Tent Camping on the Pickerel River in Ontario...Enjoying the river and lots of wildlife

We haven't used our Surveyor trailer since our Maiden Voyage as  it got rat damage while at an RV shop waiting for warranty items to be prepared. Now that it's being fixed we are thinking of selling our Surveyor to a friend as we will be staying local for the next year or two while my husband finishes his pilots license. When we do hit the road again, we want to get a 5th wheel.

This weekend we tried tent camping with the kids to see how we can all manage while we explore our province this summer without the trailer.

We had a fantastic 4 days on the Pickerel River. I mean who wouldn't love camping here for free!!!

The first day we arrived it was raining so everyone went fishing until the rain passed.

 Aayla caught the first fish on her first cast.

 She was so excited that on her next cast she couldn't understand why her bobber wasn't going under water so she could reel another fish in!

After fishing everything was still wet so the girls went to explore a bit so the guys could get the tent up. We found a rock that looked like a puppy dog...with a bit of imagination (see by her foot and a better close up in the other).

Can you see the dog rock?

 Sierra and her cousin Charlie explored the big rocks along the shoreline.

 Then they found a little cove where they put their feet in. However this little cove had no running water and Sierra got a leech on her. I didn't get a picture as it was very traumatic for her. Thankfully we had salt with us and we were able to get it off quickly.

From across the lake I saw a turtle crawling out of the woods towards the lake. It looked like it's shell was close to a foot in diameter from where I stood. I let out a squeal, raced around the road to get to where I saw him and he was gone. There was only a small trail of over turned rocks left to show that anything was there at all. I was sad to not get a picture but it was so exciting to see him at all.

Upon returning home I did a bit of research and I think it might have been a Blandings Turtle as his shell looked big and rounded from across the lake. The other possibilities due to it's size would be a Snapping Turtle or a Wood Turtle but I was too far away to know for sure. My gut with the shape of it's shell and size even from a distance makes me believe it was a Blandings Turtle.

While we were over on the other side of the lake Sierra and Charlie had fun exploring.

 Charlie found the remains of a fish and thought this fin cartilage was very interesting.

They also spotted a beautiful wild Iris.

Our camp site from across the lake as Ian and Mark get the tent set up.

This space is just off the road but there was hardly any traffic. Part of this logging road is still used but we didn't have any logging trucks pass us where we were camping.

After the sun came out we could barely keep everyone out of the water all weekend! Here is how we enjoyed the lakes and the river while camping here. Due to the close proximity of the current the kids all had to wear their life jackets even when just throwing rocks from the shore to be safe.

Pretending to surf... 

 

 There was sliding down rocks on a natural water slide...

and getting dunked in currents by uncles...

 riding on whales...

 wading in near the shore...

Warming up and jumping back in again...

There was cliff jumping...

and cliff jumping watchers from the sidelines...

With silly poses and silly faces.

 There was swimming...

 and riding the currents down river...

 Ian even managed to go downstream and saved his coffee! A true Canadian!

 There was also a lot of rock climbing during our time here.

Charlie and Kali

Aayla the Mountain Goat

There was more fishing

Sierra caught a little fish too and kept him close by for a couple hours before letting him go.

 and canoe rides...

Aayla loves the canoe and wants to get a small paddle of her own.

 There was of course more fishing out on the canoe too... The lakes were so peaceful and beautiful to canoe around in.

 With fishing come fish tales...see the fish below? It was almost lunch for a Pickerel. Ian caught it and had it attached to a line in the water to keep it fresh when a large Pickerel came up and swallowed it hole. Ian said it was the biggest one he has ever seen! See the white line behind the gills where it bit. Ian spent the rest of the weekend trying to catch that Pickerel but he ended up being... the one that got away.

He did catch a couple other fish and we cooked it (and all our camping meals) over the camp fire.

The guys were happy to get in some target practice.

There were many beautiful sunsets... none with a lot of colour but the sun rays were beautiful to watch set behind the tree line every night.

There were lots of rocks thrown into the river...and a few sticks too...

We saw so many dragonflies. Every night they flew continually around the fire at dusk. We did see them throughout the day as well. Here are some of the varieties we saw:

We saw many other creatures as well

This Northern Watersnake scared the life out of me. I almost stepped on it as I was out taking some pictures. I managed to snap a couple before it slithered away.

The girls found a couple of little American Toads and set them up a little habitat to watch them while we were camping.

 Charlie even tried to kiss one to see if it was a prince...no luck though.

 The Eastern Dobsonfly was a first for me. It was such a weird and wacky creature. It looked almost prehistoric. I had to research this guy to find out what he was. It turns out he was a she and she can inflict a painful bite. Lucky for me, since I was the one handling her quite a bit, she did not bite me. We found this as one of the kids awoke screaming. It was in the tent on his pillow and he was terrified. I picked it up and brought it out of the tent so we could investigate him (or rather her) a little.

Female Eastern Dobsonfly

It's body was about 3" long but it's wingspan was closer to 5" so seeing this on your pillow I think would freak out almost anyone.

