Trip Log: Haliburton Water Trails - Red Pine Lake, October 6-7, 2018

After the noise and crowds we experienced last year for our Thanksgiving trip to Algonquin, we decided we were not going to stay in a campground this year.  We still wanted to do Algonquin, but we planned to avoid anything on the Highway 60 corridor.  The last several years we saw the insane line up of cars waiting to get into the West Gate and wanted nothing to do with it.  Also, after our earlier trip to Opeongo this summer, we wanted a smaller lake where we could go out for a paddle and not have to worry about wind.

So I had my sights set on the Rain Lake Access.  It was a smaller lake, with a few other lakes we could get to with short portages, also, we could access the Western Uplands Backpacking Trail if we wanted to go for a bit of a hike.  Since the weather for Thanksgiving weekends in the past have ranged from so hot you want to swim all day, to cold and rainy where we hid in the heated trailer most of the time, I didn't book the trip, decided to hold off and see how the weather would play out.

Then, a week before Thanksgiving, I was showing Mum some sites in the Frost Centre and we decided to stay on Red Pine Lake, then do a day trip to Nunikani Lake.  This little change wasn't too upsetting, in fact I thought it would be pretty cool to check out an area of the Frost Centre we hadn't been to before.  Mum had been through Red Pine Lake during a trip in High School where they stayed on Nunikani and wanted to see it again.

The more annoying change to our original plan involved the school board.  For some reason, they decided not to have a PA day on the Friday of the Thanksgiving weekend, and so we had to shorten the trip to two nights, go in Saturday and come home Monday.

I booked a site on Wednesday because the weather report said it would be 21 degrees during the day and 15 at night with minimal chances of rain on the Monday.  The next day when I checked the weather again, it had changed to 10-15mm of rain all three days, and not quite so warm.  I held out hope the forecast would change again (and it did, but not too much) since I knew Dad wouldn't want to go if it was going to be raining and cold.

As we left the house on Saturday, it was still calling for rain, but we didn't really get any.  Mum and Dad decided to come up the next day for Thanksgiving Dinner, and then see if they wanted to stay. (Spoiler alert, they didn't stay.)

Exploring around Red Pine Lake

It's a short paddle of about 2 km from the Kennisis Lake Dam, and the current is going with you.  It took about half an hour.   The river is very shallow in spots but very pretty to paddle down.  There are cottages along the way, and a handful on Red Pine Lake itself, but from our campsite we couldn't see any because of the island in front of us.  After paddling to the island and getting out at the wrong campsite, we got our bearings and found our home for the night.

The site we had chosen has a nice sandy beach, not that we would be swimming, it was far too cold for that.  The plan had been that it would be easier for my parents dog to get down to get a drink.  When we went to Opeongo, our site had a pretty good hill to climb up from the water, which was hard on him.  It was also kinda annoying for those of us sent to fetch water.

We spent a few minutes exploring the site, found the thunder box (which was in good shape, not disgusting, and even had a toilet seat!) and to make sure there weren't hidden caches of garbage people had left behind.  We did find several pairs of underwear, as well as a partially burned cross made out of branches and rope.  The kids were a little freaked out that the site was haunted and people had made it to ward off demons, but I assured them it wasn't likely.  They were still a little gun shy after Opeongo where they swore the site was haunted.

Since they felt like we'd given them the worst tent spot on our last trip, we let the kids choose where they would set up this time.  We put a tarp up over the kitchen area first (there was a table of sorts attached between two trees) and then went about setting up the tents.  The kids set their chairs up and Chris went to try and find fire wood while I got dinner started.  Dinner was spaghetti, already cooked, in the sauce, and dehydrated.  It had turned out well on our last trip, so we had it again.  I had made a HUGE batch, but since Mum and Dad weren't going to be there for the first night, I left half of it at home.

It began to drizzle as we waited for the spaghetti to rehydrate.  It looked like fog on the lake, and was quite pretty.  Thankfully there was no wind to speak of, or we would have all been chilled.

We ate dinner but since all the wood nearby was sopping wet from all the rain we'd had the past week, Chris couldn't get a fire going.  This meant we couldn't cook the garlic bread, but since there was so much spaghetti, it wasn't a big deal.  We cleaned up and went to bed since it was now dark and still drizzling.  It was 7:30.

At around 11:30 the wind picked up.  I tried to check my phone to see if there was a storm coming but there wasn't enough signal.  The waves began to lap at the shore so fast it sounded like a motor boat had gone by a bunch of times to stir them up. I kept hearing odd popping sounds that sounded like large branches breaking, but I think it was just the waves hitting logs and clumps of rocks.  Still it was unnerving because it sounded like a large animal was close by.

Squatch was the first person up, which was unusual.  I got up with him and we went to explore.  The forecast had said it would be sporadically sunny but chilly.  We didn't end up seeing any sun all day, but for the most part it wasn't too cold.  We walked around on the beach for a bit, and Squatch slipped off a log and soaked one of his shoes.  The water was pretty cold and none of us had brought extra shoes, so this was kind of a bummer.  He ended up sitting at the fire, in a pair of my socks while his shoes dried.  I made coffee, oatmeal and hot chocolate while Chris hunted for more firewood.  We didn't end up having a decent fire until later, when Mum and Dad got there since we had asked them to pick up a bag of wood on their way.

I don't like instant oatmeal so I brought the reflector oven and a store bought muffin mix, along with ground flax to replace the egg required.  I was so excited and I never got to eat it.  Because the fire never really got going very well, it ended up cooking for three hours and was still mushy inside.  Also, it is really hard to use a reflector oven with the steel fire pit rings.  You can't really fit it inside, and the fire has to be really big to make it work by setting it up at the ring's edge.  Since that was my breakfast, I was seriously bummed out.

Mum and Dad arrived at the put in fairly early, and we kept watch for them to paddle into the mouth of the river.  Squatch and I went down to the beach and walked out on the now mostly dry marsh, and eventually saw them, but they headed behind an island and went the wrong way.  I tried calling out, waving and even texted them, but they didn't turn back.  I ended up phoning them, which wasn't ideal as there was one bar and even that was intermittent.  I gave them directions but because their perspective was different from, they went back into the river and headed back almost out of sight.  All of us were waving whatever bright clothes we could find but it was still hard to see us.  I tried calling again, and couldn't get through.  Just when I thought Chris and Squatch would have to go out in the canoe, they saw us and came around to camp.

