Doug paddling. At least he's in his kayak. Ted thinking about paddling and perhaps getting in his kayak.

Another Excellent Georgian Bay Adventure with Ted and Doug

George Lake Killarney Provincial Park. A pretty watersnake hiding trying to keep out everyone's way. As it's about an 8 hour drive from Ottawa to Killarney, Doug and I thought that spending our first 2 nights at Killarney Provincial Park would be a good idea. We arrived mid-afternoon, got our camp setup and went for a hike to a spot overlooking George Lake. The next day was a nice quiet paddle around George Lake looking at the rock out-croppings and the odd paddle-in campsite.

2 Days on Fossil Island

Our little camp. Much more typical shoreline For the first hour of our paddle the islands closest to the put-in had lots of canoes, kayaks and tents. However, as we left the area, we also left all of the other tents and kayaks behind us. After a quiet little 2.5 hour paddle, we got to the little island that we were aiming for. Not much by way of a campsite so I camped on a bed of loose rocks while Doug managed to find a smallish but suitable flat granite pad for his tent.
We decided to call the island Fossil Island as our 'beach' was littered with large amounts of small rocks full of tiny fossils. There were several places just off-shore where the Ordovician sedimentary layer was in full view. What a great time fossil hunting in the water even if the water was freezing. Note to self: always use a flash when taking photos underwater. Doug had a capacinno laced with spiced rum waiting for me when I got out of the water. Now that's a buddy worth tripping with!

A nice bay for lunch but zero shade. Looking north after my hike to the top of the island. Day two was looking around and hiking up our Fossil Island and then an lazy 6km paddle up to West Desjardin Bay for some fun gunkholing. This bay was sufficiently interesting that we decided to pull camp and move up to one of its many islands.

What a georgeous way to wake up before leaving Fossil Island. Until next time! The sunrise changed so quickly. It was only 4 minutes between those 3 photos.

2 Days West Desjardin Bay

My new Marmot tent. Glacial finger-like scars. It was a great early morning paddle looking for a suitable campsite in the bay. The clouds were quite dramatic. Great towering thunder clouds in the north that kept moving and changing quickly. Wispy clouds to the south. This kept us guessing if the weather would play nice or get nasty. We finally found an island that had some great flat granite pans for pitching the tents, a safe spot for the kayaks and even a tree for shade. Perfect.

Nature painting using water erosion over glacial carved granite. Nature painting using water erosion over glacial carved granite. The afternoon was spent gunkholing and admiring more very unique rock formations. Some looked like surrealistic paintings; others like machine made gouges in the rock.

Nature painting using volcanic flows. Nature painting using volcanic flows. The day was spent gunkholing and admiring more very unique rock formations. Some looked like surrealistic paintings; others like machine-made gouges. I kept seeing strange animals in some of these 'paintings'. Perhaps it's just me.

Doug with his expensive camera in hand and slippery rocks underfoot. Day two on our little island was spent looking around West Desjardin Bay. Goodle Maps shows a Parker Landing but I sure didn't see any signs of it. Doug tried to get to the far side of the island with his camera but with no success. Having a waterproof camera, I managed to get through all four water/rock courses but only because Doug promised me his mickey of spiced rum if I could.

Running the storm. Finally ashore at our last campsite. Every day my daughter, Michelle, would text the local up-to-date weather report to me. For tomorrow she said thunderstorms and rain. Thank goodness, as even though the morning's weather was only overcast, Doug and I got into our wet-weather gear and decided on a route that would keep us close to accessible islands in case of lightning. Being in open water while sticking 240cm (8 foot) long carbon paddles up into the air is down right dangerous and definitely not smart. Thank goodness for her update as just after getting on the water we heard thunder. I have a 60 second rule - less than 60 seconds between lightning and thunder and I get to shore. We managed to island hop to our last campsite but it took quite a while as I spent most of my time counting rather than paddling.

clouds. Our great Le Hayes campsite. On our last day before heading home, nature painted the most beautiful picture with clouds.

A watersnake who had just eaten a large fish. I had no idea that tongues were that forked or that beautiful. A water snake that has just eaten a rather large fish. We had to be careful as a snake that is disturbed while swallowing a meal can regurgitate and hurt itself. It also needs to be left alone in sufficient warmth to digest its meal so that the meal doesn't rot in its stomach. A garter snake that was hunting along the shoreline. Isn't that tongue beautiful!