possible to walk there and I checked out many campsites. Some were very nice and offered very good privacy and lovely views. I have been coming to this park for about 30 years, since the early 1990s, so many of the campsites I visited looked very familiar—I had camped on them with plenty of friends at least 20 times! 

A friend Blue Jay was not afraid of me-as long as there was food!

For a while I observed a majestic blue heron on the trail, but all the other animals I saw were on my site. A hungry chipmunk kept visiting me in regular intervals; it did not even hesitate to literally walk all over me in search of food. A relatively tame blue jay was always watching me from the nearby tree and whenever I was not paying attention, it flew over, landed on the table, grabbed whatever food there was and flew away. Of course, there was also the "de rigueur" nightly visit by several raccoons, so accustomed to tourists that they were sniffing at my legs and shoes while totally ignoring my presence. From time to time a very timid squirrel appeared at the campsite; whenever the chipmunk saw it, it immediately chased it away, ostensibly not wanting to have any competition to share its grub with! 

A very friendly and always hungry Chippy the Chipmunk!

I wanted to take photographs of and collect wild mushrooms, which should normally be plentiful in October. Unfortunately, I did not see any in and around the park—yet my friends reported plenty in Killarney and Algonquin parks. Well, one of nature’s mysteries!

Majestic Blue Heron, often very difficult to spot, as it perfectly blends in the surrounding vegetation

The park had two charging stations for electric vehicles—incredibly, my friend Patrizia, who visited me on the campsite, happened to have a Tesla vehicle, so she took advantage of this opportunity and charged her car overnight. I also asked her a lot of questions about electric vehicles and after one day I certainly became a “junior expert” on this subject! 

The Living Edge Trail

Probably the main disadvantage of this park is its proximity to the highway (400). No matter where the campsite is located, you will hear the noise from the highway. However, since it was almost continuous, after a while I stopped noticing it. Also, when I was hiking on one of the trails, suddenly I saw a beautiful lake… and then a busy highway at its end, which definitively spoiled the view. Obviously, these are things that cannot be changed and we have to accept them… or go to a different park. 

View from one of the park's campsites

While at the park, I drove to McCrae Lake, which is a very popular place for camping and canoeing, as it is still crown land. I managed to hike to the McCrae Lake Bridge & Waterfalls. It was an easy hike and there were a number of other hikers, some carrying backpacks and planning to camp overnight. Again, there were no wild mushrooms anywhere. 

A short portage leading from the parking lot to McCrae Lake

One day I made a loop trip, driving to the town of Coldwater and back to the park. My first stop was at White Falls. In the past we had often paddled from the park to the falls and spent some time having lunch just meters from the falls. This time I hardly saw any people around. 

View from the Bridge near the McCrae Lake Waterfalls

My next stop, The Big Chute Marine Railway, is certainly a very unique place and many people spent hours observing boats being carried in a cradle between two lakes. 

A small bridge along the Living Edge Trail in Six Mile Lake Park

I briefly stopped at Severn Falls. Catherine and I had gone to the Riverhouse Restaurant for Thanksgiving Dinner in 2010 or so and done some canoeing on the Severn River. 

The White Falls, not far from Six Mile Lake Park. 

I also made a brief stop on road #17, Upper Big Chute Road, where in 2012, Catherine and I (and Gabby the dog) had been given a tour by a real estate agent of a 50 acre property for sale. The property had a pond with a beaver lodge and its other border reached the railway tracks. There had been a small cottage, but it was rather designed to be demolished than habituated (and the sale offer said so—however erecting a new dwelling would have adhere to new building rules), as well as two shacks. The agent said that the vendor had initially wanted $189,000 for the property and the price had been reduced to $139,000. I had not planned to make this kind of investments at that time, yet I told the agent that I could buy the property for $100,000. Of course, he never contacted me. To this day I have been thinking whether or not I made a good decision—considering the rising prices of cottages and vacant lots during the COVID pandemic, I am sure the property would be selling for over $200, 000 today. 

In the village of Coldwater I did some shopping at the supermarket, got on the highway and drove back to Port Severn, parked my car and walked around a little. It triggered so many memories, which I would like to share here. 

General Store in Port Severn

Normally, it is possible to drive over the bridge/locks in Port Severn, but the 100 + years old lock (#45), the last lock of the Trent-Severn Waterway, with a swing bridge, was being replaced with another bridge, so I was forced to use the highway 400 to get from one part of Port Severn to the other. 