Thanksgiving dinner at Red Pine Lake

We got a better fire going with the dry wood they brought and sat around visiting, then got down to the business of preparing for thanksgiving dinner.  We had potatoes, carrots, turnip, brussels sprouts, stuffing, creamed corn, rolls and apple crisp.  It was super filling and yummy.  During the process of making the food, I fell in the lake and soaked both my shoes while trying to wash potatoes.  Squatches shoes were still wet, and Chris and Bubbie's shoes were damp from tromping around all day.  We were all a little chilled, and the temperature was dropping as the wind picked up.




We ended up deciding to pack up and leave a day early.  Mum and Dad helped pack up the tents and gear, then we all headed out.

Battling the current and wind, the paddle back to the put in took a bit longer, but it wasn't too bad.  We got loaded up and headed out.  It ended up raining a lot that night so nobody felt bad that we'd left.  Since it pretty much rained every day for a few weeks after that, we wouldn't have been able to set up the tents to dry them out for quite a while either.

All in all, it was a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving, much better than being squeezed in on all sides by big trailers and listening to other campers get gradually louder as the night and their alcohol consumption increases.

Trip Log: Big East Lake - July 11-12, 2018

Our first trip of the summer was a one night trip to a favourite site in the Haliburton Water Trails.  The site is rarely available, so even getting one night was a score.

As it was our first trip of the year for canoe camping, we had to find all of our gear.  Some of it needed a last minute washing, and I hadn't had a chance to dehydrate any meals yet, but we were able to leave home by noon and get to the parking area by 1:30 or so.  The road from Carnarvon to the put in was under construction, and it was a super hot day, but thankfully there weren't too many bugs as we unloaded and hauled our gear down the 250 meter portage.

Chris and Squatch took the dog in our 14 foot Scott Canoe, while Bubbie and I took most of the gear in the Swift Kipawa.  We realized part way there we hadn't made sure the weight was evenly distributed so we kept pulling to the left, but it wasn't too big of a deal.  We were distracted by two loons popping up ten feet in front of us.  They were a little startled by our presence and dove again almost immediately.

A man in a kayak passed us on his way out and asked if we had no boys with us.  I replied we did, but they were ahead in another canoe, to which he commented that we should work harder to catch up.  A little miffed, I told him we had to keep distance between us or the dog would get antsy wanting to jump between the two canoes.

One of the baby loons with mom or dad

As we approached the island where we would be camping, we spotted two more loons, this time with two babies.  The babies were making little sounds.  It was so adorable.

It wasn't long after we arrived at our campsite.  The boys were already there, eager to get their swim suits out of the packs in our canoe, so they could start jumping off the rocks.

While they swam, Bubbie and I set the tents up then went and watched them for a while.  They made a friend in the water, a frog sitting in a shallow water filled crevice where he had a tiny cave he could hide in.  They called him Mr. Slippy.

Haliburton County (and many surrounding areas as well) had issued a fire ban so after swimming, there was no need for Chris to hunt for wood so he blew up the sleep pads.  Last year we purchased this device for blowing them up.  It's a big dry bag basically, with a spot to poke the air mattresses valve through.  You fill the bag with air, roll it closed and then push the air into the sleeping pad.  It works well, but the first few times you fill the bag, it doesn't seem like it's putting any air into the pads at all.  Chris was getting frustrated and swore the thing was useless, but then all of a sudden it's obvious it's working.

While watching him struggle with that, I started rehydrating dinner, which was a Enchilada Bean and Corn Chili.  It's vegan, filling, and very yummy.  I make it with a bottle of taco sauce rather than enchilada sauce just because the first time I made it I couldn't find enchilada sauce and since the kids liked it...well I didn't want to mess with a good thing.  I also add dehydrated brown rice into it.

Bubbie broke out the trail mix and began picking through it, trying things she claimed she'd never had before.  I told her to stop "Hi-grading the gorp" and she thought I said "hydrating the gorf" which resulted in a four hour debate on what "gorf" stands for with me constantly saying "gorp!  It's a p not an f!" Every time a chipmunk or squirrel came around hoping for a hand out, the kids called them gorf-rats.  Isn't it amazing how a bag of mixed nuts and fruits can entertain four people for a few hours?

We ate our dinner and spent some time discussing which 80's songs were good and which weren't.  Chris was of the opinion they all sucked, but the kids are currently obsessed with all things 80's so it was a fun debate.

I had gotten Chris to set up the Eureka VCS 16 bug shelter thinking the mosquitoes might get bad around twilight and in the morning while we were making breakfast.  Since there was a fire ban, we wouldn't be able to keep them at bay that way.  We didn't end up using it at all, so I felt kind of bad because we had a bit of trouble setting it up.  We've only used it once, and it's got a bit of a learning curve.

As it was getting dark, we headed to our tents.  The kids spent a long time talking and Chris and I spent a long time getting the dog to settle down.  He wants on our sleep pads, which leaves us partially on the ground.

Once it got darker he settled down.  I heard owls in the distance, and lots of bull frogs, and of course loons.  At one point they must have been right at the shore where we had landed our canoes because it was so loud for a second, in my sleep fogged brain, it sounded like they were right outside the tent.

I got up to take Biscuit out, then went back to bed to sleep for a bit. Surprisingly he let me, though from that point on, if one of us rolled over, or moved, he'd jump up and bunt our face to convince us it was time to get up and enjoy the day.

Before long, we all got up, probably about 8:30, and spent some time watching the loon family we had seen on the way in.  They were right off the point of our site, with one of the parents flying in to join them before they rounded the island and made their way out of site.

We started the morning with hot chocolates for the kids, and coffee for Chris and I, then breakfast of instant oatmeal for the others and a Lara Bar for myself.  I'm seriously not a fan of instant oats.  The texture makes me gag.  I had intended to make pancakes, but somehow our food bag was too full to fit anything else.  I don't know how that happened.  It's a pretty large bag, but I guess it was one of those things where someone would say, "we can put that in the food bag" and before you know it, there's no room left in it for all the food!

It was going to be a super hot day, so we started packing up and hit the water.  The paddle out was nice, there was a bit of a breeze but nothing that made paddling unpleasant.  Just enough to cool us down.

