We took the hostages out for a day trip the other day.  They needed a change of scenery and some outside stimulation as they were cooped in for so long.  We decided to drive to Lake Dalrymple.  The lake is a mere one hour drive from us, but for some reason we’ve never visited.

For those who joined us recently and may be wondering about those hostages, here is the backstory.  Our daughter and son-in-law moved back to Canada after a five-year stay in the UK.   Their timing was impeccable and coincided with the beginning of the lockdown.  Initially, we had planned to spend a bit of time with them and then bugger off for an extensive road trip, while they look after our house… none of that happened.  No one is going anywhere for a long while now and the hostage situation is at a stalemate.

We thought that it will be a problem; that we may need to designate two living rooms so that we can chill separately, but so far we settled in to a very comfortable routine of work during the day, fabulous dinners every night, an evening of a few episodes of M*A*S*H (and the occasional movie), and a ritual of an icecream sandwich for a snack.  We joined in during season 5 and watched more than 140 episodes already.

So perhaps you can see why we needed to take the hostages out for something a little different.

It was a beautiful day for a drive in the country.  We staked out several potential future canoe/kayak launching areas around Canal Lake and drove around the cottage community of Dalrymple Lake.

Dalrymple Lake

Dalrymple is a cottage community by the shallow Upper Dalrymple Lake and the deeper Lower Dalrymple Lake.  Take a look in the satellite view at Avery Point, a narrow peninsula that bisects Lower Lake Dalrymple. There are just over 100 properties with waterfront on both sides of their property.

A cool place to live.

In 1830 a team of surveyors went into Carden Township, but believed it was not worth the effort of a survey. Twenty five year later the township was finally surveyed and named Upper Long.  Later the name changed to Dalrymple, a postal clerk. Prior to that of course, the area was part of First Nations seasonal rounds and there is plenty of archaeological evidence throughout the area.

The southern shore feature limestone topography, while the northern shore is where the Precambrian topography featuring a granite shoreline.  It is part of a swath of land known as The Land Between.

Carden Alvar

Lake Dalrymple is located on the western edge of the Carden Alvar, a rare grassland habitat of thin soils and sparse vegetation on top of limestone bedrock.

It is a unique habitat for more than 230 bird species, 450 plants, and 140 butterfly and dragonfly species!

We stopped for a hike in one of the two trailheads maintained by the Nature Conservancy, a fantastic organization that is looking after these trails.

It was hot and sticky but there was enough to see along the linear trail to keep the hostages engaged.

Lots of blooms.

Contraptions and osprey nests.

There are many interpretive signs along the way.

Some are no longer functional.

And when we got to the end of the trail, a promise of more trails to explore.

We finished the day off along the shores of Orillia eating some snacks that we brought from home.

The hostages are a bit more content now that they’ve seen the outside world, but we have only eleven episodes left.  What are we going to do when M*A*S*H is done?

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