Today we are back in Canada, anchored off the shore of the Killarney Provincial Park (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killarney_Provincial_Park) and the town of Killarney, founded in 1820. Now it is a small tourist town for accessing the park and fishing in the Georgian Bay. At one time, there was a large lumber industry in the area. The Group of Seven (seven famous Canadian artists of the 20th century) came up here and saw the beauty of the area. They petitioned to conserve this area, thankfully.

This morning I take a Zodiac boat tour along the shoreline of the park. The weather has been cooperating on this cruise. Beautiful morning for a boat ride onto the Georgian Bay!

The shoreline reminds me of Bar Harbor – large granite rocks with pine tree forests. The water is crystal clear. Breathtaking!

Back to the ship, some lunch, a tender to the town of Killarney, and an afternoon hike in the Killarney Provincial Park.

Before the hike, I wanted to see a little of this town. I think it might be called a village – 500 people in the summer and 200 in the winter. The tender pulls up to the dock at the marina in front of the lodge. One of the excursions was to eat a fish and chips lunch at this lodge. I see friends leaving the lunch on their way back to the ship. They said the lodge is lovely.

Killarney has a couple of restaurants, the lodge, the Sportsman Inn, an ice cream shop (of course), and a church. Not much more than that could I see. Docking your boat here for gas and food makes good sense.

To get to the Killarney Provincial Park, we board a bus for a 15 minute ride. This hike is really a walk on a gravel pathway through a campground to Lake George and then back to the visitor center. We are led by the park naturalists who work for the park during their summers.

The woods are mainly birch and some pine trees. This forest was almost completely harvested during the lumber industry area. Thus, the reason for younger trees. A few of the white pines survived.

The trail takes us to Lake George. We can see people enjoying the warm summer day on the lake. Unfortunately, because of the mining industries early in the 20th century, acid rain fell and killed all the fish and much of the wildlife. The lake is tested for acidity regularly and fish are staging a come back. The small creek flowing into and out of the lake is called Trout Creek – with currently no trout. Easy to rent a canoe, kayak or paddle board right by the lake. One of the main hikes in the park starts here – 86 km!

Back on the ship for dinner and sail away. The ship sails away but ends up turning around for a medical emergency to take someone back to Killarney to seek medical assistance. Off to bed!

And just in case something would have happened at the park…..