Twilight Descends On The Rideau Canal

In late July, I stopped on the Bank Street Bridge for a sunset view over the Rideau Canal.

Turning back around gave me a view of the rising moon and the Sunnyside branch of the Ottawa Public Library, which has the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons as its neighbour.

Tomorrow I have a different twilight from here to show you by contrast. Before then, however, I wanted you to see this treatment of my profile pic, done by Collin Beishir and initially placed at The International Intruder page Norma and I maintain over at Facebook. I'm planning on adding some memes to this for my election day post in October.

I actually do look like Bane!

The Family Scowl: The Not That Camera Shy Self Portrait

Tomorrow is the theme day for City Daily Photo bloggers, playing around with the notion of Camera Shy Self Portraits. As a lead-in, I thought I'd mess around with my standard photo that appears in comments throughout the blogs I follow. This shot was taken some years back on the deck of the Visitor Centre in Algonquin Park. My face happens to be setting into that genetic quirk that runs on my mother's side of the family- from my grandfather to my mother and aunts, to some of my cousins, and yours truly- there's a tendency for our face to set into an expression that suggests we're thoroughly annoyed, even when we're not.

And so as we head into tomorrow, I added some memes into this photo.

High Waters

Today we're back in the same general area as yesterday, with the same footbridge, about a year later. The Oxtongue River was much higher, however. I would not have wanted to be backpacking on the Uplands trail in these conditions.

A Quiet Bridge

This is a spring shot from some years ago taken in Algonquin Park. The river below is the Oxtongue River, which I showed you in other locations earlier in the month. The footbridge marks the beginning of the Western Uplands backpacking trail, which I have never been on even for a day hike, unless you count wandering a few metres on the other side of the bridge. The largest loop of the trail is eighty eight kilometres in total, with some shorter loops.

Tomorrow we'll see this spot again from another year, but roughly the same time of year. 

Brooding Sky Over Lake Of Two Rivers

I am finishing my series of archive shots today from Algonquin Park with something decidedly gloomy. This fall shot in the rain is at Lake Of Two Rivers. The lake is less welcoming now than it was to the canoeists I showed you some days back, but it still makes for a dramatic photograph.

Harbinger Of The Winter To Come

I have something else from Algonquin Park today. It's from the same area where I've been showing you a number of shots lately, Mew Lake and Lake Of Two Rivers, but a different time of year. This is from a fall visit, with hints of snow, ice, and frost on the marsh.

Check out my writer's blog by clicking at the right; I have something scheduled for today that Canadians will particularly appreciate. Well, Leafs Nation might want to have me drawn and quartered, but they are a silly lot.

Autumn View At The West Gate

Today I have something a bit of a drive away from what I have shown you in recent days. This is taken in the vicinity of the West Gate in the Highway 60 corridor of the Park.

Back On The Old Railroad Bed

Regarding a question from yesterday, there are canoes for rent in the Park, particularly at places like Canoe Lake, where you can even hire the services of a guide for a day trip out on the lake. Here are two more shots from the old railbeds as I showed you the other day. The trail is used by cyclists, hikers, and even by canoe portagers going from one lake or river to another by a footpath. Track And Tower trail, which has an extension out here for campers in the nearby campgrounds, is a splendid trail that follows old railbeds and ascends a cliff for a splendid view of Cache Lake.

A reminder to City Daily Photo members: the theme day for October is Movement.

Do They Need More Canoes?

I've decided to spend the remainder of the month with these Algonquin archive shots. Yesterday I mentioned the campground at Lake Of Two Rivers being busy. Here we have a view of the beach along this stretch of the lake, with many a canoe and kayak already getting prepped for a day out on the lake.

Lake Of Two Rivers Marsh

Something else from the archives, in the same area as I've shown you in the last couple of days. This marsh can be found along the corridor, very close to the Lake Of Two Rivers campground. This is a summer shot, and it's peaceful- an odd thing, since the campgrounds here and at nearby Mew Lake are busiest in the peak of the summer.

On An Old Railway Bed

Once upon a time, the railroad ran through Algonquin Park. The Ottawa timber baron J.R. Booth had a productive business in Algonquin lumber. I have mentioned him before; click on his name in the tags to see local links to the man. Those days are long in the past, and the railroads have faded into the mists of time. The railbeds can still be found, however, and are often incorporated as sections of hiking or bicycling trails.

