DEVIL'S GAP

Today we hiked the first section of the Devil's Gap Trail, originally the colonization road between Gravenhurst and Bala. It was still very muddy in places with several pools of water to negotiate around. We encountered several species of mushrooms flanking the trail, such as this Fly Agaric crowned with a colourful leaf. Local folklore claims an early pioneer, after getting his wagon and team of oxen stuck in the mud, went for help but when he returned there was no trace of them. If the bugs were as bad as today I'm sure the team managed to extricate themselves and hightailed it out of there!

BOTTLE LOTTO

One thing my boys look forward to during their visits here is having Muskoka Dry Pale Ginger Ale, a treat connected to many memories. Outside the factory, a vending machine dispenses the coldest ones around, for only a dollar, and is often stocked with random bottles, and it's a novelty when one scores an unique one in the bottle lotto.

SUNSHINE SKETCHES

As I was passing through Gravenhurst at dawn I stopped at the wharf to catch the morning sun as it reached Greavette Island, highlighting its miniature replica lighthouse, a popular attraction in photographs. I had the wharf to myself, empty of the bustling summer crowds and the crew and cast that were here last week filming for a TV special.
[Click here and scroll down for more details and a couple of photos.]

SHI_ ISLAND

I climbed up to Huckleberry Rock Lookout to photograph the Segwun passing by, which I'd seen leave Port Carling earlier with passengers for a sunset cruise to Gravenhurst, heading there in time to see the fireworks. In the background and looking roughly the same length is Ship Island, or its nickname of Shit Island, due to all the bird guano.

PERFECT END

This was the perfect end to a perfect weekend. After time relaxing at a cottage, followed by a concert, the boys wanted to stop at the wharf, one of their favourite places, to visit the ships. They were disappointed to find the Segwun missing but while we watched the sunset they heard its familiar whistle and soon their ship came in.

SHANIA TWIN

Belting out the most popular hits from Shania Twain is Shania Twin, a tribute artist who performed at Music on the Barge. Despite some sound issue technicalities, the show was good and her resemblance and impersonation great. The real Shania was discovered when she worked at Deerhurst Resort, and still has a cottage on Lake of Bays.

LEGO MODEL

My boys and I went to the Muskoka Boat & Heritage Centre to check out Canada's only certified Lego professional, who was busy building an 8' replica of the Segwun on his third and last day. After offering other kids a chance, Stirling won a Lego kit in a trivia challenge for correctly answering the year the Segwun was built, with Dad's help.

HANDYMAN SPECIAL

This rusted relic had this scrawled handwritten sign duct taped to it:
It's a AS IS A
Handyman Special
It came out when Hitler went in
1933 Chev. 1 Ton Stake Truck FOR SALE

MUSKOKA DRY

It didn't stay dry for much of the Antique Car Show in Gravenhurst today, raindrops collecting on Muskoka Dry's vintage Dodge flatbed like beads of condensation on a bottle of ice cold Pale Ginger Ale on a hot day. Their famous soft drink, produced since 1873, remains a novelty with my boys and me, a treat we enjoy when they visit here.

BOATHOUSE ROW

A panoramic shot was necessary to capture this row of boathouses, made up from single level tinnies, behind the Residence Inn. Due to their delapidated appearance they are considered an eyesore to the new Muskoka Wharf development, however a subsidized renovation proposal has, like my son Stirling, caused ripples, among the locals.

REFLECTIONS

The following morning dawned clear and hot, allowing me to get this glowing reflection of the Muskoka Boat & Heritage Centre, adjacent to the Residence Inn. The museum, built like a reflection of earlier boathouses, features in addition to its permanent exhibits, several antique boats that owners are proud to display on a rotational basis.

FIERY ENDS

A fiery sunset brings the evening to a close over the boats and the row of boathouses behind the Residence Inn. It is also the resting place of the Sagamo, Muskoka's largest steamship whose years of service came to a fiery end in 1969, its twisted steel hull partially exposed among the concrete debris and foliage in the foreground.

SIBLINGS

I had my boys join me for the weekend and stayed in Gravenhurst at the Residence Inn. In the morning they reneged on their decision to accompany me while I slipped out in the early morning mist to visit and photograph another set of siblings, the Segwun, North America's oldest operating steamship, and the Wenonah II, a modern replica.

SIGNS OF SPRING

Everywhere one looks there are signs of spring. The loons and other birds have returned, the fields are popping with colour and the trees are minting new leaves. One of my favourite signs and flowers is the trillium, with carpets of snow-white blossoms replacing the snow and if you're lucky you may find the rarest of them, the Painted Trillium.

THE MORE THE MARRIOTT

Today I found myself in Bala again, this time to volunteer with other Marriott employees from both The Rosseau and the Residence Inn in Gravenhurst, who spent the day working together on the Habitat for Humanity home currently being built. Matched with the regulars, we accomplished a lot and learned some interesting tricks of the trades.
[Picture taken by Sarah Lehman from the HR Dept at The Rosseau.]

WAVING NOT DROWNING

It's a short hike to the Tree Museum, a gallery of multiple sculptures planted throughout its 200 acres, integrating contemporary art in an outdoor environment. While at the Drowning Not Waving sculpture I encountered this Monarch butterfly that appears in this picture to be waving with one side as it lifts off, as if mocking the exhibit's name.

OUR JOCE

It bekame a running joce with us after we kamped at the KOA klose to Gravenhurst, where we stayed for a kouple of days. We rented a kanoe and pakcing my kamera, we explored the lace and waterways akross from the kampground. The cids tooc turns paddling, often out of kontrol, while I tooc turns ceeping kalm and the kanoe on kourse.

US IN MUSKOKA

With the school year and summer camp commitments finished, I was able to bring my boys Stirling and Alistair up for several days for the first time this summer. We visited this new sign and posed with the letters of our names and I hoped that, like the famous tagline, once they discover more of Muskoka they'll always remember these times.

TWO FUNERALS

Two funerals took place during the German PoWs' internment at Gravenhurst, one for a distinguished soldier who suffered from a blood malady, and the second a decorated major who succumbed to cancer. Fellow prisoners carved wooden monuments in their honour, which were transferred later with them both to a common war grave.

MUSKOKA WHARFARE

A model German U-Boat surfaces in Muskoka Bay, the rocky point in the distance the former site of a PoW camp, where ironically during WWII some submarine crew were interned. Norwegian pilots training at Little Norway used to fly over and drop potatoes at the PoWs' and occasionally practised divebombing and strafing runs on the Segwun.