Once we made it to the put in, we started the process of hauling everything back up the hill to the car.  I managed to carry the big yellow canoe pack up, though this left my knees sore for a few days.  The trail is mostly up hill, and goes over some pretty steep, bare Canadian Shield.  The step ups were not easy.  At one point, I stopped on the side of the trail to let a man go down with his canoe.  The weight of the pack almost toppled me over into the bushes.

With everything back in the car, we headed out, all of us thirsty, and cursing the road construction that kept us from nice cold drinks in Carnarvon.

This was a fun, short trip.  Seeing the baby loons was pretty awesome.

Trip Log: Algonquin Provincial Park, Lake of Two River,s October 24-26, 2015

Haunted Halloween Weekend!  I had been so excited to get Chris to this event, but getting him to take time off work proved a challenge.  He was only able to take Saturday off, and so we ended up getting up to the campsite at about 9:30pm on Friday night.  Mum and Dad had arrived earlier and gotten the trailer set up, so we had little to do but lay out our sleeping bags and eat a few snacks.

Chris and I had just bought new cold weather sleeping bags.  Price wise, we hadn't wanted to spend a lot of money and good winter bags are costly.  We weren't planning to go winter camping (yet) but wanted to be able to canoe camp earlier in the spring and into the fall without freezing at night.  We ended up purchasing Hot Core -20 bags from Cabela's for $129 each.  I admit I wasn't optimistic about their performance, though they'd gotten decent reviews.  We were in a heated trailer the first night so there wasn't really a chance to test them.  We would be sleeping in the tent the next night though so we'd get a chance to see how they were.

I got up early to let the dog out since he was bugging everyone.  He'd had a big drink before bed and was getting pretty desperate.  Mum came too and after a bit of shuffling we managed to go to the bathroom ourselves, then took the dogs for a walk through the unused part of Two Rivers, scoping out some cool campsites for future trips.  

It was kind of chilly (to be expected) and Mum wasn't keen on just having the planned oatmeal for breakfast.  Instead, once everyone was up, she talked us all into going to the visitor's centre for eggs and bacon.  It was a drab, miserable looking day so we set up a tarp over the trailer before we left (Dad had just bought a nice big one that actually covers the whole thing with room to spare so we don't look quite so ghetto.)

No wildlife was spotted on the drive, but there were still some leaves to look at.  We checked out the bookstore (I might have bought a book…) and had some breakfast.  The kids tried to get my brother to see them on the webcam but there were technical issues and it wasn't loading up for him.  We headed back to camp to start decorating.

I should say by this point, Chris wasn't all that impressed with the Halloween thing.  Not many sites had decorations up, and the ones that did were minimal.  I too was a little disheartened, but we hadn't been around Mew Lake yet and I was confident there would be more to see over there.  Chris set to work carving pumpkins and we got the site decorated and had some lunch (beef barley soup and grilled cheese sandwiches) then it was time to head to Mew for the costume contest.  Mum had purchased a bigfoot costume which Bubbie wore, while Squatch dressed up as Bobo from Finding Bigfoot.  They won a prize!  Now the kids were really excited and they knew from a quick drive around that we had a decent shot at the pumpkin carving contest prize as well.

We headed back to camp to get treat bags, then Chris and I headed back with the kids to trick or treat.  There were some cool sites but maybe for me there wasn't that wow factor because I'd done it before.  Chris seemed to enjoy it, and made sure to check out all the pumpkins.  There were a lot of people, and many of them were letting kids pick out their treat from a bowl.  Poor Bubbie couldn't grab anything because of her bigfoot hands so Squatch had to pick out stuff for her.

On our way back, Chris dropped us off at the start of the loop around Two Rivers and the kids went trick or treating around the few sites there.  Then, all of us chilled, we headed back to camp for dinner, then Chris took the kids back over to Mew Lake ice rink to see the presentation and see if they had won the pumpkin carving contest.  And we had!  (I shouldn't say we, I think Chris did all the carving...)  Unfortunately, I can't find any pictures of them, but the moose pumpkin on the Ontario Parks blog post about Halloween in the parks?  That's his.

Chris and I had set up a little 2 person tent we had bought and only used once.  During that trip, we had a horrible problem with no-see-ums and we haven't yet figured out if the tent's mesh wasn't fine enough to keep them out, or if they got in when the door was opened and we were setting up.  (You can read about that trip here.) We figured that wouldn't be a problem at the end of October.

We did worry a bit about rain though, since it had been drizzly all day.  The tent was only about $35 and so we doubted it's ability to keep us dry.  We had a small tarp so we set that up over it and left only a small tunnel for access, thus keeping us protected a bit from wind as well.

After enjoying the fire for a bit, we all headed to bed.  Being a bit concerned still about staying warm,  we opted to use our polar fleece liners, and boy were we warm.  Other than a little condensation in the tent we stayed dry, and not once was I chilly that night.  It was great.  I can't recall what the temperature was, but it was at least around the 0 mark.  The only disadvantage was that we couldn't zip them together since one was a mummy style.  Also, since they have hoods we weren't even sure we could zip them together if both were rectangular.  Something to look into for later.

The next morning we had breakfast and packed up.  Getting some of the decorations down proved to be a bit of a challenge, but we've learned our lesson...don't get those bags of spider web stuff!  They stick to the trees really well for decorating, but they don't come off without a lot of little strands being left behind.  The parks staff don't like that.

Trip Log: Awenda Provincial Park - August 1-3, 2018

The kids had been complaining that we hadn't been out in the Boler in a while, so I did a bit of searching and booked us a couple of nights at Awenda Provincial Park.  We had never been there, and it looked promising for hiking, swimming and photography.

Packing up the Boler doesn't take too long, and we were pulling out of the yard at around 1pm. We figured there was no real rush since the park was mostly full, and whoever was on the site we booked wouldn't have to leave until 2.  Since we'd had to sit around and wait for people to leave the site before, we decided to take our time.  This was great as we didn't have to come back home after 2 minutes of driving for something we had forgot to pack.

Everything was so green

Getting to Awenda from our house was about an hour and a half, maybe two hours.  For the most part, it's pretty easy driving for towing, not many big hills, and very little time on any major highways.  We arrived, got our permit and made it to our site without any fuss.  It was sprinkling a bit as we set the screen tent up, and both picnic tables were wet from previous rain.  We pulled one into the screen tent, pulled our camp chairs out and then Chris and Bubbie headed back to the office to get ice for the big orange water cooler, and some firewood.

