On the Orchid Trail

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This very well could be the end of the earth. What was expected to be a four hour drive took nearly seven and by the time we arrived at Bruce Peninsula National Park we weren’t thinking about the geologic significance, the new ecological zone we’d entered or about how we were going to set up for our first night camping. All we were concerned with was standing up.

It’s not that the drive along Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment wasn’t scenic, it was just so long and speed limits in Canada are relatively slow compared with what we drive in the states (80km/hr is the equivalent of 50mph!). The Niagara Escarpment runs from Rochester, NY northward through Ontario and up along the Bruce Peninsula. In 1990, UNESCO named the Niagara Escarpment a World Biosphere Reserve, internationally recognizing it as an important and unique ecosystem (other World Biosphere Reserves include Mammoth Cave, which we went too early this summer and of course the best known is in the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador). We’d planned on taking several hikes in the area to explore this land of geological diversity but for now all that would have to wait. We had a camp to set up.

Our first time setting up camp took 40 minutes, and I have a feeling we will get more efficient as the summer wears on. Though I’d tried to pack the car in such a way that made the most use of space and ease of unloading, we’ve already made some major changes to the way the car is packed which I think will serve us well in the long run. After Andras takes the bikes off the car, I find a suitable spot to lock them up while he gets to un-loading the tarp and tent. While he gets the tent started, I unload the rest of the trunk of bedding and get the kitchen set up. Once the tent has been propped up, I go inside to set up the bed while he works on the rain fly and gets the fire going. All in all, it’s a pretty easy process.

One of the things that attracted us to Bruce Peninsula was the wide variety of orchids which grow naturally in the forests. This weekend is the Orchid Festival in Tobermory, but we will be leaving the morning that it starts. None-the-less, timing our arrival around the orchid festival guaranteed that at least some would be blooming for our enjoyment, and blooming are they ever! Before we’d even gotten to our camp site we were already admiring the clusters of bright yellow lady-slippers and fuchsia rose-orchids along the road leading into the park. A patch of Calypso orchids have been spotted near the visitor center in Tobermory and grow wild on the Flower-Pot Islands off the shore in Five Fathoms NP. Hopefully we’ll get up to see those. Anytime we’re out on the trail our eyes are focused out onto the forest floor, hoping to spot a patch of color signaling another new discovery. Of the ten or so that bloom this time of year on the Peninsula as a whole, we’ve seen two here in the park so far.

We wake up the next morning to the early calls of birds, the rustling of leaves and the sun peaking its way in between the trees. Today we’re planning on hiking out to the Georgian Bay and hike a little along Bruce Trail. The hike doesn’t take a long as expected and within no time we find ourselves walking along the ridges of limestone cliffs that give way to endless expanse of water. Down below, the shore is covered with ‘Tobermory sand’, the name given to the smooth white rocks responsible for the water clear, turquoise appearance. We had planned to have lunch on the beach, but it’s still early so we take the Marr Lake Trail back to camp and plan the rest of our day’s activities. We decide to ride our bikes to the other shore of the Peninsula to see the insectivorous plants that grow along Singing Sands. It’s a four mile ride. We havn’t ridden our bikes at all this trip, and truth be told it’ll be the first time I ride my bike anywhere off campus. Once at Singing Sands, we opt for the one trail through the park. Somehow, we will manage to take the wrong way and after walking for a good hour end up near Highway 6. Apparently we took an old service road and missed the trail right at the start! As we’re walking back to find the trailhead, I see Andras suddenly jump up in the air and high-step around. I wonder what he’s doing until I somewhere wet presses up against my leg and I join him in shrieks of surprise. It’s a leopard frog, probably just as scared of us and we were of it. Once we realized what it is, it’s a rather neat sight. Back at the trailhead we take the one 3km trail that circles through the forests and back along the alverts on the shore, areas where depressions in the rock flood during the spring and give rise to a temporary new ecosystem. Today, however, the sun beats down and they are mostly dried up. We’ve been out and about nearly all day and we’re getting fairly tired, so we head back to camp. As soon as we light the fire, we’re greeted with the grating call of our friendly neighborhood camp-robber, the red squirrel. The way we see it, the first call means “They’re back and they have food! Let’s eat it!” and then call they give when we leave means “They’re leaving and they have food! Let’s eat it!” I’ve never seen a squirrel as precocious as this little fellow. He has no qualms about coming right up to our toes, hopping on the picnic table while we’re there to see what we have. At first it was cute, now it’s a little annoying. Andras through throwing some pinecones at it would scare it away, but instead it thinks we’re giving in the pinecone and it goes and chases it down. Ah well, I’m sure it won’t be the last little critter have around camp.

It’s interesting that even out here I’m still having to consciously throttle back. My mind still wanders to things that I could do. I could read another chapter of the book. I could do the budget. I could collect data on how long it takes us to set up the campsite. I could inventory the food. So used to the “go, go, go!” now there is no going, I’m already here. This is why we came here—to slow down, and throttle back—so I suppose it’s expected that on the first day of camping (because really the last few days have still be ‘go, see, do!’) I’m still having difficulty adjusting to the pace. Always on the go, I guess life easily passes you by. We came to avoid the stress and pressure that was always imposed from such external or internal obligation so that we could just ….
enjoy life. Hopefully we’re on the right track.

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Photos

Georgian Bay
On the Bruce Trail

Pitcher Plant
One of the insectiverous plants at Singing Sands. That fly better be careful.

Dwarf Lake Iris
A rare species that grows only on the peninsula

Our Tent, Our Home
It's pretty cozy inside!