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: 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.

Trip Log: Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park: August 21-23-2017

It's scary how fast summer can fly by.  At the end of June, when I'd get a shift that fell in the middle of our "weekend" (you don't generally get normal weekends off when you work in a restaurant) I didn't get too upset.  We still had two months worth of time to go camping, biking on trails, exploring in canoes and kayaks etc.

And here we are, almost the end of August and I look back and see just how little of that stuff we actually did, because those shifts come up often, and because car repairs always end up cropping up at the start of a week off, and because other obligations happen.

It's kind of sad because our adventuring is pretty much over for the year.  Since Chris and I work  weekends and the kids can't just skip school like they did when they were younger, we won't get much opportunity until the next long holiday.

I'm thankful though, that when we look back on the summer, the camping trips we did, were all in places we had never been before.  We saw a new Provincial park, saw parts of Algonquin we hadn't been to before, and finally got to explore a bit of the Haliburton Water Trails system, something I've been wanting to do for...well about 20 years.

This trip was kind of two trips back to back.  We had five days off, and after spending our last week of vacation fixing car issues so we could drive our "adventuring car" long distances again, we could actually go camping...the problem was, where to go?  Everywhere I looked, there would be one or two sites left, and they were pretty much all the tiny little site next to an outhouse that never gets booked except maybe on a long weekend.

Our Boler at Samuel de Champlain Park

I was getting bummed, and kind of pissed off.  Keep in mind, this was day one of our five days and we still had no idea where to go. The kids didn't want to go canoe camping, and instead wanted to relax in the Boler, Chris wasn't interested in anything along Highway 60 in Algonquin, and I wasn't keen on going a really long distance because fixed or not, the car is old and unpredictable.

We finally settled on two nights at Samuel de Champlain, then two nights at Kiosk at the North end of Algonquin.

We didn't leave the house until almost 5.  We had nothing ready, no idea what food we were taking.  Chris and I went shopping but I kind of ended up just throwing random cans of things from the pantry at home and hoped it took care of all the meals we would need.

We arrived at the park at 9:07pm and got our permit.  Then we had the fun task of navigating an unknown park in the dark, but we found our site with only one wrong turn.  The site was a pull through, or pull around I guess?  It had a U shaped entry so Chris didn't have to try backing in.  The problem was there was a stump in the entry was that was just high enough to scrape the underside of the Boler.  This wouldn't be a problem for most other trailers but the Boler sits pretty low to the ground and doesn't have a lot of clearance.  We actually broke a little chunk of the fibreglass body off...oops. Once into place though, we set up (moved food from the Boler into the trunk of the car) ate a quick dinner of wraps, then went to bed.

It was humid in the trailer that night, and Biscuit made a nuisance of himself, jumping up and down off our bed.  He was too hot when he was with us, but not comfortable on the floor.  It also started to rain, and continued to rain until just after lunch.

I woke up the next morning to take him out, and got my first look around the campsite.  It was actually quite nice.  We could see the lake, and there was a little spot across the road we could have used to launch a canoe if we'd brought them, but we hadn't since we were in such a rush to leave.  Not that it mattered, since it rained for half the day anyway, and we also didn't bother to bring rain jackets.

Once Chris got up, we set up the screen tent so we could have a dry place to cook and sit.  Rather than making potato, pepper and onion hash like I had planned, we ate dry cereal right out of the box and some other snacks. After cleaning up, we went to check out the visitor's centre.

So many neat mushrooms around our campsite

It's pretty small, but contains some interesting information on the history of the Mattawa River, the fur trade and a replica courier de bois canoe.  Next we headed to the store, hoping to get a patch for the park to add to the kids collection but they either don't sell them or they weren't available at the time, so the kids got popsicles and we headed back to our site.

Lunch was supposed to be wraps made with fresh veggies but since it was still rainy and everything was still wet under the bug shelter, we ended up making Mr. Noodles cups for the kids, and Chris and I shared a carton of green lentil curry soup I'd thrown in the food box at the last minute, with some of the garlic bread.  The soup was surprisingly good, but the carton only holds 500ml which wasn't enough really for two hungry people.

The rest of the day was spent walking around, checking out the park.  The beach in the Jingwakoki campground area was small, but looked pretty decent for swimming.  There were some swings and a few teeter-totters there as well.  You can see the other beach across the lake and it looked very nice, but unfortunately we didn't get a chance to go and check it out.

