My Killarney Trip Part 2

[007]

As promised here is Part deux!

 

Having eaten our fish n'chips the day before we decided we needed to do some serious hiking the next day in order to burn some calories! For a morning hike we decided to do another 3 hour trail - the Cranberry Bog Trail. This was a long loop trail from the campground through forest, alongside marshes and bogs and past beautiful lakes set in pink granite and with a backdrop of the white quartzite La Cloche mountain range. It truly was a trail through a variety of habitats and environments but in places not the easiest to follow. Certainly didn't fancy getting lost out there. We stopped off for lunch above a beaver dam in one lake and my wife on spotting some minnows in the water started to feed them bread from my lunch. It wasn't long before the free offerings of food attracted a few pumpkinseed sunfish too. Soon after, the trail made its way past A.Y Jackosn lake (one of those lakes where no fishing is allowed), which is named after one of the Group of Seven artists who fought for the protection of Killarney as a Provincial Park. There we sat for a while contemplating life and enjoying the peace and quiet.

 

Once back at camp we had a little break - cooling off in the lake before heading out for our second walk of the day - the Granite Ridge Trail. Though not the most impressive viewpoint in the park it was perhaps the least strenuous when compared with the trail to Silver Peak or "the Crack" (the best viewpoints) it still afforded great views of both the La Cloche quartzite hills to the north and the Georgian Bay granite rocks to the south. As you will see from the pics we saw a few other interesting things on the way - not least a curious green beetle and a vintage car abandoned in the woods!

 

So the weekend was at an end on Monday and we had the long drive back to T.O to contend with. Not long after leaving the park we caught a glimpse of the elusive creature of the forest - a beautiful black bear - as it ran across the road ahead of us as we left the park. It was the first bear we had seen in Ontario in three years of exploring the parks wild places (wasn't our first bear sighting ever though as we had seen some in the Rockies and literally almost bumped into one in Yosemite National Park in the USA a few years ago - but that's another story).

 

We planned to break the journey up again and use our park pass to see another provincial park on the way down - decided upon Killbear. Killbear struck me as being a nice park with a nice shoreline, forests and from the reports at the visitor centre plenty of wildlife including a few bears. I hear the fishing is good too. After a quick look around the new visitor centre and a walk to the lighthouse it was back on the road and back to 'civilisation'. It wasn't long before I longed for the wilds of the north!

 

Hope you enjoyed the report - though not much in the way of fishing. Killarney is a beautiful place and well worth a trip - beautiful like Algonquin but different and wilder.

 

Here's the pics.... enjoy....

007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2007 by OO7

[fatherof3]

wow,those are some great shots.Thanks for part2.enjoyed

[bassmastermike]

What a beautiful place im hoping to get up that way before it gets too cold thanks for sharing!!

[Dano]

Nice shots and report. I havent been there since I was a teemager, it was beautiful then and it looks like that hasnt changed. Thanks for sharing.

[Rich Clemens]

More great shots 007. Great stuff

[ccmtcanada]

Awesome stuff!! I've been waiting for this one and you didn't disappoint. Absolutely beautiful country up there...and you managed to capture it. Thanks!

[007]

Thanks for the kind comments guys. May be I'll post more pics when the OFC photography forum is us up and running.

 

007

[Headhunter]

Again, great shots 007! RE the bear... if you wanted to see more, visit the dump just outside of Killarney... the kids love watchin them!

HH

[MJL]

Great pics Gavin. You should try to sell some of those pics to a few Magazines for $. They are top quality.

 

That bug is cool to the max!

[Deano]

Killarney's fish and chips, I've had it 3 times this summer. I was on 2 of those quartzite hills near Killarney this summer, the white in the mountains is awesome. Posted some pics in the Photographs section. Beautiful out there as your pictures show.

[fishindevil]

WOW...awesome scenery pics !!!!!!! its such a great place up there,fishing,wildlife,and the scenery..thanks for sharing..i have to get there sometimenice report as well...cheers

[Mike the Pike]

Always enjoy your pictures 007.What a nice place love to go there I love the pic of you standing smack in the middle of all those trees.

 

MTP