While they were gone, I got started on dinner.  The plan had been to have mac and cheese for lunch, but it was close to dinner so we opted to skip it and move on to Sloppy Joes and salad.  I was supposed to have made the sloppy joes up the night before so we could just reheat it, but I ran out of time.  Instead, I brought all the ingredients, and hoped like heck I hadn't forgotten anything.  I cut up the onion and celery, then set up the stove...and realized the lighter was in the car.  There wasn't anything else I could do until Chris got back and boy did it feel like they were taking a long time!

Turned out, they went to check out the beach, which is where they saw the sign warning that there was a lot of poison ivy in the park.  We quickly realized Biscuit had run through a big patch on our earlier walk to the comfort station, and we spent the whole night (and most of the trip) worrying he would rub against one of us and we would have a reaction.  I should mention both Chris and I grew up in Haliburton where we tromped through the bush on a nearly daily basis and neither of us has ever had a poison ivy reaction.   Either we were just lucky all those years or we aren't allergic.

Sloppy Joes...sort of

With the rest of my utensils and food back, I went on with dinner preparations.  I got Chris to open the can of lentils and drain it.  When I went to add it to the pan, I saw the can was less than half full!  What the heck?  I've never had a can of lentils or beans contain so little lentils or beans!  At first I thought Chris had accidentally drained most of the can into the slop bucket.  It was a valid concern.  He's well known in the family for draining a pot of spaghetti into the sink...and losing have the spaghetti. But I checked and there wasn't even a single lentil in the bucket!

Our Sloppy Joes were looking very saucy and not in a good way.  There was no way it would be filling enough for four people now.  Desperate, I opened a can of sliced potatoes I had planned to make for our second breakfast (we still had 2 but the kids really like fried potatoes so I brought lots) and added it in.  It didn't alter the taste all that much, and helped to make the meal more filling.  We had garlic bread and salad with it.  There was just enough left for Biscuit to have a bit on top of his kibble (since he won't eat kibble when we are camping without a little of whatever we are having mixed in.)

Usually, when we Boler camp, we end up buying a few cases of canned lemonade or some other kind of pop.  We had a partial case, but rather than buy more, I brought four lemons and four limes.  With the big water cooler, we had lots of what the kids call "Sprite Water." This was a much healthier option, with far less to clean up afterwards.

While dinner cooked, Chris and Bubbie pulled out the ukulele's and played a few songs.  

On his trip to get wood and ice, Chris had grabbed a bag of marshmallows and some jiffy pop, but since the picnic tables were still wet, we opted not to have a fire that night.  Instead, we all headed down to the beach to take some pictures.

Sunset on Georgian Bay

The trails around the beach were loaded with poison ivy, and Biscuit has a serious obsession with it.  He makes a beeline for it every time.  We watched the sunset, explored a little, then went back to our site and made sure everything was locked away for the night, then headed to bed.

I had to get up a few times in the night to go to the bathroom.  It was super quiet and calm in the park.  The walk to the comfort station felt pretty long, and with so much tree canopy, it was really dark.  Usually this freaks me out, but for some reason I was pretty calm about it this time.  I had turned on a flashlight hanging in the screen tent to help me find our campsite on my way back.  My little flashlight I carry with me isn't very good, so it was nice to have a point of reference.

poison ivy at the parking area

Biscuit wanted out shortly after the sun came up, then we went back to bed until about 8.  It looked like it was going to be a nice day.

We made hot chocolate and coffee, then a starter of strawberry Pop Tarts, before making pancakes, then the kids broke out the GORP again.  Before we left, Chris and I made a trip to the Bulk Barn and loaded up on GORP stuff.  I brought us each a Ziplock bag so we could make up our own mixes.  Chris pretty much just makes himself a big bag of raisons and peanuts.  He probably would have added Craisons but I forgot to bring some from home.

With the poison ivy issue, we weren't sure what to do with our day.  We had wanted to do some of the hiking trails, but with Biscuit's love affair with that plant, we didn't want to spend the whole time dragging him out of it.  Instead, we opted to go to the beach.  Chris and Squatch would swim and Bubbie and I would walk with the dog and try and take some pictures.  In theory it was a good idea, in practice not so much.  We let the boys get out of sight before we let the dog out of the car, but it didn't matter.  He knew which direction they had gone and tried to drag me that way.

Beautiful day on Georgian Bay

Even though they hadn't planned to be gone long, it felt like forever.  We tried walking Biscuit the other way, but the parking lot was getting busy and every time a car came through, we had to hug the edge of the lot, which was over flowing with poison ivy.  It was also hot and muggy and every place shady had more poison ivy, so there wasn't really anywhere for us to stand to stay cool.  Finally, I sent Bubbie down to get the boys.  They would have been done soon anyway.

We ended up walking down towards the dog beach to see if we could get the dog cooled down.  The trails were busy and he either tried to jump on people or tried to run through poison ivy.  It was not a fun time.  Once we got to a quiet part of the beach, we were able to relax and got him into the water enough to cool off.

Rain coming over Georgian Bay

Once back at camp, we made up the mac and cheese we should have had the day before, and relaxed. The boys played Viking Chess for a while, then Chris took the kids to the park store to get ice cream. It started to rain a bit, and looked like a storm might be blowing in, so we quickly cleaned up the site and headed back to the beach, hoping to see Georgian Bay with big angry waves, but it was actually pretty calm.  We could see rain falling in the distance, in two directions.  We hung out a bit, hoping to see the rain come closer, but eventually we headed back to camp and started making dinner, which was spaghetti.

After dinner, Chris got  a good fire going and the kids toasted some marshmallows.  We sat around for a while before breaking out the Jiffy Pop, then the kids headed into bed.  Bubbie was pretty tired, but Squatch decided to read to her from the book Chris had brought, a book about conspiracy theories.  Chris had been reading it earlier, and Squatch was peeking out the window of the Boler, reading over his shoulder.

Chris and I stayed out until the fire was almost out, then headed to bed and read a bit of our own books (he'd brought a second book - Against All Odds by P. J. Naworynski.  It's about the Canadian Olympic Hockey team in 1948.)