The kids finally had a chance to pull out the hammocks and the picnic table ping pong set we had bought them for Christmas, then lost before I could wrap it.  (I found it on Boxing Day, which is pretty typical I suppose.)  Bubbie and I also spent some time photographing the last few blueberries on the bushes behind our site, as well as the various interesting fungi nearby.

Sometime in the afternoon, Chris took Biscuit for a little drive out to the park store to get some ice, at which point the catalytic converter fell off the car.  He picked it up and threw it into the trunk, and we spent the whole rest of the trip laughing about it since we were pretty sure something was going to happen to the car.  Any time we attempt to go more than an hour away from home for a camping trip, we have car issues.  Thankfully, this time, it wasn't anything that could potentially strand us somewhere.

Dinner that night was spaghetti and garlic bread.  It's pretty much a camping staple for us, but the clean up always sucks.

The next morning I finally made the potato, onion and pepper hash I'd promised the kids.  It looked like it was going to be a nice day.  As we were cleaning up, we saw a group go by in a replica voyager canoe.  I wish we had been able to try it out.  It would have been a neat experience.  Next time.  The kids really liked this park and we will definitely be back.

Since it was a nice day and we wouldn't be travelling far to get to our next camping spot, we figured there was no point in rushing to pack up.  If there were people on our Kiosk site, they didn't have to leave until 2, so we decided to do a hike.  The Kag hike wasn't too far away, and was only 2.5km long.  The estimated time to do the trail was an hour and 15 minutes but we figured we could do it in less.

one of many steep sections on the Kag Trail

The trail is rated as difficult with some steep climbs on most of the information posted, but the one we happened to look at said it was moderate.  This is not a moderate level trail!  #Legday And those steep climbs?  They really are climbs.  There are sections where you are climbing what is practically a cliff, going back and forth like a goat trail.  Other times, you have to pick your way up almost with whatever tree root or rock you can find.  Chris got dragged up and down these hills, Squatch had nothing to slow him down but Bubbie and I had our cameras and it made it much more awkward to grab little trees for support.  This trip report took a while to get published, and because of that, when I was looking through the pictures, I kept going "why did I take a picture of that cliff face?" Then I realized, that was there trail...

The kids were good natured about it, but didn't hold back complaining about the trail.  Chris kept saying it was a lovely trail and they had nothing to complain about...until Biscuit dragged him down a hill and he ran into a fallen log in a very painful way.

You can barely tell it's a trail...just looks like a cliff

All of our legs were like jelly when we made it back to camp, and we were a little embarrassed that the trail took us a fair bit longer than the hour and 15 minutes estimated.  We had to rush to hook up the trailer so we could be off the site by 2.

This section of the trip was wonderful (not that Kiosk wasn't great too) and we all really liked Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park.  Our site was great, it was relatively quiet and there were enough things to do so none of us would have been bored had we been there longer than 2 nights.  It rained a fair bit that second day, and the roads were pretty muddy.  The intersection just behind our site had a huge puddle (or more accurately, a pond?) that many drivers had fun playing in as they went past.

All in all, a great trip.

Trip Log: Algonquin Provincial Park: Kiosk - August 23-25, 2017

I wasn't quite sure what to expect of Kiosk Campground, to be honest.  The site we had looked okay in the pictures, but it wasn't one of the ones on the water.  I kind of had a feeling we had only gotten a site because it was one of the ones that nobody wants unless, like us, they are booking last minute and will take anything.

We were pleasantly surprised.  Kiosk is a small campground, and is divided into two parts which are divided by a short walk.  The first sites are right at the office and parking area for the canoe launch (glad we didn't take site #1 as it's overlooking the parking lot) and the second group of sites are on the other side of the little bay.  You backtrack down the road you entered on, and then stay to the left.  Our site was up on the hill, under some pines and we loved it.  If we had brought canoes we might have felt different, and maybe if the year hadn't been so rainy, the waterside sites wouldn't have been so muddy, but we were very happy with our site.

you can tell the screen tent has seen better days...the roof is wonky

We quickly backed the Boler in and set about setting up our screen tent.  We weren't so much worried about bugs, but in having a dry spot to sit if it rained. (It didn't rain the whole time) Our screen tent is 10X13, and since the Boler is a 13 foot camper, we are able to set the tent up with one of the openings right against the walls of the trailer.  It probably only works because of the way the zipper opens the top, bottom and one side, but it pretty much makes an add-a-room  Unfortunately, the poor thing has taken a lot of abuse lately and is in pretty sad shape.  Since it's not square, it takes some fiddling to get it set up with the longer side vs shorter side.  The poles aren't marked at all, which makes it very difficult.

