Wilderness Refuge

This past weekend Ruth and I headed to Sudbury, Ontario, where I was the anniversary speaker at St. Andrew's United Church. I served St. A's for eleven years and Sunday gave us the opportunity to reconnect with many people after another eleven years away.

On our way north we left the highway and ventured out to Georgian Bay and Killarney Provincial Park. Killarney is Ontario's southernmost wilderness park and has the advantage of access to Georgian Bay and a system of lakes for canoeing. The La Cloche mountains are striking white quartzite contrasted with pink granite, quite unique visually. The rocks with their lichen looked like paintings by Jackson Pollock.

Killarney was our place of refuge during our Sudbury years, which was a time of intense church activity along with raising a young family. On Saturday we climbed a ridge to a favourite spot as well as walking out to Georgan Bay on another trail. We worked hard on our climb, but the silence and solitude were a gift. The lake of the bottom photo looks rather atmospheric because we were suddenly in a snow squall. We arrived in Sudbury weary but happy although I'm sure our hosts found us a bit groggy that evening!

After worship on Sunday we drove south through Toronto on our way home. It was dark by the time we hit the Big Smoke and traffic was heavy even on a "sabbath" evening, a steady stream of lights in both directions.

Have you ever been to Killarney? Do you have places of refuge, indoors or out, where you can move away from the busyness of daily life?