Day 2: Georgian Bay is Our Playground

Early morning at Cypress Lake:



Hiking the Cypress Trail portion of the trail to the lake:







Driftwood glasses:



Kev and I at the top of the waterfall leading from Cypress Lake to Horse Lake:



Cliffs on the Georgian Bay Trail ... the kids had a lot of fun climbing here. You can see Iain peering over from the top of the cliff if you look carefully:



Georgian Bay at Indian Head Cove:





A tree at Indian Head Cove ... check out where it managed to establish itself. The Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Park is a world biosphere reserve because of its ancient trees. Some of the tiny ancient cedars growing out of the rocks are 1000 years old.


Another typical photo ... it's remarkable how plants can die in my garden no matter how carefully I tend them, and yet check out this wild columbine, growing out of a crack in the cliff with barely any visible detritus or dirt in which to anchor itself ...



More climbing at Indian Head Cove ...





The Natural Arch ...


The kids sitting on the arch ...


Alison in "the rabbit hole". This is the easy way down to the grotto ... if you fit. I don't any more ... it was much more difficult than I remembered to get down. This is a vertical tunnel that cuts through the rock and comes out by the large erratics at the mouth of the grotto. Another way down involves sliding horizontally along a narrow ledge ... also better for the under 20/skinny set. All the other methods involved rock climbing down the face ... SO FUN! Although I did require the assistance of a kind Asian man who got me started in the right direction.


The mouth of the grotto. The lake is below the lip of the grotto entrance, yet the grotto is filled with water. There's a tunnel out to Georgian Bay about five feet below the water's surface (Alison could just hook her toes on the top of the tunnel). My interior photos did not work ... too bad because the eerie light coming through the side of the cave was spectacular.


Bad photo of the kids swimming in the grotto. A teen on a hiking trip with a YMCA camp commented "Is it possible to have water below freezing and still liquid??" Very, very cold! (Not quite as cold as the time I went swimming in Lake Huron at Easter, but very close ... you'll notice I didn't actually get in ... yes, I have matured ;-) ...)


The view from inside out:



Post-hike. Kev made it out part way today, and committed himself to making it all the way to Georgian Bay before the end of our trip.

Camping Day 1 ... arrival and set-up

Lambs out, dog out, camping gear and kids in ... we're all set!!!


First visitor at the campsite! S/he hung around most of the week.


Camp set-up just gets easier and easier now that the kids are older! Our site was in one of the more crowded campgrounds at Bruce Peninsula National Park, but we had a host family site that was QUITE private, and about a 60 second (maybe) walk from the beach.



Evening visit to Cypress Lake ...



Iain wading ... we love this park because whether you're feeling lazy or adventurous, there's something for you. This lake is shallow WAY out to the middle, with a lovely sand bottom for most of the distance. Because it is shallow, it is WARM (unlike Georgian Bay).


One of our hammocks, in a little nook that was JUST right for it ;-).


More to come, but I have a daughter quite interested in getting on the computer ... NOW :-).

Tag-along ...

Somehow, between the sheep disembarking the the camping gear being completely loaded ...


Yes, Dickens knew exactly what was going on, and took matters in to his own hands ... well, you know. Poor guy ... he hates to be left behind.

Busy, busy ... (edited to add lamb capture photos July 9)

Our family will be camping from July 3-9, so blogging will definitely disappear during that time. We have had an eventful day today getting ready to go, PLUS after trashing the house with camping gear, then realizing we still have to ready it for the lovely woman who is staying here to look after the animals.

We had a small wrinkle this morning; an emergency call from a fellow 4H members dad who had picked up his son's (single?????) sheep yesterday, and lambie had managed to escape. Somewhere in 120 acres. I was headed to West Lake this morning anyway, so we made a deal. Paul would pick up the livestock panels I was supposed to be picking up, and deliver them this afternoon, and we instead would bring a couple of lambs over to lure back this panicky lamb. It worked like a charm, but I missed the best photo! Alison is an awesome sheep catcher ... sheep are very sensitive, and she has the gift of seeming completely calm, then exploding into action in a millisecond. She got good and close to the escapee, tempting with soy meal (a.k.a sheep candy), then BOOM, she grabbed her.

But ...

This lamb was quite big (75+ pounds), and in order to keep her, Alison grabbed her right round the body, then pulled her down in the finest wrestling hold (with the lamb on top, winning). But Alison did not let go, and we were able to get her back to the barn with the assistance of our two lambs Peppercorn and Rosemary.

It made for an ... interesting .... morning ... but I seriously regret not getting a shot of Alison and the lamb rolling in the hedgerow! The family was supposed to take home TWO lambs, in which case there wouldn't have been a problem, but a lone sheep is a nervous sheep, so they will be making arrangements to pick up another one in the next couple of days. In the meantime, "Trouble" a.k. Mira, is locked up in a calf hutch :-).

Photos of the morning ... Peppercorn and Rosemary, all loaded up in Dickens' crate, and ready for their first road trip ...


En route ... "okay, okay ... we'll relax and enjoy the ride ..."


Bringing little lost Mira back in (Alison on right, with Matthew Cairns on left).


You'll notice some difference between the lambs. Mira is a katahdin sheep (a variety of hair sheep). They don't need to be sheared ... but they shed like crazy and Kev is quite allergic to them. Mira also towered over our girls. She was lambed in February, so is 6-8 weeks older than our little Shetland crosses.


Home again, home again ... back to solitary confinement until another lamb is brought home to keep her company. You cannot keep a single lamb; I'm not sure why the lamb provider sent home only one to the Cairns' place, as originally she promised a pair. Likely just lack of communication; we're thankful she was caught safely.


Bye for now ... more to do before we head out tomorrow to pick up Claire, who has been at her nan and papa's house near Cambridge, then head up to the Bruce!!!