Algonquin in the Fall
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A MOOSE!!! Moose do not exist,
they are mythical creatures that have been thought up by the Canadian Tourist
Board to entice people to Canada and more specifically to Algonquin Provincial
Park. Any moose we may have seen in zoos can only have been cows with garden
rakes fixed to their heads.
The reason for this rant? We did not see a single moose the
whole weekend, even though the park is supposed to be crawling with them. I did
everything the guide books say; the most sightings happen along the highway
through the park; check, drove along there. It is the rutting season, so bull
moose are more prevalent; check, right time of year. Moose are more active at
dawn or just after and around water; check, went out early and drove around
some lakes. Not as much as an antler was seen.
Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, the Nightingales along
with the Barnards and the Watsons all planned to meet in Maynooth just southeast
of Algonquin Park. Setting off early on the Saturday morning (as we always do,
sorry to my family) we head to Peterborough, home to the tallest lift lock in
the world. A lift lock is another of those novelties we Australians can’t get
enough of as it’s not something we would see back home. The purpose of this
lock is to lift a boat over 19 metres from one level of the canal to another,
it does this by the means of a boat entering a lock similar to a bathtub which
is then raised by means of hydraulic pressure. Once again our luck held out and
we got to see the lock in operation.
As well as visiting the lock we got to drink in the Autumn
colours along the canal. Just down from the lock was a rotating bridge with
railway track, mum suggested that if you put your ear to the rails you may be
able to hear a train coming (What, doesn’t she like her children!!), good one
mum didn’t hear any trains, but Ryan got a nice big smudge across the side of
his faceJ. From
Peterborough we headed to Bancroft for lunch and to pick some produce up from
the local farmers market where Tash was given a miniature pumpkin she
christened pumpky and which we then had to make room for in the car, sigh!
Next stop Algonquin Park, we passed through Maynooth but as
it was still early afternoon we decided not to check in and anyway we wanted to
see the park. Everyone we have talked to over here has told us that the best
fall colours were in the park and they weren’t wrong. I could try and describe
them here but I think the photos do a better job. After stopping at a couple of
Lakes we went on a hike to a couple of beaver dams and lodges, once again
beavers are supposed to be active at this time of year repairing their dams
ready for winter, but we didn’t see any. This may have had something to do with
the families with screaming kids that were ahead of us.
Leaving the park we head off to our lodgings. This was a
hostel, which is something different for us and wasn’t too bad. It had nine
rooms of which the Aussies occupied five. Tash Michelle and I shared a room
with three beds, while Ryan and Callunm got their own room. Lucy and Ed Watson
and their two girls had arrived the night before us, so once we had settled in
it was time to settle down for a well earned drink and a catch up. Having
determined the pub downstairs in the hostel didn’t serve food and neither did
anywhere else in town a quick message was sent to the Barnards to pick up
dinner on their way up. So Saturday night’s dinner was a good old slap up
Aussie BBQ. After dinner Ed persuaded the owner to open up the bar and we
headed down for a couple more drinks along with a Canadian mother and son we
had got talking to. Mick and his brother in law brought the guitars and
provided the entertainment while the rest of us settled in for a game of killer
darts. This rapidly expanded to an International tournament consisting of
Aussies, Cannucks and some German backpackers who were staying at the hostel (no
one mentioned the war).
Sunday morning after a restless night, the floors creaked
every time Michelle rolled over in her bed, I woke up early and meeting Lucy
who was also wandering around, we both decided to go moose hunting, as I
related earlier, with no results. Back for breakfast we found the Barnards had
headed out and would meet us for lunch, so ourselves, Ed and Lucy headed back
into Algonquin to do some more hiking. Once again the views and colours were
spectacular. Lunchtime we went to the beach and met up with the others. It’s
hard to imagine a beach on a lake in the middle of a park but it was another
great place to while away the afternoon, though the sun was hot the temperature
of the water dissuaded any but the bravest from venturing out above their
knees.
Being Thanksgiving we had to celebrate, even though none of
us could relate to it and for all our Canadian friends reading this; ”no we don’t
celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, neither do we celebrate HalloweenJ”
these are purely North American customs. Laureen had made bookings earlier in the
week for dinner so we headed to a local resort for a meal of roast turkey with
all the trimmings, this was topped off with pumpkin pie for dessert. Everyone
waddled out later agreeing that it was worth every cent. Back at the hostel it
was time for the darts tournament again and this time it took on a truly
international flavour as we dragged in some French that were also in the hostel,
into the game. It seems to be a trait of Australians to be able to pull in
anyone and everyone nearby into their activities. This time the activities went
on into the wee small hours, I bailed out at midnight leaving a couple of
Aussies and the Germans and French to fight it out. (no good could ever come of
that).
Monday morning after a bit of a sleep in we all started
packing to make our individual ways home and hopefully beat the traffic heading
into Toronto (we did, Mick and Laureen weren’t so lucky). I have been told that
Thanksgiving weekend is change over for a lot of Canadians, they head up to
their cottages and pack them up for winter so the traffic both into and out of
Toronto is heavy.
Chelle, the kids and I headed west through the park and the
thing that was most noticeable was that over the distance of an 80Km drive the
trees and colours in the west of the park had peaked and many of the leaves had
fallen, whereas over in the east the colours were at their peak, so once again
we can think ourselves fortunate with our timing. As I mentioned the early
start allowed us to miss the worst of the traffic and we finally made it home
mid afternoon after another experience unlike any other we have seen.
Canada is a beautiful country, but is truly at its best in
the Autumn. Even before coming over here I had always wanted to see North
America in the fall and I haven’t been disappointed, this one weekend alone has
made it worthwhile buying a good camera earlier in the year, I just hope my
photos did it justice.
