MacGregor Prov Park | Change Is Hard

After the bagpipe parade my sister and I began to prepare for a night trek through the cedar forest and along the sandy beach out to the end of Sunset Point. The wind was picking up and we were worried that waves we heard crashing somewhere out in the lake would be washing over the point.

At 11 p.m. we decided to head out there and check it out for ourselves. There was a certain amount of anxiety as we wound our way through the woods and along the beach, but we were relieved to find there were no waves anywhere near the point and we were able to set up on a picnic table out on the point with a perfect view of both the Milky Way to the southwest and the Big Dipper to the north.

I lightened these somewhat for Facebook, but you’ll still want to look at them in a dark room if you can, and on a larger screen.

*My first composition included more of the water in the bay. The light on shore is someone with a flashlight, probably also out looking at the meteor shower.*

She sat in a chair and watched the northern sky, exclaiming in excitment every time she saw a meteor streak across the sky. I focused on the Milky Way, deciding to include some of the bay in my first set of images, and then moving slightly to the left to include all the trees in the next series of shots.

*I like this composition too, with more of the trees we walked through to get out to the point included.*

But she was seeing so many streaking meteors that I decided to turn my camera around and see what happened. I liked the rocky point jutting out into the dark lake.

*I was lucky enough to get the meteor in the shot – barely.*

And then I asked her to go sit on a rock at the edge of the gravel, still many yards away from the water, and sit very still for 20 seconds while I took a shot of her watching the sky.

*The green might be air glow, or it might be northern lights. There was some pink in the sky too.*

I love this shot so much. The image looks peaceful, but in actuality the wind and wave noise was so loud I had to signal when the shot was finished by flashing a light at her.

Then we realized I could set up the camera and she could push the remote shutter release while I sat on the rock watching the sky.

This was sooooo cool, to sit out at the end of a rocky peninsula and look at the stars. In this image I think there are 3 meteors, though at the time I didn’t see any of them.

My sister had been watching part of the Milky Way which was directly overhead and she asked if I’d take a picture of that, so I pointed the camera straight up and pressed the shutter release.

But when we looked at what we had we realized the clouds had suddenly moved in. Our night of shooting stars was over. Our window of opportunity had been less than 2 hours. I was very glad we went out there a bit earlier than we had planned. I was happy with what we had captured and we hoofed it back down the point, across the beach and through the woods to our waiting car.

Back in camp, snug in my tent, I scrolled through my images on the back of my camera. I couldn’t see much detail in the small screen, but I knew it was there. I was smiling so big it was hard to go to sleep.

*During our exploration walk out to the point earlier in the day.*

I don’t know if I would have gone out that night, given the roar of the lake and the gusty wind, if my sister hadn’t been with me. Thanks to her we had a magical couple of hours, and now you get to share in it too!

Time is marching on, faster and faster, and if I don’t write this post now I will begin to forget all the fun stuff we did on our four night camping trip in Ontario Canada, on the shores of beautiful Lake Huron.

*The beach in downtown Kincardine. It reminded me of the beach on a Caribbean island.*

We were able to stay two nights at Point Farms Provincial Park, but they were booked for the weekend, so we planned on packing up Friday morning and moving to our next reserved campsite at MacGregor Provincial Park about an hour north, beyond the town of Kincardine, where the bagpipe parade would happen on Saturday evening.

*The beach at Point Farms, early in the morning.*

Very early Friday morning the sound of the lake roaring woke us. We hadn’t heard the lake from our site during any part of our two day stay, but Friday morning it was obvious something was going on.

Both of us popped out of our tents and said, “Is that the lake??” Then we scurried down the long set of stairs to the beach to see what there was to see.

The sun was just getting high enough in the sky to start illuminating the water and there were pretty little puffy clouds turning pink along the horizon.

We spent a long time wandering the beach and taking pictures. Good thing we had until 3 to vacate our site!

Eventually we went back up to the campsite and began to pack.

*Didn’t count the steps, best not to know how many.*

Normally it takes about an hour to get everything stowed in the car. It takes longer than that if everything is kind of wet, which it was.

But we only had to go about an hour north, so no worries. Plus there were lots and lots of pretty barns between where we were and where we were going to be.

I guess I’ll show you those in a separate post, there were so many!

*Well, OK, here’s one of the pretty barns we saw that day.*

Finally we arrived at Kincardine, but we were too early to check into MacGregor Provincial Park and our site. So we explored the town’s beach, watching beautiful sailboats and clouds move at the horizon…

*A steady wind caused both the boat and the clouds to move right along.*

…and a very large boat come into the marina….

*The boat’s name was 2nd Seabatical, and it was from Houston.*

….and of course we saw the town’s lighthouse.

*The photogenic lighthouse next to the marina.*

Kincardine is another pretty town, and we enjoyed walking on the beach…

…and eating a quick lunch sitting on a bench along the boardwalk watching people and their dogs.

*We talked to this doggy grandma about her dogs and the town of Kincardine.*

Eventually we made our way to McGregor Provincial Park.

*This is a giant bat house near the ranger office. They said no bats lived in it, they chose to live somewhere else. Silly bats.*

This park had sites tucked in among the trees and brush, so there was quite a bit of privacy, though noise from other sites certainly carried over to us.

*Setting up at our very nice site, which was surrounded by poison ivy.*

We explored the park; the beach that didn’t allow dogs…

….and the beach allowing dogs. The dog beach was definitely the better choice.

And then we walked out to the end of sunset point, to consider whether that might be a prime stargazing location. It seemed promising.

*Friday afternoon out on Sunset Point. There would be no stars that night.*

But we were really there to see the bagpipe parade, the parade that had sparked this entire trip. So… did we find the parade? Well of course we did! Even better, as we walked into the park where the bagpipers were congregating, we met Quinton, a beautiful little sheltie boy and his owner.

*Quinton showing off his tricks and getting a treat, of course.*

We had a great conversation with Quinton’s dad, learning some of the history of Kincardine, what the winters were like (not as snowy as they used to be), why the parade route was altered (Queen street was being dug up to replace ancient pipes underneath), our mutual love of shelties (he had 2 before Quinton, one died of kidney failure at age 7), and where to stand to get the best view of the parade.

Then we went to listen to the bagpipes warm up, talked to one of the pipers and headed over to the parade route, smiling in anticipation.

The sun was setting over Lake Huron as the pipers began to march and play.

It was pretty magical, though odd, as they marched down the street for a block, then did a complicated turn and marched back up the block again, then turned and marched part of the way down again.

I hope when Queen Street is opened again they might be able to march further in one direction. I imagine they hope so too.

*They do this every Saturday evening all summer!*

After the ‘parade’ the musicians moved to the center of the park, formed a big circle and played for the several hundred members of the appreciative audience that had settled on chairs and picnic tables.

*It felt like the whole town turned out.*

Kids played in the grass, neighbors caught up on their personal news, extended families gathered, people nodded and tapped their toes to the music. It was a beautiful evening of community togetherness.

*Even the lighthouse showed up to give high fives!*

My sister and I were both smiling as we made our way back down to the beach where we had parked. Mission accomplished, we’d seen the bagpipe parade, the event that spurred this entire trip.

*One of many beautiful buildings on our walk back to the car.*

But….would there finally be stars on this, Saturday night, our last night in Canada?

I guess you’ll have to wait and see.

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: MacGregor Prov Park

Then there were stars

The adventure continues