This past Thursday morning I pulled into Paul Smith’s driveway and proceed to load his gear into my Ford Escape.Our destination, Killarney Lake in Killarney Provincial Park.

We stopped off at Killarney Kanoes on Bell Lake to rent a canoe for a couple days.Our plan was to come out Saturday.We also booked a campsite for two nights.The canoe that we rented was a Souris River 16 foot Prospector.We came across a Whitetail doe feeding in a swamp beside the road.This was something I had never seen before.The doe was feeding on lily pads.

We arrived at George Lake and proceeded to load the canoe for the trip out.Heading up George Lake we soon arrived at the first portage into Freeland 188 Lake.This portage is short only 80 meters.We paddled on to the next portage and hauled over to Killarney Lake.This portage was 380 meters so it was a good haul over.The canoe being made of Kevler weighs only 38 pounds.When we arrived at the entrance to Killarney Lake we both commented on the fact that there was a good scene to be had here at the right time.

Paul and I proceeded to explore the West end of Killarney Lake.We made our way to the OSA Lake portage with the idea of walking over the portage to check out the view.As we paddled along the shoreline we came across Canada Geese with young and the Common Loons were actually quite tame.The Loons showed no fear of us.We had to haul over one small beaver dam and arrived at the OSA Lake portage. A quick hike and we were treated to a beautiful view of OSA Lake.I really loved the shoreline here as it was made up of small pebbles in shadow waters.We agreed that this would be a trip of its own as we would need to go to the far end to get some good photos.

We then made our way back and headed to the East end of Killarney Lake where the islands were located. It was discovered that our campsite was taken by someone else so we paddled down to the islands and set up our camp on the last island. The both of us also realized that the best scenic was in front of our campsite.That evening the wind would not calm down.I took a few shots but none were great.The black flies were paying havoc at the same time.

I awoke at 5:00 am Friday morning  and crawled out of the tent The wind was lightly gusting here and there.Not good. The sun finally burst over the hills to warm the hillsides with good lighting.A short while later the wind calmed down and I called to Paul that this was our chance.We got maybe 15 minutes shooting time.The panoramic above is one of the results of the lull in the wind.Using the point and island in the foreground and the La Cloche Mountains in the background for depth.As I say our shooting did not last long.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the lake as we waited for the evening shooting.Friday evening turned out to be windy as a weather front moved in.We watched from the campsite as huge clouds of green pollen from the Pine trees blew over the lake. I had never seen such a sight before.The pollen was so thick that the hillsides were obscured.Our equipment was covered with the pollen as while as ourselves. Paul and I were both having problems with allergies by this time.

The next morning the wind was stronger eliminating any possibility of photographing.Paul and I decided to pack up and head out. We arrived back at the George Lake landing and headed home. There was a resident population of from 50 to 70 Canada Geese on Killarney Lake.They would fly over our campsite every evening.

Paul and I both enjoyed the trip and will be planning a trip back in to Killarney Lake in the near future