Winding Down at Mew Lake

Tomorrow we will be heading for home, so today has been designated for cleaning, checking equipment and just plain relaxing.  The birds are also on their way south as we have seen as many as 50 to 60 Grackles and 15 Blue Jays cleaning up bird seed that has fallen from the feeders.  While eating lunch today we also saw a Pine Marten running through the brush between our campsite and site # 2.

We have really enjoyed our stay at Mew Lake campground in Algonquin Provincial Park.  We prefer to sleep with a bedroom window open and consequently have heard wolves howling on several occasions.  The last couple of days we have been blessed with sunshine which really brings out the fall colours.  Today has been somewhat overcast, to the dismay of visitors that are only here for the weekend.  Tomorrow`s forecast also includes some rain.

Yesterday we drove to Huntsville for lunch and took the opportunity to "scout out" suitable campsites at Arrowhead Provincial Park, sites that would accommodate our 38 ft. RV and also (with a bit of luck), possible access to satellite television with our Bell ExpressVu satellite dish. The campground is very heavily forested with Maple, White Birch and other deciduous trees so there is plenty of shade but few openings in the canopy to enable the use of a TV satellite dish.  However, white tail deer do like the area and it is not uncommon to see them near or on your campsite.  While in the park we did see three full grown deer on a path near Big East River.



Spruce Bog boardwalk



View of Spruce Bog



Algonquin Park Visitor Centre

Ruffled Grouse on access road

More Hiway #60 scenery



Heading eastward on Hwy #60

Tea Lake Dam

View from Hiway #60



View of Mew Lake from campsite #76

Mew Lake Rendezvous

Our plan was to depart from Waterloo at 9 a.m. Monday morning, destination Mew Lake camground in Algonquin Provincial Park.  However, late Sunday afternnoon we discovered a leaky coolant hose on the RV so at 7 a.m. Monday we made an unscheduled visit to Alltruck International in Kitchener who were kind enough to get us in the shop within 20 minutes.  Two hours later we were back on track and enjoyed the four to five hour trip immensely.

We have never camped at Mew Lake so were pleasantly surprised by the size of the campsites and the never ending forest of Pine trees.  Prompting this trip was a plan to rendezvous with thirteen other friends and campers on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the life of a dear friend that passed away on April 26, 2012.  The event concluded with a potluck supper at the East Beach pavillion on Lake of Two Rivers.   

Since this is also a vacation week, we spent today just relaxing and checking out the Mew Lake campground as well as the neighbouring Lake of Two Rivers campground.  Birds are everywhere and they seen to enjoy the feeders that we have placed around the campsite.

By the way, Blackberry phone reception (Bell Mobility) is excellent at Mew Lake and along the Hiway 60 corridor.



Campsite # 4



Beach Road



Relaxation on the Beach



Beach road



Blue Jays waiting their turn at the feeder

Hiway 60 scenery



More Hiway 60 scenery

 

Heading West on Hiway 60




Heading East on Hiway 60

Blue Jay Rendezvous

"Oh what I have to do for a peanut"



Chipmunk stuffing cheeks

One of many red squirrels