---> Make sure you read Killarney - An Epic Journey (Part One) first!
...I leave at 2am to avoid Toronto traffic and to gain almost a full day of daylight in the park. The weather was drizzly when I left, but six hours later, as I neared my destination, the weather gods give me the gift of a beautiful sunrise. I stop to do a little shooting.
Finally, after three hundred and twenty long and dark miles, I turn onto Route 637 - only 36 more miles to go - I start to get excited! This is a quiet and scenic road; a perfect lead up to the park. It’s dead-end and only exists to service the park and the tiny town of Killarney beyond it, so there are few human artifacts to spoil the wild on either side of the road.
The first thing I see after turning the corner is a fox trotting down the middle of the road with something in its mouth. It's a turtle – I sure didn't expect that, I thought it would be a rodent of some kind. Years ago, I saw a bear sow and her two cubs munching on berries at the side of this very same stretch of road.
When I first started visiting the park years ago, this road was much rougher, the campground check-in was a little self-service kiosk, and the campground was very primitive. Now there is an imposing visitor’s center, hot showers, and, in addition to the campsites, yurts, the first ever roofed accommodations in the park.
To me, the camping experience is more authentic than sleeping in a room at night. I am immersed in my subject twenty fours hours a day and feel more connected, usually resulting in better photography. Contradictorily however, this time I’ve rented a yurt. I kind of wish the yurts weren’t here so that I’d have had no choice but to camp. I am hoping the added comfort will equal better photography since I won’t be wet and/or chilled to bone like I usually am when camping this late in the season. On the other hand, I am worried that the disconnect each night may actually cause the opposite to occur. We’ll see!
Being late in October, the regular camping season is over. The showers are locked tight, the water’s been drained and the ‘sneaker crowd' (I cringe when I see people hiking these slippery rock and root strewn trails without solid, ankle supporting hiking boots) is gone. There is some consolation in this as it feels just a little bit wilder, more like it used to be. If they continue to add improvements to this place, they will eventually improve the wilderness right out it!...
Look for Part Three soon...
The first thing I see after turning the corner is a fox trotting down the middle of the road with something in its mouth. It's a turtle – I sure didn't expect that, I thought it would be a rodent of some kind. Years ago, I saw a bear sow and her two cubs munching on berries at the side of this very same stretch of road.
When I first started visiting the park years ago, this road was much rougher, the campground check-in was a little self-service kiosk, and the campground was very primitive. Now there is an imposing visitor’s center, hot showers, and, in addition to the campsites, yurts, the first ever roofed accommodations in the park.
To me, the camping experience is more authentic than sleeping in a room at night. I am immersed in my subject twenty fours hours a day and feel more connected, usually resulting in better photography. Contradictorily however, this time I’ve rented a yurt. I kind of wish the yurts weren’t here so that I’d have had no choice but to camp. I am hoping the added comfort will equal better photography since I won’t be wet and/or chilled to bone like I usually am when camping this late in the season. On the other hand, I am worried that the disconnect each night may actually cause the opposite to occur. We’ll see!
Being late in October, the regular camping season is over. The showers are locked tight, the water’s been drained and the ‘sneaker crowd' (I cringe when I see people hiking these slippery rock and root strewn trails without solid, ankle supporting hiking boots) is gone. There is some consolation in this as it feels just a little bit wilder, more like it used to be. If they continue to add improvements to this place, they will eventually improve the wilderness right out it!...
Look for Part Three soon...
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