A Weekend at MacGregor Point Provincial Park

Our campsite booking at The Pinery PP expired on Friday and with the Park being fully booked for the weekend, we made an online reservation at MacGregor Point Provincial Park for Friday and Saturday nights.  The trip up Highway 21 was very enjoyable and we arrived shortly after 3 p.m.

After unhooking our towed vehicle Judy went on ahead to locate the campsite and Peter filled up the RV with fresh water. However, about halfway between the dumping station and our campsite the low air pressure warning buzzer started beeping and the air pressure dropped to the point where we feared the "spring brakes" would lock up.  Fortunately we did make it to our campsite and after setting up for the night made a trip to Port Elgin to locate someone who could work on air brakes.  We were referred to Wark Service Centre and although they were just closing for the weekend, did indicate they would be able to make any necessary repairs the following week.

Saturday morning Peter was able to locate the source of the air leak (a low air sensor switch that split in two) and did a temporary repair that allowed the air pressure to get back up to normal operating level.  However, with the low air sensor no longer working, the "buzzer" rang constantly and would have driven us nuts, not to mention being a possible safety issue.  Therefore, upon leaving the Park this afternoon we drove the RV to the service centre about 5 minutes East of Port Elgin and left it there for repairs when the service centre opens on Monday.  Aside from the inconvenience of having to drive home without the RV, we were grateful that the breakdown occurred when it did.   Had we been in the midst of a lengthy trip we could have been stranded "in the middle of nowhere" and possibly requiring a tow truck.

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Leaving The Pinery Provincial Park




Our campsite #2 in Ash Woods












Our broken RV air sensor switch



Bladder Campion near our campsite

Tiger Lily near path

Swamp Iris

Sunset on Friday evening

Photos from The Pinery

Hope you enjoy these photos we took yesterday around The Pinery Provincial Park

Visitor Centre building

One of many displays at the Visitor Centre

Canoe, Kayak, Bicycle rental centre (+ Icecream Shop)

Park store and restaurant

A colourful array of Kayaks & PFD's

Bicycle rental fleet

BEACH PHOTOS 

 

Camping at The Pinery

This is our first visit to The Pinery Provincial Park since April 2010 . . . that was a cold weekend.  Today the temperature hit 30 degrees and we had the A/C running.  "Severe thunderstorm watch was in effect for much of the afternoon and a "tornado watch" for our home area of Waterloo.

We arrived early Sunday afternoon and are leaving on Friday.  A few roads have changed around the Park store so we found it a bit confusing upon arrival.  My how the trees have grown, especially where the Park staff had previously done a "controlled burn" along the road that goes to the Burley campground.

Lots of poison ivy at the campsites.  Not a lot of birds at our campsite but we have been seeing the Tufted Titmouse and both male and female Hummingbirds.  Not much luck with our TV satellite dish although we did have satellite 82 yesterday but unable to get satellite 91.  Oh well, we'll just have to rough it with a laptop computer and two Blackberry smartphones.

Campsite 461

Humming Bird at our feeder

A pair of Turkey Vultures roosting for the night

Old Ausable Channel

Red-Spotted Purple Admiral butterfly

Beach prints

Beach scene

Sunset at the beach