Sunday, August 11, 2013

Restoule Provincial Park ON

Woke up at 9am this morning.  We have to quickly eat breakfast and then get the motorhome packed up and unhooked.  We are meeting our friends Peter and Janette a few miles from here at the Tim Horton’s for lunch.  I had texted Janette at 9 when we got up and she told me they were just passing by Victoria Harbour ON. That tells me that they are on schedule for our 11am rendezvous and that I better get our act in gear if we were going to be at the rendezvous on time.

All packed up and stowed away we leave the Doe Lake Campground and Rizzort at 11 am.  The whole campground is dug into the side of a very steep hill that over looks Doe Lake and the roads up to and down from the campsites are very steep and twisty.  You want to make sure your vehicle has good brakes or you will be unexpectedly dropping in on your neighbours.

7029 leaving Doe Lake Campground Rizzort 7030 leaving Doe Lake Campground Rizzort

We turn left out of the campground onto Ferguson road and follow that to Hwy 11 North.  We crossed over the same narrow bridge that we crossed a few days ago.

7039 Doe Lake Rd, Katrine 7040 Doe Lake Rd, Katrine

We turn onto Hwy 11 North and in 8 minutes we are at the Tim Hortons.  We can see that Peter and Janette have beat us by a few minutes.  They are parked and waiting inside for us to join them.  You can see their rig parked to the right of the Valu Mart.

7043 Hwy 11, Burk's Falls - meeting Peter & Janette @ Tim Horton's 7045 Hwy 11, Burk's Falls - meeting Peter & Janette @ Tim Horton's

We had our lunch then Karen and I needed to top up our cupboards and fridge so we popped into the Valu Mart to purchase milk, bread etc.  Peter and Janette also bought a few things and then we were on the road.  They chose to follow us which turned out good for us as there were no rear end trailer shots in any of our photos as we continued North to Restoule Provincial Park.

7046 Hwy 11 7052 Hwy 11

Watch out for Moose.  We are hoping to see a moose, just not in our grill.

7053 Hwy 11 - moose warning sign

You can see the wildlife fencing along the side of the highway.  This is put up to try and keep the animals from getting onto the highway.

7058 Hwy 11, South River - wildlife fencing 7058 Hwy 11, South River - wildlife fencing

Every 1/4 mile or so there is a tunnel with an entrance at the fence opening and the tunnel goes under the highway, allowing the animals to pass safely to the other side.

7059 Hwy 11 - wildlife fencing & opening 

We continue Northwards on Hwy 11.

7069 Hwy 11 7071 Hwy 11

Till we get to our exit at Hwy 534.  Hwy 534 West will take us to the town of Restoule.  The Provincial Park is a bit past the town.

7072 Hwy 534 turn

Hwy 534 has many twists and turns and up hills and down hills.  The pace is slow but very scenic.

7073 Hwy 534 7075 Hwy 534

We pass horses out in the field along the way.

7076 Hwy 534

We pass several deer crossing signs.

7077 Hwy 534 7078 Hwy 534 7079 Hwy 534

And then we saw a deer and a fawn on the side of the road.  Fortunately they did not try to cross the road as we were going by.

7081 Hwy 534 - a deer (& fawn) 7081a Hwy 534 - a deer (& fawn)

We arrived at the 4 corner village of Restoule.  There is a little general store and a restaurant.  We turned right here and continued on the last few KM to Restoule Provincial Park.

7088 Hwy 534 - Restoule 7090 Hwy 534 - Restoule

The last few KM to the park was also very hilly with hairpin turns.

7094 Hwy 534 7098 Hwy 534 - Bill driving alongside Restoule Lake

At one point there is a sign indicating a 23% downgrade.  It didn’t seem to be that steep, my bigger concern was to share the road with the trailer coming up the hill.

7102 Hwy 534 - 23% Grade warning sign 7103 Hwy 534

We have made it to the Park Entrance.

7106 Hwy 534 - Restoule Provincial Park sign 7107 Hwy 534 - Restoule Provincial Park sign (2)

We stopped at the entrance gate and showed them our site reservation.  We have entered Bear Country.

7114 Restoule Provincial Park entrance 7115 Restoule Provincial Park entrance 7112 Restoule Provincial Park - bear country warning sign

We bought some firewood and some ice, got our necessary paperwork and we are on our way to our Site 404.

7118 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - our motorhome in our campsite # 404 7119 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - our motorhome in our campsite # 404

It takes us about 45 minutes to get set up.  First we check the electrical outlet to make sure that there is hydro.  You wouldn’t want to get all set up and then plug in to find there was no hydro.  After checking the hydro, we put the wooden blocks under the jacks and lower the hydraulic jacks till the motorhome is level.

7120 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - our motorhome in our campsite # 404 7121 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - our motorhome in our campsite # 404

Then we extend the Dinette and Bedroom slides, pull out the patio awning and then finish up by putting out the ground mats, the BBQ, the chairs and outdoor tables.  With that all done we can relax.

With that all done, we walked to site 494 where Peter and Janette are staying.  Things weren’t going so well at their site, they were having troubles and had not gotten backed in yet.  With a little bit of help from Karen and I, we helped them get backed in and set up.  We had a couple of drinks to celebrate that success. 

Peter and Janette BBQ’ed some sausages and hot dogs for all of us to enjoy for dinner and then we went for an after dinner walk down to the lake.

7142 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake dock 7144 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake dock

This is a beautiful little lake and Peter is excited for tomorrow so that he can get his rubber Zodiac boat launched and get out there and do some fishing.

7146 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake dock 7155 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake dock

Fall comes early this far north in Ontario, some of the leaves on the trees are starting to change colour already.

7156 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake dock - leaves are changing color 7157 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake dock - leaves are changing color

There is a trail that leads along the shoreline to the swimming beach area.

7158 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake beach

This is the swimming beach area.  Janette and I stop for a rest while Karen takes more photos.

7160 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake beach 7165 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - walk to Restoule Lake beach - Janette & Bill

Back and Pete and Janette’s site, we enjoy some evening drinks around the campfire.

7172 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - Peter, Janette & Bill @ Peter and Janette's campsite #494 7174 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - Peter and Janette's campsite #494

And then Janette teaches us how to make Smore’s.  Apparently Smore’s are an essential part of the camping experience.  Neither Karen or I have ever had one so we got our first taste.

7176 Restoule Provincial Park - Kettle Point Campground - Bill eating a s'more @ Peter and Janette's campsite #494

To make a Smore’s you need 2 graham crackers, a piece of plain chocolate and a roasted marshmallow.  Put the chocolate and the marshmallow between the 2 graham crackers and enjoy.. A bit messy, but very delicious.

Karen was tired around 9pm so she went back to our motorhome to sleep.  Janette was also tired so she went to lay down in their 5th wheel trailer.  Peter and I sat around the fire and enjoyed the evening and the fire.  We had a few late night visitors drop by while we were sitting there.   The pictures are not the greatest, taken with my iPhone camera, but you can make out that it was raccoons visiting us. 

IMG_0657

They were very bold and went right to the stairs to get into Peter’s 5th wheel till I got up and scared it away.

IMG_0658

There were 3 or 4 of them and after scaring them away they stayed about 20 feet into the bush, probably hoping that we would leave so that they could come back and investigate the campsite for any tidbits that we may have dropped.

IMG_0664 IMG_0665

Eventually the raccoons left to go and check out other less guarded campsites.  Peter and I finished up our drinks, made sure that the fire was out, said our goodnights and I wandered home.

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