Construction, road closed!

Adjacent to the Post Office was the “Lock 45 Restaurant and Supermarket”, now closed, its windows boarded up. For many years I used to come to Port Severn fishing—we would rent a motorboat at the nearby motel and spend the whole day on Georgian Bay, fishing around Green Island and Potato Island. Afterwards, we would sometimes go to the restaurant for a cold drink. In 1997, while camping in Six Mile Lake Park, Chris and I went fishing on Georgian Bay. It was raining, windy and cold; not only did not we catch anything, but also got wet and cold. Subsequently we went to the “Lock 45 Restaurant” for a cup of hot coffee. 

"Lock 45" Restaurant. Unfortunately, it has been shuttered for a while. We often went there for coffee

There was a distinguished looking older gentleman at the next table, and he was wearing a very original necklace make of bones. 

    “I admire your necklace”, I said, because the necklace was indeed quite unique. 

Herbert (that was his name) asked us to join him at the table and told us that he was an ‘honorary Indian chief’, and this marvelous necklace had been bestowed upon him by Native people. To make the story short—after telling him about our fruitless fishing trip, Herbert invited us to his nearby cottage on a small, private island. We drove to the Narrows Marina, got into his very beautiful boat, powered with a powerful motor, and in no time arrived at his island. He let us use one of his motorboats and we spent several hours trolling and casting around the island. Later we had dinner and engaged in a long, interesting conversation. Originally from Germany, as a teenager he was conscripted into the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend), a youth organization of the Nazi Party (and so was the future Pope Benedict XVI—who knows, maybe they met there?). It was totally dark when we arrived by boat to the Narrows Marina and drove back to our campsite. During our following visits to Port Severn, I kept asking local people about Herbert, but nobody seemed to know him. I even went to the Narrows Marina to make inquiries, but the marina was gone, too. 

In the early 1980s. there used to be a small marina, which rented motor boats. In the summer of 1983 we rented a motor boat here and it was my first fishing experience in Canada!

I also drove via Highway 400 to the north side of Port Severn and explored a marina/boat storage (?) located between Port Severn Road North and Highway 400, just south of “Dam G”. It is a very special place for me: in the summer of 1983, one year after coming to Canada, my friend Josef Sz. and I rented a motor boat from that very location and it was my first fishing experience in Canada! The older couple, who lived there and ran the place, were always very meticulous about checking the boats for scratches. “Any rocks?”, the gentleman would ask when we came back, shining the flashlight all over the boat, as there were plenty of rock in the water.

The old remnants of the old road (road #69) bridge, on which we drove so many times and under which we had to pass to get to Georgian Bay. About 20 years ago it was demolished and replaced with a new bridge, now part of Highway 400

 One of the buildings had been Josef’s brother-in-law’s cottage. All the structures had been gone for a long time—and so had the old Highway 69, replaced by the modern Highway 400 (the old remnants of the old road bridge, under which we had to pass from the marina to Georgian Bay, were still visible). 

Nearby, next to Highway 400, is the Muskey’s Landing Motel. In 1983 it was called “Alcove Motel”, later “Sharkie’s Motel”. The adjacent old Highway 69 had only two lanes before Highway 400 replaced it, encroaching on the motel’s property. The motel had also had a swimming pool, but at one point it was, I believe, just buried. Although I have never stayed overnight in the motel, many a time my friends and I rented a motorboat there: we had called the owner (I think his name was Brian) in advance and arrived before 4:00 am, got into the boat (which had already been prepared for us) and in no time were out on the water, fishing until dusk, usually between Green Island and Potato Island. Sometimes fishing was quite good, sometimes we caught nothing. 

A nightly visitor!

In the late 1990s a couple of times I went fishing with Mr. Tadeusz Pasek, a well-known Polish yoga pioneer & instructor and author of books and university journals articles. Although he did not fish, he loved being on the water, relaxing and meditating. During one of such trips it was very hot and humid, but nothing indicated a forthcoming storm. Unfortunately, come it did, so swiftly and with hardly any warning that I had scarcely any time to reel in the fishing line and then immediately headed towards a shore. Rapidly the waves became so high that our small boat, with a 6 or 10 HP engine, was tossed left and right. I had to keep it perpendicular to the waves—otherwise the boat could have been overturned! Eventually we found a sheltered bay and waited out the storm. It was a very good lesson for me—I have had plenty of respect for the unpredictable weather on Georgian Bay since then! 

