Muskoka Adventures Day 2

(Why yes, I am splitting this up to keep you on edge... is it working?)

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, if rather chilly. Jim and I were pampered with a pancake breakfast courtesy of Graham and Lisa's ingenuity (I never think of having pancakes... ever). Post-pancake, we all collapsed into a carb-coma for about an hour with crossword puzzles, word jumbles, and a little vacation planning. Once rested, Lisa and I decided it was time to visit the great outdoors and venture to a little place we had found the previous day.

After Saturday's turkey dinner, we bunch of us took Lucy (the Adams' dog) for a little walk in a direction I had not been before. Along the journey, Lisa and I noticed a great many places that would take us deep into the heart of wilderness, but a little further on realized that we could, from the road, see what looked suspiciously like actual fairy rings. Being with non-believers (and a rambunctious puppy) we couldn'nt fathom going there just then, but promised to come back the following day and, following food-coma, we did just that.



We climbed rock mountains again, we traipsed through meadows, we treaded carefully on sacred ground. We found sacred pools, metropolis, fairy rings, altars, fortresses, and soldier training grounds. We left offerings. We were put through an obstacle course to measure our fortitude; trudge through the swamp, walk across the skinny fallen tree, hop over dangerous ground, run up the hills, duck under low-slung branches. Having past, we were sent on the red-flower quest which lead us from place to place, using only the most difficult pathways.

Sacred pools:

The fairy training program:
The Red Flowers:


Several hours in we were inches from giving up, heading back from whence we came (which was FAR!, but since we weren't sure how much further we were from emerging on the other side it seemed the safer option). Suddenly, there came the sound of a bird; a red-breasted robin. We followed the sound and found more red flowers and decided to carry on.







We discovered trilians (which I had never seen in person, and did you know it's illegal to pick them or trample them?), higher crags, hiding places, gnome villages, crazy giant fairy lake with lone-tree island.












Finally, after one last steep climb, we found the prize:


A bleached fallen antler from a stag. We were rewarded with a display of birdie virtuosity, and sat on a rock for a while. When we decided it was time to leave, we noticed from our vantage point that we were right above a road which lead us right back home.

We ran into the boys on the street, about four houses from our destination. They had just begun a biking mission, off to rescue us in case we were lost. They would never have found us, I'm sure. We were cloaked in fairy magics. They made a merry adventure of a ride, while Lisa and I returned to homebase to tidy up and make food.

The remainder of the evening saw card games, barbeque, s'mores, and more martini mix than was good for anyone. I headed to bed extremely exhilleratingly exhausted by 10pm.