Canada’s Thousand Islands National Park encompasses nearly two dozen islands, many of which have public hiking trails and campsites. I recently boated over to Camelot Island to explore the hiking trails with my four-year-old niece, Ada.
Emily RussellDiscover Canada’s Camelot Island through the eyes of a curious kid
The trail around Camelot Island is less than a mile long, but if you’re four years old and love to be outside, it’s the perfect spot to explore. Ada is very adventurous.
“I like to find toads and walk with Emmie.” (That’s me!)
We’re out on a beautiful summer day. It was a bit windy on the water, which made the boat ride over a little choppy, but the trail here is in great shape. The woods are lush and green.
Many of the islands in the Thousand Islands are privately owned, but Camelot Island is all public land, so there are boats anchored just off the island and tents set up at the campsites.
Ada leads her parents and me down a set of stairs that takes us to a wide, wooden dock sloping towards the water.
“Wow, it’s like a little path that you can walk on and play,” says Ada. She sits down on the edge of the dock and dips her little feet in the water.
“What are you doing right now?” I ask.
“I’m kicking and I’m splashing!”
The water temperature is perfect this time of year— cool enough to feel refreshing on a hot summer day. After she’s all splashed out, Ada walks around the rocky shore a bit to look for creatures. No signs yet.
We climb up the stairs and hop back on the trail. Then I see something- two furry little creatures inside an old tree stump.
“Look at that,” I say to Ada. “What is it?”
“Always we call them callapillers,” she says. “They don’t bite?”
One of the caterpillars has grey hair and yellow specks along its body.
“Mommy look, it’s a callapillar,” exclaims Ada.
Another thing we spot along the trail are little red raspberries. I pluck one off a bush for Ada. “Is it ready?” she asks. “Yep,” I say and she pops it in her mouth.
A nice Canadian man passes us along the trail. Ada fills him in on what we’ve been up to. “We’re eating some raspberries,” she tells him.
“What do you think about raspberries? Are they good?” he asks. “Yeah!” Ada replies.
Even when there are no tasty treats or little creatures to spot along the trail, Ada finds ways to entertain herself. She jumps off little rocks and logs along the way.
“Let’s do a jump here! Ahhh!”
She falls behind and then sprints ahead.
Her parents, my sister and brother-in-law, just had a baby about a month ago, so getting out of the house and getting some of Ada’s energy out is crucial. After about an hour, we’re back at the dock. We meet up with my brother-in-law, who hiked ahead to get the boat ready.
“How was it, Ada?” he asks. “It was fantastic!” Ada shouts with glee.