Post Office in Port Severn--still the way I remember it almost 40 years ago!

In July, 1993, Mr. Tadeusz Pasek, his son Chris and I drove in my just-purchased brand new Toyota Corolla to Six Mile Lake Provincial Park. The next morning, before 4:00 am, we woke up, headed to the motel, got into the waiting motor boat and began fishing. For the next 7 hours we did not catch anything, causing Mr. Pasek to tease us about and question our fishing abilities. And then, from 11:30 am to 12:00 pm, we caught well over 10 pikes, thus saving our honour! I still remember that spot; each time I was boating in the area I went there and spent some time casting, yet I never even came close to replicating our initial success. Incidentally, at the park we met a university professor of physics, Dr. Minoru Fujimoto, who was camping with his family on the adjacent campsite. Since Chris’ major at university was physics, he stroke up a conversation with him. Soon it turned out that Dr. Fujimoto had collaborated with Chris’ university friend from Poland, currently residing in Toronto and teaching at York University! Perhaps it is a cliché, but indeed, the world IS a small place! 

The following year Chris and I drove to Six Mile Park on August 1, 1994—I remember that date as it was the 50^th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising [incidentally, a lot of Canadian and American mass-media, as well as some historians (sic!) infamously kept referring to this anniversary as “the 50^th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”—which, of course, took place over 1 year earlier, in 1943]. Even though it was a holiday (the Simcoe Day long weekend), we had not reserved any campsite. When we arrived in the park, the first thing we saw was an assortment of campers, trailers, RVs and cars waiting before the gate: the park was full! However, we were somehow lucky—there was just one campsite available, albeit very small and not suitable for the needs of the waiting tourists. As we only had one tent and one small car, we “qualified” to camp on it. Indeed, it was a rather crappy campsite, but as the saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers! The next day we went fishing and caught a couple of pikes for dinner. 

This squirrel also wanted to get some food from my campsite, but the chipmunk chased it away

Also in mid-1980s Josef Sz., his wife and I went to Port Severn and rented a motor boat from a local marina run by a German-speaking woman. After fishing for a few hours, we encountered problems with the boat’s motor—it was impossible to start it. A few boaters tried to assist us (and they were quite familiar with boat motors), but to no avail. Eventually one of them tied a rope and towed us back to the marina. We were quite dissatisfied and asked the owner for a discount—after all, the boat was not working the way it was supposed to. Surprisingly, she got quite upset… at us, as if we were responsible for the defective motor and her attitude towards us became very unpleasant! Of course, we never patronized her business again. But it was not the end of our problems. As we commenced driving toward Toronto on Highway 69, just after a few hundred meters we realized that there was something wrong with the car. We barely managed to reach the restaurant just south of Port Severn… and to make the story short, we ended up spending the night in the car in the parking lot!  A local mechanic arrived in the morning, towed the car to his garage, fixed it, and soon we were on our way to Toronto. At that time the restaurant was meters from Highway 69, but when the new road (Highway 400) replaced it, the access became more complicated and the restaurant soon went out of business. Unfortunately, many roadside businesses often share the same fate once a new controlled access highway is built. Whenever I was driving up north on Highway 400, I would look at the former restaurant, but it appeared to be boarded up. In 2020 I finally visited it and it was operating as a motel called “All Tucked Inn”. 

Fishing spider, I think it is the biggest spider in Canada

When I was leaving the park on October 13, 2021 (I would have stayed longer, but that day the park was closing for the season), I again stopped in Port Severn and went to the post office to buy stamps and mail letters. Unfortunately, the post office employee was one hour late—due to Thanksgiving Day, she got the days mixed up. There was another gentleman waiting to pick up a parcel and I stuck up a conversation with him. He lived on nearby Yellowhead Island, was a ham radio operator (so was I, but very little radio-active) and we kept talking about a lot of interesting things for about 30 minutes. 

Overall, I enjoyed my vacation in the first year of COVID-19 pandemic and took advantage of the limited travel opportunities to the fullest!

