When it comes to Ontario, I feel that many people may not know how beautiful it really is. Unless you are from here, or well travelled in the provience, its easy to think of Ontario as mainly Toronto, Ottawa and then some smaller cities such as St. Catherines, Kitchener-Waterloo etc.
But travel further north into our provience and beauty encountered in the wilderness is second to none.
We set out early Saturday morning armed with coffee and ready for our adventure. My good friend Ayda was awesome enough to be the only driver amongst four females (we live in the city, I am blaming the fact that I am 27 and still don't have a license on that. But I'm working on it!). We decided to travel the non-traditonal way, and avoided the highway for as long as we possibly could. After about 2 hours we ended up in the city of Peterborough. We decided to stop for a bite to eat, as well as pick up some fruits and veggies at a local farmers market. Afterwards we hit the road again.
A couple of wrong turns:
Along with a couple of pit stops, and we were finally at our destination; the youth hostel in the tiny town of Maynooth. Yes we are all dainty ladies who decided roughing it = staying at a hostel insted of camping. This hostel was lovely though, it really felt like a home. Clean bedrooms, relatively quiet, and only a 30 minute drive to Algonquin. So if you happen to decide to go up North I highly reccomend Algonquin Backpackers Hostel.
After we checked in, we decided to head up to the park for a bit, despite it being early evening. We drove into the park and eventually found a nice, secluded beach with pretty much nobody around. We swam around a bit and took in the beauty around us:
Around 10pm we decided we were all pooped and headed back to our exceptionally comfortable beds for a much needed sleep.
The next day we awoke early and went back to the park for a hike. We went along the Booth's Rock trail, a two hour hike where we encountered many sights and little critter friends. My favourite spot had to be the lookout point, a cliff which gave you an amazing view of the entire park.
It was really incredible to see all the natural beauty. To me, there is very little that compare to this. The breeze that whistles through you, the vast, endless rows of trees and the sparkling blue water. Its perfect in everyway just the way it is.
As we neared the end of the hike, we took a break near the water and encountered a new friend. Edgigi the chipmunk. He was quite the bold chipmunk as he would frequently take lots of nuts from our hands and stuff them into his cheeks.
Overall a very fun hike. After that we decided it was high time to go swimming and have a good time. We packed a lunch and other essentials for fun and spent the day at Lake Opeongo. It was a fun way to end a lovely day at Algonquin.
When we got back to our hostel, we sat on a tiny hill behind the building and watched in the distance as lightening storms ravaged the park. It was a spectacular sight, that unfortunately I did not get a picture of, but the memories of the moment remain.
The next day was our final day. We got up later than usual (thanks to our fun-filled evening) and ate an extremely delicious breakfast courtesy of our friend Feinan. She pretty much threw this together and it was amazing.
We then decided to find a place to spend the rest of our morning/early afternoon without going into the park as it costs money to stay there. We found amidst some country roads a cute little public beach. It took a bit of time though, I mean how could it not be obvious when its such a clear sign?
We waded around in the lake (decided we all didn't want to fully go swimming) as well and built some sandcastles.
Overall though, I can easily say I had an amazing weekend with some awesome ladies. I hope we can do this every summer because I'd love to relive these moments, until the time comes when I have my own country home and everyone can come visit me. :)
Photo credit: Ayda, Ana, Feinan and Melissa (me).