This stretch of trail is linked to the Track And Tower trail, in the vicinity of Mew Lake and Lake Of Two Rivers.

The Madawaska River

The Madawaska River has its headwaters here in Algonquin Park, descending towards the Ottawa River at Arnprior. It flows here along a trail near the Lake Of Two Rivers and Mew Lake campgrounds. 

Along this stretch of the river, it's peaceful.

A Rock Lake View

This is another reflection shot that I found in my archives from an Algonquin excursion; Rock Lake is along the Highway 60 corridor. Aside from canoe opportunities, there's a campground here and a hiking trail.

By Costello Creek

Still in the archives today, and in Algonquin Park, with these two fall shots I took some years ago. Costello Creek runs down from Lake Opeongo in the Highway 60 corridor. The lake is a well known launching off spot for canoe trips, and one can expect canoes to be found along this quiet stream during the summer while driving up to the lake. This large boulder is a familiar sight on the way.

This view of the creek looking northward on its way to the lake has good fall colours as well.

On The East Side

Two more archive shots today, from a summer trip a couple of years ago into the east side of Algonquin Park. The Sand Lake Gate gives access here west of Pembroke for the road travelling into this portion of the park.

The Barron Canyon can be found here. This is a different perspective from what I've shown you before here and here.

Canoe Lake

I have something else from the archives, and also from Algonquin Park. Speaking of which, check out this post from Merry@Syracuse, who was in the Park some weeks ago. That is the first post in a series currently underway by Merry, and the rest can be found on the right hand column; the trails mentioned in these posts are ones I know very well.

This is Canoe Lake on a tranquil, quiet day years ago. It's a big jumping off point for people with canoes, both for serious trips into the interior and for those who just want a day on the lake. There's a nice restaurant here overlooking the water, an outfitter to supply the canoe crowd, a gift shop, and showers for those who have spent a few days in the canoe and on portage trails.

The artist Tom Thomson drowned in this lake in 1917. There's a cairn somewhere on the shores here memorializing him.

Mr. Cranky

Something pulled up from the deepest darkest recesses of archives; I took this shot several years ago in Algonquin Park in the fall while with friends. The male moose was off in the bush, the antlers at full size (they fall off each year, at some point in the winter). This was before rutting season, though, when they get really, really, really cranky. You don't want to be anywhere near a male that time of year.

Quite A View

Another shot from Barron Canyon today. A canoe can be spotted far below, and having another hiker in the shot gives perspective and scale. The canyon was formed as a fault line, part of the massive slab of granite that is the Canadian Shield. It has more recent geological history- in the wake of the last ice age, the water that ran through here drained a glacial lake to the west. Its flow at that time has been estimated by geologists to be the equal of a thousand Niagaras. It is considerably calmer now. The Barron River flows out from Algonquin, joining the Petawawa River and emptying into the Ottawa River at Petawawa, up the valley from the capital.

Barron Canyon

I have these shots from the archives as well, pics I took on a visit in the early fall of 2012 and saved in my email, as the camera belonged to friends. The Barron River flows through this canyon on the east side of Algonquin Park. A hiking trail follows the canyon rim. Canoes can often be seen down on the river below. It's a hundred metres up from the river here, so a fall would result in a very bad day. Well, for your family and friends, anyway. Odds are you'd be dead.

It is a magnificent canyon, and far from the Highway 60 corridor, which is what most visitors think of when they think of Algonquin. For those of us in Eastern Ontario, this part of the park is more quickly reached.

Happily At The Top Of The Cliff

Something from the archives. This would be several years old. I was on the Centennial Ridges trail in Algonquin Park. It's a great trail, ten kilometres long, going up and down a series of ridge lines in a circle, honouring various figures of the park's history. The trail was established in 1993, the centennial year of the park's founding. Centennial Ridges is one of my favourite places in the world. This is taken from one of the high points by a passing hiker, midway along the trail.

Yes, I look thoroughly disreputable.

My partner in crime Norma fit me into a different kind of photograph. Yesterday was her birthday; click on that link and wish her a belated Happy Birthday!