The North Shore of the Georgian Bay

I just returned from a kayak trip along the north shore of the Georgian Bay. Scenery and sunsets capture my fancy. The stark rock, scoured smooth with the retreat of glaciers during the last ice age approximately ten thousand years ago, have removed most of the soil, leaving white pine trees to dig their roots in what appears to be impenetrable crevices. The landscape is raw, stark and enduring.


I experienced a wind day in French River Provincial Park, but donned my Kokatat cagoule for comfort.


The only other kayaker I met up with was Mark. We decided to paddle for a stretch together. What a FUN paddling partner.


Smooth granite makes for gentle landings with the aid of a pool noodle to roll up the kayak, but the rock beneath the water's surface is very slippery, covered in algae, and sloping gently. I read the 1:50000 (2 cm= 1 km) topographic map to verify location. Ice cover had melted away less than two weeks prior to my journey. The water felt icy cold!


Numerous low lying archipelagoes dot the shoreline, including the Chickens and the Fingers. With lower water levels since the creation of the topo maps, often what one "sees" does NOT correlate to what is on the map! Mark's Seaward Vision was filled with everything including the kitchen sink!!


Navigation of the intricate shoreline with its myriad of islands and low lying topography requires concentrated map reading and sound navigational skills. I continue to prefer navigating by using topographic maps and compass. Mark did mark numerous way points in his GPS.


Vivid lichen grows on this granitic islet. This burst of colour complemented my mango coloured Current Designs Solstice GTS.


I have always paddled the north shore of the Georgian Bay from east to west even though prevailing winds are westerly. But I choose to paddle in this direction so I can approach the most spectacular scenery in all of Ontario as the grand finale, with the white La Cloche Mountains in Killarney Provincial Park capturing my imagination. These mountains have been eroded to rounded rocks that resemble snow from a distance. They are a mere relic of their towering heights billions of years ago.


This is the view from Bald Head, on the south shore of Philip Edward Island.


One of the most beautiful paddles I have ever made is along the north shore of the Georgian Bay, a large bay part of Lake Huron in Ontario. Measuring 200 km by 80 km, it is a large body of water riddled by islands and stark Canadian Shield topography. It is a magical place that never ceases to penetrate my soul. This is the view from a campsite at a place not labeled on the 1:50000 topographic maps but which I called "Bald Head". Much of the north shore is either crown land (free camping to Canadians but a small fee is charged for foreigners to camp on Canadian crown land), Native Reserves or Provincial Park with designated campsites. Other than Mark, I did not encounter another paddler and only saw a handful of motorized boats.


The smoothly scoured granite at Bald Head provided a great kitchen counter for cooking a hearty bowl of oat meal mixed with peanut butter, honey and raisins. French pressed coffee accompanied breakfast. That's the wonderful thing about kayak camping, as kayaks can carry all kinds of luxury items, including the handy one liter sized tetra-packs of Cabernet-Sauvignon red wine which accompanied dinner.

Spring on the Georgian Bay

A sure sign of spring, pussy willows!


These buds resembled pompoms. I am always amazed at the intricacy and detail in the natural environment. A visitor just needs to take the time to open one's senses to all the microscopic details and to recognize theses minute details in such a vast space.


Buds contrast dramatically with the lichen splotched granite of the Canadian Shield.


The Pre-Cambrian shield hosts hardy plants that take root literally in the most inhospitable crevices. These white pines create the dramatic scenery that has been immortalized by the Group of Seven artists.


Lichens paint the granitic and gneissic rocks of the Georgian Bay's Canadian Shield. They vary considerably in colour, from greys to greens to vivid oranges. Their ability to chemically react with the rock slowly erodes the rock to create small places for plants to take root in the most unimaginable crevices.


On a wind bound day in French River Provincial Park I enjoyed the beauty and patterns of white pine needles. All coniferous needles are able to be steeped to make tea I learned from the Mathers at White Squall, experts on edible plants of the wild.


Lush beds of moss carpet the Pre-Cambrian rock, some of the oldest rock on this planet, estimated at 3.5 billion years of age, scoured smooth and flat.

