Darlington Provincial Park

The first part of our camping vacation was spent at Darlington Park, which I successfully navigated us to via some "scenic" unpaved backroads.

Upon arrival, we unpacked the car with astonishing speed (probably because Jason was hungry). We set up our kitchen tent, which is new this year because weather forecasts predicted "extreme weather" and quite frankly, we prefer our cereal to be only slightly soggy.

Also new was our marvelous propane grill, on which Jason is seen here grilling chicken burgers for supper.

Ahh....you're not really camping until you've had potato salad.

Hiking along the Burk Trail, we were teased with the promise of an "authentic pioneer cemetery" but upon reaching the top, we discovered this single headstone. Apparently, these pioneers were space-savers because everyone listed on this grave shares the same plot.


These are panoramic views of Lake Ontario from some of the viewing buffs along the trails.

Jason mistakenly trusts me not to topple him off the side.

Both provincial parks are so well preserved that they attract an awful lot of wildlife. Monarchs pretty much have the run of the place, and they're hams for a camera, too.

The calm and serenity of McLaughlin's Bay leads into the friendly, shallow waters of the beach, which was slightly more crowded.

When the wind picked up, there were incredible waves, the likes of which we were not used to seeing in Ontario.


Unfortunatley, the site we reserved and paid for months ago was apparently flooded during our visit, so we were relegated to this one, which would have been much less private had we not rigged up a contraption using spare tarps.

Robinson Creek



Jason is looking a bit perturbed because according to him, there some sort of "disgusting larva" on the branch right over his head.




Jason is trying to look mightily impressed by Robinson Creek, which was apparently forged by retreating glaciers thousands of years ago, but by the looks of it, it might better be named Robinson Puddle.



Oh sure, it looks pretty now, but if you had heard have the croaks and grunts coming out of that forrest, you'd have run through it screaming too.



Trick photography, I tell you! Despite appearances, Jason head was not actually being crushed by this tree.



Can you believe I got close enough to get a picture of this guy?