"Shirley Lake might be one of the prettiest lakes in the park in my opinion ... the mountainous western shoreline and tiny scattered islands in the north of the lake give it so much character and offer such charming and wonderful views throughout. Plus, most of the campsites are pretty nice."

"I was extremely happy to see a single bull moose right at the end of the day, chowing down on some dinner. It was no Creamy Noodle with Beef and Mushrooms, but hey I’m sure he still enjoyed it. I relaxed in my canoe and watched for as long as I could before he went inland. Then, it was my turn to go inland as well. I sat by a fire for the next hour or two, hoping the overcast would give way to some stars."

"That turtle did not give a damn. He didn’t care if we were near the water, in the water or on the water. He seemed to approach us the same way 85 year old me will approach driving. He knew where he wanted to go, and the rest of us could just get the hell out of his way."

"Dinner was bacon wrapped steak with fried potatoes, asparagus and mushrooms (I eat better on night one of trip than I do pretty much any other time). One of the cool features of the site is that it has two fire pits, one in the middle of the site and one down on the beach. Most of dinner we cooked in pans on my stove, but I did cook one of the steaks using the beach fire pit and it was by far the tastiest of the steaks. After dinner the kids roasted some marshmallows, then we went for a sunset paddle around Parkside Bay."

"A highlight was when I was just sitting on the point, reading my book and enjoying the lake, when I heard a loud splashing noise accompanied by an even louder “howf”-ing noise. On the very farthest end of the lake, a cow moose was hauling ass through waist-deep water calling out. She was in major distress and we were very glad to not be in her path. This was the first time I saw a “rampaging” moose and it was really an impressive sight! She eventually howfed her way off the lake and up a hill southward, likely trying to find a young one or something. Later that night we saw a cow and her young calf mere meters from our site, so I guess they were reunited and happy"

He chose it as an easy paddle-in over-night beginning to his 'backcountry year' and as an ideal trial for his new aerial tent .. the "Opeongo Aerial A1".

"I found a couple of decent trees about 10-12 feet apart and before long I had the tent’s base suspended about four feet above the ground. After a few second’s thought that involved some vivid mental images of the entire thing coming apart in the middle of the night, I lowered that to about two feet off the ground. From there it was just a matter of getting the poles set up, the fly on and the gear hammock attached and voila! Take that gravity! No more ground sleeping for this guy."