We have been home from Thailand for a few months. I have finished my projects for the Michigan house for the year, so if felt like a good time to enjoy the lake life that the Michigan area offers. We have been dabbling in this Home Exchange concept for the past year and amassed a plethora of credit. We decided it was time to start dipping into that points bank to book a place on the water. We landed on a spot in Ontario, more specifically the Bruce Peninsula, just outside the town of Tobermory.
This was not my first time in that area. I actually was here to hike a section of “The Bruce Trail” 15 years ago. You can read about that trip here.
Keep in mind, the cameras back then add 20lbs, so don’t be shocked when you look at my appearance. This time around we would drive up and cross the Blue Water Bridge at Port Huron / Sarnia and follow the east coast of Lake Huron up to the cottage (Approx 6 Hr trip).
Normally, this is the part of the blog where I talk about the history of the area I am visiting, but hopefully you do not need a primer on Canada. First Nation > French > British > Canadian. There you go.
There is an interesting discussion regarding immigration going on in Canada at this time. Well, to be fair, that discussion is going on in every modern country right now. It is a bit different in Canada as so much of their growth and modern culture is built on diversity. Great to see in my opinion. Much more so than in the US I believe. Signs of the decision to embrace immigration are everywhere in Canada. But now the world is starting to push back on immigration and Canada is trying to wrestle with what to do with their Left wing leader, Justin Tredeau as the average citizen is not happy with current cost of living.
Anyway, so instead of talking about history or current politics, I wanted to talk about geology, more specifically the Niagara Escarpment.
The Bruce Peninsula is a standout feature of that escarpment.
You see, Michigan sits in this massive bowl/basin. The lip of that bowl runs around it in a half-moon arc from Milwaukee WI over to Buffalo NY. It is composed of a dolomitic limestone that is a bit more resistant to erosion than other sandstones, even regular limestone, creating a lasting escarpment. Think of it like the enamel coating on your teeth.
The Picture above shows that Michigan is a basin, as opposed to a dome because the youngest rock is in the center. I had to draw a dome and basin with layers to try to let that sink in for myself, but hopefully this side angle will show you.
The glaciers did a lot of the heavy lifting to carve out the inside of that bowl, leaving the cliffs of the Bruce Peninsula the way we see it today. I bring this up because it is this geology which is why everyone loves traveling to Tobermory and, to appreciate it fully, one needs to understand how it formed, or at least I do. I encourage you to watch this entire video to get a complete picture of how this area came to be.
We packed up the car and headed out early on a Monday morning. The car was jammed with stuff. I felt like we were bringing way too much stuff for 4 day vacation. Did we suddenly become a family of 4 instead of 2? But, Max, the perpetual toddler, is accustomed to a certain level of elegance. I had to place his huge metal crate into the back seat so that he has the personal space he demands. This below image is an accurate depiction of his place in our family.
But, this trip is about Max. As he is getting older and we sadly watch his decline, we want him to enjoy the active years he has left, and playing in the water is near the top of his list.
With the car loaded we escorted the guest of honor to his chariot
Before leaving I had read extensively on what documentation we needed to cross the border. I did not want to take our passports, risking losing them before all our upcoming international travel. I read that we only needed “Enhanced IDs” from Michigan. 2 years ago I had traded in my regular Michigan Drivers License in for the Enhanced version with this exact situation in mind. 2 hours into our trip we arrived at the border with Canada and were informed we did not have the correct ID. We had “Real IDs” not “Enhanced IDs.” I blame myself for this as I did the research and was aware that “Real IDs” existed but did not believe that is what we had. Why Michigan has 3 different Drivers Licenses is a whole different topic. And as they say in business, “that is out of scope for this discussion.” The border guard was able to easily look us up since we both had valid passports and Global Entry status and let us through.
We checked in around 3pm at our cottage at Dorcas Bay just outside Tobermory. The place was absolutely perfect. Rustic, but with all the modern amenities we craved. I thought it was funny how much their living space resembled our space back home
Here are some more shots of the cottage
We dropped everything and went to check out the water.
Amy and Max went exploring and immediately gave out a scream, claiming a snake was in the water. I thought she was being dramatic as I don’t see snakes in the water too often back in Michigan. But, she was right, it was a snake.
I did a google image search and it said it was Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. What! Well, it turned out it was just a common water snake after our host told us in 20 years he had never seen a rattlesnake at his place. Agree to disagree I say!
After driving 6 hours, I was content at just hanging around the house that night. We enjoyed our time by the water watching the sunset and planning the rest of the week.
