I know that as part of your Canadian education, you learn that the Great Lakes are big. Neil and I are not sure we realized just how big until this last camping trip we took up to Bruce Peninsula National Park. I mean, on our drive out east we noticed that it took two full days to drive around the top half of Lake Superior... but it wasn't until we were out on the water that we realized that there are points where you cannot see a point of reference along the horizon. The islands off the tip of the Bruce are scattered just like the Gulf Islands off the West Coast of BC -- the big difference being that here we are on a lake and not transversing the Strait of Georgia out into the Pacific Ocean. Neil said that you get an idea of scale when you realize that our campground was at the tip of the Peninsula that juts out into Lake Huron and our campground was located on a rather sizable lake in the middle of the Peninsula.

Thursday, we left for one night of camping. We'd have liked to camp two nights but we could only reserve the one night and we had hoped (fingers crossed) that we could find something for Friday night. In the end, we just had two very long and hot/humid days. The drive started out in true K & N fashion... I gave Neil the map and soon we were 40km in the wrong direction. Not a problem, he realized the error of his way and we were soon turned around. We made stops to look around in Owen Sound and in Wiarton. Arriving in Tobermory, we made our way to the campground, set up camp, browsed the trail maps and then set out in search of a swimming hole. Let's face it, the big draw of the area is the crystal clear blue waters of Lake Huron. The water was cold but it felt very nice given the humidity and the excessive sweating that occurred as a result. The horse flies were really bad and we got very bitten. The biggest downside was that between sunscreen, bug spray, bug lotion, sweat, dirt from the hike back -- we were DISGUSTING when we got back to our site and there were no showers at our campground. Upon arriving back, I can to the realization that I'd have paid upwards of $20 to be able to shower.

We had hot dogs and beans for supper (classic campfire fare) and then I roasted marshmallows. It never really cooled down until about 10 minutes after we went to bed. Then began the intense lightening and thunder... and then the heavy downpour that lasted about 10 minutes. It was enough to clear up some of the horrible humidity as the next day was hot and dry. The next morning found us paying for showers at a highway gas station. Sounds gross but these showers were coin operated and super clean. We then ventured into town for breakfast and an Island tour by boat. We figured that since we had to drive back that night we'd have a lazy day -- so we went on an hour and a half boat tour... saw some shipwrecks and islands. We'd have liked to disembark on Flower Pot Island but we decided to save that for another time.

I've got pictures in a Splashr presentation here.