Outdoors

What an incredible and fun trip this one was! We were in Site #299 in Hawk Ridge in the Huron Campground. This was a wonderful campsite, perfect for 2 tents and 2 cars and very private and quiet.

We left Mississauga after work and finally arrived at MacGregor around 9:15pm. Our buddy Matt arrived shortly afterwards which was helpful to have the extra hands in setting up out giant tent in the dark! After we were all settled, we sat around the campfire and enjoyed some drinks and catching up. No raccoons but there were tons of glow-worms everywhere! Very cool to see.

Saturday morning, we woke up and enjoyed a yummy breakfast of bacon and eggs (a staple in our camp trips). We packed up our hiking bag and ventured off for a day of hiking. We hiked Tower Trail and did some viewing at the Ducks Unlimited Wetland Project...looking for otters and King Fishers but only saw a family of ducks. Along the trail after the lookout, there were frogs everywhere! And I mean, you had to watch the ground because they were jumping out from under you with each step.

We hiked Kempf's Trail to the Old Shore Road trail and spent a lot of time exploring the rocky shorelines of Lake Huron. We treked to Mergenser Cove where we spent over an hour looking for frogs and snakes, hopping rocks and generally just being kids again...which was fun. Sometimes you have to do that.

There were so many frogs and Keir found a Northern Ribbon Snake along the pond which actually was fairly aggressive so we figuered that Keir may have stepped close to a den.

We continued to check out Water Snake Pond which was closed as the boardwalk was tilted and lifting. I was really disappointed as this is one of my favourite locations to look for frogs.

Sunday was a chilly day and we definitely needed some jackets. We decided to spend our last full day exploring the other half of the Old Shore Road Trail. We went to the beach where we found more frogs along the stream that trickles into the reeds at the beach. We explored all the small collections of water and rocks in search of more frogs and snakes. We continued hiking to the Huron Fringe Trail to Turtle Pond in hopes of seeing an Egret but definitely was not disappointed when we came across a Blue Heron instead.

Upon meeting back up with the Old Shore Road Trail, we hiked to Sunset Point for a gorgeous view of Lake Huron. Eventually, we ended up at Pitcher Plant Marl which is fascininating. The Pitcher Plant is a large, carniviorous plant and the entire area is just interesting.

By the time we returned to the beach, it was dusk. We once again looked for frogs and also captured some beautiful images of the sunset.

Before we went back to our site, we hiked Huron Fringe hoping to see the Heron but it seemed to have left for the evening. As we left the trail, Keir spotted a small raccoon climbing down the tree right beside us. Very cute!

No raccoons that night but we got some lightning and a bit of thunder rolling through.

Monday was our last day and we woke up early in the morning. It was very cold and wet, definitely needed some layers. Matt and I went back to Turtle Pond looking for the Heron and he was there. I was so excited. We went back and hung out at the site, waiting for the tent to dry which didn't take long as the sun peeked out for a little bit. Thankfully, we didn't need to dry the tent on the balcony!

Another wonderful trip to MacGregor!

MacGregor Point is probably one of the most beautiful places to explore in the Ontario Parks system. Keir and I had both been here before with friends or school trips and we were eager to go back.

The weather was good; it was warm with a bit of sun although some of the days had cloud cover. When you're hiking in the summer, sometimes cloud cover can be a good thing.

We stayed in the Nippising Campground on Egret Circle, Site # 135. It was a great site, large and private surrounded by lots of trees.

MacgGregor Point has amazing trails but hike with caution as there is poison ivy everywhere. Some of the trails are also not very wide so if you are exploring on a bike, take care of hikers who might step in poison ivy trying to get out of your way....like me (wash with soap and water as soon as you can, it will help).

There is a great beach which has a huge number of frogs. There is also a large playground area for children....or us because tire swings are the best.

Our favourite trail at MacGregor is "Tower Trail" which is aproximately 3.5KM and takes you around an amazing view of the wetland and has a great observation tower where you can waterfowl and other wildlife. On a previous trip, I was able to watch an otter swim at the base of the tower. A few weeks prior to this particular trip, a mother bear and her cub were spotted wandering through.

We also hiked around a small area called "Water Snake Pond" which was a fantastic muddy area with tons of frogs and of course, raccoon prints.

Sunset Point was a trail off the beach which had a beautiful view with the sunset reflecting off the clear water of Lake Huron. We also explored "Turtle Pond" which can be accessed by the Huron Fringe Trail off the Old Shore Road Trail. Turtle Pond has never been a disappointment for wildlife viewing as we often saw an Egret in the shoreline.

On our last day, we decided to take an early morning hike to Turtle Poind which lead us to an amazing opportunity to vew a family of raccoons enjoying some breakfast. There were four, a momma and three babies. We were able to quietly observe them for about five minutes before the boardwalk creaked and they scampered underneath.

We have been able to explore all the hiking trails at MacGregor, approximately 15.5Km...and we often did many of the trails more than once, they are amazing.