Six
Mile Lake Provincial Park may not rank among Ontario’s top
destinations, and it does have its drawbacks—many visitors complain
about traffic noise from Highway 400. Yet its proximity to Toronto
(169 km), along with its lakes, forests, beaver ponds, beaches, and
scenic trails, makes it a wonderful place to visit.
Park Road
My
first visit to this park took place in July 1993, just a month after
I had purchased a brand-new Toyota Corolla, with Tadeusz Pasek,
a well-known Polish yoga instructor, and his son Chris. The next day,
we rented a motorboat and spent the entire day—from sunrise to
sunset—on Georgian Bay, fishing. I remember that we caught plenty
of fish. On
the adjacent campsite a gentleman of Japanese origin and his family
was camping. It turned out that his name was Fujimoto and he was
professor of physics. Not only that—he knew quite well Chris’
university friend as well! Isn't the world a small place? Since
then
I
have visited the
park
over 20 times.
After
a few days of solo camping in 2024, my friend Guy joined me.
Although the park was packed over that popular weekend, we only saw a
handful of occupied sites around the beaver pond. Otherwise, we
barely noticed the crowds, as we spent our time in long, engaging
conversations, sharing stories from our lives and camping adventures.
Back
in 2009,
Guy had founded and led a www.meetup.comgroup
called “Toronto
Weekend Adventurers”,
which quickly grew to thousands of members and organized countless
events. Although he had
not
been active in the group for years, he still had
a wealth of fascinating stories to tell!
**********
If
you’ve read my other blogs, you’ve probably come across more than
one instance of my favorite theme: the
world is a small place.
These moments usually come with a story attached—and, as I
mentioned Guy earlier, this seems like the perfect opportunity to
share yet another one.
Guy brought a huge Bluetti Power Station as well as 400 W Solar Panels, which very quickly recharged the power station. In addition, he brought a plug-in 12 V fridge. The fridge, of course made in China, had the following label attached:
Guy’s
father was a Belgian official who served in the Belgian
Congo during the 1950s and 1960s. Although Guy
himself was born in Belgium, he spent several formative years living
in the Congo. The country became independent on June 30, 1960,
with Patrice Lumumba assuming office as its first head of
government.
The apartment building on the left--44 Syreny Street--even my balcony on the 6th floor is visible! The other similar buildings behind it were located on Lumumby Street (now Płocka Street). This photo was part of a documentary, made in 1969
Before
continuing, allow me a short personal detour—because this is, after
all, a story within a story within yet another story. As a child,
from 1963 to 1969, I lived on Syreny Street in Warsaw,
Poland. Not far from our home was a street named after Patrice
Lumumba. As a result, I became familiar with that name at a very
young age, long before I had any real understanding of who he was.
Later, driven by curiosity, I looked him up and learned more about
him. On more than one occasion in adult life, I managed to impress my
conversation partners by correctly pronouncing his name and casually
explaining who he was and why he mattered. As for Lumumba Street
itself, it existed under that name from 1961 until 1993,
when—following the fall of communism—it reverted to its original
historical name, Płocka Street.
But
back to the Congo. Only a week after independence, a violent
rebellion broke out, and in many regions Europeans became direct
targets. Within weeks, the Belgian military—followed by a United
Nations intervention force—began evacuating the vast majority of
the more than 80,000 Belgians who were still living and working in
the country. Among those evacuated were Guy and his family, who
eventually returned safely to Belgium, where they were welcomed by
Queen Elisabeth of Bavaria(Elisabeth Gabriele Valérie
Marie), the Queen Dowager.
After
his Congo assignment, Guy’s father continued his diplomatic career,
becoming a Belgian consular official (and for a time a consul) first
in New York City and later in Toronto—where he lived
along with his family, of course. Although I met both Guy and his
father only in 2007, it’s quite possible that our paths had
crossed many times long before that. The Belgian Consulate in
Toronto was located on the 19th floor of the Royal Bank
Building at 8 King Street East—a building that, when completed in
1915, was the tallest in the British Empire.
In front of 8 King Street East in Toronto, with my friend and co-worker. This photo was taken on August 03, 1985-over 40 years ago!
