Fall Colours in Algonquin Park

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Fall only comes once a year  and doesn’t last nearly long enough. It’s been a tradition for us to go up to Algonquin Park for at least a day around Thanksgiving Weekend to enjoy the colours, so, we went…but on Friday. The actual long weekend traffic in the park is not for us.  Last year, we were lucky that there was foliage still on trees; this year, the unseasonably warm autumn temperatures have pushed the colours back, so the reds were peaking in this area, there were few areas that were bare of foliage and there are still greens waiting to turn.

It was still dark when we left. The sky lightened, the sky seemed clear and the sun finally peered over the horizon.  We were going to drive through magic light on fall colours! But then the light dropped.  We had driven into a fog bank.  For the next couple of hours we drove in and out of fog. And then it cleared and it was a perfect day.

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What’s Thanksgiving without turkeys!  We saw a number of wild turkeys strutting along roadways — daring or cocky?

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Trees aren’t the only orange scenery!

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The view from the Visitor Center is always worth a stop.

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We looked for moose, but, alas, it wasn’t in the cards.  We did see many chickadees, Grey Jays, and this heron.

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Typically, this is canoe country.  This is the first time we’ve seen kayaks. The water was perfect for any sort of paddling.

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The Lookoff trail! Last year, there were so many cars, we couldn’t imagine that there would have been any room at the look off. The parking lot overflowed, cars were parked far down the road.  So we didn’t stop.  It was nice to be able to enjoy the walk and the view this time.

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Lots of people sat along the edge to enjoy the view. DSLRs, smart phones, iPads recorded the natural splendour.

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Outside of the park is a little lake at which we always stop.  We call it Theresa’s Lake, after a friend of ours who has taken some amazing images here.  Theresa died much too early, but her memory remains and we always think of her as we stop to enjoy the view.

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Now we get to enjoy the colours closer to home as the season progresses and our warmer climes succumb to the spectacular transition to winter.

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