AO and Moose

 I love this shot. I love that you can see the rain just sheeting down like a curtain. That the moose doesn't give a toss about the rain. That his winter coat is almost gone, his summer shiny showing through. His antlers just knobbing up at the beginning of six months of growing the most incredible set of antlers ever -- the fastest growing bone of any mammal anywhere.  I love the big droopy noses of the moose.

I love that I was able to take this shot from the cozy comfort of my car, at only km. 2 in Algonquin Park, on an afternoon that had surrendered to a thunderstorm and rain after a lovely soft morning I spent working outside.

I had to meet some people at Oxtongue Lake, so I just sort of extended the trip to take a short excursion into the Park.

I also extended the trip to take in a browse at Algonquin Outfitters, one of the finest stores anywhere for outdoor enthusiasts and for those who just want to look like they are outdoor enthusiasts.  Between the clothing, the canoes and kayaks and paddle boards, the camp gear, books, snacks and generally cool and funky stuff, it is a bit of a legend that if you cannot find the gear you need at AO, you don't need the gear.

Even the dogs have a section for their own camping equipment. For those who scoff at putting life jackets on dogs, let me tell you that you have not lived until you have tried to straight-arm a soaking wet dog into a canoe in deep water.  I had that thrill years ago when our Holly went overboard after a beaver. It seemed to her like a good idea.  At least with a life jacket, there is a convenient handle on the back that gives you a fighting chance of returning dog to vessel with everyone surviving the incident.

AO will also arrange to take you for a day trip into the Park. They can take you to the best fishing spots. Outfit you with canoes or kayaks -- you can try them out for free before you buy. You can rent a canoe there and paddle it upriver to fabulous Ragged Falls -- pack a lunch and it makes a lovely day's outing.

Or, if the weather is not on board (unlike the wet dog) you can simply do what I did -- prowl through the store, dream a few camping dreams, and drive on into the Park to see what you can see.

More Fuel, More Fun -- Call Now!

Folks who book a 2-night (minimum) consecutive stay by April 19^th for a visit to the region between April 20^th and May 31^st can register to get 1 of 500 packages ($50 gas card and $50 in cash vouchers for redeeming at participating attractions, restaurants, etc.)

Have some Fun on us!  Full details can be found at this Explorer's Edge link.

April and May are the best times to go Moose Spotting in Algonquin Park!  Well before the fly season gets going, the hiking in the Park is superb through April and early May. The birds are coming back daily, making this a perfect time of year for birdwatchers, too!

Give us a call -- book to saty, and register for one of these great Fuel and Fun packages!

One Moose, Two Moose, Three Moose, Four

A rainy afternoon, and the urge to be out of the house, encouraged me to drive into Algonquin Park.

This is Moose Watch season. The long winter, nibbling on dry and boring twigs, brings these magnificent creatures out to the edge of the road come Spring, where they are hungry for the salty water and bushes growing near the road. 

People aren't the only creatures who are fond of salting their meals!   I saw four of them on a short drive up to Lake of Two Rivers.

This lovely cow was quite happy to have me take her picture. I didn't even need to get out of the car -- and took it with a Cannon Elf, so you know how close I was!  She and her friend were quite happy in the muddy bog next to the road.  The second moose almost vanishes into the low growing shrubs. You have to keep an alert eye while driving!

This bull, looking particularly scruffy at the moment, was right by the Ranger Station.  If you look very closely at the photo you can just make out his antlers starting to peak through.  He has been rubbing at the winter coat, trying to relieve the itchiness that comes with shedding that heavy mass of fur.  The horses here at Bondi prefer to have me help with that task, diligently weilding a shedding blade on their behalf.

Quite placid at this time of year (which does not mean you should try to get TOO close to them, they are after all wild animals, and huge)  every moose sighting tends to attract an audience.

April and May are Algonquin Uncrowded, however, and in addition to seeing moose along the roadside, you have an unparalleled opportunity to see the Park.

The Explorers' Edge Fuel and Fun Package will even help pay you for the tank of gas to get you there!

Leave a message... we'll call back...

Last Tuesday Nancy was out on the lawn again, with a large group of guests, talking about stars, and owls, and the howls of wolves. She's been a (wait for it) 'howling success' for most of the summer, with the wolves answering almost every time, but Tuesday, under a huge full moon, there was no wolf song.

"Oh well, leave your window open a bit. Perhaps they're hunting, and will howl later on." After all, what else can you say at a time like that?

And sure enough, about an hour later, the entire wolf pack lit up with the most incredible display of wolf harmony. Close? Extremely. We figure they must have been down just past the hangar area. Libia and Mark were staying in Springside cottage, and had a 'ringside' seat for this performance. Perhaps they had been hunting, and couldn't stop to answer Nancy's call, or perhaps they were sleeping, or just on the move -- whatever, they did return the call, in their own fashion.


Over the next two days, they went hiking in Algonquin Park -- and scored not one, not two but THREE bull moose! Not to mention some great views from the Park's fabled hiking trails. There were no beaver at work when they stopped to look at the beaver lodges, however!

Mind if We Play Through?

It's a little quieter on the lawns after Labour Day. The wild turkeys take advantage of that... This flock was congregated around one of the Frisbee Golf targets (perhaps turkeys don't like waiting for a tee time?) by Longside cottage.

At this time of year, the young poults are just mastering flight. Which, for a turkey, is a project fraught with peril. When it comes to aerodynamics, turkeys are pretty low on the perch, although they do fly... and every night will fly up into roost trees, settling on the branches like some weird fruit. When they descend in the morning, it can be unnerving, since when one decides to jump off the branch, they all follow suit. If you happen to be near the roost tree when this happens, the sky suddenly rains turkeys.

