Bruce Peninsula Adventure
Jun 04, 2010 | 3 CommentsSo one of my favorite things to do when the weather starts getting nice is going out with Mike (the hubby) on little road trips to escape the city, explore, and enjoy some scenery while documenting with my camera along the way :)
The forecast for May’s long weekend was insanely good this year so I decided we really should go on a trip (my sanity was demanding an escape). A few years back over the Easter long weekend we took a drive up the Bruce Peninsula to Tobermory & back and i’ve been itching to go back since. We decided on a 2 day excursion spending one night in Tobermory and then camping for a night at Inverhuron Provincial Park on Lake Huron.
We departed on Sunday with the first destination being a little hike just outside of Wiarton (close to Owen Sound on Georgian Bay) to check out “Skinner’s Bluff”.
I recently bought a book “Paddling & Hiking the Georgian Bay Coast” by Kas Stone so I could find some specific places of interest to check out. It mentioned an access point to the Bruce Trail off of Colpoy’s Range Road that leads to some amazing lookouts on top of the bluffs. So we pull up to it off of Cole’s side road and it is a TINY little dirt road with a sign stating that this road is NOT maintained… a few dudes on atv’s are coming down so we wait for them to get off the road and then proceed. The road is so bumpy and rocky we fear for our poor little white minivan… we are driving so slow and praying that no other vehicles approach cause getting by each other seems like it would be impossible. Then the lake-sized puddles… oh god…. I grumbled something about turning back (although probably wouldn’t have even been possible) but we crossed fingers that they weren’t overly deep and pressed through. Eventually we saw another guy with an atv (obviously the smart thing to get around on back here) and we stopped to ask if he knew of the Bruce Trail entry. He assured us it was only a little ways ahead and we couldn’t miss it. THANK GOD. Eventually ahead we see a couple other cars parked at the side of the road (which at this point seems to have broadened a bit). We pull over and take a moment *breathe*, get out and check the tires… all good! Then I look over to see 2 very adorable horses standing up against the fence waiting to greet us.
We went over to say hi and they were SO friendly and cute! The one was pawing at the fence like he wanted to come out to hang with us. Awwww, I wanted so badly to take them home! After saying goodbye to the horses we slathered ourselves in some bug spray, grabbed a bottle of water and made our way through the trail.
Being late in May, I was very paranoid about encountering blackflies (horrid horrid things, why do they exist???) but there was virtually NO bugs! It was great. It didn’t take long before we arrived at the first lookout point. There was actually a bit of a rift of a couple feet or so from the land to the cliff that peeks out from the forest into the open vista. Mike was brave enough to make the jump… I was too chicken, it was a LONG drop and wasn’t taking any chances. So he hopped back over and we proceeded over to the next. Once I finally got to take a look, OMG! So gorgeous!
There were quite a few other lookouts along the trail, here are just a few:
Eventually we caught the side trail which loops bringing us back to little dirt road where our van and cooler full of cold drinks was waiting for us :) Worth the sketchy drive? Yes! As we continued on, we were relieved that the second half of this road wasn’t half as treacherous. If anyone out there reading this decides to go check it out be sure to enter on the west side off of Centre road and you’ll be better off! ;)
As we turn onto Centre rd, we notice a pretty big creature lurking at the side of the road in some tall grass - it’s an incredibly large wild turkey!
We pull over beside it to get a closer look and it takes off running down this side road… I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a turkey run before but it’s it’s PRETTY FUNNY. Or at least we thought it was… Mike decided to pull up behind and follow him a bit and the guy is just running like mad straight down the road. He could have vanished off into the forest at the side of the road but NOPE, the dude just ran. You really had to be there, it was pretty hilarious…! But anyhow, we felt bad after a bit and stopped so the little bugger could catch his breath. Eventually he stopped and crossed the road finally disappearing into some tall grass. Silly, yummy turkey! HA. (ps. There is some video footage at the bottom of this post where you can see him in action!)
So after that, the journey continued onward to Tobermory where we had a LUXURY room (with King Sized bed & Jacuzzi tub, BOOYA!) booked at the Bruce Anchor Motel. I would highly recommend this place to anyone venturing into Tobermory. Great rates, very clean lovely room + lots of little perks such as pavilion with microwave, toasters, kettle etc + free ice & coffee!
After checking in and having some dinner we decided to stroll around, check the place out and catch one of their famous sunsets.
The Chi-Cheemaun Ferry
Mike scoping out the sunset over the marina.
Moi!
After strolling along the harbour we found a great spot to sit by the water so we could watch the sun go down. You can see the Chi-Cheemaun (where we started on our walk) in the distance.
