ELORA GORGE CONSERVATION AREA – OCTOBER 2014
This was our second visit to Elora Gorge Conservation Area on Thanksgiving weekend. The last time we’d visited this park was at the beginning of May in 2007. We were looking forward to this trip knowing that it would be sentimental for us as our trip here back in 2007 was our very first trip RVing ever with our first owned, used Prowler hybrid. Our girls were with us then too, now we camp alone as they’re grown up and going their own ways. Our site in 2007 was in a totally different area of the park. Our trailer was only 21ft so the site was in the woods and very much smaller than what we require now. Our site this time around #381, was large, grassy and level. It had a water hookup and 30amp service. It actually looked better than it did online! We arrived before dark and got setup pretty quickly. I decorated the campsite a little for the fall season. Here are more photos of our campsite:
Saturday morning it was clear but very cold! -1 degree C! We had the fireplace on to take the chill off, then went outside and had a morning campfire after breakfast. The day warmed up beautifully and we spent quite a bit of time reading in the sunshine. Later after lunch, we went for a bike ride around the park. At least that was the intent, until the chain broke off my bike on a hill. We ended up walking back, but I coasted downhill when I could with a little help from Dave. He’d catch up to me when I slowed down and give me a push. It was so funny, we were laughing so hard we almost fell off our bikes. Fun times!
The fall foliage was starting to change pretty good! Here are some park photos:
The photos above are of the beautiful Grand River where it flows through Elora Gorge. In the summertime, the park offers tubing through this scenic gorged. The top right photo is of the place where you launch tubes. There are hiking trails at the park as well and some in the nearby scenic town of Elora. The old stone buildings and quaint shops make it worth a visit in town.
We cooked our Thanksgiving dinner Saturday afternoon. I precooked a stuffed turkey breast and brought it along which was accompanied by mashed potatoes, biscuits, stuffing and cranberry sauce. We feasted then enjoyed a late night around the campfire. Here’s a couple photos of our Thanksgiving dinner!
We found out before we arrived at Elora Gorge that another couple from our Facebook RVing in Canada group would be there as well. They joined us for our fire on Sunday night along with a surprise visitor – my dad.
When we checked in at the park on Friday night, they asked us if we were okay going over the low level bridge at the park. The last time we stayed at this park we were in a different area and didn’t cross a bridge. I couldn’t understand why they asked. I asked them if it would hold the weight and they said yes, then I asked if it was wide enough and they said yes. So, we decided to just go over the low level bridge. I remembered it as soon as I started driving down the hill and it came into view. Narrow and VERY close to the water. When we left the park, Dave asked me to get photos of him driving it over. I realized it wasn’t as bad as it seemed when I drove across the first time upon arrival. There was in fact  more room than it looked like from the cab of the truck. Here are some photos!
Our stay at Elora Gorge was awesome! We’d love to come back again next year as this park is close enough to home to arrive in plenty of time on a Friday night. We met new friends and had just a super time here. The fall foliage was nice and the weather, although very cool at night was sunny and nice during the day. Elora Gorge is part of the Grand River Conservation Authority and they do run their parks well. They are very clean, well maintained and patrolled and there’s usually something to do at the park. Â Here are some links:
http://www.grandriver.ca/index/document.cfm?Sec=27&Sub1=124&sub2=0
HAPPY CAMPING!!!
ELORA GORGE CONSERVATION AREA – MAY 2007
Our first camping trip ever was to Elora Gorge Conservation Area. It was early May and we had our Prowler Hybrid. We have fond memories this first trip, Â like the cloud we disturbed as we backed the trailer in, which turned out to be a cloud of voracious mosquitoes, or the terrible attempt at campfire coffee that didn’t quite work out, which led to the purchase of a coffee maker for the trailer. As well, we realized here, that we had forgotten pretty much all the tips and instructions they gave us at the dealers when we purchased the trailer a couple months previously. We also found at the dumping station that our valves for the black water system suffered irreparable damage because the dealer left some water in them and they froze the previous winter when we took delivery of the trailer. It was a disgusting, unplanned experience at the dumping station.
Here are some pictures of our site and the park:
We went to the town of Elora and hiked the trails as well as the trails at the park. Here are some photos of us and the area:
We took a side trip to the West Montrose Covered Bridge, the last one remaining in Ontario:
There is a neat feature in the park called “Hole in the Rock”. We hiked here and around the area. Here are some photos:
Elora was a pretty nice park. It was early in May when we visited, so it was a little cool. Had we wanted to use the furnace, we couldn’t have anyway. It was another forgotten lesson from the RV dealer orientation. Elora offers tubing on the Grand River through the Elora Gorge, but it wasn’t running when we stayed here. It was too early in the season. The sites were okay and the park of course wasn’t too busy.
Here’s a link to the park: http://www.grandriver.ca/index/document.cfm?Sec=27&Sub1=124&sub2=0
and here’s a link to my Picasa album for Elora:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Adventurer67/Elora#
West Montrose Covered Bridge: http://www.region.waterloo.on.ca/web/region.nsf/0/4f08d9c14e31e3a085256b090055cf08?OpenDocument
Town of Elora: http://www.elora.info/
Sue and Daves RV Adventures 