Algonquin Provincial Park

This weekend we headed about 3 hours North of Kingston to Algonquin Provincial Park.

The park was established in 1893 and is the oldest provincial park in Canada and approximately 7653 square kilometres. I had heard that Algonquin was a popular camping destination so I made sure to book it early...Back in February to be exact! The drive to the park took us off the main highway and through some small towns, farmland and beside numerous lakes and wetlands. On our way, we saw a small coyote and 2 porcupines! The coyote was walking alongside the road but the porcupines were, well let's just say they were lying very still on the side of the road - either way, they were still neat to see! We entered the park and headed straight to our campground - there are numerous campgrounds in the Park but we stayed at Cannisbay. We asked the park ranger about seeing moose and she said that if had been there a few weeks earlier she could have almost guaranteed that we would see one. But the bugs got so bad that it drove them out of the park and it would now be rare to see one. We didn't get to see a moose but we would rather that than have to deal with the bugs which weren't bad at all by the time we got there! We were lucky enough to see a raccoon though! It was close to 10pm, dark and our fire was fading. Carl was in the tent and I was just sitting by the fire. I had my glasses on so I couldn't see as well as usual and all the sudden something larger than a squirrel came running through the bushes! There were warnings that a bear had been spotted in the campsite so needless to say, I got a little freaked out! Luckily, it was just a raccoon coming to check out our garbage! Brave little bugger it was!

Here is Carl, making what has become our usual camp breakfast of banana pancakes and bacon!

I must say we definitely did not experience Algonquin to its full extent but we still had fun! We spent all our time on the beach soaking in some rays and swimming!

The park has so much more to offer, with hundreds of lakes, canoe-in campsites, hikes and portages! Unfortunately we weren't really prepared for that and would love a chance to go back for longer but I'm not sure that we'll have the opportunity too! We packed up and drove home today and passed a sign that read at 6pm, it was still 30 degrees in Kingston! This week looks like it will be hovering around the 30 degree mark - summer is here!