Wingspan of the female Eastern Dobsonfly

Some prettier sights were the White Admiral butterflies. I thought we were seeing different butterflies around the camp on different days but after seeing the pictures I realized all my pictures are of this one butterfly. We did see Swallowtails, Monarchs and other butterflies but none that I could get close enough to for a decent shot. We also saw a deer jump across the road while driving, and a grouse or partridge family but while driving I couldn't get a picture.

I have never seen a caterpillar like this one before either. I thought he was beautiful and I loved his suction cup feet. However after researching to try to find out what type of caterpillar he was I learned he was a Gypsy Moth caterpillar and are an invading species to Ontario and possibly should have been destroyed.

We saw many of these all over the rocks. I believe they are what dragonflies emerge from when they hatch to fly.

We learned a great camping trick when a friend of Marks joined us on the second day. She brought us a Take Ten pack from Tim Hortons and what we didn't drink the first day we warmed up in a pot over the fire the next morning... the perfect camping trick! Thanks again Charlene!

One of Aaylas favourite thing to do while camping was either drive the truck

or sit in the back as we went to gather firewood, or run to town. She had a blast out there signing songs at the top of her lungs.

 Sierra preferred to ride inside the truck.

So as you can see we really enjoyed our first tent camping trip and hope to do many more this summer. Trailer camping is wayyyyy easier with kids but I think we will manage just fine.

We also took a hike at French River Provincial park which you can see HERE.

My Top Five

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” -Lao Tzu

So we have spent the last two years selling our house in BC, moving to Ontario, fixing up a three season cottage to be a year round home (see that process HERE), and now have decided to sell it.

Our hope was to have our Ontario residence as a home base and travel in the winter but it hasn't worked out. The first winter we couldn't travel as we weren't allowed to leave the province for more than 30 days until we were residents for 6 months for our health care. The second winter we were still doing renovations and that second winter was brutal! So brutal in fact, we decided we can't bare to stay here another winter and listed the house for sale this Spring.

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart" - Confucius

Selling leaves us with another choice...move back to BC to have a warmer winter home base for years when we can not travel for what ever reason or say to heck with a brick and motor house and just live life on the road. We home school our girls now so it wouldn't really affect them until later years and now would be as good as any of a time to try it. We loved our 4 1/2 month Maiden Voyage in 2011 and the travel bug is chattering away in my ear so I have been reminiscing about past travels and thinking about where we would go if we did hit the road this fall.

"I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it." - Rosalia de Castro

While reminiscing I stumbled upon THIS post entitled 'My Top Five' and since my thoughts seem to be all about past travels  lately I thought I'd do up my own top five list and continue down memory lane.

My top five places I have been to but want to go back to again are:

1) Assateague National Seashore (see our visit HERE):

me and my girls in front of a wild pony and her foal at Assateague National Seashore

I grew up reading the Marguerite Henry's books including Misty of Chincoteague and have always wanted to visit here since I was a child. We got to spend a few hours here one after noon as the camping spaces were all filled up. Since we normally boondock I had no idea you had to book so far in advance for a campsite.

Someday I will go back here again and I will capture more beautiful memories of these wonderful horses. My girls loved being able to be so close to them as well as they (and we) walked through the park. Hopefully when we have more time we may even get to see some on the beach.

2) Sedona (and nearby areas), Arizona (See my post HERE):

Both my husband and I loved Sedona. We loved the red rocks against the blue sky and there was really just something magical about the area.

Who wouldn't love camping for FREE near HERE.

Our actual camping spot had this same view in the background but looked more like this below from our vantage point.

Our girls were very young when we were there and we hope to do some exploring and hiking in and around Sedona the next time, now that they are older.

We did explore the Palatki Ruins and Slide Rock State Park nearby while in Sedona.

We also boondocked HERE which is still in the Coconino National Forest and is about 20-30 minutes (if my memory serves me correctly) away from Sedona but in the opposite direction (in case you don't want to take the back mountain entrance to get to the above mentioned camping place). We had no idea we were as close as we were, or we might have just stayed here. I am glad though that we got to see both places.

From here we visited Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well.

Sedona is one area I could spend a lot of time in walking more trails and soaking in all those beautiful red rock formations.

3) Goblin State Park (see my post HERE)
This was my children's favourite part of our trip I think. Sierra actually talks about it more than even visiting Walt Disney World.

They loved being able to climb on, over and through all the rock formations.

 I loved the camping area we boondocked at just a few minutes up the road and I'd love to go back and explore some of the trails I know are nearby.

5) Moab Area...we boondocked HERE.

I was able to do Delicate Arch quickly one night (it's at the end of the Goblin State park post above)

I had Aayla with me and it was windy and the trail was tricky carrying her part way so I left just before the sun set for both of our safety. I would love to go back again someday and stay for a full sunset.

The next day we all went to Arches National Park and did a little hiking but now that our girls are older I would love to go back and explore some more.