Our screen tent has seen better days

It wasn't as hot that night.  We still didn't really need the blankets, except to protect us from the dog's nose, but he mostly slept on the floor until it got light outside.  Surprisingly, I didn't have to get up to go to the comfort station in the night, and Biscuit didn't wake us up at dawn to go outside.  We all ended up getting up around 8 again, and had coffee and hot chocolate, then Pop Tarts and potato and pepper hash.  We had also brought some vegan bacon to try out but it wasn't very good.  I've heard rave reviews about some types but I'm guessing this wasn't one of them.  Chris gave some to Biscuit, which we all cursed him for on the way home.

 Everything was wet, and because the tree canopy keeps everything shaded, it didn't really dry off much.  We started packing up, but with the Boler it really doesn't take very long.  Since it was the Friday of the August long weekend, we figured it would be best to head out early before the roads became a nightmare of congestion.

The drive home took longer than the drive there.  The roads were already busy, and a good portion of those people were towing trailers.  We finished off all the trail mix on the drive and made it home by 2pm.

Final thoughts on Awenda Provincial Park?  I'll be writing a park review, but it's a lovely place.  The sites are well space, designed to make it easy to back trailers in, and the beach is beautiful.  If we hadn't had Biscuit, we could have checked out the trails, so I can't comment on them.  All in all, it was really nice, and we would definitely go back, especially in the fall when the leaves were changing colour.

Trip Log: Algonquin Provincial Park: Lake of Two Rivers, August 4-7, 2016

Our second annual trip with my parents and my cousin's family.

Last  year, we camped at Pog Lake. It was an interesting experience, introducing Algonquin, and camping in general, to my cousin and his kids.  This year, with his boys being a bit older, things were a bit easier.  Last year the youngest was 4, and hated pretty much every minute of the trip.  This year, he told us he didn't want to leave.  Progress!

Along Bat Lake Trail

Chris and I arrived with our kids on the Thursday.  Everyone else would be arriving on Friday.  We'd just gotten back from a night at Kingscote, and it was Chris's vacation, so we wanted to get as much camping time in as possible.  Plus this gave us a chance to do some things the others might not want to do, like a longer hike.

We'd planned to arrive early, but didn't even leave the house until after 2pm.  We always think it's easier to take the Boler, because it's so much easier to pack and get organized but for some reason we just couldn't get it together as quickly as we'd hoped.  Still, it was a beautiful day, and we arrived at around 4:30pm.  We weren't sure we were going to make it at all, to be honest.  We arrived in Minden and planned to top up the gas tank so we wouldn't have to worry the whole weekend about running into Whitney.  But the gas gauge started acting up.  It would bounce from full to below empty, to half and back to full within 10 minutes.  So when we stopped in Minden, Chris topped it up and even though the gauge read at 1/4 of a tank, he only managed to put $10 into it before the pump clicked off.  For filling from 1/4 of a tank in that car, he should have been able to get $40 into it.

So the drive was a little nerve wracking, a little humorous, and filled with dog slobber and singing.  All in all, not that different than normal.  Our longer trips towing the Boler have always been fraught with car issues.  Last year on this family trip our transmission lines were spraying fluid as we drove.  A trip to Grundy Lake ended with us in Gravenhurst, waiting for my parents to come take the Boler because the trailer hitch had ripped off one side of the car frame.  Then on their way home, one of the tires on the Boler blew and they were stranded on the road until we got there.  It was the most expensive camping trip we never got to take.

But back to this trip.  Since we'd planned to get there early, I'd brought Veggie burgers for lunch, but we ended up eating them as dinner.   They were surprisingly good.  Then it was off to the beach for a swim so the kids could wash the dog slobber off.  I took Biscuit to the Dog beach and he hated it.  There were lots of little rocks in the first few feet of water, which was as far as I could go, and he kept dragging me over them so I couldn't pick the best/less painful spots to step.

We had a relaxing evening around the fire and went to bed early, still tired from our trip to Kingscote where none of us really slept well.

The next morning, we had bagels and decided to go for a hike.  I wanted to do Bat Lake since it was close by and we'd never done it before.  It was supposed to be hot, and the kids really didn't want to go.  I was starting to question the idea myself because by the time we got cleaned up, it was 11am and getting quite hot, and storms were expected to start mid afternoon.  Chris thought we should give it a go, even if we only made it part way through and came back.

The hike ended up being one of our favourites.  There are so many beautiful rocky creeks and cliffs, a nice lookout and we even saw a bear!  We were at post #10, and the kids were on the dock that goes out onto Bat Lake and I kept hearing something large breaking branches nearby.  Hoping it was a moose, I kept watching, and told Chris.  He went back up the trail a little hoping he could see it, and as he did, I saw a bear disappear behind a snapped off tree trunk.  A little unnerved but very excited, we moved on.  A family reached post 11 as we did and we warned them.  The mother was very excited and claimed they had food and would try and feed it.  I was too shocked to comment, because I didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to actually try and feed a bear...half way through a 5.8km hike where help would be pretty damn far off.  As we never heard any stories of a family getting attacked, I guess she was either kidding or they never saw the bear.

After the hike, we went to the Visitor's centre for ice cream treats.  We could have just gone to the Two Rivers store but it had been packed at the ice cream counter every time I'd been there, and I figured we could get the kids their patches for the Bat Lake Trail while we were out.

When we got back to camp, we went for a swim.  The sky was looking a bit dark, and we were thankful we'd put up a tarp before we left for the hike.  The hike took about 2 hours, and though we stopped at the look out for snacks (I discovered a new love of fig bars, especially the apricot peach ones they sold at the Two Rivers Store) we were all very hungry.  It poured rain for about 30 seconds, while the kids were swimming.  Then Chris came back to the car to stay with Biscuit while I went for a quick dunk to rinse the sweat off.  Once back at camp I made up some spaghetti while Chris and Squatch played catch, then we relaxed until everyone else arrived.

Since the rest of our group all had to work friday, we weren't sure if they'd arrive before dark, but everyone managed to get out early, and they got to their site at around 6.  They had planned to stop at the Halls Lake chip truck for dinner on the way up, but it had been closed, so after they got the tent trailer set up, and we set up Ian's tent, Mum and Stacey went over to get food from the cafe, while I took the kids to get ice cream.

We had a nice fire that night, and while Ian's kids were a little riled up we had a nice time catching up.  Much beer was drank, much more than usual, for some people.

