 |
| As close as he will get |
 |
Fred told me not to stand too
close to the edge. |
On a beautiful summer day we drove down
highway 400 to hike a trail through McCrae Lake Conservation Reserve. It was a typical hike through the woods northwest
of Port Severn with not much variation from other walks in the woods. A sign “Eagles Nest” led us to towering
cliffs high above the sparkling waters of the lake. It was such a stunning surprise and we sat on
the rocks just taking in the magnificent scenery.
 |
| We saw people below sitting in lawn chairs but didn't see a way down. |
 |
| The only signs were yellow arrows |
I usually excitedly anticipate what is ahead
but had an unfamiliar feeling in my solar plexus. It was then that I took out my smart phone
and went on google maps to locate where we were exactly. I saw lots of water so I suggested to Fred where
there is water there are cottages, lots of them up here, that we bushwack
through the dense brush and ask a cottager if they would drive us to our
car. We felt a spark of hope when we
came across a young man on a dock; then we explained our predicament and
request to which he replied, “there are no roads here, all cottages are water
access only”. My heart sank but he led
us into the cottage to meet his grandmother who immediately offered us water as
she noticed ours was running low. She
told her grandson to take us in her boat to Honey Harbour. What???
Seems that her cottage was not on a lake but on one of the hundreds of
bays on Georgian Bay. She told us we
were certainly not the first hikers to arrive at her cottage as just recently 2
had spent the night. I must admit we
thoroughly enjoyed the 30 minute boat ride and never realized there are so many
cottages with water access only. The young man would not take the money we tried to force upon him.
In Honey Harbour I called a taxi in
Coldwater who could come in an hour, I told them thanks but no thanks and
called another one that no longer existed.
Meanwhile Fred had spotted a young man on a Bobcat so he offered him
cash to drive us to our car. He was
happy to help us out and delivered us safely to our car within 30 minutes. We were beyond grateful so gave him more than
the agreed upon amount of money. We were so blessed to come upon such wonderful people.
I have always loved adventure and
excitedly related this one to a son who just happened to call as soon as we got
in the car. His response, “I can see the
headlines now, two seniors lost in the woods overnight”. Well, that part of the trek I can do without.
I did notify Ontario trails regarding the lack of signage on this trail. I don't like an overabundance of signs but seeing that many hikers end up bushwacking through the woods tells me that some signage is needed.
