June 9, 2011 - The Grotto

The weather today is a bit drizzly and gray, so we took our time this morning, had some extra coffee, and scrapped our original plans of taking the Achilles and spending the day out on Flowerpot Island.

Beth at The Grotto

Instead it’s a car trip through the Bruce Peninsula National Park to see the Grotto caves on the shore of Georgian Bay. After stopping to pay the daily admission fee we continued on to the Grotto parking lot, and from there it’s about a 1K walk over an easy trail to the shoreline. The caves themselves can be a bit treacherous to hike down into, especially if it’s been raining and the rocks are slick, but we managed to visit a few. We’re told there’s one that you can access only from about 15 feet underwater.  The fellow that works at the campground says he’s dived on it several times by just holding his breath. Or you can use diving gear. We did neither, just hiked what we could see without getting too wet.  The 800 K Bruce Trail ties into the trails here in the park, and between it and the park’s own trail system, there’s quite a lot to cover. The trails are all well marked with maps at critical intersections.

Small Yellow Lady's Slipper
Bruce Peninsula National Park

There was a group of about 10 young Asian folks at the Grotto while we were there, and I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that they took around ten thousand pictures. They climbed all over the rocks and cliffs, putting themselves into what seemed like some pretty precarious spots so they could take photos of each other making goofy faces. After taking each photo the rest of them would make comments and laugh hysterically. They also tended to move unpredictably, so I have quite a few dramatic landscape shots showing the rugged shoreline formations with one of their heads or an arm sticking into it.