Plein Air in Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park

Helen here. I like to keep a journal when we go on trips. As this was an exploratory trip in preparation for our Kawartha Highlands Art Retreat, it was even more important.

We drive northeast from Markham. It’s only a couple of hours, not so far compared to many of our retreat destinations. We make a left onto Long Lake Road down to Long Lake Lodge. Here we pick up our rented canoe and begin to load our supplies and kit for the painting trip. This is the same place we will be meeting the participating artists in our August 6 through 10 art retreat.

Helen at launch site. Canoe packed and ready to go.

Once our packs are in, we push off and begin paddling west along this stunning lake. Rocks rise massively on one side and islands dot the surface. It takes us just over an hour, going at a leisurely rate to make it to the portage to Buzzard Lake.

Pushing off onto Long Lake, Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.

Fantastic cliffs

Great places to paint already.

Along the 340 metre portage between Long and Buzzard lakes we meet Bonnie and Doug who are kayaking.  They’re from Pickering, but teach music in Markham. They helped us lift our canoe onto Keith’s shoulders and he carries it, over his head, over the length of the portage.  It’s only 10 minutes in each direction; we go back and forth twice, (plus the extra time we took chatting [resting] with the teachers.) Compared to Algonquin portages, this one is smooth and easy going.

Keith with his 50 lb pack

Me with my 40 lb pack

Keith portaging canoe.

Also, compared to Algonquin, the scenery here is more spectacular for the most part. Algonquin tends to be green on green. Here there are so many lovely rock faces, it totally transforms the scenery.

Heading off onto Buzzard Lake.

More great scenery.

By 4 pm we arrive at our campsite on Buzzard Lake. It was fairly simple to get our canoe up onto dry land and start to unload.

Our two-man tent is new (they’re lighter and cleverer these days) so Keith is spending a few minutes going over instructions. Sometimes it seems the odd shapes make no sense, but it comes together like some magical plan. Meanwhile, until he needs me, I’m unpacking the food and medication. It may be a campsite, but there’s a homey aspect to the organization. I doubt A.Y. Jackson lived like this in his month-long stay in a tent after the Indian guide dropped him off. I had this image of roughing it, but this is mighty civilized.

Keith setting up new tent.

Keith using his slingshot to get a rope high into the trees.

Hauling the food up into the trees.

By 5:40 we’re eating cheesy noodles, pre-roasted chicken slices, and a salad of cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices. Good to have some fresh food at the start.

Keith did a lot of research and shopping before we started this trip, so we have, among other things, triangular-shaped nesting bowls (outer for entrees, inner ones, insulation-lined and lidded, for tea.) Remind me to bring instant coffee next time. Even the instant variety is better than none at all. The instant skim milk tastes better than it used to. Dessert is herbal tea, chocolate wafers and trail mix.

Clever nestling cups and bowls.

Earlier, as we paddled, and now, sorting things out at the site, we’re treated to squalls of rain – nothing that lasts long enough to cause concern. The sky is mostly patches of blue. The lake water is warm (I know because I’m washing dishes in it). 

6:30, dinner is finished. Dishes done and hanging in the net. Food hung up in a tree. The sun is still up, and there’s time to paddle around and see what we can find for subject matter. What we find are more potential scenes than we could possibly paint if we had two weeks to do so.

More painting potential.

9:00 pm, not really dark, however, time to build a fire. This one, to Keith’s chagrin, took him 4 matches. The wood was dampish, but it’s done and he’s now carving he’s a walking stick as the fire roars. Fire. Loons. So Ontario.

9:50, crawling into sleeping bags in the tent.

Ziploc bags are godsends. They keep things together, dry, you can see everything and they float.

I’ve just had an idea, I’m going to plan ahead for next time and pre-measure all of our containers and tools. Pots, mugs, ladle, etc. What holds a tablespoon, a cup, quarter cups, etc.  This means I don’t have to lug around extra items for measuring.

9:00 am. No rising at the crack of dawn for this pair. We were both too baffed. Breakfast is cereal with skim milk. Lunch will be freshly scrambled eggs and pre-cooked bacon wrapped in a pita. Eggs in shell are nature’s perfect packaging. Kept them in a stiff plastic container.

Loons are yodeling, Keith is washing dishes, this is perfect. Finding our toothbrushes in with the art supplies is pretty terrific (thank goodness!). Now we’re off to find some more places to paint.

11:00am and we’re on an island, set to paint another island that has magnificent boulders and Casson-like pines. A.J. would have painted this if he’d seen it. Everywhere we turn, another potential painting confronts us. When we come back in August for the full retreat, we’ll have more time to try out the many possibilities.

Keith sitting on a rock at water's edge, ready to paint.

 

Five young guys are taking turns jumping off two levels of a nearby cliff. Their cries of trepidation and triumph are infectious. This is what northern lakes are for – and painting. We watch a big ant with a piece of scrambled egg three-times his size racing off with his prize. We finish our paintings and then we’re off, exploring the rest of the lake.

My first painting of the day.

Keith half way through his first painting of the day.

At one end of the lake we see this weird illusion of the water ending in mid air. Closer inspection shows it to be a log jam where the water seeps through to a rocky, river bed. We had to get down there. Risking twisted ankles and who knows what else.

The lake falls off the edge.

Keith is very agile. I am much less so. But we are both attracted to rocky places, it seems. So, not much smarter than teen-age boys, we descend into the rocks and moss and broken branches in the dimly lit woods. Lived to tell the tale.

Helen scrambling deep in the rocky gully.

Swamps are equally seductive. But mosquitoes live there, and we’re not that intrepid.

Back at the camp, near the tent, there’s a small woodpile. From it, weird grunting sounds come in fairly regular intervals. Good thing we don’t watch spooky movies. Eventually, Keith figured it out. Grubs. They chew the wood very loudly.

I’m the cook, but Keith is the kitchen magician, keeping stoves lit, pots boiling and the fire roaring. Once a boy scout, always a boy scout.   I was going to make couscous, but forgot the oil. So it’s Sierra Chicken in a foil bag. Edible. However, regular ramen soups are better and cheaper.

We had figured out our portage weight allotment and from that I figured out what we could carry in the way of food. Two things we realized:  We can carry more, split into two bags. Not such a big deal doing the portage. It’s a short one and it doesn’t take long once we’re paddling again to get to the site, so timing is not frantic. And, two, I way over estimated how much we’d be eating.

Second morning. Our last day. Must leave camp by 10am if we’re to make it back by 4 or 5 pm tonight. This time, up early. Took longer to pack than expected.

Suddenly there’s a shift in the light and we see whole new painting possibilities present themselves. While Keith considers the re-packing of the tent (very different exercise from unpacking), I grab a quick sketch. Then it’s serious packing and into the canoe and off again.

The light changes and another potential painting appears.

The portage back was interesting in that we met two park wardens. They help us by pointing out where the local waterfalls are.

Helen and the two park wardens.

On the longer paddle down Long Lake, the wind whipped up the water suddenly. Paddling got a bit more challenging. In spite of that, we made it back in record time and before we knew it, we were on the road (12:10), driving home in gorgeous weather, taking the side roads, wanting to be home again but not just too soon.

Our conclusion: Kawarth Highlands Provincial Park is a great destination for plein air painters, especially those from south/west Ontario and from the GTA. It’ a fraction of the distance compared to Algonquin. Algonquin has the history and romance, Kawartha Highlands has proximity, accessibility and scenery. And we conclude that even with painting supplies adding to the weight, it’s not too hard and new canoeists and new painters will have a good time trying out Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.

Another painting ready to be painted.