Elvie was the only camper in Bruce Peninsula National Park. We had 242 campsites to choose from! As you know we like to get away from it all and once again we succeeded in doing so. We had no electricity at our site so it was truly a learning experience of living off the grid in cool weather. The first night I wore long underwear and a ski toque to bed as we were concerned about running down our battery to run the propane furnace fan; however the next night we decided that if we were to keep warm we needed to use the furnace more. We enjoyed ourselves despite being a little chilly at times. We wanted to learn just how much boon docking we could do and all things being considered we did quite well.
The campground is at Cypress Lake which we hiked around the first morning.
From the campground we walked out to the coast line of Georgian Bay where the Bruce Trail passes through the park. It was great to hike some of the trail and as you can see from the picture the rock formations are spectacular along the escarpment. The Bruce Trail begins or ends in Tobermory and is approximately 800 kms in length and wends its way all the way to the Niagara region.
The views and the water were quite beautiful even on a cloudy day.
This area of the coast is called the grotto. Back in the 1970s Rob scuba dived here. Now there is not a drop of water inside the grotto.
This area has been given the appropriate name of boulder beach.
We spent one afternoon in and around Tobermory. We have seen the lighthouse many times from the water; however this time we had an opportunity to visit by land.
At this end of the Bruce Trail there is a wonderful park office. Unfortunately the office was closed but the tower was open for climbing. The view was great and we could pick out all kinds of favourite sailing areas.
After our afternoon in Tobermory we stayed in Happy Heart's Campground just outside of the village. Our propane was getting low and we decided that plugging into the grid was a nice luxury for Elvie's last night out. The campground was actually closed; however the owner decided that if all we needed was an electrical connection he would let us stay the night.
On the way home we took Hwy 1 which follows along Colpoy's Bay from Wiarton and ends up in Owen Sound. It was a lovely drive and there were still leaves on the trees to admire. Once back to the cottage it was time to winterize Elvie and get him into storage for the winter. He didn't have a long run this year but we foresee many happy trips ahead of us in Elvie. We hope to journey to Newfoundland next June as neither Rob nor I have been.
