Tuesday, July 24. The good news was that the predicted overnight rain was minimal. The bad news was that we drove through the heaviest downpour of the trip, I could barely see the taillights of the vehicle I was following. Again, inside Ernie we stayed dry, and he was due for a good wash, but shortly after the worst cell, the Trans Canada Highway went to dirt long enough to let new dirt adhere to the bottom quarter of his flanks. Sigh.
After checking into Killarney, we continued on to the only town nearby for groceries and ice (solar isn't efficient in heavy rain). A restaurant claimed the best fish and chips, so we splurged. It wasn't the best but awfully good. They only served fish and chips, so they had the oil temperature perfect, the batter was light, and everything was hot out of the fryer. (A couple places in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia had incredibly flaky fish I remember as even better.)
On the way back to the campground we stop at Killarney Outfitters to reserve kayaks for tomorrow. We even got to confirm I could fit in their kayak. I think I'm going to love this high volume 16' Necky.
Finally pulling into our site for two days, after testing several placements, the driver's side is always lower, so out with the chocks, and voila!, a level sleeping field is attained. Of course, tomorrow morning we'll have to come off the chocks and stow them, and repeat the process when we return from kayaking. Fortunately it's a quick process, maybe 30 seconds. (Last year we left our chocks at the site while on a day trip in West Virginia, only to return to find them stolen along with our firewood.)
Settled in, we went for a bike ride around the campground. We rode to one end, and then followed a trail to where we expect we'll put our rental yaks in tomorrow, and looked at some x-ski trails, but we didn't have helmets and things quickly got grown over and buggier than a easy ride. Heading in the other direction, we explored the rest of the campground. It has an impressive number of lovely, private sites. We thought our site would suck, but it really doesn't! People bike past, but the motored traffic is pretty minimal.
Have I mentioned this week that Sharon is a great cook? Tonight was Mexican, and a near sunset walk after. When sunset isn't until 9:30, it's kinda weird. We talked about how we can improve our rolling home in the screen room til almost 10. There's a fire ban in effect, so no campfires, so things are quiet as dusk looks, which is also nice. Ontario has great parks, with nice sized sites spaced well. They also have spacious group sites that are pretty awesome.
Day 2. Wednesday, July 25.
We left shortly after 8 to pick up two PFDs, pumps, tow ropes and sponges, then back towards the park for the put in point. We found our boats by process of elimination.
Killarney Outfitters dropped off a lot of kayaks, but they were organized, I presumed by reservation. Three here, four here, two tandems here, one tandem alone, ... All the groups of two included a one tandem except one, and one of its boats was a High Volume boat similar to the boat I tried out yesterday to confirm it would fit. The guy showed up while we were getting ready with another batch of boats, and confirmed that these were our boats for the day.
The paddle out Chikanishing Creek was pleasant, and then there was Lake Huron's Georgian Bay. The deep blue waters are broken up by rocky outcroppings. We crossed some open water, turned left and paddled the coastline, checking out the topography and wildlife. We immediately saw a couple of sandhill cranes strutting around, and I regretted not bringing my big camera. But they walked into the brush pretty quickly, so maybe I wouldn't have gotten a better picture with it. In any case, it primed us both to enjoy the spectacle before us.
As we wandered in and out, the wind gradually increased. We'd only notice as we came out onto the lake to feel the full brunt of wind. I finally suggested to Sharon that we head back to explore the lee side of the island. As we headed back the wind was strong enough to create whitecaps on an increasing number of the waves. We were paddling maybe 20° off the headwind, with our boats cresting waves and then slapping the trough. When we finally got to the end of the island we turned for the protected waters on the other shore. We minimized our time crossways to the current, and they we were paddling furiously to keep ahead of the waves. Once again I remembered Lys Burden's advice from years ago, that to control your boat you have to be going at a different speed than the water.
Once in calm water, we realized that the wind was blowing pretty much up this channel between the island and the mainland, so we cut across to the mainland side, and got into a quieter cove. We found a landing spot, had lunch on the rocks, checked our maps, and then headed back into the maelstrom to the next cove, Chikanishing Creek. It was a surprisingly difficult paddle, as the wind was even stronger (Sharon checked the weather after that said 20+ mph winds). I was afraid of getting crossways to waves and paddled across the cove mouth until I was in the lee side of an island. Sharon did the same. The paddle up the river was far calmer.
After leaving the kayaks by the put in, we returned the other gear and returned to our campsite. Time for a hike! Sharon was set on the Lake Cloche Silhouette Trail, until I pointed out it is a 79 km trail, maybe 5 days of hiking. So we started it anyway, but turned around after a mile or so. I was hurting before the hike, and wasn't interested in any more activity, so Sharon went off for a swim while I didn't move.
After a delicious Asian dish Sharon cooked up, we chatted for a bit before our nightly tasks, the dishes for her and the chairs and screenroom and bikes for me. But the sun had set, and the mosquitoes arrived to feast on an overtall piece of prime flesh. I would work for 10-30 seconds, then swipe the electric tennis racket around my head and legs for an equal amount of time. Not surprisiny, it took more than twice as long to complete my tasks.
Since we have an 8+ hour drive tomorrow (factoring in Customo), we hope to be on the road by 6:30 am. We shall see.
Ontario pictures are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/zv6SmV1TrSMNJKAT7
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