Provincial Park Image of the Day: Waubaushene Beaches

Strangely, I have no photos for this park which I have apparently passed dozens of times.  I could find none online.  Having lived near the park for ten years, my mother had never heard of it either.  I think it sounds like an interesting place to visit -not today, but when it is not raining -and I really have no reason not to.  One fascinating site is either in or next to the park boundaries, the segregated cemeteries of Coldwater, Ontario.  Side-by-side, on Highway 12, are a Catholic and a Protestant Cemetery.  I have walked through them and onto a trail behind them so maybe I have been on the park grounds.

 

Both images are from Google Maps.

Ontario Parks

Simcoe Community Reach

MNR Management statement from 1994 (PDF)

Trails and Tamaracks

Wayne Cook’s nearly exhaustive list of cemetery headstone images.

 

 

 

Provincial Park Image of the day: Awenda in spring

My mother, son and I returned to Awenda Provincial Park on April 13 and had a good walk although no wildlife was spotted.

Again, we visited a beach and again, I admired the ice piles.

I could have walked out to them, I think.  The last four metres was of thick-but-broken-and-refrozen ice and where I could see water, something in the clarity wailed cold.  I was still going to do it, but my son was watching and I decided not to demonstrate what foolishness I am capable of.

We found one fin and one deer scapula (?) 

My son likes to be clear on where precisely he is.  When he learned we were just outside of Penetanguishene and in Tiny Township, he decided this line was the border and delighted in hopping in and out of Penetanguishene.

 

Since I’ve returned, deep views into forest have become fascinating to me but I cannot explain why or take a photo that offers the same pull.

Awenda has a small ampitheatre and stage.  I hope to hear some wildlife talks or the like there.

 

Provincial Park Image of the Day: Lady Evelyn Smoothwater and Sturgeon Lake

Muskoka, my home region, was recently included in the “northern” category for political reasons.  Despite that, Muskoka is south of much of the border between Canada and the US.  One of only two parks that I know of named after noble-women, Lady Evelyn is north enough that I suspect there is little difference between in and out of the park.  A good thing as the only road access point (Mowat’s Landing, from highway 11 near Haileybury) is not all that close to the park as southerners measure these things.

Lady Evelyn and Sturgeon Lake Parks are near each other and not much else.

Today’s photo of Lady Evelyn comes from OutdoorJay who seems to have covered a lot of ground.  Luckily, he didn’t have the portages a similar distance in Algonquin would have.

Sturgeon River Provincial Park’s image comes from BushcraftUSA, where a trip through the park is described.

 

Ontario Parks Lady Evelyn Smoothwater

Ontario Parks Sturgeon River

Wikipedia Lady Evelyn

Temagami Vacations and Lady Evelyn

 

 

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Provincial Park Image of the Day: Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands

This one is in my backyard and I had never heard of it until looking for photos for this blog.  It looks like a very canoe-friendly park and I hope to see in person.

This image is from Wikimedia:

Ontario Parks

Wikipedia

The park is a local high point.

A video made by canoeists in the park

 

As the ice leaves, so do the animals

The ice melted around my home first, and now perhaps half of Penetanguishene Bay is ice-free.  When the only open water was near my home, I was treated to a wide variety of birds and mammals who had no other place to be.  I’m ready for warmer weather, but it was pretty cool to see both a muskrat and an otter only ten metres from each other – and even closer to me.  Not shown are the huge number of Mergansers that were too shy to allow me close enough to take pictures.

Provincial Park Image of the Day: Sandbank

It appears that the entire park, in Lake Ontario, in Prince Edward County, is, as the name suggests, simply one or two large sandbanks.

Today’s photo comes from a Roadstories article on Provincial Parks.

The place looks to me somewhat like Wasaga Beach moved from Lake Huron to Lake Ontario.  The park has many campsites but I suggest a vigorous shaking of anything that comes into your tent -children included!  I am too young to remember but my mother tells me that she was constantly cleaning the sand out of our home in Wasaga Beach.

That caution duly given, I want to visit this park.

Links:

Ontario Parks

Friends of Sandbank

Wikipedia

Youtube video of park …and now I’ve learned how long 4:36 can be – the images in the video are fine but there is no audio, not even background music.

Prince Edward County.