After we got set up, we headed back over to the other section to fill our big orange cooler with water. This is the one main drawback to being in the section of sites away from the office.  There is no water taps on that side.  We hadn't realized that (it not being something we pay much attention to when looking at maps on the online booking pages) so we didn't bring other containers.  We had the orange cooler for ice and drinking water, but nothing to store large amounts of water for cleaning dishes, cooking and washing hands.  This was inconvenient, but not a disaster.

Dinner that night was fajitas with some beans from the farmers market and foil wrapped potatoes and carrots.  It was a lot of food, but it was really yummy.

The kids set up their hammocks and chairs and we spent the evening relaxing around the fire.

The next day after breakfast (bagels and handfuls of cold cereal) the kids set up their ping pong set and Chris and I went to explore a bit.  We headed back down the road until we came to a little turn off where there is a bridge over a small water fall.  After exploring a bit, we headed back. Biscuit was driving us nuts and so we spent a good portion of this day taking turns walking him around.

Over the course of the trip, we saw multiple tiny garter snakes that looked like they might have been freshly born (or pretty recent.) Some were squished on the road, but many were slithering around.  I took the kids down to check out the sites that are reserved for canoe campers who arrive late, and we saw a large garter snake.  I went to move the wild flowers and shrubs a bit to see of we could get a better look and ended up with a hand and wrist full of little prickles that burned for the rest of the day, even though I was able to quickly get them out with some scrubbing and water.

New campers arrived over the course of the day.  Many of the people on the water sites were leaving so we got to check them out for a bit while they were empty.  One group of new campers was very loud.  They looked to be a half dozen young women, maybe in their early 20's.  They got out of their van and immediately started swearing and cursing in excitement.  They were a source of entertainment over the day as they went and picked up some rental canoes (then almost let them float away) and as it got dark, I watched them stalk a raccoon up a tree and then loudly holler back to the others at the site that it was okay, "It's just a cat."  Um, I'm not sure how many feral cats there are at Kiosk but I'm pretty sure it was a raccoon.

We had a good fire that night.  Our neighbours left and offered us the rest of their wood.  Sully had picked up a few pieces of the slag rock stuff from the railway track and had set it on the fire grate...then went to pick it up.  Needless to say he got a bit of a burn.  Nothing serious, but enough that it stung for a few hours and kept him from getting much sleep.  It was fine in the morning.

the water sites at the section by the main office

Chris pulled out his grandfathers old coleman propane lantern and fired it up.  We sat in the screen room with that going for a bit before finally calling it a night.

The next morning we packed up with regrets.  We wished we'd brought the canoe.  We wished we didn't have to go home. We wished school wasn't starting so soon so we could come back.

I really liked Kiosk.  The kids found it a bit boring, and I suppose in truth, without the canoes or kayaks, there wasn't much to do.  There were no trails, though we could have gone down the railway a bit except there are signs posted saying it's private property and not to trespass.  We definitely want to return and start a canoe trip from here though, and maybe Chris and I will come back for a few days of quiet, relaxing camping.

Trip Log: Algonquin Provincial Park: Mew Lake, April 16-17, 2017

Easter is one of those holidays where it can be tough to get time off work, but it's also an ideal time for us to go camping because the kids get four days off from school.  Originally, I had hoped to take the whole weekend off...then it was how to manage two nights, and by the time we ended up going, we could only get one night off of work.  Sucks, but at least one night is better than not camping at all.

So, since Chris and I had to work Friday and Saturday, the kids ended up going to my parents house.  The plan was that Mum and Dad would drive them up Sunday and meet us at our site, we'd have easter dinner, and then the kids would stay and Mum and Dad would drive home.