Blog w języku polski/in the Polish language: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.com/2021/12/biwakowanie-w-prowincjonalnych-parkach.html 

More photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/albums/72157720216499304

CANOEING IN CHARLESTON LAKE PROVINCIAL PARK AND CAMPING IN IVY LEA PARK, SEPTEMBER, 2013

Driving from Toronto to Charleston Provincial Park, Ivy Lea Park and back home

Despite having visited Charleston Lake Provincial Park twice before, I had never done any interior canoeing—and Catherine had never visited the park at all. So, both of us were looking forward to experiencing something new!

Arriving at the campsite-and it's vacant!

We knew that early fall would be a good time to visit the remote sites as we did not have to make reservations and we knew school groups would not be in full force, using interior campsites for their environmental programs. Besides, mosquitos are in retreat and there is no need to use insect repellents.

After a leisurely drive we arrived at Charleston Lake Park, registered at the main office and paddled to the best interior campsites in the park—Hidden Cove (#506). It was not occupied (although its previous occupants must have left the same day, as their permit indicated). The site had two wooden tent platforms; we decided to set up the tent on the farther one, near the imposing rock and used the other platform for our equipment and daily stretching exercises. The first night was quite cool, the temperature dropped at night to +5C—what a difference from just a week ago, when the temperature was at least 10C higher! Well, we realized that the fall was upon us… For some reasons, the Labour Day often does mean the end of summer. The night was cold, but our 3 sleeping bags kept us warm.

Our campsite at Charleston Lake. Very private, near a huge
boulder and sheltered from the wind

Friday was a beautiful, sunny day and we hiked a little. There was a hiking trail (Tallow Rock Bay East Trail) just on the ridge above our campsite. We headed over to the bridge between Charleston Lake and Slim Bay (the bridge was closed in 2014, hopefully temporarily), passing very interesting rock formations and old growth forest. It was a mystical place. We crossed the bridge and Catherine went on in search of Bob’s Cove campsite, but upon seeing some campers, she did not want to invade their privacy, so she retreated and we headed back to our campsite.

GPS track of our paddling on Charleston Lake

At night we were entertained/serenaded by the transcendent call of the loon. This experience alone is worth staying on an interior campsite.

The next day (Saturday) we paddled to the car (as there was a 60% chance of rain) and drove around the campsites in the park, rating their differences. Of course, we also visited the famous rock shelters.

Rock Shelters in Charleston Lake Provincial Lake

The natural shelter, formed by the overhand of one large rock, rises about 50 feet above the water level and is inland approximately one hundred yards. The rock itself is not homogeneous but is composed of boulders of up to 10 inches in diameter set in a type of limestone formation. Over the years, pieces of the overhanging rock have broken off and fallen, with the result that much of the floor is covered with debris, especially as one moves toward the south-west end of the site. Protected as it is from the elements, the site would have provided an excellent shelter for those travelling in the area.

Rock Shelters

One of the most interesting features found on the site was a large pit. It measured about one and one-half feet by three feet by about one foot deep. The pit contained no artifactual material but instead was filled with stones about five inches in diameter and very dark sand. It was beside a large fire area and one possible explanation of its use may be that at one time it was lined with some waterproof substance, possibly birch bark and pitch, and used to heat water by immersion of fire-heated rocks.

Sandstone Island Trail passes a prehistoric rock shelter

Excavations during the last week of May of 1967, produced evidence of at least two short periods of occupation. During the first period the rock shelters were used as a short-term camp by travellers in the area during the Late Middle Woodland period (about 500 A.D.); pottery and bone tools remains were left by them. The second group left musket balls, flints and a buckle and must have arrived sometime after the contact period. Neither group could have stayed long since the cultural accumulation was slight, but both were there long enough to leave evidence of their stay. [Source: L. Gordon, “The Charleston Lake Rock Shelter”, Accepted in 1969, published in “Ontario Archeology No. 14]

The forest around the shelters was just magical, with all the fallen trees, rocks and amazing mushrooms, ferns and mosses. We tried to imagine the people who used those shelters over 1,500 years ago…

Lyndurst and its famous picturesque stone bridge

Later we visited the nearby town—Lyndhurst, with its old, beautiful stone bridge, where we had the excellent ice cream at “Groceteria” and spent some time at a second-hand/antique shop. It was a trip down the memory lane for Catherine. There was a chip truck near Lyndhurst called “Petras” (whose owner was German) and it sold excellent beefsteak tomatoes.

