We are definitely more on the glamping side of camping these days. Our friends have a trailer and generally bring along pretty much everything you’d want in a kitchen – even a sink!
After a leisurely breakfast and thorough cleanup to keep the chipmunks away (much more of a nuisance than bears in this area) we headed off for our morning paddle. We paused to enjoy the petroglyphs and then continued on to the landing spot for our waterfall hike.
Can you spot the petroglyphs? Me neither but other members insist they can and they are clearly labelled on our map as being on this rock face.
After paddling through this calm section we landed just below the waterfall and set off for a hike.
The kids and adults thoroughly enjoyed playing upstream of the waterfall. Not much current and lots of deep pools to wade and splash in. Right up until the first leech was spotted and then we were out of there.
After a busy morning the afternoon was spent in full relaxation mode.
This evening we left the kids in charge of setting up the campfire. It took a few tries but they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We decided not to count the number of matches required but they were justifiably proud of doing it all by themselves.
The gloaming
Stars
The next morning was the highlight of our trip. A hike to High Falls which is supposed to be Ontario’s only natural waterslide.
It’s a bit of a journey to get there so we pack lunch and snacks. Last year it took us almost 2.5 hours of hiking each way. Thankfully this year the children had longer legs and we were closer to 1:45.
Why am I carrying all that gear? The waterslide has a “bump” in the middle and the PFDs do an excellent job of protecting your back and preventing scrapes. If you’re just going down once, no big deal but with the children often sliding more than 20 times the extra padding is essential.
There’s a rope on the far side with a bucket attached to keep it floating which makes getting out of the water fairly easy. Watershoes or sandals are also recommended.
After chatting with some of the other people at the waterfall we heard that a major storm with tornados was forecast for that night. We were already planning to leave early the next morning so we decided to have an early dinner and pack up to save ourselves the hassle of dealing with wet gear the next day.
We had almost finished loading the car when the rumbles of thunder and lightning started. So we threw in the last few items and headed out. It was a very long drive home in the pounding rain but at least it was the middle of the week and traffic was light.
Do we intend to take our kids on more adventurous camping trips? We do, but it’s remarkably hard to find the time with all our other travels. And we are still trying to decide if we want to go with a guided tour that provides the gear or if we want to buy or rent our own… Decisions we’ll have to make this winter!