Camping at Tobermory
Glass Bottom Boat Tours and Clear Lake Swimming
This summer has been pretty good; the weather’s been warm and I’ve spent the last few weeks being a tourist in Toronto and visiting most of the city’s major attractions. I’ve had a good time but what I really wanted to cap off the end of summer was a great adventure. Although my original plan to go on a road trip to the US fell apart because of COVID restrictions, I was fortunate that my friend Robert organized a camping trip and there was one seat left.
I was very excited to go camping in Tobermory because it is a region I’ve known about for a long time and have wanted to visit. Tobermory is at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula which separates Lake Heron from Georgian Bay. The peninsula is part of the escarpment forming large sedimentary cliffs in clear water.
Tobermory is about a four hour drive north west of Toronto and we left on Labour day Monday, having met at school (1 Spedina). On this trip was Robert, Bahia, and Jim — all classmates from the MArch program. The drive up was pretty good and we stopped at a fantastic dinner in Chatsworth called Kettles Back Home Cookin’. They have a cheap all-day breakfast, some pretty special home style fries, and absolutely fantastic home-made pies. It was so good that we ate lunch on the return trip and got pie a second time too.
Along the way we also stopped to get corn from a box along the side of the road and a grocery store for more general food. We Arrived to stay two nights at Cyprus Lake campground just outside of Tobermory in the Bruce Peninsula National Park. These campsites fill up quickly and Robert had secured it at the beginning of the year. Since we arrived rather late in the day we set up camp and made some excellent pineapple hamburgers. We then had a wonderful campfire where we got to know each other better and then went star gazing. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the milky way and many of the constellations that I remember so prominently from my childhood.
Day two of our camping trip was a glass-bottom boat tour out of Tobermory to Flower Pot Island. There are two or three companies that run tours. We lucked out being after the long weekend and the summer rush as well as having mostly clear weather for the trip.
I was very excited about the glass bottom tour because it floats over two shallow shipwrecks. The Sweepstakes Ship Wreckage was a schooner built in 1867 in Burlington that was damaged and towed to it’s present location for repairs when it sank in 1885. The ship wreak is in really clear shallow water at a water depth of 20 feet. It’s probably the best known shipwreak in Canada. There was only a few feet of clearance below the glass-bottom boat which made for a great view. Beside it is the ship wreak of the City of Grand Rapids. I had hopped that the tour would linger a little longer but we were soon off to Flower Pot Island.
Flower Pot Island is well known for two tall rock formations along the coast. They were formed by erosion of the coast behind the points which made pillars of stone similar to the twelve apostle’s in Australia but on a smaller scale. The boat cruise passed by and then dropped us off on the island for a few hours of hiking.
In-between the two flower pots Robert went for a swim. The water isn’t too cold since it’s had all summer to warm up but none of us came prepared. We also dumped trailmix in the lake by accident and the seagulls flocked to us.
At the far end of the island is a lighthouse. By the time we made it there the sky had grown grey and begun to rain. Along the hike back to the boat it began fully raining and we were in various states of wetness waiting for the ferry back. My rain jacket barely works anymore so I was getting soaked through.
I really don’t like camping in the rain because I tend to get wet and then miserably cold. Once we got back to Tobermory we tried waiting out the rain by having lunch at the town pub but the forecast was for rain to continue so we went back to the campground and I suggested we have hot showers. This was probably the nicest campground and comfort station I’ve ever been in and I was very happy to come out of a hot shower. To everyone’s surprise the rain had stopped so we played on the children’s playground and then ate the pie we’d picked up from Kettle’s Back Home Cookin’. I was delicious. And just like that, what was dangerously close to becoming a miserable night was instead another nice discussion around the campfire.
The last day in Tobermory was somewhat rushed. We all wanted to stay longer but I had to get back to Toronto because I had a friend’s keys I needed to return to him and the next day we had school so we only had a limited time in Tobermory. We made time to have a good breakfast and check out the Grotto in the park. Like many others we were surprised by the clarity and beauty of the coast that we didn’t venture further to the actual Grotto. I saw signs along the coast and confirmed my suspicions when we got home that the small cave area we saw was not the actual grotto. This was one of the most magnificent places I’ve been in Ontario. The water is wildly clear and the drop off of the cliffs majestic.
Everyone decided to go swimming so Robert and Jim ran back to the campsite to get their swim wear. Bahia and I waited and when it seemed like the sun was going away decided to jump in before we lost all of our enthusiasms. The other two returned not long after and we went to explore the small grotto. I was able to jump in a few times which was very refreshing but I couldn’t linger in the water without getting the shivers.
We got back to the city pretty late. It was a fun trip and an excellent end to the summer. I’m very grateful that Robert invited me to join the camping trip and that I got to visit a place I’ve been wanting to see for a long time. It seemed like we only hit the main attractions and there are many other trails and viewpoints in the park yet to be seen.
Follow on instagram @keenochi for a video reel.
