Killarney Provincial Park-a special place!

We had been stuck on the boat for a few days due to weather and apparently so was everyone else. When we pulled into the town of Killarney, looking for a pump out and to take on water, The place was jammed.  We waited an hour, but for $15 we were empty and full where we were supposed to be and ready to go for another jaunt of anchoring.

We skipped the marina life in Killarney and went to Covered Portage Anchorage. With steep white granite walls surrounding the anchorage, we may have to say it is the prettiest anchorage we have been to.  We scouted out the path to the top of the cliff which was marked with a single orange piece of plastic ribbon tied to the bottom of the branch of a pine tree.  We almost missed it. Once there the trail was obvious. The first part was beautiful forest with a waterfall coming off the rocks leaving a small a babbling brook cutting through the woods.  When we got to the top the view was one I will always remember. Our boat looked like a bathtub toy down below. The top of the rocks was easy to walk a long way on.  The warmth of the rocks and the rainy summer had blueberries growing everywhere. We couldn’t resist picking another bag full. We may have eaten a few in the process.  We justified it by saying we needed sustenance for the hike back.  We lingered at the top for a long time. The view was mesmerizing.

We then took the dinghy into town to visit many Looper friends that stayed at the marina. It was great to see everyone.  After seeing our pictures of the view, at least one boat skipped the marina the next day and went to the anchorage.  Good move.  Killarney town isn’t much but had what is needed….Liquor, Ice cream, Herbert’s Fish and Chips and a church.  What more does a person need.

The next day we were to the much-anticipated Topaz Lake. Nestled in the mountains, this lake is surrounded by rock cliffs. Normally the water is crystal clear and a brilliant blue/green color. The hike to the lake was interesting as most of the trail was a creek bed. On the way up, we met Looper friends  from Lower Place, Bad Habit and Kia Mae coming down the trail. Small world. Our first glimpse of the lake left us breathless.  We had a choice to climb down the rocks to swim or continuing climbing to explore above.  We climbed up and up and up to points on rocks where we could see the entire lake and the far reaches of the Killarney forest. The ruggedness of the rocks did not intimidate us because there were jagged broken rocks that left plenty of steps making the climb easy without climbing gear.  We drank in the beauty for a while but the water was calling us.  We climbed down to where you could get in the water, but that wasn’t good enough.  We wanted to jump off a cliff into the water. The young ladies sitting at the swimming rock told us where to go.  I left my camera with a willing subject to take our photo as we jumped.  After he took our photo, he yelled jokingly “Thanks for the camera.” The pool below was very deep and surprisingly the water, for a mountain lake, was quite warm.  It felt good to cool down in the water after the hike.  We lingered in the water a long time while chatting with a family from Chicago. On the hike back, we paused to recognize the massive size of the pine trees in the forest. They must be hundreds of years old.  When we got down to the dinghy we visited the other Looper boat friends.

Charlie and Robin had invited us aboard, where we cracked a bottle of wine and couple of beers and told lies.  Fun People.  As we were sitting on the back of the boat, Scott and Lo Lo from Bad habit came by telling us they found a fun spot, get in the dinghy and let’s go. We had 8 of us in 3 dinghies we cruised up a tiny creek until we got to the rapids.  We hiked up several sections of rapids to the top.  This group of men consists of 3 retired firemen and 1 retired cop.  Recipe for foolishness, which did happen. My Scott was the first one to sit in the water and slide down the rapids.  The other three were not far behind.  Pretty soon the beers were handed to shore so they could go the next round.  They body surfed the rapids all the way down to the dinghies.  Crazy boys. Charlie and Scott both lost their sunglasses. Charlie’s were recovered, but unfortunately Scott’s prescription glasses are at the bottom of the big fall at the end.  They all dove for them but they were never found.

It was after 8 and we had to get back to our boat anchored about a mile away. Glad we didn’t try it in the dark as there was a rock hidden below the surface we surely would have hit at night.

It was a very fun day.  We slept well!

Thanks for reading,

Karen and Scott DeVoll

 

Unique Random Photo of the Day: