A Couple of Days in Nature

A visit to Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park

At the beginning of this week, we travelled north for a short break from the city. Our destination was a town called Huntsville, which is about a 3 hour drive from Toronto, and from there it’s just a short drive to Algonquin Provincial Park. The park is an absolute jewel and we’ve been there many times, although this was our first time visiting during the winter months. It covers an area of 7,635 square kilometres, most of it only accessible by canoe or on foot. There are forests, bogs, lakes, rivers and, usually, an abundance of wildlife. Aside from some red squirrels, a few wild turkeys and many different bird species, we didn't get to see anything exciting. The bears are still hibernating and the moose, wolves and other large creatures are deeper into the interior. Spring and Fall are the best times for spotting them.

Running horizontally through the park is a 56 kilometre stretch of highway and from that you can access a number of hiking trails and camp grounds. It was along this stretch of highway that we spent most of our time, stopping frequently to admire the views and take photos. The majority of the trails were either closed for the season or accessible only with the right equipment (which we didn’t have as long hikes deep into the woods weren’t on our agenda for this visit) but there were a few shorter trails that we were able to hike.

The weather for the first day of our visit was perfect…..10C, no windchill and blue, cloudless skies.

Snow-covered beaver lodge on a frozen lake.

The closest we came to seeing a moose.

The second day brought 14C weather but also some cloudy skies…….perfect for some black and white photography.

It felt really good to get a change of scenery and spend some time in nature. We now have a season pass for the park so you can expect some more photos in the future.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post.