We both got up early, a rare thing for Chris to be up at the same time as I am. We had made a plan to go to Charleston Lake Provincial park. It’s a 90 minute drive so I was happy to get going early. I had been looking forward to hiking the Blue Mountain trail in the park, a steep, difficult hike with amazing views. It’s highly recommended by some of my hiking friends. It was on my must-do list for this vacation.

The drive went smoothly over there and when we went into the Parks office to buy our day pass they told us the only access to the trail is by canoe. I had read the description last night and it said there was both land and canoe access. The parks staff member said that the people who owned the property at the access point asked to close that part of the trail. I had brought an extra big lunch, I rested my legs yesterday in hopes of doing a strenuous hike. I was slightly upset but got over it fast and went for the second most difficult hike, Tallow Rock Bay Trail.

The 10km trail is a loop, we went clockwise. This was a really beautiful, well marked trail. There was narrow ridges, open granite rock barrens and gorgeous view points. Even looking up at the tall trees was stunning. We met a couple who were out on a walk because they had a cottage on a near by island. They told us about the best beach in the park which was at the halfway point. I was getting hot and a swim sounded perfect. They also said the second half was a lot more difficult with steep climbs. The swim would be a good way to perk us for it. The beach was empty, small, quiet, calm and warm. There was not a single boat or cottage around us, it was probably one of the nicest lakes I’ve ever swam in. We joked about camping there so we could swim in that beach again tomorrow!

The second half of the hike was a bit more challenging but didn’t seem to tire me out. I was expecting something a lot harder and longer. We stopped for lunch at an empty campsite overlooking a viewpoint. We haven’t seen many animals on this trip. I saw a mink when I first arrived crossing the street, frogs, chipmunks, red squirrels and hawks and osprey, lots and lots of butterflies but nothing more unusual. I’ve heard some unique bird sounds.

After we finished the hike Chris wanted to swim again at another beach in the provincial park. I was hot again so I was down with it. This beach had a large sandy beach, there were 5 people and it was shallow and slightly colder then the first beach. It was okay, refreshing and nice to clean the sweat from the hike off.

I’m wrapping this blog entry early today, 9:30pm! Maybe I’ll now have time to read one of the books I brought and look to see what’s on tomorrow’s schedule. Where does the time go?