Nota
bene, almost directly vis-à-vis that office building
stood the famous King Edward Hotel, where in May 1969John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed in the same Royal Suite
in which the Beatles had lived in 1964. During that visit,
they held press conferences promoting their “bed-in for peace”
campaign and met with fans and the media just a few days before their
famous Montreal bed-in.
King Edward Hotel in Toronto. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:King_Edward_Hotel_2025.jpg
Also,
during her stay in Toronto in 1988 for the G7
Summit, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stayed at
the King Edward Hotel. That day I was, for
the first time, late for work, having waited in front of it
for half an hour before she finally appeared and waved in our
direction.
8 King Street East, Toronto-The Royal Bank Building. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Bank_Building_Toronto_1.jpg
As
it happens, at the end of 1982 I landed my very first job in
Canada in that same building, 8 King Street East, also on the 19th floor, in
a small investmentbrokerage
firm. From time to time, I would run
into employees of the Belgian Consulate—quite possibly including
Guy’s father—without having the slightest idea of how our lives
would later intersect.
**********
In September, 2025, I invited Guy again along with two other friends, but
the forecast called for days of rain, so no one came. I decided to go
anyway and left home early morning. I stopped at Tim Hortons jus off Highways 400 in King City, my de rigueur stop for decades (43°53'42.1"N 79°33'28.6"W / 43.895030, -79.557930).
I noticed a big sign: "Pumpkin is Here" (Starbucks advertising Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew and Pumpkin Spice Latter). I immediately took a photo and sent it to Catherine with the following message: "It says that you are here, but I can't find you!" Just to clarify: I often call Catherine "Pumpkin"!
Later I stopped in another Tim Hortons in Port Severn, arriving on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. It was cloudy, hot, and humid; the rain held off until
late evening. I camped on the same campsite
Guy and I had camped in 2024.Thanks to my tarp, I was able to sit outside comfortably while
it poured through the night and early morning.
In September, 2025, I pitched the tent on the same spot
The
gentle sound of rain on the tent was so soothing that, after waking
around 8 a.m., I drifted back to sleep and finally got up at 11 a.m.,
just as the rain stopped. From Friday through Monday the weather
turned sunny and dry, and I was very glad I hadn’t canceled the
trip.
The view from my campsite was just awesome!
For
the first four nights, I seemed to be the only camper in my area—pure
serenity! The park filled up for the weekend, but by Sunday evening
it was quiet again, most sites already vacant.
During
both trips, I pitched my tent in the same spot—about 2 meters from
the beaver pond and 7 meters from the beaver lodge. It’s one of the
most beautiful places in the park, in my opinion. I spent hours
watching the beavers, who were especially active in September
2025. At almost any time, one or more could be seen swimming,
dragging branches, eating, grooming, or waddling awkwardly on land
near my site. Sometimes I saw as many as four at once!
Even very hardworking beavers sometimes decide to give up their "project"!
They
weren’t exactly tame, but as long as I simply observed or took
photos, they ignored my presence. Watching them was endlessly
entertaining. At night, as I drifted off to sleep, I’d hear their
loud tail slaps echoing across the pond.
The beaver pond and (on the right) the beaver dam, without which it would become a muddy, shallow swamp
In
previous years, I’d often seen a greatblue heron at
the beaver pond, but none appeared during these trips. A warden later
told me that herons had still been sighted recently, so perhaps it
was just temporary. Most migrate south by mid-September, so I
probably missed them.
Chipmunks were always chasing one another and collected acorns
The
only other animals I saw regularly were chipmunks, scurrying
back and forth collecting acorns. Being territorial, they frequently
chased one another away. Surprisingly, they were not very friendly
and never approached me—unlike in many parks, where chipmunks
quickly associate people with food.
View from my campsite
Black
bears are rare here, and staff confirmed there had been no
sightings for months. Raccoons, though often active at night,
didn’t appear during either of my visits. Although rattlesnakes
were in the area (I encountered one in 2022), there were none
in the park due to the tens of thousands of tourists visiting the
park every year.
View of my tent from a campsite on the opposite end of the beaver pond
When
camping with Guy, we had a campfire each night and stayed up past
midnight talking. He brought along a new Bluetti Power Station
and four solar panels, which he charged under the sunny skies. In
2025, I brought a smaller Bluetti Power Station of my
own—enough for my modest needs. Since the weather was cloudy, I
skipped the solar panel and instead charged it at the park’s
comfort station. Using the “turbo charge” mode, it reached almost
full power in under an hour, while I relaxed in the car with a book
or took a refreshing shower in the new facilities.
