This weekend is our usual family and friends camping weekend. This year we extended the dates to include Thursday to get that extra day of fun in the sun. Our first day was pretty unproductive and consisted of just putting the campsite together and lounging around for the others to show up. Most of the area is under a fire ban and it was great to find out that Awenda Provincial Park was excluded from the ban while the surrounding areas were stuck without campfires. We were looking at a pretty good weekend ahead of us. Today some of us slowly got ourselves geared up to hike out to the beach while others were planning to drive. When all was said and done only my sister-in-law and myself were brave enough to walk the few kilometres to the beach.

Road to the Campsites

So off we went with our cameras in hand while the rest drove down to enjoy some extra swimming time and who also kindly took our beach gear with them. The park itself is situated on a bluff and the beach is located just below the ridge. Karin and I followed the road from our campsites to the entrance of the Bluff Trail. It was a beautiful and fairly level path with the occasional root and rock trying to trip you up, which it seemed to do every now and again. The trail weaved in and out of the next batch of campsites before taking us further towards the bluff. About 30 minutes after we started out we came to a set of stairs that took us down level with the beaches.

The Way Back

Once at the bottom we made our way to beach one. The rest of the gang was hanging out at beach three which turned out to be another 30 minute walk. We stopped in to visit my friend who was with her dog at the dog beach and from there we went in search of the elusive third beach. Along the way we watched a couple of female deer who seemed to fighting over some territory. Unfortunately the bush was quite dense and I was unable to get a clear shot of either of them. They eventually turned an walked further into the forest without a backward glance at either of us.

Beneath the Leaves

We continued on our way to the beach and when we finally arrived I got myself into the cool water of Georgian Bay before spreading out on the towel to dry up and then head back to the campsite for some dinner.