My photographic partner Paul Smith had been after me for some time to take a hike up to the Crack in Killarney Provincil Park.Back on October 11 I picked up Paul and we met Gary Leclair at the South End Canadian Tire parking lot in Sudbury. We load our gear into Gary’s mini van and headed to Killarney Provincial Park.Gary parked the van in the parking lot.

This is a very popular Provincial Park were the hiking trails are numerous.There are a lot of people taking advantage of this beautiful part of Northern Ontario to get out and go for a hike on scenic trails.

The three of us picked up the trail and started walking through a maple and birch grove of brightly colored leaves.Along the way I noticed a pond on our left.We made our way down to the pond.The wind was calm and being cloudy the lighting was very good.The first thing I saw was the small cliff face at the end of the pond.The rocks here are white quartzite that gleam.I set up the tripod and composed a shot by adding a small rock and a piece of wood reflecting in the water on the right.You will also notice evergreens on the right.I now had a lead in to the rock.There were a lot of bare trees now with no leaves so I kept the left side tight. The splash of orange and red on the cliff really brought out the picture.

I shot the above scene with a shutter speed of 0.4 sec @f22.The zoom was at 56.0 mm.

Looking around me I spotted this little island of moss and grass.There were these smallish reddish plants growing among the grass.You will also observe a group of white flowers growing here.The lighting was extraordinary and I set up the shot that you see above.The zoom was set at 135 mm with a shutter speed of 0.6 sec @ f22.

The three of us finished up shooting and we continued up the trail.We met numerous people hiking out and finally we approached the Crack.This is a split in the rock face that you have to climb to make the top.This last part of the hike consists of climbing up and over boulders.Your reward is an awesome panoramic view of lakes and the La Cloche Mountains before your eyes.I did not take any photos here as most of the hills were bare of color now.I will most certainly will be back next Fall.I have talked Paul into exploring the lakes below us next summer.

This a one and a half hour hike to the top of the crack.I enjoyed meeting Gary and hope to be in touch in the near future for another advendure.

For more info on Killarney Provincial Park you can check out there website

http://www.ontarioparks.com/english/kill.html

Paul Smith’s website is here so check it out too.

http://paulsmithphotography.ca/

So until next time happy trails