The "Blue Mountain", Collingwood...

Prelude

Collingwood is a small town in Ontario, Canada, located near Georgian bay. One of the main attractions of Collingwood is the 'Blue Mountain' (actually it's a hill), from which one can get an amazing view of Niagara Escarpment. The famous suspension bridge here is the highest point of Niagara Escarpment. Also, blue mountain is one of the popular destination for skiing in winter. 

On 18th May 2013, in a sunny morning we (with Ronnie da & Mohua di) started our journey. It was about 3 hours of drive from our city. After an hour we were in village roads with spectacular scenery at the roadside. Driving through the countryside is a memorable experience! The small houses with strange shapes, neat & clean roads are just like heaven! While entering Collingwood area, we could see the bluish Niagara escarpment from the car. The up-down roads towards blue mountain was seeming to be endless through the blue mountain. 

We reached at the entrance of the trail where we had to buy tickets of  $22 each. I was surprised to see lots of Indian people (& even few Bengalis!) there. The place was nicely decorated & well maintained.

It was looking like a 'toy-city'. 



We hiked towards the suspension bridge through a short trail...

It was about 20 minutes walk to reach the famous suspension bridge, which is the highest point of Niagara escarpment.

Stayed there for sometimes...

Had some snacks in a cafeteria & headed towards the caves. The rock faces were really nice, in fact there were some good climbing faces also.

We visited the small caves, including 'ice cave', inside which ice never melts, even in summer! From the cave area, the view of the horizon was beautiful.

Although the area of blue mountain is big enough to spend the whole day, but we felt it to be boring to stay there for long. Frankly speaking, personally I didn't like the caves. So after few hours we came out of the conservation area & drove towards Thornbury harbour area. The driving route was a lifetime experience! Little houses just below the ski mountains & the roadside pine trees made the place mystic. It would definitely be a paradise in winter when everything will be covered by snow.

We were driving through the Georgian bay areas. On the way we stopped the car for some nice view of the bay.

The crystal clear water of the bay with deep blue sky was perfect for taking some nice snaps.

I was almost lost in solitude of the place. A guy was sitting at the end of the rock, & somehow that enhanced the solitude of the place by thousands times!

After half an hour we came back & moved towards Thornbury dock area. It was a nice dock full of fishing ships. I liked the beauty of landscape there.

Also, a nearby small creek enhanced the beauty of the place.

Many people were fishing in the creek. There were some nice small houses beside, which seemed to belong to the happiest person in the world...

The blue mountain was visible far away from the bay.

It was really looking like "blue" mountain, the mystic 'blue mountain'...

The calmness of the place along with touch of spring colours made us spellbound...

We started our return journey around 7PM. For the whole day we were searching crazily for a coffee shop, but couldn't find one. Finally after driving an hour found a Tim Horton`s & had a refreshing cup of coffee with snacks.

Came back to London around 9 PM.