Killbear Provincial Park

Killbear Provincial Park is a popular attraction along the shores of Georgian bay, near Parry sound. After a short car camping trip up there in June it's easy to see why that is the case.

My plan was to wake up early in the mornings for photography, then nap in the morning and go hiking in the afternoon, scouting for locations to shoot when the light was better. Finally, after dinner I would pick a location for an sunset shoot before returning to camp for bedtime.

The biggest highlight of the of the park for me is several areas of bare pink rock, characteristic of the Canadian Shield, with wind swept white pines clinging to any crack or crevasse where they can get a foothold (root-hold?).

The park is home to several endangered snake species: I saw 3 snakes while I was there, none of which were the famous massassauga rattlesnake. I’ve only ever encountered a rattlesnake once, in Bruce Peninsula, before it briefly rattled at me and shimmied off into the brush. The snakes I saw in Killbear were equally as skittish, disappearing into various bushes and crevasses as soon as they caught sight of me. One paused briefly at the base of a tree, allowing me the opportunity to capture this shot of it.

Deer were also plentiful in the park, and I encountered them on three occasions on the roadside, or near trails. They didn’t seem to have any fear of people or vehicles, not even the fawns which would be less acclimatized to people due to their young age.

Most of the time I was there it was a bit hazy, especially towards the north, due to some of the really bad forest fires we have had this summer in northern Ontario and BC. The haze made the sun sets rather bland, with little colour and the sun just disappearing into the soup before even setting. Mornings worked out far better, with some nice colour and/or clouds to interact with the light.