The next morning, after a bit of a late start, we piled into our vehicles and headed to Mew Lake to go to the water fall.  Chris and I planned to paddle there later in the day while everyone else swam and paddle boarded...is that the right term?  Anyway, we got to the parking area and there was a sign saying the trail was closed due to bear activity.  Disappointed, we decided to do the Logging Museum Trail.  As I'm writing this, I haven't posted the log for last years trip, but one of the problems we had last year was that Ian's youngest didn't like anything we did.  Other than throwing pine cones in the fire.  He hated the hike we did last year and complained most of the time.  I was a little concerned we would have a repeat of that, but he LOVED it.  He ran ahead, excited over every display.  They were climbing on the alligator, upset about the graffiti written inside.  We were trying to tell them that people were just stupid when the oldest one comes out and says "It says suck big c*^& in there!" Why people feel the need to graffiti things in what is basically a museum display, is beyond me.

After the hike, Chris and I went into Whitney to top up on gas (just in case) then met up with Mum and Dad at the Visitor's centre.  Lunch was going to be nachos, but Dad can't eat them so Mum grabbed him a burger to take back to camp.

After lunch we headed to the beach.  Mum had her kayak, the kids had paddle boards, and Chris and I had our canoe.  Our efforts to find the entrance to the Madawaska were a little awkward.  At one point we paddled into both the little openings on each side of it but couldn't find the right one.  Then we back tracked and played around in the creek that goes along side the campground but it was narrow and Biscuit kept jumping out of the canoe.

Finally we found the right entrance, and headed upstream to the waterfall where the backpacking trail crosses the river.  It seemed to take forever, and I was sure everyone was going to be worried but in actuality, we'd only been gone 2 hours.  We didn't see any bear, just bikers crossing the bridge on the Rail Trail.

Our return to the beach resulted in us putting on a bit of a comedy act for some bathers.  Because the water is only a few inches deep for several feet out, we stopped a few meters from shore and Chris hopped out, planning to take Biscuit to the car while I carried the gear and he came back for the canoe.  Even though there was literally an inch and a half of water, Biscuit wouldn't get out!  He kept scrambling from spot to spot, looking for a better place to jump to shore, tangling the leash around my legs (one of which was still in the canoe) and nearly sending me face first into the water.  Finally, Chris had to drag the canoe right up to shore (with me still hopping along with one foot in the canoe) so Biscuit didn't have to get his feet wet.  And here we had been commenting on the canoeing skills of the people nearby, nearly tipping their boats and zigzagging all over the place.  I'm sure we looked ridiculous.

Needless to say, nobody was worried about us.  We got back and Ian had taken his eldest and Squatch to hike the Two River's Trail.  Mum and I drove over to the parking lot to give them a ride back, figuring we'd have ten minutes or so to wait and that the kids at least would be tired.  We barely had the truck turned off when they emerged out of the trail!  How's that for timing?

While we had been paddling, the kids had a good time swimming and playing on their paddle boards, though they had some issues with people in canoes running into them.  While Ian's oldest was trying it out, a couple in a canoe yelled at him to get out of their way.  Squatch was close by to help him out if necessary, and he yelled at the people that he was only a kid.  With so many people trying out canoeing in these areas, it's very easy to find yourself in a conflict.  Chris and I just went slow, let other people go a head rather than expect them to be able to steer.  While I love that so many people are out trying it out, it does make for a rather awkward time.

Back at camp, the youngest of the group was back to "helping with the fire" which translates to poking the sand in the fire pit with a stick and essentially putting the fire out.  He was told several times to stop, and I guess my dad teased him about it, and the little guy picked up his chair, threw it, then kicked it and went into the tent.  He was back a few minutes later poking at the fire.

Dinner that night was hotdogs and burgers for the rest of the group while Chris and I threw together a quick foil dinner of canned potatoes, black beans, corn, salsa and taco seasoning...it turned out really well but was a heck of a lot more food than we needed.

We spent another night sitting around, relaxing around the fire.  It began to rain at around 9, so we moved under the awning of Mum and Dad's trailer.   By this time all the kids had gone to bed

Packing up in the morning was pretty quick, even though we were in no rush.  Mum and Dad had to work though, and with the problem the car was giving us, we figured it would be best to leave with them so if we had any issues, help wouldn't be too far away.  Plus the kids could ride with them where there was far less dog slobber.

What makes me sad is I didn't realize until the last morning that I'd hardly taken any pictures.  Each day was pretty much spent cooking, then trying to clean up so we could go do an activity...then repeat.  I didn't even take a picture on our little paddle.

Trip Log: Algonquin Provincial Park: Source Lake to Raven Lake - July 18-19, 2018

Since the kids wanted to visit with my parents for a few days, Chris and I decided to take advantage of our alone time and do a night of canoe camping.  The advantage (besides the obvious) is that Chris only has to portage one canoe, so we can try and get to lakes with longer portages.

We had considered trying to get into Welcome Lake as it was showing as completely empty on the online reservation service, but I was down with a summer cold, and thought maybe treking over two kilometres with a 60 lb pack wasn't the best idea.  Also, timing wise, we would have gotten to Welcome Lake pretty late, given the time to paddle Rock Lake as well as Pen Lake, then do a portage over 2km long.  We decided on putting in at Source Lake, and doing two portages into Raven Lake.

We had to make a quick stop at Algonquin Outfitters for sunscreen and fuel for the stove.  We'd tried Canadian Tire before we left home, but they told us the brand they sold had been recalled for that type of fuel.

I'm not sure what time we arrived, probably around 1pm, got our permit at the Canoe Lake office and headed down the road.  The parks staff were doing some work on the Source Lake Road on the way in, I'm assuming to even out wash board spots.

We quickly loaded the canoe and set off.

Did you know loons have black feet?

Crossing Source Lake wasn't a long paddle.  I'd read some reports that said it could get very windy and wavy but we didn't have any problems.  The wind did pick up as we got close to the little bay where the portage was, but the waves stayed manageable.

It's here I should mention that I made one of my classic mistakes.  We were half way through the drive north when I realized I hadn't remembered to change into my Keen sport sandals.  In fact, I was wearing $5 flip flops.  So not only were we going to be doing the longest portage we had yet attempted, but I was going to be doing it without proper footwear.

