Day 11 Sleeping Giant
Well, this was a pretty spectacular day, beginning to end. When I loaded my pictures, there were 96 transfers! I promised not to post them all, but it might be hard to choose! I can’t even imagine how many David took, or what they will look like.
Storms had been forecast for the early morning. As promised,
the heavens opened at 5:00AM with thunder enough to actually rattle the windows
in the trailer. While rain while you’re camping is certainly not desired, storms
at night when you are cozy and warm, and have prepared for the possibility, is
a bit of a thrill. The sound of rain on the trailer roof is actually soothing
and quite pleasant. The rain lasted into the morning so we slowly got ready for
the day.
We started out at the visitor centre. As always, it was
staffed by friendly and knowledgeable folks and was a great introduction to the
park. The information on hiking and must-sees is great but the maps provided by
the park are useless. The print is so small that you are not really able to
decipher much. Before you think “old eyes” (rude!), Jonathan and Jenna were no
better able to see it! We asked a couple of questions for clarity before we
left the visitors centre, so we were set for the day. Sleeping Giant claims 109
plant species, 109 varieties of birds, 42 sorts of fish, 36 breeds of animals, 11
different reptiles, 4 amphibians, and countless creepy crawlies! We have seen a
lot already but not all of them, so there is work to be done!
We left there to head out on our first hike and the winds
picked up, the skies darkened and the temperature dropped. It was clear more
rain was on the way. A hasty retreat back to the trailers for an early lunch
and a wait-and-see paid off. By early afternoon the skies had cleared, the
temperature rose rapidly from 13°
to 24°, and we were off
exploring. The first hike was quickly abandoned as we discovered the mosquitos
were as happy with a reprieve from the rain as we were. The blood thirsty
creatures beat us to the trail through the woods. A moment of logic had us
thinking go high where we might find a breeze and/or head to a shore away from
the woods where they may be less likely to lie in wait. There are so many
options for hiking and exploring here that a pivot to another option is easily
done.
First, we decided to try “up” and took the off-road trail to the top of Thunder Bay Lookout. Jonathan was thrilled! Off-roading with his Jeep is definitely a preferred activity. We took the steep and twisty climb to literally drive over the crest of the mountain and enjoy the sweeping views of Lake Superior, and not a mosquito in sight!
A viewing platform that rests 450 feet above the water.
The "road" leading you to the lookout literally has you drive across the top of the mountain. Talk about off-roading!
Since we had driven north in the park to get to this trail, we decided to continue on to Ouimet Canyon. A few months back David read about Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park in one of the RV forums he follows. He thought it might be worth checking out since it wasn’t far from Sleeping Giant. Man, oh man, was he right. Described as the Grand Canyon of northern Ontario, the 1km trail leads to two viewing platforms, that are nothing short of magnificent!
An Ojibwe legend that explains the canyon (and the rock formation you see on the left)
... a bit of a sad tale for such a beautiful place...
A long time ago there were giants. One called Omett was a good giant and helped Nanabijou when he wished to raise a mountain or make a new lake.
Omett fell in love with Naiomi, Nanabijou's daughter. Naiomi liked Omett and encouraged him to display his strength. One day Omett was moving a mountain when a peak broke off, struck Naiomi and killed her. Greatly frightened of the wrath of Nanabijou, Omett hid Naiomi's body in a shallow lake and covered it with a rock shield.
Searching for Naiomi, Nanabijou was striding over the great shield when he felt vibrations from under the rocks. Reaching into the sky, he grasped a thunderbolt and drove it into the rocks, splitting them open. In the wide canyon he discovered his daughter's body.
Nanabijou buried Naiomi in the bottom of the canyon. From her grave grew the rare and beautiful flowers found only there.
To punish Omett, Nanabijou turned him to stone and placed him on the canyon wall to watch over the grave for all eternity.
In our travel through the day there were many wildlife
encounters. Although Sandhill Cranes were extirpated from parts of Ontario 100
years ago, I can assure you the flock here is alive and well! These 4ft tall,
8lb birds are not hard to spot.
We stopped the car at one point today to watch ground hogs cavort
through the grass. It was fun to watch these little critters frolic but in the
spirit of being fair to all creatures great and small, we didn’t get close
enough for pictures.
We weren’t able to see them, but we hiked to Ouimet Canyon to
the unmistakable drumbeat of Ruffed Grouse. Just as well we didn’t actually see
them, since the last encounter led to a young one quickly imprinting on me!
There is a video somewhere of me leading a merry chase through the forest with
this bird following, hot on my heels, in every direction! I eventually managed
to ditch my new little friend, but it was a funny escapade until I did. Today
there was no love at first sight, so we were happy with just the thrum of his
wings for company.
The afternoon was quite hot and sunny by the time we came
down from the top of the canyon. An ice cream stop was just the ticket to
celebrate the summer solstice!
Our final stop for the day, as it was getting well past
suppertime, was a short detour to check what the park guidebook called, “the
iconic view of the Giant from Marie Louise Lake Lookout”. Imagine our delight
in discovering the “iconic view” was not as good as ours!! I guess they couldn’t
list Site 110e as the best view of the Giant or we would have been overrun with
visitors!!
Now that we have become grilling experts (thank you again
Jeffrey and Nancy!) even a late supper was no problem on the Blackstone. So, in
record time we were back on our little beach to enjoy the spectacular sunset of
the summer solstice. We need not have worried about the time! By the time the
sky grew dark enough to begin to see stars, it was already after 11:00! I can
never remember a day lasting so long.
Life on the lake was busy tonight with creatures of every description.
There were more human type creatures tonight sharing the spectacular show, but
we still had our own private little spot. A family of ducks entertained us as momma
taught her seven little ones how to swim along the shore, get out and dry their
feathers, and they were off again to practice! Crayfish, some quite large would
swim up to the waters edge to check us out…or in search of food, who knows? Loons
with their haunting cry are plentiful here. I did catch a sound bite but couldn’t
figure out how to get it on to the blog. Stay tuned as I learn, maybe before
this trip is over you too will share that haunting, yet serene and tranquil music.
As the evening slowly, very slowly morphed into twilight, mayflies came out to
skim across the lake like skipping stones. Eventually they were joined by fireflies,
where the forest meets the lake. Finally, when the buffet table was overflowing
with the abundant harvest, fat from the feast of the day, the little bats came
out and had their fill. Never happier to a see a critter than a bat! Have at it
fellas! (For those who may not know, bats eat mosquitos.)
Finally, as the stars began to appear, as much as I wanted
to watch the celestial show, I was done. All other human creatures had long
since left, and we had the lake to ourselves. I sat back in my chair, cozy in
my blanket, but by the time my eyes had drifted shut for the third time, it was
time to make my way home to bed!
.jpg)
Such pristine beauty. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete