Martin River
/24 – 27 June 2021
Our first camping trip of the season… Just like 2020, 2021 saw our first 4 trips cancelled in May and June before camping was allowed to open up, so we made the best of a late start again this year!
While campgrounds weren’t allowed to open, we were able to travel to Can Am RV in London to have some work done on Holly when the stay at home restrictions lifted in early June. We’d done some preparation for that trip, but there still seemed to be lots to do to get ready for our three nights at Martin River PP!
I remembered to plug Holly in on Wednesday morning so that I could get the fridge stocked on Wednesday night, or that was the theory. The reality is that I didn’t get it done like I’d hoped! But, I did get the fresh water tank filled and added the toilet treatment to prepare it for use.
We have a few new things for this season, which are super exciting!
A thermacell for mosquitos (we tried it out in London and it works great!)
A 90 watt solar panel
A Weber Q1200 Blue BBQ
2 new camping chairs that fit into our trunk much better!
Online shopping is soooo easy when there’s not a lot else to do during a lockdown.
As usual, we weren’t up especially early on Thursday morning and there always seems to be more to do before leaving than we expect! I didn’t feel overly well prepared and realized when I went to switch the fridge to propane, that we were out of propane (in hindsight, we should have filled up after coming home from Can Am, but completely forgot).
It also seems like the last 10% of packing up/getting out takes SO LONG! We finally pushed off at 10:45 am. Off to Costco for propane – luckily it’s on our way right out of town, right off the highway. But, by the time we arrived there, it was pretty busy!
Despite the rainy forecast for the weekend, the day was sunny and beautiful. There was more traffic than usual for a Thursday, it seemed. We made our regular stop in Deep River for some lunch, a bathroom break, some gas and a dog walk. Chris picked up another coffee at Tim Hortons as he was feeling more tired than usual.
We arrived at Marten River Provincial Park at around 5 pm and the office was closed but a park staff was able to check us in and give us a map. We were supposed to formally check in on Friday morning, but before we had a chance to get there, the park staff had come by to give us our permit, saving us the trip back to the office to pick it up. We found Site 31 in the Chicot Campground easily but it wasn’t especially flat and as we were backing in, we must have gone over some pretty uneven spots because our sway bar actually broke! Yikes. We should likely be removing it before backing up, but have never had any issues before…
We continued to set everything up – considering that there were some rocky areas and uneven grass, we actually didn’t need to level side to side! We did need to level front to back, as our front was pretty high compared to our backend once we unhitched. With our front end lower than usual, it was really easy to reach the window and the stone guard.
site 31
nice big site
The view of the water?
pretty uneven with lots of rocks, but still a great site for our little Holly!
Setting up our campsite didn’t take long and soon we had a drink in hand and were hanging out with our friends on their site, just around the corner from us. Even though we live just blocks away from each other, we hadn’t seem them since our fall camping trip to Sandbanks Provincial Park! We had an easy supper of pasta and sauce, relaxed a bit (I had a book to read and Chris had a show he was watching). Our friends were streaming the hockey game, so we went over to their site to watch the third period and OT. It was so exciting to see the Montreal Canadians win their way to the Stanley Cup Finals!
Morning Calm
I took Daisy for her morning walk on Friday, made some coffee and then had a super fast shower, before leaving to meet up with Josh and Syd in Sturgeon Falls. The weather was a bit rainy, but mostly overcast for the 45 min drive. The coffee shop we chose was at the Marina, and the view was really pretty, even though it was grey outside. The outdoor covered patio was the perfect place for breakfast and we really enjoyed being able to see them in person. We remembered to take a few photos after breakfast and then said goodbye. We probably won’t see them again until the end of the summer (this is the first summer where Josh hasn’t come home from Sudbury to live and due to covid, we saw him far less often after he returned to school in the fall). Before we left the café, we picked up some brownies and carrot cake for dessert the following night.
Back at Marten River PP, Chris went for a 12 km run while Daisy and I went for a hike on the trail at the park. Mike, Lisa and Jully (their Golden Retriever) were just returning from their hike as I was going out. Daisy and I hiked around a loop that went out to Marten River as the half way point and back along a slightly different path.. There were some great boardwalks (it had rained and they were a little damp – luckily not too wet, otherwise they would have been more slippery!) The view of the river was pretty, quiet and calming. There were a few rocks to sit on, although they were quite wet when we were there. The trail leading towards the river was narrow, a bit overgrown and it had a lot of tree roots and rocks. I was on high alert so as not to trip. Once I passed the river and turned around, the path widened and was much more pleasant to walk. Instead of finishing the loop, I took the pathway through the tall pine trees section of the trail. In total, the hike was about 6.3 km (including the walk to and from our campsite) and took us about 90 minutes. Despite the cloudy sky and lack of sun, it was still pretty warm and very humid.
