Sleepy Cedars Campground - Ottawa

Slept in today, this is becoming a regular habit.  Got up and we checked our laptops, answered emails, played a few online games, had our tea and coffee and then had pancakes for breakfast.

We are going to go with Anne and Jim to see a bit of Gatineau Park.  Gatineau Park is in the Province of Quebec.

They picked us up around 10:30am and we were on our way across the Champlain Bridge from Ontario into Quebec.



We can now add another “Province Visited” to our map.



Shortly after crossing over the bridge, we were at the entrance to Gatineau Park, or as they say in French….  Parc de la Gatineau.   French is the language of choice in Quebec, English is secondary, if even spoken.



We have 2 objectives today.  Number 1 is to visit the Estate of William Lyon Mackenzie King.  Number 2 is to visit Pink Lake.

We stop at the Information Map that is located just inside the Park entrance to get orientated.  Jim and Anne study it out closely.

 

Here is some information about the Mackenzie King Estate and Pink Lake.

 

Our next stop is the Gatineau Park Visitor Centre.

 

Inside we picked up maps and brochures about the park, then we wandered around looking at the different displays of animals and whatnot that are within the park.

 

There are many different displays to look at.

 

Jim got a kick out of pushing all the buttons on the interactive displays.

 

Now that we are fully informed, we head off for the Mackenzie King Estate.

 

It is already after 1pm so before we do any walking, we need to eat.   There is a nice (but expensive) little tea room /cafe in the Moorside Cottage.

 

Umm, ya… its a bit pricey, but we have to eat.

 

After lunch we are sufficiently fortified to begin our walking tour of the Estate.  We go upstairs in the Moorside Cottage to see the various rooms.

This is the Secretary’s room.  Jim and Anne check out the Guest Bedroom.

 

This is Mackenzie Kings bedroom.  He was Canada’s 10th Prime Minister.  He was considered by most, to be Canada’s greatest Prime Minister.



He loved his time spent here at the cottage.



We then walked over to the Kingswood part of the property.  This is where any dignitaries or important guests would stay.



I am reading about the history of Kingswood.  It is a lovely little cottage set in the woods with a pathway leading down to Kingsmere Lake.

  

At the end of the footpath is a very picturesque little lake and a little boathouse where he would store his canoe.

 

 

 

Of course, what goes down, must now go back up.



We then walked out to the Abbey Ruins.  King began construction in 1935, but it was never completed.

 

From here we walked back to the main house and through the gardens.  Karen photographs Jim, Anne and I as we stroll through the gardens.

 

We then walked over to the L’Arc de Triomphe, a scaled down version of the original in France.



Karen, Anne and Jim pose for a photo under the Arc.

 

Looking back at the Moorside Cottage.



From here we decide that we are going to take the hike to The Waterfall.



This trail is downhill all the way to the base of the waterfall and just over 1 KM in length.  As I always say whenever hiking, what goes down must eventually come back up, so with that bit of advice and every ones assurance that they will be able to make the climb back up, we head off to see the waterfall.  I always prefer the uphill part to be at the beginning of the hike, then it is a much easier downhill on your return.  It doesn't always work that way though.



I lead the way.

 

We come to a culvert / tunnel that passes under a road.

 

Around a few more bends we come to the waterfall.



Not exactly what we were expecting.  We were all disappointed that it was just a trickle.  We found out later that the river upstream from here had been dammed up after Mackenzie King died and the once spectacular waterfall that he enjoyed is now just a trickle for us to see.



Now we have to climb back up hill out of here.  After some grunting and groaning we do make it and are happy to arrive back at the car and the air conditioning.

So onwards we go to see Pink Lake.

Someone had told Anne that the water was pink, but that certainly turned out to be false.  The lake got its name, not because of any pink water, but because the Pink Family was awarded wood cutting rights to the areas around the lake.

The Lake is very unique and rare even if it isn’t Pink.  It is a Meromictic Lake, which means that it has layers of water that do not intermix.  There is no ozygen in the water at the bottom of the lake.  Most all lakes are Holomictic which means that at least once a year, often several times a year, the water in the top layers of the lake, switch places with the water layers at the bottom of the lake.  Lake temperature and winds are the driving forces behind this shifting of water layers.

We stopped at the Pink Lake Lookout.

 

We had planned to hike the trail around the lake, but at this point that is just crazy talk.  We all agree that after the hike to and from the waterfall, that we are all hiked out for the day.  It is 5:30pm and we are low on energy, so we take a look at the lake from here and then call it a day.

 

Leaving Gatineau Park, we head back to Ottawa the way we came.  You can just see the Parliament Buildings through the railing of the bridge.



Anne and Jim dropped us off back at the Sleepy Cedars Campground.  We invited them to stay for dinner, but they had to get back to their apartment.

Karen and I BBQ’ed hot dogs for dinner on our Weber Q BBQ and then Karen got busy naming all of the photos we took today.  I relaxed playing games on my laptop.