I also only did  a drive by for Canyonlands National Park as it was a rainy grey day and the girls were not interested in getting out of the truck this time so although we were here...I don't really feel like I was there!

5) The islands of Hawaii...I wasn't blogging when we went to Hawaii but it was amazing! We stayed in Oahu and travelled only this one island but loved each and every minute here. We rented a car as I knew I wanted to see as much of the island as we could...as many of these wonderful beaches as possible.

We stayed in Waikiki and had a good view of Diamond Head.

I Loved Hanuama Bay Nature Preserve

 We were able to see a couple sea turtles while snorkelling here.

We also got to see a couple sea turtles on turtle beach on the top of the island. I actually drove there twice as the first day there were no turtles present. I thought maybe I had my directions wrong. On our next try we saw three turtles in total. There are always people there guarding the turtles to make sure no one hurts them but you can get to within about 15 feet of them.

The Polynesian Cultural Centre was a lot of fun and the girls loved their outfits!

We tried swimming with dolphins and enjoyed the aquarium at Sea Life Park.

I hiked with the girls to Makapu`u Point Lighthouse... no one else wanted to go but I was determined...people thought I was crazy pushing a stroller up most of this trail with two young kids in it but it was oh so worth it!

Someday I will get back to these beaches... so my sand and surf loving girls and I can make some more glorious memories. Hopefully daddy will be able to join us longer too as at the time he could only meet us there for a couple days due to his work and we went with some friends instead for this trip.

Hawaii has some very beautiful sunsets too...

An expensive place to travel but one trip I loved and know I have to go back someday...if only we could get there by RV :)


As well here are 5 places on my bucket list...all involve places I want to capture in photos

1) I want to visit Stonehenge...someday and all the beautiful castles in that part of the world.

2) The Wave- one day I would love to win the lotto to be permitted to visit the Wave.

3) Zion National Park- we were short of time on our travels when wevisited the Grand Canyon (we boondocked HERE) and Bryce Canyon but skipped by Zion because our RV Truck combination is too long to go through the Carmel tunnel. Next time we are in the area we will be sure to allow more time to disconnect and explore. Yes it will be a bit extra gas to do a loop around to pick up the trailer but from everything I have read, every photo I have seen I know I have to visit here someday.

4) Joshua Tree National Park We haven't spent a lot of time in California and if we move back to the West coast that will definitely be easier to do. I hear so many mentions on other blogs about Joshua Tree that I can hardly wait to go.

5) Anywhere and everywhere else we haven't been...

What are your top five's? Care to share?

Inspirational Quotes and Travel Photos

This morning I read an article called 9 Truths you should know by now that I found very inspirational.

I loved the first quote in it so much that it sent me on a search of my photos of our travels looking for one picture in particular...a picture of a heart shaped cactus. This quote immediately made me think of this picture because the heart shaped cactus full of love, warmth and goodness is covered in a prickly lesson. I made it and shared it on the facebook page for my other blog Imagination Station.

After I posted the above photo I continued looking through photos and reminiscing about past travels. As I searched through the pictures other quotes popped into my head and well I got a bit carried away creating inspirational quote pictures...

All this is good timing though as this week is National Park Week in the States and I so wish we were close to a National Park so we could visit instead of just reminisce.

I will add a link to show you where each picture came from in case you want to see other photos from the places shown.

Arches National Park...see my post HERE.

There are more photos from my hike to Delicate Arch shown above HERE  which also is the post for Goblin State Park where the photo below is from.

Bryce Canyon National park... my posts HERE and HERE.

Grand Canyon National Park...my posts HERE.

There are more Grand Canyon pics HERE as well as the post for Horseshoe Bend pictured below.

Canyonlands National Park was rainy and wet when we visited (see HERE)but still beautiful.

This sunset at Rockhound State park was one of my favourite sunsets ever and somehow I didn't even post a picture of it except in the review I did  HERE. That is the problem with taking so many pictures...you never make use of them all.

I Loved our time spent at Assateague Island National Seashore and seeing all the wild horses. Lots more pictures HERE. This is a place I will spend more time at the next time we are in the area.

The beautiful red beaches at North Rustico Beach in the PEI National Park can be seen HERE.

The lushness on this trail at Clam Harbour Beach Park in NS was magical... post found HERE.

We loved snorkling with the manatees with Birds Underwater Tours in Florida...HERE.

and this last picture came from us trying to get a bit of reprieve from the heat at Amistad National recreation Area...see HERE.

See all the above mentioned National Parks we visited HERE plus lots more posts of other National Parks we visited! If you live near a US National Park don't forget this is National Parks week...find out more info HERE.

Do you travel with kids?

Do you travel with kids?

I just came across this wonderful post with links to 12 AWESOME family travel blogs. I'm only familiar with two of them:

The Ticknor Tribe

Gone With The Family

You can also check out Gone With the Family on facebook HERE.

and LoVe them both so I am looking forward to exploring the others in greater detail. If you travel with kids I recommend having a look...

Check all 12 blogs out HERE!