We decided to split the dinners for Friday and Saturday night. Mike and Lisa were cooking dinner on Friday night, so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and enjoying the showers at the comfort station. It’s very exciting that the showers at provincial parks are open this year (great news!!), so I went first and had a wonderful shower! The showers were super clean, the water pressure was terrific and there were 3 hooks for towels and clothes.
I headed over to sit by the fire with Lisa and Chris joined later. Mike was taking care of dinner – cooking a huge tomahawk steak, roasted veggies and a big salad. Just as we were about to eat, the rain started, so we quickly moved the picnic table under their enormous awning and ate protected from the rain. Dinner was delicious and the company great! After dinner, we caught the end of Game 7 between Tampa Bay and the Islanders. Who knew we’d be out camping and watching hockey playoffs! It was a treat:)
We were slow to move on Saturday morning. We got up late, did the dishes from the day before and made some coffee. I forgot one of our pour over cones (first trip of the season mistake!), so had to make our coffee one at a time. Chris made some eggs with ham, tomatoes, black beans, cheese and spinach. So delicious! I sat under the awning and read my book. The mosquitos were out so our new Thermacell came in handy.
Our campsite had water access, but we were up high and any view of the water was mostly obscured by the trees. We had to go down a reasonably steep hill to get to the water. The picnic table at the bottom by the water was the perfect place to launch a SUP, canoe or kayak, so Mike and Lisa brought their inflatable SUP over. Both Chris and I took a turn on it as well. We mostly stayed on our knees, but just before I finished, I went up to standing. Once I got used to balancing, I felt fine, but I feel like it takes some practice to really enjoy it. Lisa went out with Jully on the board – she has great balance!
Chris, Daisy and I took a walk around the campground, first to the dog beach, which was about a 10 min walk from our site and then we went on to the Assinka Campground. The roads are pretty hilly and narrow, but many of the sites are large and mostly private. There are some tiny sites as well though. The only neighbours we would have seen from our site were in site 30 or 32, but both were empty during our stay and they weren’t directly across from us.
playing at the dog beach
After our walk we relaxed, started to prep for supper and had showers. We were worried it might rain, but luckily, the rain held off until after we were finished eating! I had the chance to try out our new Weber grill and as it heated up, the mosquitos started to come out. I put out the thermacell, but it didn’t seem to help much. When I finished grilling the food and we were ready to eat, the mosquitos were pretty bad. I realized I needed to change both the pad and the butane in the thermacell and after about 10 minutes, it really kicked in and started working. Hooray! Dinner was salmon, shrimp, potatoes and veggies. Delicious.
We had our dessert under cover as it started to rain and then called it a night fairly early so that we could pack up our outdoor things before it really started raining. It was so enjoyable spending time with Mike, Lisa and Jully!
Chris had downloaded season 3 of the Kominsky Method (we watched season 1 & 2 last year) and we wound down with a few episodes before going to sleep. We’ve really enjoyed the show! It was pretty muggy and humid, making it warm for sleeping. We had left the kitchen window open by accident, so not as much air came through the bedroom window, making it more warm in Holly than it needed to be.
We only got up at around 9 am! Daisy got a quick walk, we packed up, made the coffee, hitched up and were on the road by about 11 am. It was pretty rainy while packing up, but fortunately, the sun came out for much of our drive home. The temperature in the car read 31 degrees, but there was a humidex of 38! Thank goodness for the AC in the car.
On our way back to Martin River from Sturgeon Falls on Friday, we filled up with gas, so there was no need to fill up again until Deep River. We stopped for a bite to eat and a walk by the water for Daisy. The drive home was pretty uneventful, even without a sway bar. We’ll be sure get a new one before our next trip though!
Back home, we unhitched, unpacked, dried out the awning and did a lot of laundry! We’re looking forward to our next trip to Farran Park Campground in the Parks of the St. Lawrence!
Towing: 834 km
Driving: 120 km
Black Tank: 80%
Fresh water: 15%
Batteries: 11.9 Although we had a site that was wide open, our solar panels weren’t much help over our three nights as the sun hardly made an appearance. We had hoped for a bit of sun to keep our batteries charged up a little more than what actually happened.