Another day we drove to the town of Delta. There was an old stone mill, which I had visited in 2004. At that time I was told there were plans to restore it and even bake bread for tourists, but since it was closed, I had no idea if it was operational in any capacity. There was also a gathering of “Old Bastards Vintage Motorcycle Club”—they hold their annual motorcycle rally on the weekend after Labour Day in Delta. The LCBO store was the busiest place in town and across the parking lot McEwan’s gas bar and grocery store/supermarket came in as a close second. We admired old buildings (plenty with ‘for rent’ signs) and old bridge. Sadly, the town seemed to be in decline.

Delat and its old stone mill from 1810

Next town we drove to was Athens. It had very interesting murals. Coincidentally, I had visited Athens in 2004 exactly during the Summer Olympic Games in… Athens! This visit gave me legitimate bragging rights to boast that I was in Athens during the 2004 Olympiad!

We drove back to the park, got into the canoe and paddled to our campsite. Crossing the lake was quite challenging due to the strong wind and we had to make sure the canoe was always positioned towards the waves—even though, some water did get inside.

Paddling on Charleston Lake. Recently part of this rock must have fallen off; the roots are still
visible. Hopefully, no canoe was nearby when this happened!

We paddled on Charleston Lake a few times, to check out the other interior campsites. We saw a campsite with two clusters—but it was too dark. The campsite closest to ours (Bob’s Cove), made up of 3 clusters, was quite OK. The campsite closest to the park (2 clusters) was not very nice, required plenty of climbing up and carrying camping equipment.

Paddling on Charleston Lake at Sunset is awesome!

One day a park warden came to our campsite (by boat) and we had a very interesting conversation with him about the park, general work and zebra mussels (which were ubiquitous in the lakes). He left 2 bags of wood, just in case we needed them (we did not, as the wood we had bought in the park sufficed).

We spotted plenty of poison ivy in the park, as well as hickory nuts, which are edible, but it is very difficult to get the edible part out of the shell. From time to time we saw majestic blue herons and of course, plenty of loon, whose calls are simply unforgettable! The weather remained quite good—yet one night we had a rather strong thunderstorm, accompanied by heavy rain.

We left the park on September 11, 2013 and commenced the second part of our trip.

Our great campsite at Ivy Lea Park, just near the One Thousand Islands International Bridge

We headed towards the Thousand Islands International Bridge over the Saint Lawrence River, which was opened in 1937 and the following year dedication ceremonies took place. On August 18, 1938, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Mackenzie King officially opened the bridges (as the bridge comprises of 5 bridges). The bridge cost over 3 million dollars and today annual crossings exceeded 2 million vehicles. Since we did not have passports with us, we only drove to Hill Island (which is still in Canada) and went to a unique tourist place which had various mounted and stuffed animal heads from the 1950s era. Then we drove to Ivy Lea St. Lawrence Waterway Park, where we were planning to spend at least one night. It was almost +30C, very hot, and we were trying to quickly find a good site. There were several nice sites available along the water and the Saint Lawrence river was so calm and inviting and we were really looking forward to camping in this park. Eventually we picked campsite no. 103, from which we could see the Thousand Island Bridge and passing ships, some full of tourists. We quickly drove to town to buy food supplies and then rushed back to the park to launch the canoe. We paddled westward (against the current) on the St. Lawrence River towards Gananoque. There were plenty of currents and whirlpools, yet they did not seem to pose any problems for the canoe as we kept close to the shore. We spotted a beautiful sail boat, the Mist of Avalon (which incidentally comes with its own website, www.mistofavalon.ca); later I found a YouTube video featuring this magnificent boat. There were also many islands on the river; on one of them, there was a statue of the Holy Virgin and the island was appropriately called Virgin Island.

The impressive and beautiful "Lady of Avalon" on
St. Lawrence River

Bad weather was in the forecast and indeed, the sky did look ominous. We paddled back to the park dock and decided to leave our canoe chained to the dock in a small bay. We went to the campsite, set up the tent and soon we were sitting around a campfire, watching the lit bridge and the trucks crossing it. They made plenty of rattling noise.

The bay where we left the canoe was called Smugglers Cover. Its name conjured up a very fascinating period of history of the River: When the USA initiated the Prohibition Era in 1920 and Ontario voted away its own dry laws, the stage was set for smuggling alcoholic beverages across this segment of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. With its hundreds of miles of unguarded boundary, numerous inlets, coves and islands, the 1000 Islands region became a haven for smugglers. Many residents, using their excellent knowledge of the River, turned out to excel at this business.