They are shy and wily creatures, and we didn't see much of them over the summer. Every hike in the bush, or through the back field, yielded a small collection of turkey feathers, however, so we knew they weren't far away.

Back in the spring, however, when romance was in the air and the tom turkeys were in full breeding plumage, we would hear them gobbling in the woods. A friend of ours snapped this incredible photo of a pair -- the tom valiantly trying to attract the hen's attention.

Turkeys like our back fields, which are full of fruit and seeds and great things for turkeys to eat. And we are fond of our wild turkeys, even if they do like to sneak down and intimidate the chickens, stealing all their grain.

Turkeys were re-introduced into southern Ontario some twenty years ago, and have made quite a come-back. Winters were considered to be too harsh for them to survive this far north, but so far, global warming has been on their side.

An interesting aside is that we (Ontario) got the wild turkeys from Michigan. In exchange, we gave them moose, harvested live in Algonquin Park, and transported to the panhandle of the State to rebuild the moose population there. Those transplanted moose are doing very well. It has been said that this exchange was NAFTA in a nutshell -- we gave them moose... they gave us turkeys... but let us not go there!

Algonquin Road Sign

Nancy drove to Belleville on the Labour Day weekend -- she was judging at the Ontario Horse Trials Championships, and decided it was better to arrive Friday evening rather than try to drive there and back on Saturday! This put her in Algonquin Park just before dusk -- and one should always drive Algonquin with eyes wide open.

A gathering of cars and people along the shoulder of the road in the Park signifies one thing, and one thing only. MOOSE. Let us add this is the best way to see them, on the shoulder of the road, rather than on the road in front of you!

This very typical collection of people settled in on the roadside is one of the classic Algonquin Park Road signs. And yes, they were all watching a moose.

One of our guests snapped this shot of a moose in the Park in the spring (obviously -- he still has his great rack in velvet. This time of year, they're polishing those up and getting ready for the breeding season) But this moose, too, had a roadside audience.

In April and May you are virtually guaranteed to see a moose driving through the Park. This time of year, it's still an excellent chance. And with the colour coming on the trees, even if you don't see Bullwinkle, you'll still get an eyeful of scenery that makes the drive something special.

And if you see cars parked along the shoulder... slow down. Those folks are looking at the moose, not at the traffic!

White Water

Every summer we try to schedule at least one trip over to the Ottawa River to go white water rafting. It usually happens in August -- when the river level is low. That doesn't mean the rapids are small -- quite the opposite, in fact, because high water can 'smooth out' some of the rapids just through the sheer volume of water going over top of the rocks. What it means is that we usually run the Main Channel -- which finishes up over the Coliseum rapid, which is by any standards HUGE.
This year, the water levels were extraordinarily high, and we got to run the Middle Channel. That was a new experience for us!
We like to go with OWL -- partly because Dirk is a friend of Brian's, and they can spend a few minutes chatting. This year, they were discussing the new pontoon boat Dirk is adding to the OWL fleet. These boats pick you up after you've done the rapids, and bring you home, while serving up a steak dinner on the river.
We've also rafted with RiverRun and Wilderness Tours over the years, and we think they are all superb companies, offering great trips.
The Middle Channel has more rapids, and plenty of paddling. We were sharing our raft, with guide Heather (great job, Heather!!) and a family from Aylmer, Quebec, who were rafting for the first time. The father had recently retired from the police force, where he specialized in water rescue, so we had an added degree of security in our raft! Not that we needed it, nobody fell out, no rafts tipped. It did rain on us, but even so, a rainy day on the Ottawa River is better than a sunny day in the office. We were treated to sights of ospreys and herons -- for those who could let go long enough to look around. We don't know if Brian saw much of anything except River, since he as in the very front of the raft!!
It's a day trip from Bondi -- leaving about 8 a.m., and getting home about 10.30 p.m. Always keep your eyes open going through the Park. David came over the crest of a hill on the trip home to find a huge bull moose trotting down our lane. Wonderful to see, but not if it's on your front bumper! They are dark, and hard to see against the pavement, so you always have to drive with great care through Algonquin.
We pause both going and coming in Barry's Bay to pick up a coffee, and to check out the statue of the AVRO ARROW. The original test pilot for this magnificent, ground-breaking (air-breaking?) airplane, Janus Zurakowski, hailed from Bancroft.
We also pause in Wilno -- historic site of the first Polish settlement in Canada -- to admire the view from the church on the hill. It's a great trip, and one we look forward to all year.

Free wheeling!

Nearby Algonquin Provincial Park is such a favourite with our guests that Bondi Village provides a day pass into the pass for our guests as part of their rental package, and those passes are in almost constant use!

Algonquin Provincial Park's trail system is second to none in the world, and one of the trails in particular is heaven for cyclists. The Bike Trail along the old Railway bed provides 10.8 km. of mostly level going across the old Two Rivers airfield and down the abandoned Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway all the way to the Rock Lake campsite.

The railway was built in 1895, abandoned in 1944.
The airstrip was built in 1935, closed in 1973. There are wonderful signboards along the way that explain the history of the railway, the airstrip and the saw mills that used to be located here.

But at the end of the day, it is just a wonderful place to ride a bike. This week, Frances, Grant and Kyle made the trip. They pedaled right past a mother moose and her calf who were browsing at trailside, and when they got to the old bridge, Kyle made the scary leap out into space! (Mom and Dad stayed on the bridge!) For those less brave, you can also cool off here by way of a small sandy beach!