Pike Bay

[Kyle]Since we had already done the full circuit of the Fort Drummond area on the kayak, and since rain was forecast the next day, we decided to leave a day early in the hopes of avoiding it enroute.

Pike Bay (also on Drummond Island) is large and lined with nice homes along its heavily wooded shore as well as the adjacent small islands. We were the only boat around that wasn’t obviously attached to one of the properties, so we dropped anchor right in the middle with the hope that we may be far enough from the forest to avoid the worst of any bugs.

The rain never came! The birds are Merganser (ducks), and the deer locally are all white-tailed deer

A belted kingfisher, a monarch butterfly on milkweed and evidence of a tree felling 'in progress' by a local beaver

Again, there was probably too much new construction going on to keep from not scaring most of the native fauna deep into the woods, but we still had a pleasant couple of days kayaking between and around all the area’s shallow bays and islets, and taking any opportunity to hop ashore on the few short trails available.

Kyle and the green frog agree to terms of residency

Once, we arrived back home to find that nature had come to us. A little green frog had taken refuge on one of our stern steps. We thought it would be skittish of us as we passed over it to climb back aboard, but it stayed put in its little spot in the sun. The next morning it was back (or still there?). I was worried it would get squished when we climbed into the kayak, so I went to nudge it over to safety out of the way to the side. Instead, it just climbed up on my hand and seemed to really enjoy my relative warmth. It took quite a bit of coaxing to convince it to return to the cold gelcoat.

More birds: A blue-jay bathing, Osprey flying, a solitary sandpiper on the rocks, and a loon swimming by at a distance

We spent the balance of our time at Pike Bay enjoying the long views of the far reaches of the bay and the islands scattered across the entrance, which made for a nice foreground at sunset. We even spotted what we think was an otter swimming back to shore one morning.

The beauty and tranquility are helping us understand why the locals suffer the harsh winters