Tadeusz Pasek

Let me here reminisce a little about one of my past trip. In June and July, 2001 my friend Tadeusz Pasek and I had driven from Toronto to the Catskills Mountains, then to Milford, Connecticut and even visited New York City (yes, we were on the roof of the World Trade Center Tower that would be destroyed in less than 3 months!), then drove via Saratoga, Lake Placid and the Thousand Island Bridge to Canada. Before we crossed back to Canada, we had been planning to stay at Wellesley Island State Park in the US—we drove there and were told there should be a few tent campsites available. It turned out that the park was 99.9% full, packed with huge RVs, trailers, campers and similar vehicles which were crammed like sardines. The only campsite (or just a tiny spot) we managed to find in this modern ghetto to pitch our tent was squeezed between two huge RVs… Yes, zero privacy and fun! That was why we immediately decided to proceed to Canada. We spent a few nights in Ivy Lea Park on campsite no. 121, almost under the bridge—to this day I remember the noise caused by trucks driving on the bridge as well as boisterous July 4^th, 2001 celebrations taking place on the other side of the border (i.e., in the RV park in the United States).

Tadeusz Pasek

By the way, Prof. Tadeusz Pasek was a well-known precursor of yoga in his native Poland—after a year-long stay in India in the 1960s, where he had practised yoga and plumbed into the mysteries of this ancient discipline under experienced Hindu yoga gurus, he returned to Poland and began popularizing mental, physical and spiritual practices and benefits of yoga, as well as wrote a book and numerous articles on this subject. Mr. Pasek passed away in 2011 in Toronto at the age of 85.

There was a terrible thunderstorm that night, which lasted till 10:00 am o’clock. When we got up, we decided to stay another night at the park. After breakfast we drove eastward via Brockville. The historical sites were everywhere and we were enchanted with the architecture of the towns we passed and we vowed to return to investigate all the historical sites, particularly those related to the war of 1812 (between Canada and the USA). We stopped at Mallorytown Landing where we had lunch at a restaurant (Mallorytown’s Landing Restaurant Trattatoria ) and spoke to Dale, its friendly owner—he had previously worked at the casino and the Constellation Hotel in Toronto. We drove on the Long Sault Parkway, on a causeway over several islands. Each island is a part of St. Lawrence Park System. We did not stop to check out any of the campsites, as the clouds in the sky were threatening and we even thought that a tornado might develop. On our way back we experience some showers but by the time we reached the campsite, we realized there had been no rain at all at Ivy Lea Park. So, we had a campfire and grilled pork steaks.

Near the One Thousand Islands International
Bridge, on St. Lawrence River

The next day (September 13, 2013) we got up in the morning, packed up, put the canoe on the roof of the van and headed to Toronto.

We drove through Kingston, a very historical town: there was a fur trading post established in 1673 (then Fort Frontenac), in 1841 it was the first capital of the Province of Canada. It was indeed a beautiful town, with old buildings, renowned university (Queen’s University), military college (Royal Military College of Canada) and a military base (CFB Kingston). As we left Kingston, we saw the entrance to the Millhaven Penitentiary, one of the toughest maximum prison in Canada, where some most infamous and notorious convicts were being held—and despite faded warning signs, Catherine decided to drive there. From afar we saw double or triple fences and prison buildings. We stopped in a parking lot and struck up a conversation with a young prison guard who was just walking to his car. He told us that we were not supposed to be there and we were subject to search & vehicle (and canoe too, I presume) seizure if we did not leave immediately. He added that if we wanted to see the prison, we would need a special authorization form the prison authorities… or commit a major criminal offense (although he did not suggest the latter). So, we heeded his advice and quickly drove to the main road.

Canoeing on the St. Lawrence River, near Ivy Lea Park

We headed toward Prince Edward County (located on a headland, although local people said it was an island). It was named after Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (the son of King George III). After the American Revolution, the Crown made land grants to some of the earliest United Empire Loyalists to encourage their settlements in Ontario and provide compensation for property lost in the Thirteen Colonies. At one point the road, the Loyalist Parkway, ended and we had to take Glenora Ferry. It is free, fast (the passage took no more than 10 minutes) and frequent. Soon, we reached the town of Picton. We parked the van and wandered along the main street, visiting a few shops and a marine museum. I was astounded at the hundreds of marine books in its collection—one could probably do a very extensive academic research on this subject without even leaving the building!