The initial hill of the portage wasn't too steep, but the pack was heavy, and my feet were wet.  If you've never tried to walk up a hill in wet flip flops, let me tell you...it's not fun.  My feet kept sliding out of my shoes, I was huffing and puffing so bad I thought my chest might explode and my shoulders were killing me.  I got about 50 meters in and almost started crying, thinking there was no way I could do this portage, let alone the 920m still ahead of us.

Thankfully the trail levelled out for the most part, and even though it sucked, and my shoulders were screaming, we made it to Bruce Lake without mishap.  I did have a bit of an issue dropping the pack. It has this strap you can use that goes from the back, over top of the roll top and then clips down at the front.  We hadn't bothered to clip it on, and it got tangled around my arm.  I had that arm out of the normal carry strap, and with the extra strap hooked around my upper arm, I couldn't get the pack to shift enough to get the other arm out of it's carry strap...I had  to wait for Chris to drop the canoe and come help me, and ended up with a bruise on my arm because of it.  Did I learn my lesson and clip that extra strap into it's place?  No, but I was careful not to let it get looped onto my arm again.

Mostly, we were distracted by the fact that we could see the next portage across the lake...and it didn't look like the paddle was going to give us much of a break.

The landing at our site

We were right.  Long before we felt ready for it, we were landing the canoe and hauling our crap up another hill.  This portage was a bit more undulating, but after the initial rise on either end, it's fairly flat.  We stopped at the midway point where Chris was able to rest the canoe on a fallen tree, then we headed off again.  There were lots of big toads along the trail, and I almost stepped on a garter snake. It didn't even move, and I had to stop and make sure it wasn't actually dead.

By the time we made it to Raven Lake, my calves were cramping up and my shoulders on fire.  I think the straps need to be tightened because it felt like the pack was hanging more than sitting.  Something to look into next time.

We pushed off and went to the first campsite to check it out.  I'd read it was very steep and not very good, but we got out of the canoe and checked it out anyway.  It wasn't a horrible site, but the steep rise from the water would have been a pain for loading and unloading, as well as pumping water.  Chris liked it because he figured it would be good for swimming, but agreed we should check out the other site.  It was still pretty early in the day and I was pretty sure there wouldn't be anyone else staying on Raven Lake that night.

The sandy shallow water at the second site's put in won me over.  I'm not a dive-into-deep-water type of swimmer.  I'm a sit-in-4-inches-of-water kind of gal. (I grew up working at my grandparent's bait shop, where the customers used to like freaking me out with stories of giant muskie and trout that bit their toes off.)  The second site also had more open ground for tent site options so we decided to make it home for the night.  We set up the tent in front of the fire pit so we would have a good view.  There was a fire ban anyway, so it wasn't like we would have to worry about sparks from the fire landing on the tent.

Once the tent was up, Chris went for a swim, wading far out to find deeper water, while I sat in the sandy shallows.  He came and joined me and we spent a relaxing hour or so enjoying the quiet.  Biscuit fetched his ball a few times and smacked me with his wet tail.  All in all, a nice time.

Potatoes, stuffing, veggie burger and gravy

Dinner was a completely unhealthy but easy and cheap mix of store bought foods since I still hadn't had much time to dehydrate anything.  A package of instant mashed potatoes, half a box of Stove Top, a packet of gravy and two frozen veggie burgers.  It was filling, and tasted all right...I think.  Did I mention I was suffering with a summer cold?  I couldn't taste much of anything, but Chris and Biscuit seemed to like it.

There was a garter snake living in the alders along the shore.   It kept coming out but would take off when we came close.  After we cleaned up, we hung the food bag and went out for a paddle and he was on the sand, maybe looking for a frog for his dinner.

We paddled along the shore of the entire lake, finding a few spots that looked like maybe they used to be campsites.  There was one spot, near the other campsite, but not so close that it looked like part of the other site, where it looked like a trail.  It was wide and very distinct and we wondered if there used to be an old portage trail leading to Burnt Island Lake.  We didn't get out and investigate, the sun was setting and we decided to head back to camp.

Once back at our site, we tucked away any gear that was laying around and decided to crawl into the tent.  Since we couldn't have a fire, and the site didn't have anywhere to sit near the water, there wasn't much else to do.  I was a bit chilled, and somehow my butt had gotten wet while we were paddling around.  I realized afterwards it was because Biscuit was biting at the little whirlpools created with each of my paddle strokes, and every time he lifted his head, water would dribble out of his mouth and onto my seat.

Biscuit preparing for Chris for a wakeup call

It was a quiet night.  A few loons, a few owls and lots of bull frogs.  I was awake most of the night blowing my nose, and every time I did, Biscuit would get up and bunt me in the face.

When it started to get light out, he wanted out of the tent so I got up, grabbed the camera and wandered around the site.  There was some nice fog on the water, and the morning light was beautiful.  I really wish there had been a place to sit, or that we had brought chairs.  After taking a few pictures, I went back to bed for another hour or so.

We got up around 7:30.  It was time for coffee and pancakes...well one pancake each.  The frying pan that comes with our pot set is great for one big pancake, but not so great for a few little ones.  Chris did the cooking this time, and soon enough we were eating and cleaning up so we could head down the portage trail to Owl Lake to check it out.

The trail was pretty flat, but littered with rocks and roots that made it a slow hike (for me in my wet flip flops.  Chris was fine.)  We didn't portage the canoe over,  just walked the trail, took a few pictures and headed back.  Chris had found a trail at our site that he had followed during his initial explorations and it went pretty far, so when we got back to camp, he decided to follow it while I made use of the thunder box. (Note to anyone thinking of camping on this site...the thunder box is in plain view of the rest of the campsite, so if you aren't comfortable with your companions seeing your bare butt, maybe try the other site...)

Morning mist on Raven Lake

Turned out, the trail he followed went all the way to Owl Lake, and from the end, he could see the campsite that had been just around shore from the portage.  It was also a much easier trail, minus the few blow downs he had to bypass, and followed a creek for a bit.  It had to have been a portage at one point, but why would the park discontinue it's use and create one that was so riddled with rocks when this path was so clear and pretty?  I guess the fact it passed along the back of the campsite might be a good reason.  I watched him go by as I was preparing to use the facilities, so I guess campers might not be thrilled to have a group of camp kids go through while they were in a vulnerable state.

