Lennox & Addington, ON
Part 1 of this 2-part post covering a weekend of stargazing, provincial parks and unique repurposed accommodations.
Stargazing at LA Dark Sky Viewing Area Around 2015, a member of the community and night sky enthusiast Terence Dickinson informed LA County that a particular spot in their area boasted the lowest levels of light pollution and suggested it would be a draw for city dwellers to see the stars. The community development officers got in touch with local amateur astronomer Joe Gilker and so the volunteer-led stargazing nights commenced. Upon securing a grant in 2022, a special telescope was purchased and landscaping was carried out to create the observation pad, from where our tour took place.
We were lucky to be in the area during the new moon, the best time of the month to observe the stars, and so reserved a space on the 90-min laser-guided stargazing tour, targets at novices like myself. I lay down a blanket on one of the flat boulders, and laid down on my back, and then Rita sat on top of me. From this position, I had a wide view of the night sky and as darkness continued to fall and as my eyes grew accustomed to it, I was able to pick out the Milky Way and thousands of surrounding stars.
The evening began with a Q&A, which provided an introduction to observing the sky. Joe’s favourite planet is indeed Earth, and we were told to look out for the ISS, which we did manage to see. Then we were taken on a “stargazing tour” of the night sky, with Joe pointing out important constellations with his laser and telling the mythology behind them. I also learned that Big Dipper was named after type of saucepan, not a rollercoaster as I had always assumed!! He showed us how to find the North Star and pointed out a neighbouring galaxy 2.5m light years away. The least mind-boggling sight but perhaps the one which raised the most questions was the Starlink satellite deployment transversing the sky, following a deployment a few days earlier. Rita honestly seemed like she was listening and examining the sky too. To finish the night, we got a chance to look through the telescope at Saturn. With such a high magnification, we could pick out its rings. It was all very fascinating.
I wasn't able to take any photos, as white light was prohibited, but found this photo of the LA star-gazing tour from the Royal Astronomical Association of Canada. Rita and I paid a visit again the next day to show you it in the daylight.
Nine 22 The Silo Then we drove 20 mins to our home for the weekend - a renovated grain silo! Pam and Dave are avid tiny home redevelopers, living in a tiny house on wheels before purchasing the silo and moving in in 2019. As they move onto their next project of restoring a 1890s brick barn, they decided to share the space with others by setting it up as an AirBnB. The attention to detail in both the design and the anticipating guests’ needs is evident. Board games, yoga mats, spare toiletries, coffee making facilities-whatever your preference, colouring-in books, spare phone chargers, tick remover…..anything you could need. The silo is fully equipped with a bathroom, and kitchen and outdoor cooking area with pizza oven (with handmade dough in the fridge). It’s solar powered and water comes from the on-site well so you can rest assured you are not just living within nature, you’re living in harmony with it. Rita enjoyed exploring the meadows and woods or simply sunbathing on the deck. Hands down, this is one of my favourite AirBnBs I’ve stayed in; it was quaint and rustic without sacrificing luxury, and it was equidistant to each of the provincial parks we visited.
Bon Echo PP The focal point of this park is the impressive cliffs left over from tectonic plate movement millions of years ago, and in fact its name comes from the acoustical properties they create over Lake Mazinaw. We parked at the east end and made a trip to the visitor centre, gift shop and cafe. Rita had to stay outside for this. At Dennison’s Point, we got a great closeup view of the rock itself. There’s a ferry to take visitors across to the rock, with option for an interpretive tour. However dogs are not allowed on the ferry. The other option is to kayak over yourself, to observe the indigenous artwork etched into the cliffs and perhaps enjoy the cliff top hike. We’ll maybe try this next time!
For this visit, we stuck to the mainland, firstly venturing to the pet exercise area where there is a dog beach and Rita had the chance to run about and have a swim. From here, we joined the Bon Echo Creek Trail which was a short creekside forest walk (back on-leash). Rita’s off-leash time was not over though, as there is a special, dedicated off-leash trail towards the south end of the park. I didn’t find the signposts terribly helpful but we were able to navigate our way there (by car) with the map. This 1.4km loop through the forest was peaceful and a great chance for Rita to have some freedom. Next we drove back towards the gatehouse and under the bridge to the Shield Trail, a 4.8km hike with a ton of scenery. The rugged trail went right along the edge of beaver marshes and we had views of Bon Echo Lake. It was very pretty and we spotted lots of squirrels and a bluejay.
Two nice stops along Highway 41 en route to Bon Echo are Oops a Daisy Flower Farm and Northbrook Blueberry Stand, which sells handmade dog treats.
Festival of Stars With the new moon this weekend, it was a popular time for stargazing. The Festival of Stars, organised by North Frontenac Amateur Astronomers, aims to bring all members of the community together, from keen astronomers to those just wanting an insight, like myself. Throughout the event, there were keynotes from astronomers all over Ontario, covering astrophotography and how to set up community groups. Again, as darkness fell, there was a laser guided sky tour (with Starlink crashing the party again ) and we got a chance to look through some massive telescopes at Saturn. This event felt more like an astronomer meet-up than the tourist-focussed feel of the previous night, but it was nice to test my knowledge of the constellations and get chatting to those who were passionate about the field.
Frontenac PP The first thing I noticed about this park was lack of a formal gatehouse; in fact when you arrive, you can take a left straight to the trails or, as we did, a right to the park office, where the friendly assistant informed me of the best way to get to the Bufflehead Trail (back to the start, take the left). We parked at the Arab Lake and took the Corridor Trail, which runs along the length of the park, to get to the trailhead. The Bufflehead Trail, named after N. America’s smallest duck, shares its beginning and end with the Akron Lake loop, but allows you to reduce the 11km to 8km. I really enjoyed this popular, wooded trail, with lots of viewing points over beaver ponds. I lost count of the number of dams I saw, and the plank walkways over the marsh allowed us to get up close and personal. We also spotted some of the 136 active beaver lodges in the park and many turtles sunbathing on rocks in the beaver ponds - very cute!
We returned to the park office parking lot to take the Doe Lake Loop. You are rewarded with two lakes in this loop, the first being the larger South Otter Lake. There are interpretive guides at the trailhead to purchase or borrow, and this allowed us to educate ourselves on the geology and history of the region, which sits right on the boundary of the northern and southern shields, hence showcasing diverse vegetation. We learnt a lot about how the beavers drive the succession of the forest - did you know they can chop down a 13 cm diameter willow tree in 3 mins? - as well as the talus slope rock formation, and the logging and mining activities in the 1900s, from which we could view an old mica mine. This was a really fun and educational trail, with as many aspects of the forest as possible featured within 3km.
