And on the 7th Day, we rested...NOT!!! Saturday September 8, 2012

Wow, 7 days have passed already!  How do we slow this bus down???

So as mentioned previously, our plan was to make today a park day.  We were successful, however I thought this meant we would just leisurely discover the park, stroll a trail or two, perhaps even squeeze in afternoon nap and late afternoon cocktails.  It sounded delicious!

Myles the Moose Gray

The morning was great, although we woke to thick fog and dampness.  In the park there was a triathlon race scheduled for today.  Although we both had our swim wear, bikes and running shoes at the ready, we were bystanders, not participants!  These athletes, of all statures and builds were true athletes in our minds!  The hills, elements (fog so thick you could not see 4 feet in front of you), and difficulty of this race must have pushed each of them to the brink of exhaustion!  I was tired just watching them!  As most of the 35+ cyclists descended the rocky terrain, Ken and I cheered from the sideline in awe.  A quick visit in the visitor centre and park store added a new family member to the Gray Household.  Most of you probably know the story of Geoff the Giraffe, a small plastic Giraffe found on the Huron Shores many years ago.  Geoff is our "Flat Stanley".  When we travel, he travels with us and we take pictures of him along our way.  As we crossed the Quebec Boarder, Ken realised Geoff was left behind.  Finding a cousin for Geoff was imperative, and today, we found him.  We'd like to introduce you to Myles!

Then we headed out for what would quickly become our mini-triathlon!

Dickson Falls

We started on Dickson Falls Trail.  For us it took about 50 minutes as we walked the well manicured boardwalks and staircases, reading trail plaques and viewing some of the most picturesque escarpments I can ever remember being on.  The colours of green moss, sound of the falls and smell of the atmosphere is something someone should figure out how to preserve in a bottle to be opened up on those stressful days back home!  As humid and wet as this environment is, pesty mosquito's and annoying insects are no where to be found!  It was absolutely one of the most enjoyable trails I have ever been on. 
Once finished we sat at a scenic view lookout over the bay and ate our packed lunch.  Fuel for the next adventure!

From there, we headed to the Wolfe Point Trail where we wanted to explore the Coppermine Trail.  First we had to cross the infamous Wolfe Point Covered bridge.  The structure of these bridges are pretty impressive.  The scenery was very picturesque once again.  Myles stood at the crosswalk and gladly had his picture taken in front of the bridge.  A couple (from Australia) saw me down on my knees taking his picture and we had to explain what I was doing.  They thought it was a neat idea!

This Coppermine Trail was tooted as one which boasted beautiful coastal views and the historical site of an old coppermine, which also had some findings of gold back in the day.  The trail map had Ken thinking the start of the trail first shared the Wolfe Beach Trail, at which point we would soon veer off to bring us to Coppermine.  The start of the trail, again was lovely...new boardwalk walk ways and stairs that descended steeply down the rock face embankment to the beach.  Or what would have been the beach if the tide wasn't out.  Keep in mind, we weren't suppose to be on this beach - WE were suppose to veer off.  We didn't!  Although the view and experience was great, the law of physics cannot be denied:  what goes straight down + of 300 feet, must go up again, and up we went in search of Coppermine Trail!  I should have counted the stairs, but that might have pushed me over the edge!

Once at the top again, we found the trail head - and for the record, I'm not talking about Trailhead Beer produced by Wellington Brewery, although that would have been perfect if they served us this before the start of our THIRD trail!


This is what we walked up
sides of mountains for?
Didn't we see this someplace else?

Coppermine Trail was marked in the brochure as a "moderate trail", and I quote, "a trail suited for ANYONE".  The writer obviously took a pass to investigate this trail.  If this was moderate, I can't imagine what the neighbouring "difficult" trail was!  It was a rough trail floor of steep, and I mean steep ravines, loose rock, bare roots and constant, in fact relentless uphill grades for the first hour and 20 minutes! Ken and I both commented it was NOT a trail for my mom, surely she would find an exposed root or loose rock and fall and break her arm, again! Two runners met us at one point, and likely they did the trail in the 1 1/2 hours the brochure said it would take, but not us, we started this horrendous trail at exactly 1:56 p.m. and emerged from the wooded edge at 4:53 p.m.  The Coppermine was a heap of rocks with the STEEPEST of embankment to a place we will never know as neither of us were willing to venture up.  The "coastal scenic views" were all of ONE, seen here which was discovered a little better than 3/4 of the way around.  I should have listened to the 9 year old boy we crossed paths with when we were about 20 minutes into the walk.  As he passed us he asked if we were just starting out and we affirmed his assumption.  Giggling he shouted back to us, "Good luck with that!"  I shouted back asking what that meant, he quickly replied, "You'll see!"  Sometimes, nine year olds are pretty insightful!  Would I walk this trail again...place your vote here...  Although we didn't "swim" in this mini-triathlon, we were soaked and looked forward to returning to camp to get cleaned up and have a few drinks with supper!

A funny thing happened after supper.  We met up with a few Guelphites!  Not just Guelphites, but a retired colleague from the library!  Small world huh?  Dana, Linda and Maggie Coulombe were quite hospitable and it was great to swap a few stories of our travels thus far.  They will stay here a few more days, but we move on tomorrow.  It would be very cool if our paths crossed again during our travels!

Oh, by the way, now that you folks can make comments, don't forget to sign off on your comments.  Here they show up as "Annonomus" and we have NO idea who the comment is coming from!

Off to have our first campfire!  Chat tomorrow!

That's "pert'near" it for us today...talk to ya tomorrow...

Ken and Tricia