Just south of Lake Nipissing and a short jaunt southwest of North Bay, you’ll find Restoule Provincial Park. It’s one of the best-kept secrets of the region, a stunning area spanning from the rocky shores of Parry Sound to the deep wilds of Algonquin Park. It’s Canadian Shield country at its best and home to a host of lakes, craggy cliffs, rambling rivers, and primeval forests. Restoule was a short drive from Samuel de Champlain Provincial park, and we arrived early…just in time to be welcomed by another power outage. With no power we were not only unable to fill up our fresh water tanks…but the bathrooms were also all locked, a highly unappreciated dilemma for a couple that have consumed several coffees.

We were camping at Kettle Point campground site 466, we chose Kettle point because the sites were electric (and we were going to need air conditioning very soon) all a moot point considering the power outage.

Because the power was out we decided to try the local cuisine (a slight fib – I just did not feel like cooking) We dined at a small restaurant nearby that had a banner proudly declaring they served the best food in the land…That should have been my first warning. We both had fish, Karen had pan-fried pickerel. I had battered fish (fresh from Lunenburg) That should have been my second warning. The fish was delicious I began to believe the banner, unfortunately about two hours later I succumbed to what I believe was food poisoning, either that or Karen has been secreting something into my morning coffees. Our proximity to the washrooms, while not planned, proved to be very fortuitous.

We had an appointment the following day in South River, home of Swift canoe and kayak. Our new canoe had developed cracks on the front seat bracket, and needed to be repaired before our next big canoe trip in August.

It was like being a kid in a candy store….only these candies cost a lot. Our canoe was taken off to the factory, with promises it would be ready in time for our next trip, so with stomach still a little queasy we headed back to the campsite, hoping that with enough Imodium and wine…I would recover.

Next morning was gret (I believe that is appropriate form of greeted) with far less volatility in the nether regions. I was able to take Marcus on our usual early morning walk. The main beach at Restoule is beautiful, dogs are not allowed so I had to be quick taking a few pictures, the only other souls up this early were a bunch of hippies doing yoga on the beach ( I assume they were hippies by the fact they were doing yoga on the beach)

The day was spent checking out the many trails at this park, we chose one of the hottest most humid days of the year to do this.

We walked the river trail, the Rangers point trail and the Fire tower trail, we definitely covered more than our required 10,000 steps today. of all trails the toughest was the fire tower trail, it was also a disappointment for me, as I was under the impression one could climb the tower..not so!

The River trail was a short easy trail, great for taking young children on, or adults recovering from food poisoning!

Later in the evening we walked with Marcus to the only beach that dogs are allowed on, Marcus loves to get wet, in particular he loves “hunting frogs” (I think he would faint if he ever actually confronted one)

Restoule was a great park, not only does it have three campgrounds, beaches and multiple trails, it also has a back country component that is not well advertised. I could not even find much online about it, they prefer to sell you the information at the park office. There are over 50 campsites scattered in the wilderness north of Restoule in what they call the Restoule/Upper French river canoe route….I see a trip in the future…I decided to take the kayak out and recce the area (Karen had to stay behind and look after Marcus, as we had no canoe)

I saw in the distance the glint of white, it looked like a beach in the distance, it was a very hot day, and a beach would be a welcome respite.

It was a great find, but even better was as I left I noticed it was adjacent to one of the back country campsites I had come to recce. I was tempted to give misleading information to maintain its secrecy……It is located next to campsite 3 on Stormy lake.

While I was putting the kayak back on the truck I noticed the first real wildlife I had seen all summer (and you all thought Canada was teaming with wildlife) unfortunately all I had on the camera was my wide angle lens, not suited for two shy deer.

Karen and I thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Restoule Provincial park, it offers a lot to do. We will return and try out the back country canoe sites one year soon (Canadian summers are not long enough) We head off to Arrowhead Provincial park tomorrow, to spend some time camping with our Grandson ……