It’s our 40th anniversary today. We should have been half way to Alaska, but instead we went on a Pandemic day trip to Balsam Lake. Ontario parks remain closed for RV camping, but some opened up for boating, hiking, and backcountry camping. It seems okay to go on a short excursion with proper social distancing measures.
We were released to the wild on a gorgeously hot day. It was exciting to just hit the road, and since the campervan came along it felt as if we are embarking on a long trip . We took her even though we weren’t going to stay overnight because she also deserved an outing.
Plus she carries our private bathrooms and that’s always a bonus.
We headed out to the closest provincial park, Balsam Lake. Normally, we wouldn’t go to this type of park since it’s on small lake that allows motor boats and may not be enjoyable for kayaking or canoeing, but we figured that it will not be too busy.
The ranger at the gate looked mildly surprised to see us. We quickly explained that we are not looking to stay overnight and would like to canoe and hike. She took our $18 for a day use permit and waved us on our way.
We drove towards the boat launch past closed access routes to the campsite area, trash disposal, and dumping. Eerie to see those closed.
There were a couple of trucks with boat trailers in the parking lot, but other than that the place was pretty much deserted. There was evidence for recent road construction and it looks like the parks were taking advantage of the closure to improve infrastructure.
We were on the lake and on our way pretty quickly.
Ahhhh. Bliss.
The tranquility on the lake is just so good for the soul! Just take a listen to the sounds below and imagine that you are on the lake as well.
The little inflatable kayak is great for short excursions such as this and it fits in the van under the bench. We still wish that we could carry our canoe…
We didn’t stay on the lake for too long since both of us are on Lyme disease preventative medication after our latest tick bites (yes, I got bitten too), so an hour was enough and we went to explore the waterfront trail.
A large stag stared at us from the bush, but took off before I managed a photo.
In addition to the waterfront trail, the park has 2 trails: The Lookout Trail, and the Plantation Trail. We opted to take the Lookout trail since we thought that there will be too many mosquitoes in the plantation. Perhaps a wise decision since the trail we took had so many mosquitos that we ran the last part of it.
Despite the mosquitos, the trail is beautiful and takes you through several landforms, and interesting features such an ancient river bed, a cedar grove, and a kame.
George Laidlaw, the original land owner spared this very old ash tree in 1800, to give his cattle shelter from the sun.
We hiked to the top of a kame (pronounced like came). A kame is a glacial feature that is a remnant of the last ice age. It is basically a pile of water-sorted sediments deposited as the glacier was melting. Without vegetation a kame will look somewhat like the photo below.
On top of the Kame we enjoyed the sweeping views and lack of mosquitoes on the top of the 15 metre tall kame before descending back into the forest and as I mentioned before, running for shelter.
We left the park scratching and swearing and headed back on the road looking for a spot to have lunch.
We spotted this guy on the way. Other than being a yellow moose, we are not sure what is its function.
We found a perfect spot by Head Lake. A small parking lot adjacent to a beach and a small boat launch
and a pretty butterfly stopping for a drink on the beach.
Looks like a place worth exploring. It is one of the access points to Queen Elizabeth II Wilderness Park. Perhaps our next destination!
It was good to be out again!
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Happy Anniversary, thanks for taking us with you on your June Jaunt. We appreciate you folks taking the mosquito stings for us, 😉
Happy Trails, Tom and Dee
Thanks, Tom and Dee! How bad are the mosquitoes where you are?
Lovely. I can see why you’ve chosen the back roads for your adventures.
Thank you, Mary! Yes, always something interesting to find along the back roads 🙂
Happy anniversary. Just had my fiftieth. 🤭
Thank you! And wow, that’s a long time. Congratulations 🙂
Thanks. It’s all flown by. 🤭
The pandemic has made people look closer at home for things that they never saw before .In some parts of Australia mosquitoes are a problem but here in Ballarat I don’t think I’ve heard one buzzing for years
Oh, you are so lucky! I want to move there 🙂 and yes, we’ve been looking closer for home for a while now, but now more than ever!
But I didn’t mention that it looks so very very peaceful
It was! I suspect that the lake is super busy during regular times!
I think you will find the link below very interesting. It is about listening to your environment.https://www.goodthingsguy.com/people/game-ranger-blind-life-lesson
Thanks! Sometimes just listening is all that is needed
Happy anniversary! Looks like a great way to spend the time. My brother is vice-president of the North American Butterfly Association and knows far more than me about butterflies. I’m pretty sure that one is called a swallowtail, but there are different varieties of it.
Thank you! Yeah I think you are right about the butterfly, but mostly it was very large and beautiful 🙂
Great post – enjoyed traveling along with you – through your pictures. Lovely place – reminds me of our camping trips to Colorado years ago. Certainly beautiful country.
Thanks, Peggy. It was great just to get out!
Happy anniversary, and while it may not have been Alaska, it looks like a wonderful place to spend the day. I am intrigued by your inflatable kayak; do they work well? are they easy to inflate and deflate?
Thank you! It was lovely! The kayak works very well for us. It is easy to inflate and deflate and folds down to a manageable size that fits easily in the under the bench storage. We are planing to do a more in-depth review of the kayak, but feel free to ask if you have more questions! It is also very affordable. I added a link to it in the post
I just checked out the link – looks like a great kayak. I look forward to your review!
Now I have a real incentive to write it!
Wow! 40 years! Congratulations! Unfortunately we met a little late in life to ever see that one, but we are coming up on our 13th pretty soon. My parents are on their 55th so I know what kind of love and dedication it takes to get that far. What a testament 40 is for you!
Cabin fever must be getting the best of us, because we took off and did a local safari drive this weekend just to get out of the house. People are definitely finding all the little local things to do that they once overlooked. What a great boost for our local economies, too.
Absolutely! We don’t always have to go far to find beauty and on that note, you don’t always have to have ‘marriage mileage’ to have quality! Congrats for making it to 13!
Congratulations! Being set free was a great way to celebrate!
Thank you, Linda! I think we drove very close to your place 🙂
Happy anniversary…what better way to celebrate?
Thank you, Ritu! Indeed, celebrating in nature is bliss!
We had to travel 2,700 miles to get to our younger son’s 5 acres of heaven in a Hollow just below the Blue Ridge. From here we have the option to hike in most any direction without starting a car. Or taking short drives to many other interesting places to get to different options for kayaking or
It’s great that you are able to do this! We feel so fortunate to have hiking trails at our doorstep!
I loved the little clip with the sound of the water. It is so peaceful and soothing. Thank you for posting it.
Thank you! I was just going to record the surrounding and when I watched (and listened) I was also captivated by the sound!
My boss used to sneak out of work occasionally to go fishing. (He owned the company so he didn’t really sneak). He would call me sometimes so I could hear how peaceful it was. 😊
That’s awesome! Although I am not sure now if he was super nice or very cruel 🙂
He was being nice. 👍