The Bruce Peninsula–Beauty in Ontario #TravellingMaple #Travel

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The Bruce Peninsula

We were in the Bruce Peninsula this summer on our family vacation and we had an absoltuely wonderful time.  The Bruce (as we affectionately call it here) is about 3 1/2 hours from London, Ontario.  It is northwest and is boarded by Georgian Bay to the north-east and Lake Huron to the West.  It is full of beautiful forests, crystal clear water and Canadian Shield escarpment.

My 14 year old son wrote a blog post about our time on The Bruce.  I love when he writes because it is refreshing to see our family vacation through his eyes.  Here is an excerpt of his blog post.

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Last week, I went on vacation with my family to the Bruce Peninsula.  The Bruce Peninsula is located in the western part of Ontario and is about a 3.5 hour drive from London (where I live).  There, we stayed at a cottage we rented from some folks that live in the area. The cottage itself was at the end of the street it was on, and was actually made up of two parts. The old half of the building had a kitchen and leisure room we never used, two bedrooms (one kid’s room with a bunk bed and single, another with a queen size), and a hallway which I presume could have been the front porch at its initial construction. Then there’s the new half of the building, which was much nicer and had two more queen bedrooms. This part of the house was where we spent most of our time as a family. Anyways, I just wanted to go over that quickly, so now over to some of the trip’s best part. We spent the week with my family and my two grandmothers.  One had to go back on Tuesday because she was only visiting from Vancouver for a week.  So then it was just us and my other grandmother.  We had a lot of fun building fires and having smores.  We also watched movies and read books a lot.  My mom and sister had gone to the library to get us a few of each – books and movies that is. First off, I saw the movie West Side Story for the first time in my life (albeit in described video), which, thinking back to it, astonishes me because my parents say it’s a classic of its time, and it was pretty good.

Boulder Beach and The Grotto at Bruce Peninsual National Park

We went to a few beaches as well, which is to be expected. First we went to Red Bay Beach, which was this shallow secluded beach near other cottages. We went on a bad day, as it was pretty windy, making it cold and unpleasant.

Just a little cold at Sauble Beach #Ontario #ontariotourism #Travel #summer #waves

A video posted by Margarita Ibbott (@downshiftingpro) on Aug 13, 2015 at 10:14am PDT

Then we went to Sauble Beach, which was much bigger. We were there for much longer than we were at Red Bay, mostly because it was far less windy. Although it was windy enough to produce some outrageous (is that surfer lingo?) waves that were super fun to swim in and jump over. When the wind gets that strong it is almost like being at the ocean (or so my mom says).  Anyways, that was far more enjoyable than the first beach. Sauble is located on Lake Huron and is one of the most popular beaches in Ontario.  It is the second longest fresh water beach in the world!

On one of our last days, we took a hike on the scenic Bruce Trail. It started with a hike through the woods, which in and of itself was fairly daunting due to the rough path.  There was a set path but it was full of climbs up hill and down a few hills.  It is a heavily wooded area with the water just out of site.  We walked for about 45 minutes before arriving at Boulder Beach, a massive pile of granite chunks pouring out into the lake. A little ways away from that was the Grotto, a small cave on the water’s edge and Indian Head Cove, a stone slab beach right beside the grotto. It was amazing to see, with the entrance to the cave so far below.

You could see people swimming in the cove but it was hard to get to and you had to climb up a small entryway to get down to sea level.  To say the least my mom was a bit freaked out as we sat on the cliff edge watching the people swim.  As we made our way, we sat by the Grotto to just take it all in.  In the picture you can see me and my sister looking into the grotto from above.  It may not look to steep but the drop was probably 40 – 50 feet high.

Fortunately, there was a nearby shoreline that was easier to get to. Unfortunately, the lake water is incomprehensibly cold. Although my mom, my sisters and I went into the water, we did not stay long.  We went in with plenty of other people.  Some were even jumping off the parts of the cliff (which you’re are not allowed to do but they still did).  Looked kind of fun I think.  This area of the park is called Indian Head Cove.  It is all connected together with the grotto, boulder beach and the overhang (which we did not go to because it was the other way from Boulder beach and the Grotto).   We were getting hungry so we left the park – we had to get there super early just so we could get in.  They only allow a small amount of people into that area at one time.

Afterwards, we went to Singing Sands Provincial Park to go to the beach on the Lake Huron side.  The Grotto and Indian Head Cove were on the Georgian Bay side.  The beach at Singing Sands Beach was a shallow coast dotted with little mini-islands. Although it wasn’t very interesting when we got there, as we were leaving, the steam coming off the warm water into the cool air became a dense fog the likes of which I’ve never seen before.  I have to say it looked pretty creepy.  The water was warm but the fog just kept on coming in.  You can see a picture of it on the right hand side.   It was breathtaking! We didn’t stay for too long and then we headed back to the cottage.  It had been a long day of hiking and beach stuff so that night we stayed home and we played board games. 

Other things that were cool include going to this museum that is all part of the Bruce Peninsula National Park and the Fathom Fives Marine Park.  It was raining pretty hard that day so it was a good way to pass the time.  By the time that we left the museum it had stopped and we climbed a giant metal look-out where we could see across practically the entire Bruce Peninsula, which was jaw-dropping. I’m pretty sure my mom is going to write all about that whole day at the Museum!  Then we visited Tobermory’s Little Tub Harbour, home to some restaurants and a library. We went to the Sweet Shop there, then we drove to a little restaurant on the edge of Tobermory’s other harbour, Big Tub, which is now a private area for cottages. In that harbour there is at least one shipwreck where divers can go and explore the area.  All told there are something like 22 ships that have sunk in and around Tobermory and the Bruce Peninsula.  There is another National Park called The Fathom Five Marine Park located in the area.  A few years ago, we took a boat tour around the park and even went to Flower Pots Island.   We had lunch in a restaurant located in a resort.  It was pretty good.

On our last day, we drove back home, stopping at another restaurant in Goderich and apparently a cheese fair or something! Once we got home, we unpacked and relaxed, exhilarated by the trip home.

So that was my trip to the Bruce Peninsula! Hopefully you could plan your own trip there, although it might be too late for you, considering it is mid-August. Maybe next summer!

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 🥾 Explore: Tours & Experiences
🏡 Where to Stay: Top Accommodations
🚙 Hit the Road: Car Rental Deals
🛫 Get Away: Find Flight Deals
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