The Arrogant Worms at White Squall

On the first weekend in May, I enjoyed the Georgian Bay Kayak and Canoe Festival hosted by White Squall just north of Parry Sound on Cole Lake. Of course the weather was as wet as possible but the highlight of the weekend was the Saturday evening concert featuring The Arrogant Worms, a group from Kingston, Ontario, which creates uproariously hilarious songs about Canada. I haven't laughed so hard since I can remember when! Thanks to Tim and Kathy Dyer for hosting a successful event. It is ALWAYS a pleasure to visit White Squall and meet up with passionate paddlers.

Nova Craft

Today, I visited Nova Craft in London Ontario, where Nova Craft canoes and Aquafusion kayaks are manufactured on-site but also a local retailer of quality paddling gear. Steve Wickham put a smile on my face when I tried my newest Current Designs Solstice GTS which required the foot peg bar to be extended to the maximum limit for my customized fit with customized glassed bulkheads. He did a fantastic job.... for half the originally quoted price of moving the entire foot peg bar forward. John Kleiber is always meticulous in maintaining customer satisfaction with outstanding communications and friendly service. Thanks Nova Craft for making my day by fixing my kayak in preparation for my upcoming expedition in less than a month.

I obtained this Aquapac case for my flip phone as well.

Can you do this?

In the Garden

My mother's garden is a small garden, but filled with colours, textures, shapes, sounds and scents. Birds chirp, frogs croak, leaves rustle, water trickles.

The magnolia bushes are blooming, sending gentle wafts of sweet flower scents into the warm air, baked by the unseasonably warm temperatures we've experienced in the last few days. Flowers open up with grace, subtly revealing their inner beauty without holding back, without false pretences.

Flowers are a true gift, so soft, delicious to our senses, so unfaltering in their offering. With flowers, what you see is what you get, a sensory experience worth appreciating. I'm glad I took the time to smell the flowers today, a day to celebrate my daughter's birthday.

Wacky Weather

While Canada's prairies experience another winter storm with wind chills reaching -22 degrees Celsius, winds at 35-50k/h and a snow dumping of 30 cm, here in south western Ontario, I have been basking in summer-like conditions reaching 23 degrees Celsius and light winds and mainly sunny skies.

As a result, I went sea kayaking on Lake Huron and enjoyed this brilliant day. I encountered hundreds of birds, mainly mergansers but also gulls, terns, Canada geese, swallows, vultures, ravens and sandpipers. I even lay in the sun for some time at lunch, feeling the sun soak into me, warm and inviting. But the light offshore breeze became a cold onshore breeze within minutes, and I scurried back, never trusting the conditions on Lake Huron. A mist danced over the beach now as small whitecaps lapped at the sandy shore.

The MANual

According to Steve Santagati, women who are looking for a guy should look for them in obvious places like hardware stores... but did I hear him say get active and do something like kayaking?


If this is true, where are all these single, handsome, romantic kayakers hiding? I just finisihed reading "The MANual" by Steve Santagati, who is known as a relationship expert from over two solid decades of dating and being a "bad boy" and now best selling author. He explains how men think, date, and mate and what women can do to come out on top. Best of all, the book had me chuckling from cover to cover with his savvy but humorous advice in finding Mr. Right.

A GLORIOUS Day at the Pinery

Arriving at the water's edge, I felt that the day would be brilliant. The lake was very inviting, calm and pale in colour. The sun shone with strength and energy. Very spontaneously, I decided to load the car with the kayak and gear and drive the 75 km to Lake Huron's shoreline. When I crested the dune adjacent to the lake shore, a calm lake enticed me. I couldn't believe how warm it felt, even with a slight breeze off the lake. I decided to paddle in fleece rather than full drysuit as the beach was sandy and I was near shore and the water was completely placid.


I love stopping at interesting pieces of driftwood. The beach is riddled with large stumps and root balls. Each spring, new logs litter the beach and it is always a fun treasure hunt to see what new arrivals are on the beach. Only a few people walked the beach on this spring day in strong sunshine under a full blue sky. I was the sole kayaker on the lake but it didn't surprise me. I must admit, I felt elated to be back on the water after such a lengthy winter season.