Even though it was our rest day, we woke up early so that we could get our tandem kayak (it was first come first serve, but there was no line up anyway). It had rained over night but the forecast was calling for a muggy but sunny day. The weather last night was ‘smoke’ – apparently from the forest fires in BC!
We packed our stuff and took the tandem kayak into the lake. It felt so good to go kayaking again, especially to rest our legs and use our arms for a change.
The area is a paddler’s paradise, with many islands you could easily get lost. We wished we camped at one of backcountry campsites out on the islands, where it was so peaceful especially compared to the crowded campground (being the weekend didn’t help). We decided to keep things simple and stay where we were as we would have had to store our bikes somewhere. The waterfront sites in the campground were actually really nice, but being the typical Ontario Parks they had all been booked up months in advance.
Our highlight of the day was witnessing what we initially thought was a wolf (turns out it was a coyote – you can tell from the way their tails are positioned)! Just as I was mentioning that we hadn’t seen much wild life, Katherine spotted the coyote about 50m on the coast line. He kept looking out on the water and we got some great shots of him. Later on we witnessed our second coyote along the coast as well! They move so quickly and quietly through the woods. Very sneaky!
There were also a few loons that kept making calls. The area was so quiet and their echoes off of the hills was really neat.
On our way back we spotted a paddle boat. Definitely not for us after so much biking!
In the end we paddled about 30km. We hardly saw any paddlers once we left the campground area. It was blissfully peaceful after pedalling our bikes for so many days on the roads!
Trip Around The World 
Hi – it was a pleasure meeting your wife in the laundry room of Rushing River. I have to say that on our family vacation in Lake of the Woods, I definitely met the most interesting people in the laundry rooms! I think my husband may have come over and introduced himself to you folks.
What an adventure of a lifetime – I’ll be sure to visit back to read about your journeys. Even just hearing your reveiws of this place or that is great!
Hope the weather is well for you two, and I hope you have hot showers in contrast to Ontario parks showers.
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