Provincial Park Image of the Day: Short Hills

Boy, I really phoned in yesterday’s post!  Petroglyphs is such a unique and valuable park that it is pretty safe from closure threats so I guess it didn’t really fit with the overall theme of these posts – organize and protect them before you lose them.

I seem to recall a park with a similar name near Drumheller in Alberta.  This park, of course, is in Ontario.

Today’s image is from Kiri Strax on Flickr and was taken in Short Hills Prov Park near my alma mata, Brock University.

 

Although I lived in St Catharines for many years and actually did research there for my degree in Recreation Studies, I spent very little time in the park.  With views like that above, I should have gone there more.

My research was in the conflict between different user groups at the park and the results were interesting.  There were five basic groups using the park, hikers, cross country skiers, joggers, mountain bikers, and equestrians.  Skiers identified slightly more with joggers than hikers but there was some overlap. Anyway, groups to the left were liked by groups to the right but didn’t like groups to the right.

That is, everyone liked hikers but hikers didn’t like any other group – generally speaking.  Nobody liked the equestrians but equestrians liked all the others. Hikers, joggers and skiers were liked by cyclists, but didn’t return the feeling.

The more to the left you were, the more  you were in the park for intellectual curiosity.  The more to the right you were, the more you disrupted those opportunities for curiosity.

The work was done in 1995 and I can’t recall if we offered any suggestions for smoother sharing of the park.  It is, or was, one of th efew places where horses were welcome so I hope they continue to enjoy access.

 

Links of interest

Ontario Parks

Friends Of Short Hills

Wikipedia

The park is not without controversy. A recent deer cull caught the attention of the St Catharines Standard.

Provincial Park Image of the Day: Petroglyphs

I think there are several parks in Canada with Petroglyphs, this one is near…well, nothing, but kinda near Peterborough and Stony Lake.

Today’s image comes form Selwyn Shores:

I’m bored. I really want to go there but it won’t be for a few months at best.

Here is a Google search list of links.

Prov Park Image of the day: Massasauga

I’ve skirted the park boundaries a few times as some family members have a cottage nearby.  Well, I skirted what would become the borders; this park is only a few years old. I should warn readers that I work to pick beautiful pictures from each park, ones I feel display something unique about it.  I add the warning because something not at all unique, but still surprising, was the number of photos of people in mosquito nets.  Be warned!

Today’s photo is from Terry McDonald, who’s flickr stream is here.  He (?) entered the park in Muskoka District which I found interesting as, even though I lived in Muskoka for thirty years, I didn’t pay much attention to its Georgian Bay coastline.

 

Ontario Parks

Trip Advisor

Youtube Video

Wikipedia

Jack’s account at Ontario Nature blog

Adrienne Montgomery’s account at GORP

 

 

 

 

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ex-Provincial Park image of the Day: Springwater

I was in Barrie on Wednesday and visited Springwater Exprovincial Park on the way home.  The site is wonderfully quiet and I really do wish I had been around to enjoy it more before it closed.

 

This chickadee was here by choice.

Above and Below: Look at how well my little digital camera focused on the fence!  The details of that fence are as clear as anyone could wish.

 

I had heard reports that local First Nations groups had ‘occupied’ the grounds, claiming it was treaty ground (See this Barrie Examiner report).

Also from the Examiner article:

MNR spokeswoman Jolanta Kowalski said last week the animals will be transported out of the park when the ministry has made all the necessary arrangements with appropriate facilities.

“The animals will be moved when the ministry has made all the necessary arrangements with the receiving facilities. The welfare of these animals is very important to us,” she said.

“Only facilities and custodians that are in good standing and have authorization from the Ministry of Natural Resources to keep wildlife in captivity will be considered.” The ministry is not disclosing which facilities are being considered to house the animals.

“Once the animals have been moved, the ministry will share the information about where the animals have been relocated,” Kowalski said.

I don’t know if this is a good idea and I didn’t see any demonstrating groups or individuals but I did see an APTN News (Aboriginal People’s Television Network) vehicle.

We did see a grandfather and grandchild enjoying the bright sun and animals.  The man told us he had visited the park twice a week for the past five years.

Ontario Parks

2012 Examiner article about park closures.

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PS: and no, there were no bounty hunters at the park on April 1.  The closure of the park has hit some people very hard and my attempt at  humour was not appreciated.