I
didn’t bother with campfires in 2025—I don’t
particularly enjoy sitting by one alone. For breakfast I had fiber
cereal along with six lemons and two oranges, which I squeezed into a
large glass of fresh juice each morning. One day I drove to Port
Severn’s Tim Hortons
(44°53'53.7"N 79°45'22.7"W / 44.898250, -79.756306)for coffee and a muffin.
Do not laugh, but this was my daily breakfast!
On
Saturday, September
27, 2025,
I drove to the Canadian
Martyrs’ Shrine
in Midland
(44°44'11.8"N 79°50'32.2"W / 44.736611, -79.842278) to
attend an evening healing Mass celebrated by Fr.
John O’Brien, S.J.,
whom I had first met in Midland
on
August
7,
2022
and
who also directed retreats at the Manresa
Jesuit Retreat Center
in Pickering,
Ontario, which I had attended annually since 1994. After
the Mass, I stopped by Walmart to buy a fresh salad—after several
days without greens, my body was craving them!
The Martyrs' Shrine in Midland, Ontario
Just
a few meters from the beaver pond, beside my tent, I found a rock
formation shaped like a “chair,” where I could sit fairly
comfortably. I set up my phone on a tripod and used it to talk with
people worldwide through an English-practice app. Because the
background included the pond, trees, and beaver lodge, some of my
conversation partners thought I was using a virtual background—until
they saw a real beaver swim by, at which point they were in awe of
Canadian nature!
My favourite spot next to my tent, where I read books, watched the beavers or chatted on cam
Along
with my Chromebook, I brought several books, though I spent little
time reading—I much preferred soaking in the natural surroundings.
I did, however, finish Life
on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He
Was Black
by Gregory Howard Williams, a fascinating memoir. Williams grew up in
1950s Virginia believing he was White—his
dark-skinned father passed as Italian-American—but after moving to
Muncie,
Indiana,
he learned the truth about his heritage and began living, along
with his brother,
as Black. Despite poverty and hardship, he earned multiple degrees
and eventually became president of the University of Cincinnati and
later of the City College of New York.
The
author was brutally honest, describing his life. When he moved with
his father to Indiana and started living as Black, his mother left
him, his brother and his father and lived far from them. One day his
father said to him that he saw his mother, who lived in Washington
“with that black bastard she ran off with” and “asked how you
boys were doing”. When the author’s brother asked his father what
he told her, his father said, “I told her you were in Muncie,
learning how to be niggers!”
Gregory Howard Williams
After
finishing the book, I wanted to write him a note of appreciation,
only to learn that he had passed away just a month earlier, on August
12, 2025, at age 81.
Morning exercises as well as listening to an audiobook
Several
times I stopped by the park store for coffee ($2.15 per cup) and
enjoyed chatting with a friendly warden who shared a few stories
about the park and his work.
One of the better campsites in the park, on which I used to camp numerous times with Catherine, Chris, Patrizia, Guy and Zoran
I
left the park on September 29, 2025, fairly early. Traffic was light, but
approaching Toronto, I decided to make life easier by taking the toll
highway 407 and avoiding possible congestion on Highway 401.
One more photograph showing the view from my campsite!
Both
outings were easy, peaceful, and thoroughly enjoyable. And while I
love camping in more remote locations, I’d gladly return to Six
Mile Lake Provincial Park anytime—even for just a few days!
When in 1999 my friend and I wanted to go
camping in September, we ‘discovered’ this not-so-well known park, located
south of Nipissing Lake. Although the park’s campsites did not offer as much
privacy as those in some other parks, it did not bother us: there were not any
other campers around us and we hardly saw anyone else—most of the campers were
staying at the hydro section of the park, and most, if not all of them, had
trailers or RVs. Unfortunately, the next day the temperature drastically
dropped, it was raining and we saw frost in the morning. Since we were not
prepared for such adverse weather, after a few nights in the park we packed up
and rented a cottage in the area. Nevertheless we did like the park and
returned to it the next year, as well as in 2011—each time in September, so
that we could enjoy the solitude and the wonderful fall colours. We always
stayed on drive-in campsites, not realizing that there were a number of
interior campsites as well. In 2011 we saw one of them; I liked it and I hoped
to stay there in the future.
