Day 2 & 3 - Chutes Provincial Park, Massey, ON

The dogs woke me up at 5:30 in the morning wanting to go outside, so I got up. Susan got up when coffee was ready and not a second before. We broke camp and were on the road by 9 sharp. What a difference a day makes and a few hundred miles north. No traffic yea. We found out the cause of the third traffic slow down/stoppage yesterday was caused by a bear. Stupid bear, that’s the north for yeah.

With a couple of pit stops along the way, we arrived at Chutes Provincial Park at 1pm.

We set everything up, Susan & Stuart(the boy) went for a snooze, Calusa, Charlie(the girls), and I with camera in hand went for a nice long walk. Chutes Provincial Park was established in 1963 and was named for the 60 meter log chute which was built at the main falls to direct logs downstream. Chutes PP consists of 109 hectare of land situated on Aux Sables River. There are a total of 130 campsites each with a picnic table and firepit. Many have 30 amp service. Water taps are located throughout the park. We chose site #4 in the Red Pine area, the site is large, it has hydro, and it’s close to the comfort station. I don’t do outhouses.

I see the poison Ivy is in full bloom, nice of them to point that out.  So are the “the trilliums” Ontario’s Provincial Flower.

Chutes PP has a 6.5km trail called Twin Bridges Trail. The trailhead starts at the falls where the old logging chute was once located. The trail then winds itself around the Aux Sables River. As I stood on the lookout platform just above the falls I was amazed at how loud and powerful this waterfalls was. Calusa wanted nothing to do with it while Charlie didn’t care one way or the other. You could feel the power of the falls throughout your whole body, it gave me goosies from head to toes. I’m hoping to get out on the trail tomorrow if the weather holds up.

Rivers in Northern Ontario have a long history in log transportation. In the winter from the late 1800 to the 1930s trees were cut then dragged to ice covered rivers to await the spring thaw. The swollen rivers including the Aux Sables River would be filled with logs. The logs would be loaded onto tugs and transported on the great lakes to prospective sawmills for processing.

The park has an enclosed pet exercise area which is an added bonus. Unfortunately it looked a little overgrown and I’m sure the dogs would come out covered in ticks. We passed on that one.

Trilliums everywhere some white some mauve.

The next day the weather was terrible rainy, overcast, and cool. That wasn't the worst part. I can walk in the rain and I love the cool weather, it was the mosquitoes. You couldn't go outside without being swarmed even with repellent on. Terrible little creatures. So we opted for a reading day.

Our friends arrived around 2pm. We let them get set up and settle in before the adult beverages started flowing. We did manage a walk to the falls when the weather broke and the rain stopped.

Day 1 - Six Mile Lake Provincial Park, Port Severn, ON

After a great night’s sleep we awoke to another warm sunny day. The excitement and anticipation has been building since we got home from Florida. Now the day has come to start our wonderful adventure. We packed the last minute things into the rig, stowed everything away, said our goodbyes to some friends, and away we go.

We departed from home at 9:15 am knowing that we would miss the morning rush hour and of course bet the afternoon chaos. Sometimes the best laid plans fail no matter what you do. Our first traffic slowdown was on the Hamilton/Burlington Skyway Bridge. We were stuck at a complete stop going up the bridge for at least 30 minutes. Not where you want to be while towing 16,000 lbs.

The only good thing about stopping at the top of the bridge is the view, it was amazing. A view you normally couldn’t enjoy.

We finally got going only to be slowed down to a crawl again, this time near the Toronto airport. We watched airplanes coming and going to help pass time.

Now, when they say the third time is the charm they sure weren’t talking about traffic jams. This one was the worse. Three lanes of traffic stopped dead in our tracks near Barrie. 

We waited about a half hour then decided to do something I’d never recommend. Back up on a highway. When I told Susan what I was going to do, her comment was “YOU WHAT, NOT WHILE I’M IN THIS _____ TRUCK”. I said good now get out and make sure I can back up safely. It just happens we were stopped right beside an exit. What a trooper, she got out just to look, jumped back in, and we were on our way once again.

We arrived at Six Mile Lake Provincial Park which is near Port Severn at 2 pm.  Normally a 3 hour trip took us more than 5 hours. But that’s okay we are not in a rush.

I got us checked in, we found our site, we hooked up, and then we took the dogs for a long deserved walk. We were told that a yearling bear is in the area so be mindful when walking.

 What a beautiful park, we were all by ourselves in the Pines Campground area. We had a pull thru site with 30 amp service. Water is at a communal spigot.  Since no one was around we connected to it and had running water all night, nice.