You can’t really tell from the photos, but Tobermory was definitely MUCH more happening compared to when we were here over the Easter weekend years ago. It was pretty desolate then, but today there were lots of people walking about enjoying the weather and eating ice cream :)
The next day, one of the options on the “to-do” was taking a boat over to check out Flower Pot Island, however the ticket price of $35 per person wasn’t really in the budget so we decided to save it for another time. We were also eager to hit the beach so instead we decided to just make our way to the campsite at Inverhuron.
I had read some really beaming reviews about this campground saying that the sites are on bluffs, you can hear the water from your campsite and best sunsets ever etc etc. So after having really high expectations I have to say that while I found it to be nice, I was hoping for something a little more. There might have a been a few sites that were closer to the water but this wasn’t the case with ours. Same with the “bluffs” that the sites were on… bluffs? not so much, esp compared to what we saw at Skinner’s. Whoever wrote that review might have been exaggerating a smidge ;) One sort of odd / unsettling thing about this park is that there is a Nuclear Power Plant very close by (you can see it clearly on one of the beaches). There are 2 beaches, one very rocky one and the nice sandy one. After we arrived and set up our tent we drove over to the sandy beach. It was REALLY hot & sunny out. Not much of a breeze at all. The water was a little bit sludgy at the shoreline, my guess was because of the warm weather and lack of wind. Mike and I decided to try out the water, and after standing in at my waist for a bit I couldn’t help but notice a bit of a film on the top of the water, and a lot of tiny little dead bugs…. :-/ Wonder if the power plant had anything to do with that? We didn’t stay in for too long. :(
That evening we went to go check out the other beach (the rocky one with the view of the plant).
We ended up hanging out long enough to catch another fabulous sunset :)
The next morning we awoke to the sounds of birds. Lots and lots of birds. I kind of liked it :) We could feel the tent starting to get warm so pulled our butts outta bed to make some yummy camp breakie. AND THEN… the heat came. Lots and lots of heat. It might have been nice had there been some wind. Just a bit? A slight breeze even? But it was incredibly still. After we ate we had sort of planned to hang out there for the day, however with the unbearable heat and the buggy film on the water, the whole thing just wasn’t really appealing so we packed up (oh the sweat, ick) and got the f outta there in search of a breeze.
We hopped back in van and pressed south along the Lake Huron shoreline. We decided to check out this lighthouse in Point Clark.
Since our provincial park pass was still good for the day and all prov parks we thought we’d scope out Point Farms in hopes that maybe the beach there would be nicer. IT WAS. We showed up there and the place was pretty barren (it was a Tuesday after long weekend). There was just one older couple sitting at a picnic table. We walked up to check out the water. In some spots there was still a bit of the green sea scum, but there was no eerie dead bug film here! We found a nice spot, set up beach blanket and eventually ended up having the whole beach to ourselves. The temperature was PERFECT, warm & sunny with the perfect amount of breeze :) We played some frisbee in the water, collected some nice rocks for my garden at home, relaxed in the sun but eventually had to say goodbye and start heading home. We stopped in Goderich (which according to their sign is “Canada’s prettiest town”) for some pizza on the way. It was quite nice, if i’m ever there again def wouldn’t mind walking around to explore a bit more. After the pizza we booted it home.
Overall it was a great couple days out of the city, and I definitely felt like I regained some sanity. I hope to explore more of the Bruce in the near future! :)
Bruce Peninsula Adventure - May 2010 from Stephanie Bell on Vimeo.
You can see more photos on Flickr HERE - http://www.flickr.com/photos/emerging/sets/72157624204607488/
posted by: S. Bell | categories: Photography • Placescurrently listening to: Junior Boys
Comments
P.S. Just read you were in Colpoys bay as well. That’s where my Dad lives (retired and moved up there 6 years ago). Jay and I were there on the May long weekend. So nice! I went running along the bay up there every day! So nice! ;)
Posted by staceyziebarth • from Hamilton • Jun 07, 2010Awesome work Steph!
Posted by Alicia Jury • Jan 21, 2011
Hey Steph! My second home is up in Point Clark! That’s where my grandparents are from and when they passed away my Aunt bought their house. So we still head up there every year. It’s so beautiful! The beaches used to be nicer, but are now more rocky and slimmy in parts. Beautiful sunsets for sure! Walking down to the beach at night with my grandparents was one of our favorite things to do. Then we’d grab and ice cream cone and stroll home to play Eucre before bed. ;)
Posted by Stacey Ziebarth • from Hamilton • Jun 07, 2010 • http://www.studiozeepilates.comGlad you had a great time up North!