Friday, February 23, 2024

Some Tundra swans are back - it must be Spring!


 Well, maybe spring isn't here to stay, but we've had some nice mild weather this winter. It makes us think there will be an early spring, but we've been fooled before. 

 Seeing the swans return has become one of our spring rituals. The swan migration seems to be starting a week or two earlier than the norms this year, usually the peak around here is mid-March-ish. There were an estimated 1,000 swans reported yesterday morning, so we drove to the  area we usually visit for viewing.  

Here's a link to some swan-related Lambton Museum information  <Calendar>  <General Info>.  The Museum is on Highway 21, just across from the Pinery Provincial Park. The swan fields are along sideroads to the east of the museum (ie away from the Lake Huron shores), particularly along Greenway Drive.

 There were likely less than 1,000 swans when we were there later yesterday afternoon. There's usually more water in the viewing field, but not as much snow to melt this year.







 




 

The swan numbers vary widely by the day or even between morning and afternoon. Nice to see though, and we'll be checking in on them periodically.

 

 

 

 

Friday, September 22, 2023

Home via Parry Sound after a surprise morning sight

Unexpected sight cruising by our site at 8am


We hadn't been awake very long when we noticed this cruise ship slipping by, on its way to Parry Sound we assumed. We looked up the ship, the Viking Polaris. Here's a link to the ship and cruises: Viking Polaris

You'll see from the information it's considered a small cruiser, with "only" 378 guests and 256 crew. This is a newer Adventure cruise ship, and it offers several different tours, including the Great Lakes versions. The link shows tour prices and info. Be prepared for a bit of sticker shock at the prices. C'mon lottery win!

After packing up we headed in to Parry Sound, partly to see if the ship did stop there. Yes it did:

Anchored in the Sound
 

The ship is too large to dock right at the Parry Sound docks, so passengers are ferried back and forth via a couple of tenders, they look like they could double as lifeboats:



Heading over to the main town docks, we were able to see a tender close up:


Because the cruise is International (US and Canada) the dock is controlled access, similar to Charlottetown PEI but on a much smaller scale:

See the Security Guard at the left?  "Hi" security!

Just across from the cruise passenger dock is a company offering local air tours:



We briefly considered taking a flight but didn't try. Flights range from 25 minutes at $142 per person plus tax and tip, to an hour-long flight for $240 pp+. Pricey but appealing.

There are other attractions in the dock area too, like boat tours on the Island Queen which we took and enjoyed a few years ago:




Tour plane taxiing in

Then we cruised homeward on this beautiful fall day, with a few stops along the way. A short but very enjoyable trip.




Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Six Mile Lake to Killbear Prov Park

Big Chute Marine Railway

After a good sleep at our Six Mile Lake site, we decided to take a side trip on the way out to the highway. Just a few km east is the Big Chute Marina and Marine Railway. We had visited this once, years ago with my parents. 

The railway handles transporting boats, some fairly large. 

<Wiki Note link>

It works on an inclined plane to carry boats in individual cradles over a change of height of about 60 feet (18 m). It is the only marine railway (or canal inclined plane) of its kind in North America still in use, and is overseen by federally operated Parks Canada.

It moves pretty slowly, but is neat to see in operation. Here is a series of stills to give you a flavor:

It's in a beautiful setting
 
Boats waiting for a lift

The large carriage starts down for pickup


The carriage base goes underwater so the boats can drive right on

The trip up




Crossing the road at the top - like a RR crossing

Starting to descend at the high side

The carriage goes underwater here too, allowing the boats to drive off



The traffic goes both ways of course, much busier in the summer than it was today.

After a short stop at a Sobey's in Parry Sound we decided to head for Killbear Provincial Park for the night, another short drive today. We were a little apprehensive, as the web site says "all sites must be reserved" and we hadn't. It also said September bookings drop 50-60% from August peaks, so we figured that surely they'd have a site. As it turned out we had a large selection ($10 cheaper than Six Mile Lake per day), and no grief for not having a reservation. It would be different in the summer though.

We got a very nice site for 2 nights. We've never been to Killbear before. We used the GPS to route us to Killbear, but realized fairly quickly it was taking us off in the wrong direction, on Hwy 124 easterly towards Magnetawan. Correcting from that we headed north and west, arriving about 3pm this time. 

Killbear is a nice wooded park, quite large with several different camping areas, with hundreds of individual sites. Mostly the sites are pretty level and large, with many mature trees, including large oak trees.





Here is the site we had, #64 in the
Kilcoursie section:

That's a walking path, not the driveway :))

 





One of the pleasant surprises was that the smaller washroom nearest us (as opposed to the larger central "comfort stations" with showers) was complete with flush toilets and a sink with running water and soap. Much nicer than the usual vault toilets.

You remember I mentioned the large oak trees? This is a picture looking up at the washroom roof, corrugated plastic. When the wind blows just right, any number of acorns can land on that roof with a loud CRACK, a real surprise if you're not expecting it. We had heard and seen acorns landing on nearby campers though, and even on our van (only one on the van so far though):


 


 

Monday, September 18, 2023

A little Fall trip in Ontario


We've been wanting to go for a local trip this month, and with a good-looking forecast decided this was the week. 

After a quick stop in Goderich to pick up a couple of things from the car (parked in the van storage spot), we headed north and east. The GPS took us on some good back roads we hadn't been on before, really pleasant. 

Along the way:

Lots of alpacas, a real variety of colours

The next field over, a bull surveys his realm
 

Stopping for fuel at a station near Severn Bridge, these red and white devices matched the PetroCan colours. They are a large bank of hi-speed Tesla EV chargers though. Unfortunately today we were paying for diesel. Ugh $$. That sign was the gas price, diesel quite a bit more.


We decided on an early stop today, so headed in to Six Mile Lake Provincial Park for the night, all set up by 4pm. This is a nice park, although quite close to the 400 Highway traffic noise. Just a dull noise  though, that soon we didn't hear any more.

Fall is nice for early campfires

Six Mile Lake view, a short walk from our site

Cathie took this about 8:30 pm - lots of stars!

A good night, we didn't even hear traffic overnight from inside the van.