a peek inside the fishbowl

The symbolism of Sesame Street’s move to HBO is crushing: http://t.co/Q1DiWgykBb

— Slate (@Slate) August 14, 2015

• Balancing Act: Social Networks Navigate Body Image, adage.com
• Inside an Instagram Bot Farm, vice.com
• Coke Tries to Sugarcoat the Truth on Calories, nytimes.com
• How a Chinese Billionaire Built Her Fortune, nytimes.com
• Fentanyl: The king of all opiates, and a killer drug crisis, macleans.ca

On the nightstand: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Novel

I might seem like I’m so down with this camping thing, but I should also tell you that I can’t handle more than five nights of camping. At the beginning of each camping trip I’m thinking: WOW! I love being outside! It’s so relaxing! Outside is great! Fresh air! Nature! By the end of each camping trip I am tired of eating out of a cooler and exhausted from all of that nature and fresh air. But I still love it. And I love that my kids love it and that we can all love it together.

So what else did we do while we were at Achray? I’m sure new campers and non-campers are wondering how we filled our days. Wellll…

We read books and magazines in a hammock we strung up in a spot overlooking the lake.

We found a nest of water snakes. Here’s mamma. I think:

The kids went fishing.

There was rock collecting and minnow-hunting.

We went swimming. The girls had inflatable mattresses and so they swam out with them, which gives one a whole new perspective on the beach. And maybe even life itself.

We went hiking.

We rented a canoe.

We watched the sun set.

We picked wild raspberries and kept our eyes peeled for local flora and fauna.

I took a few hundred photos of chipmunks. It couldn’t be helped. (You can see more of them here.)

We played Uno.

We had fun with sparklers and glow sticks.

We made banana boats.

We cooked our food over the open fire (when we weren’t using the camp stove, that is).

We built fires. We sat around the fire. We stared at the fire. We let ourselves get hypnotized by the fire.

And sometimes we did nothing.at.all.

Suffice it to say, each day was a full one.

(If you like, you can see the rest of our camping photos from Achray right here.)

I have a few parting words for anyone who’s looking to book a site at Achray:

• Cell/mobile service is almost non-existent. You might be able to grab a very shaky signal near the camp office building, but that’s a big maybe.
• There is no comfort station, but there are flush toilets and running (potable) water. Don’t let this scare you. There is a lake after all!
• The camp office is also the camp store. This is where you get your firewood and ice (blocks or cubes), but it’s not a store per se. They sell minimal stuff here: think bug spray, marshmallows, tampons, postcards, a few frozen treats. If you’re out of milk/bread/fuel it’s a 45 minute drive to the nearest store. What they DO have at the camp store is Keurig coffee available to buy and brew on the spot. This came in handy for caffeine emergencies.
• They do not sell worms. We asked.
• There’s no kayak rental, only canoe (life jackets and oars are always included FYI)

You can read more about the Achray campground on the Ontario Parks website.

Going camping at Achray? You may want to read part one and two.

I like to write about our travel and camping adventures, but to be honest, I’m never sure how to approach it here on the blog. I want to write it all down for myself, for my own family, but I also want to share some helpful information if you happen to be interested in family camping or checking out the scene at Algonquin Park. I am also very bored of headlines that scream things like: MY DAUGHTER PICKED UP A SNAKE AND YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED NEXT or TEN WAYS TO SURVIVE CAMPING WITH YOUR CHILDREN AND NOT LOSE YOUR MIND.

I will say this, there’s no shortage of things to do at Achray, although, as I think about it, they may not be the kind of activities families are looking for. There are no camp movie nights here, no playgrounds, children’s programming, gift shops or grocery stores. There’s no bike rental, no laundry, no showers. There are no radios allowed, no motor boats on the lake. There are 45 spots at Achray and everything is pretty near silent at 10 p.m. If this seems like your idea of hell on earth, maybe camping isn’t your thing or you need to consider a place like Sandbanks. If you’re like me, and this sounds like CAMPING NIRVANA, read on.

As I mentioned previously, we like to go for a hike after breakfast and save our relaxing for after lunch. I find this adds a welcome structure to our days and makes those dips in the lake so much more rewarding. There are a few trails at Achray: including Jack Pine, Barron Canyon, Berm Lake, and High Falls.

Jack Pine Trail (which I mentioned) takes you to where the famous Jack Pine painting was sketched by Tom Thomson. It’s quite pretty, and an easy walk.

Barron Canyon is a fantastic trail. It’s very scenic, with an element of danger which is irresistible to some hikers. It is however, important to note that people have died here. So proceed with caution!

Here’s my youngest and Mark, peering over the edge together, in 2009 and 2015:

Barron Canyon trail is short, only 1.5 km, but it feels longer because of the terrain. It’s totally worth it.

Here’s Mark and I:

And although I am stating the obvious, I will say that going down hill is easier than up, which makes the hike back to the parking lot a little sweeter.

Mark and I hiked Berm Trail together. It’s 4.5 kilometres, and is also quite pretty with a unique ecological profile. I really recommend buying a trail guide before you set out so you know what you’re looking at! (Do yourself a favour and bring bug spray too.)

I think our favourite was the High Falls cheater trail (yes, this is what it’s called). I must give some backstory first. High Falls is the secret almost everyone knows about. It’s a natural “water slide” that can only be reached by canoe (including a short portage a.k.a “divorce court”) or by a 50-60 minute hike. The last time we were at Achray in 2009 we decided to canoe to High Falls. That trip has become a Tomkins family legend (which I wrote about here) but we decided we would try the alternate route this year.

The “High Falls cheater trail” isn’t marked on maps, but there’s an official sign on Barron Canyon Road that will direct you to a parking lot. The trail is well-travelled and clearly marked at the outset, so you don’t need to worry that you’ll end up stranded in the woods. Funny story: ONE member of our party, who shall remain nameless, neglected to wear runners that day. We decided to forge ahead, knowing we may possibly regret it. The path was level at the beginning but later turned into something a little rougher. Thankfully, young ankles in flip-flops were able to navigate it without issue. Sigh.

The payoff for 50 minutes of sweat and constant mosquito swatting is the kind of landscape you don’t get to see very often. It’s the perfect destination, as it gives you something very fun to see and do for the rest of the afternoon. It’s quite the reward for a hot summer day, especially if you bring a picnic.

We jumped off a mini-cliff into the water, about seventy million times:

Swam in deep pools:

And of course, there was that water slide (basically, a very flat rock with water pouring down it):

Stunning, isn’t it? Suffice it to say we all slept well that night.

Part four is coming next, and I’ll talk about some of the other things we like to do when we camp.