We set out as early as I could get Chris to leave the cottage. We drove through Peterborough county through big pine trees and small highways to the Petroglyphs provincial park. It was a bit confusing when we arrived where the visitor centre was to get our day pass. It was hidden and a bit of a hike from the parking lot. We eventually found it, bought our pass and did the 5.5 km Nanabush Trail which was a bit uneven terrain with some small climbs going around Minnow Lake. It felt long even though I wasn’t tired. Saw lots of hikers along the way and nice viewpoints. Only one animal spotting; a red squirrel.
After the hike, we went and visited the Glyphs, a sacred site for indigenous people. It was old rock carvings that were thought to have been carved by spiritual leaders. It was enclosed in a glass building with ventilation and condensation control equipment to make sure the carving don’t weather away.
On the way out, we stopped at McGinnis Lake, a meromictic marvel. Interesting colours because there is no sediment movement, a rare place, very few lakes like this on earth.
Since there were no lakes for swimming in this provincial park, we drove 1 km outside the park to Quarry Bay Beach on Upper Stony Lake. There were a few families at this sandy beach. It was fairly small with cottages outside of the beach area. The beach was sandy and shallow and roped off but we swam in and went a bit deeper. Today I was fairly warm from the hike and hadn’t showered for 24hours so I didn’t care what the temperature of the water was. To my surprise, again, the water was nice, maybe a tiny bit colder than yesterday.
We made it to the cottage after what felt like a very long day of driving. The cottage is okay. Looks like lots of fun stuff to do at the water but it was raining when we arrived. We have all week to try it out!