Trip Log: Six Mile Lake Provincial Park, August 12-14, 2015

I can't believe I didn't write up this trip log when we first got back!  This was a doozy, not because the actual trip was memorable, but because of the chaos that led to us going here rather than to Grundy Lake as we had planned.

As I recall now (a year later) we had planned to spend 3 nights at Grundy Lake.  We loaded up the boler and headed out.  Just past Bala, we noticed the Boler was bouncing a little more than usual so we pulled into a little park (right beside a police station) and Chris looked under the car.  The passenger side of the trailer hitch had snapped off of the frame.  There was no way we could continue like this, so we called my parents, and got them to meet us in Gravenhurst.  Chris tied the hitch to the frame with an extra tie down strap.  He was convinced it was good to go and we could keep going.

We made it to the Canadian Tire in Gravenhurst with no problems.  Mum and dad were going to lend us their tent.  We took the extra foam mattress that we put on our bed, then picked up a few pool floats that are full length for the kids to sleep on.  After an hour or so, Mum and Dad showed up, and we ended up having to pick up an adaptor or something so the trailer could be hooked up to the truck's electrical (I think his maybe wasn't long enough?)

And out we go, expecting to get there late but still planning to head to Grundy Lake.

At EXACTLY the same spot where we pulled over to check out the problem, the phone rang.  The Boler had blown a tire and Mum and Dad were stranded on the side of the road (between Bracebridge and Carnarvon...not exactly anywhere with help nearby.) so we turned back around, stopped in Gravenhurst again to pick up a spare tire as well as a pump incase the spare could be used...then we could take the new tire back.  I called Grundy Lake and cancelled the reservation (losing 90% of the fee I think)

We find them and begin the task of changing the tire.  We got the old spare from the back of the Boler on, and everyone is sure it's ok (except me, cause I can hear it hissing) and we head out, stopping 2 more times to put more air in the tire.  We ended up camping that night in the driveway at Mum and Dad's house.  The next morning, we headed to Six Mile Lake.  (BTW, the trip ended up costing us about $1000 between new tires (both tires were really bad and had to be replaced) a new trailer hitch, lost fees, and the fees for the two nights at Six Mile.  And that doesn't include gas and groceries.

It should also be noted that had we kept going with the hitch tied to the frame, the tire likely would have blown when we were on Highway 69 and going at much higher speeds than Dad would have been driving down a dark country road.

After all that, the two nights at Six Mile Lake seemed pretty tame.  We went out for a paddle on the lake, checked out some cool cottages and just relaxed.  There are a few nice beaches as Six Mile Lake.  At the day use area we saw a very large garter snake at the waters edge as we were landing the canoe.  We left it alone but there were two boys who were determined to catch it in a bucket and take it back to camp.  They managed to catch it, much to their parents horror, and were made to release it right away.