At our campsite between two lakes at Restoule Provincial Park
Thus, two years later, Catherine (who had never
visited the park) and I decided to go to this park, also in September.
According to weather forecast, the next 6 days were supposed to be warm (at
least during the day) and sunny, so it did not take much convincing us to visit
this park.
We left Toronto on September 23, 2013. On the
road to the park office we saw a number of relatively tame deer. As we
expected, there were not any other people occupying interior campsite, so we
hoped to get the campsite straddled between two lakes. It took us about 15
minutes of paddling from the parking lot to reach this campsite, which was
vacant and absolutely beautiful. We could see the sunset (and the parked car
which was about 1 km away), there was a small beach and another lake, full of
beaver lodges. There was a beaver lodge between the main lake and the small
lake; I suspected that at one point the smaller lake was just a bay of the
bigger lake, but when the beavers created this huge dam, they also gave rise to
another lake.
Morning mist
I quickly set up the tent and started a fire
which was a very good idea: the temperature dropped significantly after sunset
and it was cold; we stayed as close to the fire as possible, eating delicious
grilled ribs. We went to the tent at 11 pm, putting on extra sweaters and
socks. The temperature was below freezing at night since we saw frost in the
morning. Nevertheless, as long as it was warm, dry and sunny during the day
(and it was), we did not complain: we had several very warm sleeping bags and
were not bothered by the cold at night. Besides, there were no mosquitos
whatsoever and this was the real advantage of camping in the fall!
We counted 7 beaver lodges on this small lake
Next day we were up at 7:00 am; we put on our
winter clothes, carried the canoe for about 25 meters and launched it on the
smaller lake. Due to the cold there was thick mist rising from the water and we
spent over 2 hours paddling on the lake, enjoying it very much! Soon, the sun
was up and it was getting warmer, yet the mist enveloped the whole lake all
this time. We saw about 7 beaver lodges (but not beavers) and I took plenty of
photos and videos. Before 10:00 we were back at the campsite and took a nap.
Later we just relaxed, read several recent issued of “The Economist” and just
wandered about the campsite. I listened to the news; the hostage crisis in
Kenya just ended.
Morning on Stormy Lake
The next day we paddled in the morning on Stormy
Lake. There was plenty of mist rising off the water surface, sometimes it
looked as if a volcano suddenly erupted in the middle of the lake! We paddled
around islands, some with cottages, but we did not see many boats. Well, there
were some fishermen on the lake, but I did not think they were very successful
in their endeavours.
Stormy Lake in the Morning
In the afternoon we went into the town of
Restoule. The ice cream parlor was closed, but the general store was open and
it even had an LCBO outlet. In the evening we again paddled on the Restoule
River, had to do an easy lift over and reached Restoule Lake—nobody else was
around and we absolutely loved the serenity and solitude!
Ghosts...
There was an excellent sandy beach near our
campsite—we canoed there (for 20 meters) and then could sunbath and swim in the
lake. There were water snakes and apparently they were attracted by our
swimming—at one point I noticed a big water snake swimming just a meter from
me. Once it realized I was not a fish, it swam away. We also loved paddling in
the evening and in order to find out way back to the campsite (we were often
coming back in total darkness), we left a blinking flashlight attached to a
tree, which was visible from at least 2 km—it acted as our ‘lighthouse’. While
paddling in the evening, we saw a bunch of guys on another interior campsite
and checked a number of other campsites. Overall, it was a very nice area; most
of all, we enjoyed the fact there were very few motorboats.
At our campsite
On September 28, 2013, we packed up, paddled to
the van and drove to the town of Restoule, where we visited the ice cream parlor.
Inside, there were plenty of very interesting photographs and information of
Restoule’s history and the owner was quite knowledgeable on the town’s past.
Catherine had ice cream and I ordered French fries. We also visited the local
garbage dump, hoping to see a bear or two, but did not see any. Then we drove
to Powassan, did shopping at the local grocery store and headed back to
Toronto.
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