The next day we drove into Tobermory early to try and walk around before the crowds surfaced. It turned out that we could have taken our time because the seasonal crowds were not due to start streaming in until the following weekend, when Canada Day would be celebrated as the start of summer.
After having breakfast at the Princess Hotel, we drove over to the visitors center to hike.
It was raining but we were mostly sheltered under the canopy so it did not bother us.
We stopped in the Visitor’s Center after the hike. They have a really great exhibit on the history of the area and the creatures one might encounter. Amy is obsessed with bears, so she was hoping for a black bear viewing.
We came back to the cottage and scooped up Max to take him out to Singing Sands Beach. It is a sandy beach where the water gets no deeper than 1’ for about 200 yards. Which makes it perfect for a vertically challenged dog.
Another sunset along the water that evening
Wednesday morning we used the Parking Pass our host generously provided to visit Halfway Log Dump. This was a spot I hiked through when I was here last and was eager to show Amy the beautiful cliffs.
15 years ago I hiked through here and just stuck to the beach instead of staying on the trail through the woods. I started climbing over boulders and got into some trouble when it became too difficult to keep going (Link). And wouldn’t you know it, I did the same thing this time. We followed 3 other couples into the boulder field and got to a point where it was just too challenging. Mind you, that point of impasse came much earlier this time around with my aging body. If this was in America there would have been signs everywhere to stop! But outside of the lawsuit world of the United States, people must use their brains a bit more.
Just like last time, I convinced Amy to follow me up the rock face on a “trail” I pretended was “established”
Luckily it worked out, but the whole time I was calculating whether Amy would be able to backtrack these maneuvers if we ran into a dead end. Once we got up on top, and back on the official trail we yelled down to the others to backtrack
Incredible views along the escarpment on or way to Stormhaven Beach.
When we got to Stormhaven, we found lots of campers packing up from the night before.
Here we decided to shortcut the loop in the trail map up above and come back to our car on a snowmobile “trail”
It started out fine, but we were on a fairly remote section so we were extra careful not to turn an ankle as I don’t think anyone would be hiking by anytime soon. A few flies starting buzzing me. I never worry about these things as I am immune from bug bites or really even getting bothered by them at all. That was not the case here. After I picked up a few flies, it seemed they did not leave after a few minutes. They seemed quite content to leave home base and take a ride with me for the duration. This meant that as I picked up new flies, my wolfpack was growing rapidly, with no departures. And they were biting…hard! I now knew what “black fly season” was all about. Growing up in this area you here about it all the time. There are 2 seasons for black flies and you really don’t want to hike during either. The first season went from May until the end of June. We were catching the end of this cohort and since they were full grown and did not have long to live, they were going for broke! At this point I was swinging my arms back and forth recreate the African Anteater Ritual from “Can’t Buy Me Love”
Amy was handling things much better than me, but eventually she was overwhelmed and started screaming as the fern fan she created was no longer effective.
We emerged into the parking lot covered in flies. All these people were just looking at us because there were no flies around them. These were our flies from the snowmobile trail and they had no interest in jumping ship. We got into the car and forced them out the window as we sped down route 6.
A shower and delousing back at the cottage and we then took Max back to Singing Sands
Dinner at a fish shack that evening. They had an All You Can Eat option of “Alaskan Whitefish”, but we opted for the 2 piece dinner at the same price, but with upgraded Haddock. Were expecting a 2 inch thick batter, but pleasantly surprised by the fish and the thinner batter.
After dinner I tried to do some paddle boarding in the bay but once you got outside the deep channel, the waves were breaking a bit too much for my liking. I took Max out for a short trip.
The next day we hiked the Grotto. A short trail. It is #1 thing to do when here in Tobermory. You have to reserve your trail permit in advance. We went early so crowds were thin. The weather was crisp, making a pleasant almost Fall-like hike.
After the hike we drove over to Big Tub Harbor to see if I could launch the SUP to view the shipwrecks in the area. The waves were just too much. Tobermory is actual the SCUBA capital of Canada. There are so many shipwrecks in the area which you can visit from below or take glass-bottom tours over the top. I think if we come back I will try my hand at a SCUBA trip as I have yet to dive a wreck.
Final lunch at a pub overlooking Little Tub Harbor
One more trip to the dog beach for max
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and taking in as much of the “Up North” vibe we could get
The drive home the next morning was smooth. This experience went perfect. Everything from the weather, the cottage, good health and pleasant folks and food. We hope to visit again next year.
Until Next Time,
Darren
« "Danke Schoen" (Part 3 of 3) | Main | “Bruuuuce!” “Hurry Up Sundown”»