We spent some time watching four loons that were swimming just off shore, puttered around a bit, then decided there was no point in delaying the inevitable.

Biscuit waits patiently for pancakes

It didn't take us long to pack up and head back out onto the water.  Neither of us was looking forward to the portage and it was way hotter than it had been on our way in the day before.  We landed and I got a head start while Chris lashed the paddles to the yoke.  By the time I made it to the midway point, I was breathing so hard and I just wanted the pack off.  I ended up standing there, bent at the waist, just to ease some of the weight on my shoulders, though that wasn't doing my back any favours.  Chris came along then and says he's just going to keep going.  It should be said that the only way I could get the pack onto my shoulders was for him to lift it and then I'd slide my arms in.  If he wasn't stopping, I wasn't getting the pack onto my back again.  He took five steps then came back for a rest, thankfully, or I might have mutinied.

Once we made it to Bruce Lake, we decided to check out the campsite.  There's only one on the lake, and we couldn't see it on the way in.  It sits up on some nice rock, has a bit of a challenging climb to get your gear up, but it's a nice site, has a great bench and a nice view.  The tent pads are a bit away from the fire pit, following a little trail.  We sat on the bench and decided we would come back to it with the kids some time.

After a brief rest, we headed back out and landed at the portage back into Source Lake.  Chris had said the 540m would feel like nothing after the 920m, but he was wrong.  It still kinda sucked.   I'm pretty sure someone threw a few good sized rocks in the bottom of the pack or something.

The paddle back to the access point was nice.  It felt like we hadn't done much paddling on this trip.  I had joked about how it would be great to do more portaging and less paddling because Biscuit is not a fun dog to paddle with.  He has lots of fun...but his constant biting of the water makes it a jerky, sketchy ride for us.  Of course, as much as he loves the canoe, he loves the car more, and as soon as we got close to shore, he jumped out before we could grab his leash, and bolted.  Thankfully there were no other people around.  Chris was able to get his shoes on and go let him in, then drove down to pick up the gear and strap the canoe to the roof.

After a quick detour to Lake of Two River's Store for some snacks, we headed back south to pick the kids up and head home.

stuff left behind by previous campers

I've thought a lot about whether Raven Lake was worth the portages.  It's a small lake, and while it was pretty enough, it wasn't a super scenic spot.  It was quiet though.  We only saw a group of 3 canoes (kids from the camp on Source Lake maybe) come through, so in that respect, it was great.  I like that we did some longer portages, and while they weren't fun (are they supposed to be?) they weren't as bad as I had thought.  Some reorganizing of gear might be in order.  We take a four person tent because of the dog, but maybe if it had been just the two of us, we would have taken our little 2 person tent and saved a few pounds.

All in all, it was a good trip.  We had fun, enjoyed a quiet lake to our selves, and since we spent a good part of the drive home discussing where we might go next, I'd have to say it was a success.

Trip Log: Algonquin Provincial Park: Mew Lake: February 18-19, 2018

Trail to the waterfalls

We had been trying for the last few years to make it to Algonquin for Family Day Weekend and we finally did!  Unfortunately, we couldn't get there for the Saturday, when all the demonstrations were going on, but it still ended up being a great, short trip with wonderful weather.

The kids had gone to my parents house for the previous night, and drove up with them on the Sunday morning to meet us.  We ended up meeting in Minden so we could drive up together.  This was our first time towing the Boler with the "new" car, and it performed wonderfully-no weird burning smells or noises at all.

By some miracle, we managed to leave home early (ok...9:38am which is still early for us to get out of the yard) and arrived at the permit office by about 1.  Our plan had been to hike out to the waterfalls and have lunch, veggie burgers cooked on Mum's Biostove, but we forgot about one thing. The people staying on the site we had reserved, didn't have to leave until 2 and since we had the camper, there wasn't really anywhere to park it so we ended up waiting until they left (Right at 2) and then just cooked our burgers at the site.

The Boler at Mew Lake

It was a little chilly, mostly due to the wind, but not unbearable at all.  We spent most of the day walking around with the dog hoping to tire him out a bit so he wasn't so hard to settle down at bed time.  We hiked down to the waterfalls as usual then returned to camp and tried to start a fire.  It wasn't a very successful fire.  It burned, but needed constant help.  When we ducked into the Boler to eat dinner, it pretty much went out, so we had to restart it.  Of course, as usual, just as we got it going well, everyone decided they were tired and wanted to go to bed.

We didn't see any pine martin's this year, despite several attempts to get spot them.  I got up early and took Biscuit for a walk, hoping to see them before there were many people up and about, but no luck.

We were expecting a snow storm later in the day, so we decided we wouldn't stick around for too long.  When everyone got up, we had breakfast and Chris took the kids for a ski in the air field, just because we had hauled our cross country skis here, he figured we might as well use them.  Originally he had wanted us all to go to the Leaf Lake Trail, but since dogs aren't allowed on the ski trails we would have had to leave Biscuit alone in the car, and it was kind of cold for that.

Making coffee and hot chocolate

While everyone else did that, I took Biscuit for a walk along the section of campsites that are closer to the highway, where we stayed a few years back.  He wasn't happy with me, as he wanted to be with Chris, and pretty much tried to drag me backwards the whole time.

I really wish we had gotten to see the winter camping demonstrations.  I think it would have been really interesting, and informative.  Nevertheless, it was still really cool to see all the different styles of hot tents people had, from very large, to very small.  It was also neat to see the creativity people use when it comes to creating a winter shelter.  We saw pop up ice fishing huts with stoves in them, which is something Chris and I had discussed a few years ago.

Next year, I hope we can make it up for the whole weekend, though whether it's in the Boler, or in a hot tent of our own, I don't know.

One thing I'd like to mention, was a new piece of gear we tried out on this trip, though I hesitate to call it gear.  In previous trip logs, I've mentioned how Biscuit likes to suck on (and rip) sleeping bags and blankets.  Chris had the idea of buying a moving blanket (they were on sale at Princess Auto) and using it as an over blanket.  It was big enough to tuck under us so Biscuit couldn't pull it aside, and inexpensive so if he did rip it, it wouldn't be that big of a deal...and it would be easy enough to sew a patch on, because we wouldn't really care what it looked like.  It worked pretty well.  Getting it into place was a bit of a challenge, but our sleeping bags stayed slobber free and whole, so I'd say it did it's job.