I read several places that the Cranberry Bog hike in Killarney brings to mind Tom Thomson’s painting The Woodland Stream, Winter. I thought, how can this be possible?—it’s not a stream and it’s not winter. But after hiking the Bog, in the pouring rain, I agree. I think it is the red rocks and life just at the surface of the water that make you think of the colours and textures in Thomson’s painting.
Now, how about another bear story. Last night after a yummy dinner of fish and chips from Herbert’s Fisheries (so we didn’t have to cook in the rain) we settled in for the night. About midnight Ray shook me ...”wake up, wake up...I think there is a bear under our canopy”. Then we remembered we had left our backpack under the canopy to dry and there was a granola bar and and orange in it. We could hear it pawing....we started to sing but it didn’t scare it away. Then we clapped our hands and it pushed against the tent and growled. There were only two other campers on our loop and one came out and started to yell —he had an air horn. We were getting pretty terrified so Ray got out the bear bangers. We stuck the banger through a slit in the tent door zipper—BANG, FLASH—a flare shot out. You could hear it all around the lake. Finally, it ran away. It was just a big fat, grouchy, racoon. Yup, basically we scared a racoon off with a bear-banger....oops😄 This morning we leave this lovely bear filled park that was so special to A.Y. Jackson, A.J. Casson, and Franklin Carmichael that they convinced the government to create it—definitely a Group of Seven Provincial Park! Tonight we will have a shower and do laundry and probably enjoy some Kawartha Dairy ice cream. Tomorrow Algonquin. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom.
15 Comments
Christine Hesch
9/30/2020 12:02:03 pm
Glad you used the bear banger to "save" yourself!
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Ray
9/30/2020 03:12:19 pm
They are very loud. It does make you feel just a little safer having them nearby.
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Diane
9/30/2020 03:13:47 pm
Hocky smokes....there was no one...and I mean no one left awake at George Lake. You could hear the sound bouncing off the rocks.
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Christine Hesch
9/30/2020 12:03:10 pm
Did you guys eat any of the wild cranberries? And did they taste good?
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Ray
9/30/2020 01:20:34 pm
We did not taste them. I read that Tom Thomson used to pick a large box full and ship them by train to Toronto to make Cranberry preserves once he was back in his shack.
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Taylor
10/7/2020 06:49:09 am
Taylor wonders why the rocks have a reddish colour?
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Diane
10/7/2020 09:42:45 am
There was a lot of red granite and it looked really red with the rain. It is like at the beach when the red rocks look more colourful.
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Chase
10/7/2020 06:49:47 am
Did the person with the airhorn know that it was only a raccoon?
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Diane
10/7/2020 09:43:45 am
No, it was so loud and growly that they thought it was a bear too until it ran away.
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Lucas
10/7/2020 06:51:04 am
Lucas wonders if there are any fish in that bog? If so, would they be good to eat?
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Diane
10/7/2020 09:55:13 am
Bogs are very acidic and low in nutrients. Cranberry Bog is technically a fen but still not great for fish. It does have insect eating plants, whirligig beetles and water striders.
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Ben
10/7/2020 06:51:48 am
Ben is wondering what type of plant life (besides the cranberries) there was in the bog?
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Diane
10/7/2020 09:53:14 am
Cranberry Bog is technically a fen as it has an In flowing stream so it isn’t as acidic as some bogs. It has sphagnum moss and water lilies.
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Brynly Cook
10/13/2020 10:33:15 am
did you guys see a lot of animals near you?
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Diane
10/13/2020 12:59:55 pm
Chipmunks, squirrels, birds and raccoons were the top four. Two bear encounters (one I didn’t actually see him but I scared him into the path of someone else), 1 lynx, 1 moose. So, really not that many over three weeks BUT two bear encounters were enough for me.
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Ray & Diane HomewoodSharing the Blessing of Travel Archives
August 2022
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