Fruits, vegetables and flowers directly from farmers!

We also visited Sandbanks Provincial Park and drove around its campsites; we had stayed at this park back in 2008 and Catherine loved the park, yet due to the unstable weather, we decided against spending even one night at the park. We also checked out a cottage in the park-it was owned by the park and it was possible to rent it.

After leaving the park we stopped at a fruit/vegetable stand. The owner and his son had just come back from the fields with fresh picked corn. He was a chatty Dutch man. There was a horse and a pony in a fenced field nearby that belonged to the Dutch farmer—he said he kept them as pets. He gave us a few corn cobs and the animals ran towards us and eagerly started eating the corn husk and all from our hand. We also bought excellent tomatoes, onions, garlic and two giant pumpkins, perfect as Halloween decoration.

Farmer's horse and pony, they loved fresh corn!

As I was buying garlic, I mentioned that nine years ago I had met a very interesting fellow who had been growing garlic and attended plenty of garlic festivals (I had even run across photographs of him in tourist brochures). His name was Ted Maczka, he was called ‘the king of garlic’ and ‘the garlic man’ and was residing in the area. Well, they knew him and one of the locals said that he had recently seen Mr. Maczka in a local supermarket! When I had met Mr. Maczka in 2004 in the city of Perth in Ontario, during a garlic festival, I found out he was Polish, born in Tarnow, and we continued our conversation in Polish. He walked with a noticeable limp—he said that during the Second World War his family had been deported by the Soviets and he had spent some time in a Soviet labour camp, he had broken his hip and it had never been properly healed. He arrived to Canada via Persia, Jerusalem and London.

Ted Maczka, 'Garlic Man'. Picture taken in the city of Perth in Ontario, in 2004,
during a garlic festival

Well, hundreds of thousands of Polish people had suffered similar fate on the ‘inhuman land’.

According to historians, the number of Poles deported to the Soviet labour camps after the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939 (just over 2 weeks following the German invasion) ranges from 566,000 verified victims and a total estimate of 934,000 victims—and at least 10% of them perished of deprivation, hunger, disease, exposure, public executions, forced death marches and during transit.

Ted Maczka, 'Garlic Man'. Picture taken in the city of Perth in Ontario, in 2004,
during a garlic festival

Mr. Maczka used to run an ‘experimental garlic farm’, was always willing to provide advice on growing garlic and its health benefits and was also selling garlic, mostly to those who wanted to plant ‘his’ garlic in their gardens. He incessantly extoled the benefits of garlic (for example, he said that it was placed on wounds during the war as no other medicines were available—and most likely he knew it from his own terrible experience!) and was adamantly against imported Chinese garlic (‘why should you buy this shit’, he told me, ‘when you can buy healthy Ontario garlic?’). At his stand at the garlic festival there were plenty of newspaper clippings on display in which he had been featured—yes, he was quite well-known in the ‘garlic circles’. I will never forget one of the articles published in “The Brantford Expositor” on September 1, 1990, “Learning from garlic man”. The journalist and editor, K. J. Strachan, happened to meet and listen to two individuals that day: David Peterson, premier of Ontario and Ted Maczka, ‘Fish Lake Garlic Man’ (the title that appeared on the business card). The latter regaled him with a plethora of garlic-related stories and his often unconventional wisdom. At the end of his article, Mr. Strachan wrote the following:

“Tuesday was a terrific day. I came home knowing more than I had when I went to work, which is one of the joys of working for a newspaper. I had enjoyed the unexpected pleasure of listening to the premier of Ontario, and to Fish Lake Garlic Lake. And I had learned something of value—from one of them.”

Methinks the author did not mean the premier of Ontario! Sadly, Ted Maczka passed away in January, 2014, at the age of 85 (or 87).

After a while we got on the freeway no. 401 and arrived in Toronto past midnight, exhausted, yet full of amazing memories!

Blog in Polish/po polsku: http://ontario-nature-polish.blogspot.ca/2014/08/na-kanu-w-parku-charleston-lake-i-parku.html

More Photos from this trip:https://www.flickr.com/photos/jack_1962/sets/72157646257541402/