RPod Adventures - 2021 - Part II

Or maybe I should say this is Part III as my first RPod adventure blog covered two trips. Last week my youngest sister and her husband and I met up at Presqu'ile Provincial Park. The park is near Brighton, Ontario and is right on one of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario. The park is rather small but has some nice trails, a one way ring road that has a bicycle lane, a large sandy beach and lots of shoreline that you can walk with the dogs. Dogs are not allowed on the sand beaches so I've actually never been  to them.  

We arrived at just about the same time. It was further than I thought, it was nearly a four hour drive for me but just two for my sister and her husband.  It had rained there so the end of the entry way to my site was a large pool of water. I was going to try to back in myself but when I saw that I decided to let my brother in law do it and in any case there was already a line up behind me. 

From the pictures of the sites online, we had thought that our two sites opened on to one another but in the years since the pictures were taken the vegetation behind the dogs had grown up.  We used my site as it was more private and again easier to tarp.  My sister's site was very open to the next site; great for two families but not if you want a bit of privacy. We were just downhill from the washroom but it was obscured by trees and vegetation and it turned out to be a good thing being so close. There also was a dishwashing station right at the end of the building so we had a short little walk up a path from my site to do dishes.

It was sunny the second day but the forecast for the rest of the week was for rain. After breakfast we headed off to do the Marsh Boardwalk. At the end of the boardwalk, you go through a cedar wood with all of these "horse" trees.  They say what happened is that a storm came through and damaged the main growth of the tree so that trunk grew out the side causing the curve in the trunk.

Later, I took advantage of the sun and took the dogs to the lake to see if they liked swimming.  I didn't expect Liam, who usually won't even walk through a puddle to like it but he and Teddy both enjoyed chasing waves. After that we couldn't even go near the shoreline and they were trying to haul me down to the water. I'm still not sure if they like swimming. People build all kinds of stone sculptures from the rocks on the shoreline.  The bottom of the lake here is a stone shelf, which drops off like stairs as you walk out. 

The next day we went to the Presqu'ile Light house and stopped on our way back at a picnic area. You drive around the park on a one way ring road, there are a few trail heads that you could stop off and do as well.

I have a picture of Beckett and Keltic sitting on this breakwater but Teddy and Liam just wanted to jump right in. There's no swimming in the lake here as they say the current is very strong.  There's a ship called the Speedy that is shipwrecked off the shore here.

I did get a picture of them standing on the foundation of the light house. I didn't even have to ask them to get up, Liam just hopped right up. 

Both of these were very short walks so while my sister and her husband went to town, I took the boys on a longer walk down the shoreline from our campground.

Common Milkweed

I don't know if you can see it but there's a rock out to the left past this dead tree (maybe you can see it if you make the picture larger). I had Beckett and puppy Keltic out to that rock. I had hoped to take Teddy and Liam out to it to recreate that picture but they were such nuts about the water I didn't dare for fear they would haul me under. 

I'm not sure what this plant is in these last two pictures but this is what we used to call milkweed when I was a kid. We used to even eat the heads of the plant before it went to seed. 

When I got back to camp, since the forecast the next morning was for rain, I decided to make the cinnamon buns in my Coleman oven so we would be able to have them for breakfast the next morning. It was the first time I used the oven, it worked beautifully.

 My sister and I did a short hike right from the campground before dinner. There wasn't really much to see on this trail as the grass is so tall, the trail does have a number of lookouts that let you go see the bird nesting areas. There weren't any birds nesting. 

It actually didn't rain the next morning but rather started around noon so I could have done them in the morning.  I  warmed the cinnamon buns up in the electric fry pan. If we hadn't been so laid back that morning we probably could have gotten in another short hike but just as we were finishing up the rain started.

So the day was spent, napping watching a movie and listening to music. There were a few breaks in the rain to walk the dogs and the rain did stop in time for a camp fire that evening. I had pre-made a foil packet dinner of meat balls, tater tots and mixed vegetables all covered in cheese. It turned out to be just what we needed on a chilly day. The last morning we were lucky that we didn't have to take down in the rain although everything was still rather damp. I put all the wet stuff on the floor of the trailer and took it out to dry at home.

So we're home safe and sound and planning the next RPod adventure.