Red Deer Log Cabins

Last Sunday and this Sunday.
Right now I have happy people in cabins, and camping.  Algonquin Park is full, so I am getting some overflow from there + my own campers.  Last week I had people who were abusive to me ignoring check out time.  The bathrooms are incredibly clean today.  It's funny that the woman who wrote the TripAdvisor review last week said that the bathrooms were clean last weekend, because they were a pigsty from my point of view.  I spent a lot more time bathroom checking and cleaning last weekend; the mess stopped when the unhappy people finally left.

No one has been confused about canoe rental :-)
People have spoken about the weather, but no one is afraid.  There is rain in the forecast. There was dew this morning though, so it likely won't happen.  15 minutes of rain would double the size of the blueberries.  The crop is lush, but they area little on the small side. More raspberries ripening every day.
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There is a contest and entry form on this website.  Only a couple of people have entered.  Only one has entered numerous times.  That one has won the prize of a half day canoe rental.  Yay!  (confetti, horns)  Perseverence has it's rewards.
You can enter too.  Part of the contest is finding the entry form here  on the site.  

It is raining here. 
I know that is disappointing to you action types, but the crowd here was up early canoing, so they are chilling now that the major storm has rumbled in.  Very tropical...hopefully this is setting up a mushroom bloom for the holiday weekend.

There is still one cabin for Friday/Saturday next weekend, and a handfull of campsites.
First come first served as always.

Some of these places may be going a bit overboard, by asking clients to take a vow of silence, or not speak during certain times (people used to go to ashrams or cloisters for that).  My movement toward quiet was provoked by clients appreciating being able to get away from dueling stereos, revving ATVs, and drunken revelers partying all night.  There are lots of other places to do those things. 

This is not a library; happy sounds of children playing, people enjoying a good laugh around the campfire, etc are good things!  ATVs are not turned away, but they are not allowed to run through the grounds for fun.  People can play amplified music, but it must be turned off at 11 pm.  The suggestion is that your music should not infringe on anyone else's enjoyment of their spot here.
Make noise during the day, when the world is awake.  Let everyone sleep at night.

Slowly over the years, guests have been playing amplified music less and less during their stays, even during the day.  This has nothing to do with my client guidelines and personal preferences.  I love music!  I don't like to be forced to listen to someone else's, particularly rap and country, for extended periods of time though.

Once again, my format is ahead of the curve.  You can have the luxury of quiet here, especially if you vacation off peak times.  As I cannot control the public waterway, or the highway, these background sounds are likely during the daytime, especially during long holiday weekends and late July/early August.  When the sun goes down though, likely you can hear the waterfall, a km away.   I have been asked by some what highway is so busy at night; it is the only sound in their auditory library that relates to the white noise they hear from the falls.

The luxury of quiet without the luxury pricetag.  Good deal?

The grass is cut.  That's done.
The not so good thing is the tires on the tractor are still getting wet, so the river is still high.  It means the trail to the waterfall is still flooded, badly.

There were many years when the trail was flooded in the spring, and it wasn't safe to go into the bush but for the bugs until August.  Some years the trail has been passable for the entire season.  For the last 2 years the trail has been under water.  Between drenching rain (the drought is over, no fire ban for the last 2 years either) and the river being kept high by OPG (Ontario Power Generation), the trail doesn't have a chance.

The tires being wet also means 2 campsites are flooded and consequently offline:  the waterfront tent site and the original group site.  Even if its dry when you arrive, OPG opening the floodgate at Whitney OR a 5 minute drench could mean you are floating by morning.  That's how much the river is still going up and down with the management.

It also means that on a warm humid evening there are still mosquitoes.  Their breeding ground has never dried up this year.  The deer flies are still murderous in the bush too, which is much later than their typical season.  Hiking in the forest isn't fun this season.  It's much better to travel by water or hike in the open.  By water is the only way to see the falls this season, don't know that September will be any better.

It's 25 years of business, and I have another first.!

