Iain Leitch Photography

 For my birthday weekend, I went up to Marten River Provincial Park for the first time. I had a site right on the water, which made it easy to launch my canoe. The first day I paddled up Marian Creek which is where the first three photos are from. The initial idea was to get all the way to Marian Lake but the creek narrowed, got shallow and had to many log jams to make it all the way up.  After the canoe trip I went on a hike in the park on the Transition Trail. This train is rather long at nearly 5km but was full of things to see including a 350 year old White Pine. During the hike I came upon a large flock of mostly warblers which is where photos 4-12 are from.  The final three photos are just ones I took thought the trip. This includes the water access at the campsite which was foggy one morning, a nice photo of the Canadian Shield and a starry night. Common Merganser Caterpillar Bumble Bee Pine Warbler Pine Warbler Lichen Blue Jay Ruby Throated Humming Bird Vireo of s...

 I went on my second crown land camping trip this past weekend. I started off at the public boat launch on Ashby Lake, from their I paddled to the roughly 125 meter long portage that takes you into King Lake. After crossing King Lake I reached the portage to get into Barker Lake which was roughly 200ish meters long. Once on Barker Lake I found a campsite on an island and set up camp for the night. That day I had paddled 9km. The first four photos are from the first day.  The next day I woke up, packed up camp and set off back to the car. It was just the same trip as before but backwards. It was roughly 7.5km of paddling to get back to the car, as I didn't turn down the wrong bay this time. The remaining photos are from the second day. At each portage their was a good amount of cached boats that look as if they hadn't been used in years, and they probably haven't, just left to rot. Cooking/Fire area of the campsite Tent pad Pine Tree at the Point Canoe Pulled up for the nigh...

 I recently had the chance to go to Algonquin Provincial Park for a day trip during the week. This meant slightly less crowds at the trail heads. I did two different trails, while at the park, Whiskey Rapids and Peck Lake. Each trail is roughly 2.5ish KM in length and moderate difficulty.  The Whiskey Rapids trail, starts off going downhill really fast, then follows the river for a good distance leading to the rapids the trail is named after, before heading back up to the trailhead in a much more reasonable ascent. On this trail I was able to take a photo of the White-throated Sparrow and the first two mushroom photos. The second trail, Peck Lake is a loop trail that goes around Peck Lake which is rather small and more of a good size pond compared to a lake. This trail had a little up and down but was fairly flat overall. The trail has multiple spots that you can use to go right down to the water and have a look around. The remaining photos are all from that trail.   ...

This past weekend I went camping at Silent Lake Provincial Park. It was a good camping trip, but there was a lot of biting bugs out. Even with those, I was still able to get out on a hike, and a paddle in my new to me canoe.  Garter Snake on some rocks by the water. Swamp Laurel, I saw paddling. Birch tree with some intense peeling bark. Threeleaf Goldthread among some moss. Mushroom in a stump of a tree. On the way back from the park I detoured to Morrow Creek again to get an event better waterfall photo.

I went on my first solo back country camping trip this past weekend. It was quite the experience and I learned what to do and what not to do for next time. I had the whole lake to myself which was pretty sweet but on the other hand it kept raining on and off. Out of the 4 photos I like the waterfall one the most. The only downside is that the photo turned out a little hazy due to the mist coming off the waterfall and the fact that the forest was quite humid with all the rain. This just meant a fuzzy photo. I'm going to plan to go during a dryer period next time for an even better photo. Loon on the lake I was staying on. First view when you slip your boat in. Morrow Creek waterfall. An old barn with mist in the background.