Friday, July 26, 2013

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.

6639 Quebec, Gatineau -  Champlain Bridge

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

VisitedProvincesMap

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.

6641 Quebec - Gatineau Park

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.

6651 Quebec - Anne and Jim at Gatineau Park Information Centre 6645 Quebec - Gatineau Park Information Centre

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

6656 Quebec - Gatineau Park Information Centre 6657 Quebec - Gatineau Park Information Centre

Our next stop is the Gatineau Park Visitor Centre.

6660 Quebec, Old Chelsea - Gatineau Park Visitor Centre 6662 Quebec, Old Chelsea - 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.

6666 Quebec, Old Chelsea - Gatineau Park Visitor Centre 6667 Quebec, Old Chelsea - Gatineau Park Visitor Centre

There are many different displays to look at.

6671 Quebec, Old Chelsea - Gatineau Park Visitor Centre 6673 Quebec, Old Chelsea - Gatineau Park Visitor Centre

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

6688 Quebec, Old Chelsea - Gatineau Park Visitor Centre 6711 Quebec, Old Chelsea - Gatineau Park Visitor Centre

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

6717 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate 6720 Quebec - Gatineau Park - 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.

6721 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Moorside - The Moorside Cottage 6724 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Moorside - The Moorside Cottage - Mackenzie King Tearoom

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

6730 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Moorside - The Moorside Cottage - Bill in the Mackenzie King Tearoom IMG_0647[1]

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.

6731 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Moorside - The Moorside Cottage Secretary's Room 6732 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Moorside - The Moorside Cottage - Anne & Jim in 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.

6736 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Moorside - The Moorside Cottage - Mackenzie King's bedroom

He loved his time spent here at the cottage.

6742 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Moorside - The Moorside Cottage

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

6748 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - The Guest Cabin

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.

6760 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - Bill reading sign 6761 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - The Kingswood Cottage 6782 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - steps 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.

6783 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - Kingsmere Lake 6785 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - The Boathouse

6793 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - The boathouse 6795 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - inside the Boathouse

6799 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - Kingsmere Lake 6804 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - Karen at Kingsmere Lake

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

6805 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Kingswood - steps back up from Kingsmere Lake

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

6814 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Abbey Ruins 6820 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Anne & Jim at the Abbey Ruins

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.

6832 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Jim, Anne & Bill in the Moorside Gardens 6835 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Moorside Formal Gardens

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

6843 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - L'Arc de Triomphe

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

6844 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate -Karen, Anne & Jim at the L'Arc de Triomphe 6845 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate -Karen, Anne & Jim at the L'Arc de Triomphe

Looking back at the Moorside Cottage.

6846 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - looking back at The Formal Gardens and The Moorside Cottage

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

6848 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - The Waterfall sign

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.

6849 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - The Waterfall Path

I lead the way.

6850 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Bill on The Waterfall Path 6851 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Waterfall Trail sign

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

6854 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - The Waterfall Path under Champlain Pkwy 6855 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - Karen on The Waterfall Path on the other side of the Champlain Pkwy

Around a few more bends we come to the waterfall.

6856 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - The Waterfall Path - Bridal Veil Falls

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.

6857 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Mackenzie King Estate - The Waterfall Path - Bridal Veil Falls

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.

6859 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Pink Lake Lookout sign 6864 Quebec - Gatineau Park - 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.

6869 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Pink Lake Lookout 6871 Quebec - Gatineau Park - Pink Lake Lookout

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.

6872 Ottawa - Champlain Bridge - view of Ottawa and Parliament Buildings as we cross back into Ontario

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.

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