Update June 10, 2018
We’ve published a new article on Island Lake Conservation Area in Orangeville, Ontario. The photography skills have gotten a little less wrong and some images might be seen as actually quite decent. Check out that article here: Island Lake Conservation Area.
I’m right smack dab in the middle of a trip to the Finger Lakes region of New York with a stay at Hope Lake Lodge and a trip to the Eastern Townships of Quebec in Canada. My three siblings and I are taking my father down to La Belle Province for a four day visit.
My parents, my two sisters and my brother were all born in and around Granby, Quebec and the family moved to Ontario in 1965, three years before I was born. My mother passed away on April 28, 2014, about a week before her 90th birthday. We thought it would be a great way to celebrate her life by going back to our roots.
Anyhow – more to come on that. What was sort of unexpected was the images I got basically in my own backyard this week. I took my two year old to the Vicki Barron Lakeside Trail which runs around most of Island Lake Conservation Area in our town of Orangeville, Ontario. I wasn’t planning on doing much photography but I always take my camera, just in case. There was a bit of magic in the air and I’m going to share it with you.
The Vicki Barron Lakeside Trail is free to use despite the fact that most of it falls within the Island Lake Conservation Area. The rule is that if you go off the trail to use any of the park’s facilities then you should pay the day use fee. We typically access the trail from Hockley Road, just off highway 10. Those who travel the highway to the Bruce Peninsula and the Collingwood / Wasaga Beach area should give it it try as a pit stop to stretch your legs.
Until late last year, this was a standalone, in and out straight line trail that ended about 2.5 kilometres in, near the back end of Island Lake. A walking bridge has since been completed that spans across two islands and connects with the southern portion of the trail that begins at the official park entrance. However, even that portion can be accessed for free by parking at the Home Hardware on highway 10 and entering across the highway from there.
Sometimes, you can even forget that you are in an urban area. However, this neighbourhood of fat cat ‘estate’ homes is a huge reminder that you are not out in the wild. The piece of land to the right is one of the islands that has no access and is seldom touched by humans.
This is the trail. It’s not the Bruce Trail by any means and there is very little risk of a twisted ankle. This is a great trail for running and cycling, although the distance is not quite there for a good bike ride.
The new walking bridge where it connects to land and the northern portion of the trail.
The longest span of walking bridge is on the northern side. You know you’re in Canada by the number of safety warnings at a place where there is really no danger. The lake is, for the most part, four feet deep.
The bottom sign is interesting. Island Lake is well stocked with Bass, Perch and Northern Pike. Because of the shallow depth of the lake and the extremely cold winter we had in 2013-14, much of the lake froze. Between the plants and fish, the oxygen in that water was drastically depleted. The result was many fish actually suffocating from lack of oxygen. The result of that was a mess of dead fish along the shore when the ice came out.
The sign is basically saying, “Yes, we know there are dead fish. This is why. Please stop calling our office to tell us you saw dead fish!”
Hazy skies. Leaves not yet on the trees. Mid day lighting. Not usually the best conditions to get decent landscape pictures. However, this bridge and the reflections with the green of the evergreens in behind really caught my eye.
Dreamstime never liked the water reflection images I submitted for sale. Screw you, Dreamstime, I love water reflections. It just might be my theme for the summer of 2014.
And then there were ants. I so wish I had a macro lens. This is on top of a pretty large ant hill. Soon, it will probably be a mound of a few feet in height.
