RV Journal

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Spring Break at MacGregor Point Provincial Park

Beautiful weather at MacGregor Point Provincial Park for the beginning of Spring Break. Plenty of sunshine and (would you believe) no new snowfall. With Friday being a PD Day for most schools, the park staff were busy checking everyone in. The Yurts all appeared to be filled for the weekend and a new batch of campers was arriving today with Yurt bookings for the week. Lots of "non Yurt" campsites available.

Considerable activity in the Birch Boulevard campground area. Below you will see a campsite photo of two large dogs. Saturday morning they passed our campsite in "full harness", pulling their master on cross country skis. As they passed our campsite he "wiped out" and spent 10 to 15 minutes untangling the dogs and getting them pointed once again in the right direction. Too bad the camera wasn't ready when they passed by.

The heavy snow cover has limited the movement of deer and some other animals within the Park. However, we did briefly see a Flying Squirrel on Friday night. As we arrived at our campsite Friday afternoon, Judy saw a pair of mature Bald Eagles soaring overhead.

We had hoped to be posting this blog on Saturday but the new operating system on our laptop wasn't cooperating so we had limited Internet access. Only a half dozen Winter Warrior sites occupied for the weekend. Given the substantial amount of snow in the park and no really warm weather in the forecast, some are concerned about whether the snow will all be gone by the April 15 departure date.

Lots of snow at the Summer Gatehouse

A lot of shovelling just to use the BBQ

Truck Camper on adjacent campsite

Chickadee at one of our feeders

Lots of chairs but no sign of the campers

Aforementioned pair of "sled dogs"

"Alternate hosts" campsite

Popular Boler trailer

Sunday, February 16, 2014

A Beautiful Day at MacGregor Point Provincial Park

The day began with light snowfall but mid morning the sun came out and so did the people.

At the skating oval the parking lot was full and vehicles were lined up to the entrance to Birch Boulevard. At the Visitor Centre the parking lot was also full and the skating rink was getting good use.

This afternoon we took some additional photos, including one at a nearby yurt with their Olympic logo fully lit.

A bit of perspective on just how much snow we have had.

At the skating oval.

Overflow parking at the skating oval

Day two of the "snow hut" project at site 54

Inside the snow hut

Skating rink

Lake Huron frozen over

Yurt site 60 at night

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Family Day Weekend at MacGregor Point Provincial Park

After a somewhat delayed start to our day, we had a good drive from Waterloo, arriving at the Park about 2:30 p.m. Friday. We haven't been to the Park since the weekend of January 19, primarily as a result of bad road conditions. Hence, there was a considerable accumulation of snow around the RV and a lot of shovelling required, although not much snow remained on the tarp.

This morning we had a nice breakfast at Mabel's (in Port Elgin) with friends and fellow winter campers, Maynard and Lorraine. This afternoon I did some more shovelling around the RV and climbed on the roof to dislodge some remaining snow from the tarp. I found that three "tarp supports" were broken, but with a couple new pieces of wood and some tie wraps a repair was completed.

The Yurts are all booked for the weekend but there are still some empty campsites. Late this afternoon an RV trailer pulled into a nearby site.

The skating loop appears to be getting lots of use by campers as well as day visitors to the Park. The birds are slowly returning to our campsite, now that the feeders have been filled. However, the deer, rabbits, flying squirrels etc. have noticeably been absent, likely due to the heavy accumulation of snow and the greater number of campers.

Glad we didn't leave the shovels in the storage compartments.

Our campsite post nearly buried with snow

The "snow hut" guys have returned

Stove and wood for the "snow hut"

Patriotic yurt occupants

Family activity near our campsite

Standing on a picnic table bench to shovel snow

Sunday, January 19, 2014

A Stormy Drive

Typically we leave MacGregor Point Provincial Park around 2 pm, but with snow falling and the winds picking up, we "broke camp" early at about 11 am. With the wind from the Southwest, both Concession 4 and County Road 3 were a challenge. Although it took about an extra half hour to get home to Waterloo, we can be thankful for a safe trip.

Below are a few photos Judy took on County Road 3 with her Blackberry phone.

Snow Plow North of Mildmay

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Mid January at MacGregor Pt. Provincial Park

We arrived at the Park around 3 pm yesterday. Driving on Concession 4 we almost "wiped out" as we tried to leave some extra space between us and an oncoming car. We got pulled into rather deep snow for what seemed like an endless time period but ultimately were able to get back on the road.

Most of the yurts seem to be filled but the "winter warriors" are few and only a couple of the "transient" sites appear occupied. Even the birds are scarce and we have not yet seen any deer (unusual for our site).

In spite of the heavy snowfall nearly 2 weeks ago, the tarp that covers our RV was essentially bare, although there were some big snow banks around the RV from snow that had slid from the tarp.

In addition to photos taken yesterday afternoon, we've included some pictures from our last visit between Christmas and New Year's day. Although we weren't able to get a photo, while driving on Saturday, December 29, 2013 we saw a mature Bald Eagle siting in a tree north of Port Elgin. By the time we turned around and got close enough for a good picture he decided to take flight.

Incidentally, for "up-to-the-minute" coverage of what's going on at MacGregor Point or other Ontario Provincial Parks, you may wish to follow @MacGregorPoint or @OntarioParks on your Twitter account.