After most of the weekend's guests had gone, I went for my customary walk along the beach with a garbage bag.  I could not find a single cigarette butt, empty beer or pop can, candy wrapper, beer cap, or any of the regular detritus found in the wake of many people having fun.
All I found was ONE sandal.  Lonely...

I am truly impressed.  My clientele is a cut above.

Thank you all for making it a "leave no trace" camping weekend. 

People keep telling me this place is what a campground should be; lush, green, clean, simple.  Now I have campers to go along with that  campground.

Contrary to the weather forecast yet again, it was a fantastic weekend.  No rain since Friday (and that was exhilarating, it was so intense).  Boating, beaching, campfiring, funning was had.  Kids and dogs.
Great Blue Heron sighting.

For those who skim through...you might have missed this, so I am reposting.

My website is full of photos taken by myself, clients, and volunteers who have stayed here.  There is ONE file photo on the entire site.  If you can figure out which one it is, I'll give you a free 1/2 day canoe rental, value $15.  Of course, there are a few people who know the answer to this, and they do not qualify for the prize.  Based on availability.  An accommodation booking must also be made.
Are you game?

Yesterday was an offsite day.  The lads and I went to Wilderness Tours to whitewater raft on the Ottawa River.  It's a promotional situation offered to OVTA (Ottawa Valley Tourist Association) members.  It was fun, and a great reason to be away for a day.  As there were no arrivals expected, it worked out fine.  We just did the rafting, not the barbq or dance afterwards; it's too far from here to stay and party.
So it was all very interesting, but it was not nearly as extreme a sport as I had expected.  A lot of it was floating downriver and listening to the river guide.  Turns out we were given a condensed version, and not the most exciting part of the river.  4 rapids in 2 1/2 hours.  Too much talk as far as I was concerned, and not nearly enough excitement.  All in all, a bit of a time waster.  I can't see promoting them having not had the real tour, and I don't appreciate their use of my time this way.  After the experience, I thought the (theoretical) price was high, and then was told that we were not shown the best part of the river for action.
It was nice to be on the river for an afternoon, as that is a rare experience for me.

"The lads" are my current volunteers.  One is from France, the other from New Caledonia.  One is a construction supervisor, the other a mechanical engineer.  They are very skilled people, and I am blessed to have them here, fixing things that others, who were paid, did not do correctly.  If anyone wants the name of a couple of lousy contractors, I am compiling quite a list at this point.

Someone with Wave Runners has discovered this bay, and is using it as a wave pool.  I hope it's not someone who is around all summer.

Every wild bird nested in the reed bed just went for a huge ride, and so did all the frog eggs.  Guaranteed to kill...

Toys are great, in the right environment.  Take the wave runners out on Bark Lake.  Nothing smaller.  They were created for ocean riding.

People say they care about the environment.  It's a subject taught in school now.  People need to care for the environment, not about it.  People need to understand their fun kills things they need to care for.  It's not something another person can do for them.

Just had another rainshower.  Very pleasant outside.  Warm, not hot.

In response to questions/comments re: Memorial Day

1. Wild mushrooms.  It's too early, and the weather isn't exactly mushroom weather, it is too cold!  I did see some gyromitra esculenta (false morels), but those are the ones that have to be cooked specially, and are not for everyone.  No sitings of morels.  Next likely bloom is chanterelles, but the weather has to get warmer.

2.  Moore's falls is rockin'!  Lots of water coming over, we just had buckets of rain again the last couple of days.  There were kayakers here already to ride the falls, before the Victoria Day weekend.  The river level is high this year; maybe you heard about the flooding in Bancroft, Whitney, and Huntsville?  Serious downpours the 20ish of April, washed out a lot of trails in Algonquin Park, tons of flood damage (they thought the dam at Whitney was going to blow), but it was all ok here.  Also, the sinkhole that swallowed a car opened up on Hwy 62 just north of Bancroft again.  I don't know about Algonquin Park, but everything else has pretty much been put back in order.

3.  Spring Peepers are singing their little hearts out.   Makes it hard to hear the falls at night!