Cross Canada and Back, Part 56

Orillia, Muskoka and Georgian Bay National Park

5th to 8th of September 2011, days 113 to 116

Labour Day Monday

Today we left the Niagara area and traveled north to Orillia on Lake Simcoe in the Lake Country. This is a wonderful part of Ontario. The traffic was heavy, it moved sometimes slow, but we had no problems driving through Hamilton and Toronto.

Leaving Niagara on the Lake

The traffic on the opposite side into Toronto was very slow.

Around Barrie they were crawling along. That would be a long drive back to Toronto.

We went camping at Hammock Harbour in Orillia, Ontario just off Hwy 12 on Lake Simcoe. It is a nice place. Lots of seasonal RV'ers here.

The temperatures are quite low, around 13 degree C. We settled in, and met some neighbours.

Our camp at night

One couple was from Smitters, BC. on a cross-

country tour just like us.

Stephen Leacock

Stephen Leacock

Stephen Leacock Summer Residence

The next day we visit Orillia and the Stephen Leacock Museum (a Canadian author).

His summer home is on a beautiful piece of property in Orillia.

 It could certainly inspire someone to write. Natalie ( Anders' niece)  was shooting a pilot at the same time of Leacock's " Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town". "  One of Leacock's saying:

 "I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work , the more luck I have."  

Stephen Leacock was a writer, an educator, a bon vivant, and he used already recycled materials in 1928 to build his beautiful summer home.

Check out the Stephen Leacock Museum.

More pictures from the Stephen Leacock residence at our web album.

Orillia is a quaint little town. Most schools seam to be private schools.

We wandered around and shopped for some food, went for coffee, looked into the library and the post office.

Muskoka

Lake with cottages

On September 7th we decided to drive up to the Muskoka Lake District. Muskoka is in the Canadian Shield, millions of years old.

It is very rocky and mostly unsuitable for farming, but great for recreation, boating and fishing.

Every inlet, cove, lake and river front is full of cottages ( BIG summer Homes ) and float homes.

It is only about 2 hours drive from Toronto. It is here where the rich and famous and the old money vacations.

When we were there it looked very peaceful and not too busy, but I am sure that in high summer it will be different.

A bit further north on the shores of Lake Rousseau is the little town of Rousseau.

Lake Rousseau

Rousseau General Store

Many other towns and villages we visited in this area are very quaint, but with a stiff Toronto upper lip.

Prices are high and the store owners rather not friendly.

One big exception was the General Store in Rousseau. It is there since 1875.

We visited, it looks , smells and feels like times passed by. It is a living museum.

We bought pasta, olives and bread, what else would one need, well maybe a bottle of wine.

For more pictures from this part of the drive, have a look at our web album.

Georgian Bay Islands National Park of Canada

Georgian Bay Island National Park of Canada

John and Liz. John is a super nice Park Warden

September 8th we drove to Lock 45 to Severn Falls, and continued to Honey Harbour. Our plan was to take to Day-tripper boat out to Georgian Bay Islands National Park.

We met John, the park warden. He was super nice, he was also the captain of the Day-tripper boat.

The only way to access the park is by boat and there are 63 islands as part of the park.

The Georgian Bay is the world’s largest freshwater archipelago with 30,000 islands. Amazing!

John took us to Beausoleil Island. Within 20 minutes we were there, then you are on your own.

Anders and I decided to hike from Chimney Bay the Fairy Trail to Honeymoon Bay.

So nice out here

Baby rattler

Life is good

Liz cooling off her feet

We walked over sheer rock faces of the Canadian Shield, through happy forests, and visited sandy coves, trails native people probably used over 5000 years ago.

It all looked so real and pristine. Until in one bay 2 Honda generators were powering a huge luxury yacht.

On our hike we came across bear scat ( must have been a small one ), and Anders almost stepped on a young Rattlesnake.

Later on John picked us up and took us back. Tired and happy we drove back to Orillia.

This is another one of those special places in our wonderful country, Canada.

For more pictures of Georgian Bay Island National Park, see our web album.

Here are some shortcuts to all the blogs from our Cross Canada Trip. Just hover over the number to see where it will take you

 1,    2,    3,     4,    5,    6,    7,    8,    9,   10

11,   12,  13,  14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  20

21,   22,  23,  24,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29,  29b

30,   31,  32,  33,  34,  35,  36,  37,  38,  39,

40,   41,  42,  43,  44,  45,  46,  47,  48,  49,

50,   51,  52,  53,  54,  55,  56,  57,  58,  59,

60,   61,  62,  63,  64,  65.

.