Rockwood

ROCKWOOD CONSERVATION AREA – SEPTEMBER 2011

Rockwood remains one of our favorite close to home parks. I think we’ve camped here at least once a year since we began camping in 2007. We didn’t plan on staying here two weekends in September, but due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to cancel the original park we were booked at and find one closer. Usually we book site 21, but it was already booked for Labour Day, so I booked another site I’d looked at over the years, but never parked at. Site 37. What a beautiful site! Lots of room and it borders on the field and is beside a trail. The first weekend we camped here, we arrived earlier in the week and Dave commuted to work while I enjoyed my holidays. It was cool outside and my first morning out kayaking I was met with mist on the water. Later that day on the way back to camp, my kayak cart suffered a breakdown and I ended up hauling my kayak uphill to the campsite. Whew, what a workout! Here are some pics of the first morning out kayaking

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Dave and I drove to Belwood Lake Conservation Area on the Saturday to kayak. We’d never been there before and it was fairly close to Rockwood. It was such a hot day on the water and it seemed there was nowhere to go to find shade along the water’s edge. We didn’t catch any fish and the motorboats were a genuine pain in the ass. Some slowed down when passing us and some cut in front of us without slowing down. Pretty rude considering we were kayaking fairly close to shore, not in the middle of the lake. I had to question the water quality as well. Seemed like a lot of brown water and icky algae, but it was pretty late in the season. We stayed out for a few hours then the wind picked up and we headed back to camp. Good thing we did, a heavy rain storm rolled through and all the windows and vents in the trailer were open! Here are some photos of Belwood Lake:

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The second trip to Rockwood was much the same, I had a couple extra days at the park and Dave commuted. I walked into the little town of Rockwood to pick up some groceries and coolers, then stopped by a little book store. I also tried geocaching while at Rockwood. Epic fail there. I did not find one single geocache. However, I did find a really nice lookout over Rockwood Lake.

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Here are some other random pictures of our time at the park:

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As always, both our trips to Rockwood were great. The park was busy Labour Day weekend, but well patrolled and after 11 pm, it was quiet. Of course the weekdays prior to the weekends were always so much more quiet. As is always the case with Rockwood, the shower facilities and washrooms were kept very clean and the staff very friendly. Here are some links:

http://www.grandriver.ca/index/document.cfm?Sec=27&Sub1=130&Sub2=0

https://picasaweb.google.com/116741237613027767021/RockwoodCACamping2011

ROCKWOOD CONSERVATION AREA – MAY 2008

Rockwood CA is a cute little park located near Guelph, ON. It’s run by the Grand River Conservation Area and a favorite of ours. Every year since we’ve started camping, we’ve made one trip a season to Rockwood. The park is clean, well patrolled and the staff are very friendly. The sites we’ve camped on have varied, but our favorite has always been Site 21.

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This was our first trip out with our new travel trailer – a 2001 Jayco Kiwi hybrid!

The weather was cool but the kayaking as usual was great. Rockwood Lake is kind of small, but exploring the geology is kind of cool. There are numerous large potholes created by glaciers leaving long ago and some really cool caves that you can walk to. The hiking trails in the park are nicely maintained and there is a cool fishing hole by the caves where the catfish are always biting in the summer. The lake is stocked with Rainbow Trout, but we’ve never caught any. There is a nice beach to swim at, but in the middle of the summer it might be posted since it’s a small area and there can be quite a few Canada geese. Rockwood is a pretty park that we always end up coming back to. Here are some photos of our time kayaking.