Update May 28, 2018
I was able to put up some new blue hour photos taken in Bobcaygeon and in the surrounding area. I’m not a good photographer yet but I feel would I just posted is leaps and bounds ahead of what is published here. With the photos is another time lapse video, this one of a sunrise over Nogies Creek, northeast of Bobcaygeon. Check out the new article here: Kawartha Lakes Blue Hour Photos
Whenever I see someone posting a picture of a sunset, I nearly always say, “That’s great. But, the real challenge is getting up in the wee hours to catch a sunrise.”
Well, truth be told, I nearly never catch that sunrise. And now, I’m the one putting up images of a sunset. There’s a spot on Sturgeon Lake, not far west of Bobcaygeon, Ontario, Canada, along Kawartha Lakes Road 24, that I’ve often thought would be a great spot for doing time lapse and taking some photos. The access to the lake shore is easy and there’s a playground to keep the kids occupied during the boring stuff.
We have stopped before but the conditions were never as good as this last time. On August 8, 2017, we were treated to a pretty nice sunset…
Sturgeon Lake Sunset Image Gallery
Sturgeon Lake, Ontario
Sturgeon Lake is located in the Kawartha Lakes and plays a major role in the Trent Severn Waterway. Shaped in an awkward V, the lake is 25 kilometres or 16 miles long but only three kilometres across at its widest.
To the northwest, there’s the town of Fenelon Falls. Here, the waters from Cameron Lake flow into Sturgeon, via the short Fenelon River. To the south, the Scugog River meanders through Lindsay, Ontario before flowing into Sturgeon just north of town. At Bobcaygeon, in the east, the lake drops down at the locks of the Trent Severn before entering Pigeon Lake.
As far as the Kawarthas go, Sturgeon is a rockier, less weedy lake than neighbouring Pigeon Lake. And, as the images above and the video below might suggest, the lake gives a false sense of solitude and isolation with nature.
The truth is, the area is more and more overrun with humans each and every year. There’s the elderly crowd that has moved up to live in retirement complexes and then there’s the cottagers and trailer park folk that invade during the summer months. I happen to be part of that second group but the only months I find really enjoyable are June and September.
I guess, that’s to be expected. The area is no more than a one to two hour drive from any point in the Greater Toronto Area. Apparently, none of the millions that live in the area like to be near home on weekends in the area. Unfortunately, the result is an unbroken line of cottages and trailer parks along the shores of all the lakes from Sturgeon to Pigeon to Cameron to Buckhorn. It has become very hard to find a spot to actually enjoy nature in this natural environment. C’est la vie.
Sturgeon Lake Sunset Time Lapse Video
This time lapse video was taken with the GoPro Hero 5 Black camera. The video compiles around an hours worth of images, taken at two second intervals. If you like what you see, please give it a ‘thumb’s up’ in YouTube! If you love it, please share with friends on your social network of choice…
