Throwback: Killarney

The dull skies of winter isn't inspiring me to take pictures at all. For a little mood lifter, here's a  throwback to the golden days of summer.
These are pictures taken from June 2011 during an interior camping trip to Killarney and OSA Lake. This not your ordinary car camping; we can only bring limited supplies because we had to canoe and portage (for hours) to Killarney Lake. We then pick a designated campsite along its shores and set up camp. In other words, it's camping and wilderness at its finest. Ten people were in our group, with the youngest being about 8 years old. We met up at Killarney Provincial Park George Lake campground and paddled to Killarney Lake from there. 

Because we are in the backcountry, there is no form of toilet or washroom. We simply called it "The Box" which was a wooden box with a hole on the top--this was our toilet. This is probably the one thing that deters most people from going on a trip like this. But hey I gotta tell you, it's worth it. I have never experienced anything quite like this. Being able to get out of bed and have a 360 degree lake view is priceless. Knowing that you worked tirelessly to get there is also priceless. Seeing millions of stars in the sky? That's on a league of its own. If you have a chance to do something like this, go for it! 

For this trip:

40D, 18-55mm, 28-75mm f/2.8, 50mm 1.8, 7302YB tripod, waterproof carry bag.

***

Flowers of some sort. Perhaps it's this species, but I'm not sure. 

Hello beautiful Killarney Lake. 

Golden hour! I sat in the middle of the canoe while my brothers were in the front and back. 

Mirror, mirror. 

It's worth to note that there are no fish in this lake. From Wiki: "pollution caused by the smelting activities associated with nickel mining between the 1940s and the 1970s, caused many of Killarney's lakes to become acidified, resulting in the loss of fish species, algae and aquatic plant life in many of the lakes."

Sunset with a loon. Loons are incredible creatures. They can hold their breath for quite a long time and swim with great speed. Once they dive under, you never know where they will surface. 

Sunrise the next morning. 

Here's an HDR of the sunrise. 

See all that water? It was like our own personal pool. 

This guy just landed on me. Taken with the point and shoot. 

Found this while portaging to OSA Lake. Mushroom pizza anyone? It's so big and shiny that it even reflects the sun onto my face. Pretty cool. 

We arrived at OSA Lake. This lake is much larger than Killarney Lake and was more prone to wind and waves.

That island there used to be an available campsite, but was closed because the trees were dying. 

We rested up in "Blueberry Island." We called it so because it was covered in blueberry shrubs and ants. 

There was a full halo around the sun! Apparently this was a Sun Dog and is not common. We were quite lucky to see this!

 This old wood looked like a turtle to me. 

Loving golden hour. 

The next day, we decided to go on a hike to Silver Peak. 

There were plenty of wild blueberries along the way. The hike was long, about 3 hours to the top and 3 hours back. It was pretty rocky and treacherous and certain points and my brothers and I were wearing Crocs (not a good idea).  

A short rest stop. 

 Getting higher and higher...

 At the top! In the end, we thought this was Silver Peak but it turns out that it was still half a day hike away. We were happy to be up here though. It was still spectacular. 

These areas actually inspired the famous paintings of the "Group of Seven." 

Here's a massive panorama of what I saw at the peak. Such a beautiful place. 

The best sunset in the trip so far. 

This one is also HDR. 

 Ready for the stars? I've never seen so many in my life. We saw many shooting stars and spotted many satellites. 

I'm not sure what the green haze in the horizon is. Some have told me that it was light pollution from neighbouring Sudbury. It was not as visible to the naked eye. 

I didn't edit the green whatsoever. Straight out of camera! 

Yes, places like this exist in Ontario, not just the magazines. 

This was such a great experience and I will not hesitate to go again. I've learned a lot about landscape photography since 2011 and the next time I come back, I promise you that I will take bigger and better photos :). For all of you out there who don't like the raw outdoors, look at what you're missing! I challenge you to do this at least once in your life. 

Get out of your comfort zone, because God really wants you to see this. 

-e.m.