Pine Martin - Mew Lake Campground

Since we were only going for one night, we got packed and ready to go in good time.  I think we left the house by 9:25.  We were chased down our street by a big male turkey, one of the flock (is a group of turkey's a flock?) that spent the whole winter in our little neighbourhood.  Of the five that were here, there's only the one male and one female now.  The male spent the whole winter chasing cars up and down our street.

It rained on and off the whole drive up to Algonquin, but it wasn't until we got to the West Gate that it began to get heavy.  I got out of the car to get our permit and was told they'd opened the Mew Lake gate house for the weekend so we were to get our permit there.  Mum and Dad were already there, parked at the start of  the trail by the garbage area waiting for us.  They let us know our site was empty...but it was a huge pond.  While Chris set up the inside of the  trailer for six people to sit, I walked to the bathrooms and to find the others since texts weren't getting through.  When I showed up at the parking area, they were gone, so I ran back to the comfort station, then back to the site.

The first thing the kids tell me is that they don't want to stay.  I thought they were joking. But it was chilly and wet and we couldn't actually find a place to put the trailer that didn't mean stepping out into 2 inches of water, so even though they had boots, they weren't keen on staying.  Mum and Dad weren't big on it either. As we discussed it, I was standing in the rain, getting wetter and wetter, and they all sat in the warm, dry cab of my Dad's truck.  Needless to say I gave in rather than stand there for too long.

As I was talking to them, Chris was trying to reposition the trailer onto a bit of higher ground.  He managed to succeed, sort of, and then when he went to unhook the trailer from the car, the key for the lock that he uses on the hitch snapped off, leaving us with no way to disconnect the trailer from the car.  This left us essentially stuck at the campground unless we wanted to haul the Boler with us, which we didn't.  It wasn't a big deal.  We had planned to run to Whitney and grab a few last minute things for dinner, but since it would be just Chris and I, we didn't really need extra food.  We'd have to make a run there on our way out to gas up but that was a problem for the following day.

flooded section of trail between the bridge and the rail trail

Since we were already soaked, and Biscuit was driving us nuts being cooped up in the trailer, we decided to just go for a walk.  We had our sneakers on still, and there was a good foot or two of snow on the ground in spots.  After snapping a few shots of a pine martin near the garbage area, we headed off down the trail.  The plan was to head across the air field, then cross the river at the bridge, head to the right down the railway tracks and come back via the backpacking trail and track and tower trail.

When we got to the bridge, we saw how high the water was compared to when we had paddled through in August.  We decided to explore further down the rail trail so turned to the left and continued to where the trail runs very close to the shore of Lake of Two Rivers.  Mostly this was to see how thick the ice still was, and it looked pretty solid.  We turned around and continued on to where the Highland Backpacking trail crosses, and turned down it to loop back to Mew Lake.  The solid part of the trail was only about six inches wide.  Anything on either side of that was soft and meant you would sink about 2 feet down into a few inches of icy slush. We didn't make it very far before Biscuit tugged Chris to the side and he went through the soft stuff.  Not long after that and we came to a part of the trail where the river had flooded up over, blocking our way, so we turned around and headed back to the airfield.

Now cold and hungry, we got back to camp and changed into dry socks, pants and warm boots, then Chris set about rigging up a bit of a shelter for the dutch oven.  Our Easter dinner plan had been to make beans and biscuits.  The meal usually feeds 6 with leftovers, so I had to cut back a bit in order to not have a huge pile of food go to waste.  It was yummy and very filling.

Beans and Biscuits - Yum!

Cleaning the dutch oven proved a little challenging as usual, especially since it kept drizzling on and off and I was concerned with the outside of the pot getting wet then rusting.

After dinner, we walked around the campground a bit, then headed back to camp for an early night.  We were both tired after several days of long hours at work, and our earlier hike.  Walking in snow that is solid one minute then collapses under you the next takes a lot out of a person!

Biscuit snuggled himself in between us and we had a great night's sleep.  The fireplace worked very well when it didn't have to try and combat temperatures in the -20s.

Flooded approach to the bridge over Madawaska

The next morning, we made bagels with the toaster oven like we did on our last trip.  This time we didn't have to thaw them first, which was nice.  Since we were in no real rush to get home, we decided to go back out again for another hike, this time going our usual way - head out past the garbage area and turn right onto the track and tower off shoot, then left onto the backpacking trail to the bridge.  The trail was much harder going than it had been a few weeks previous.  A lot of melting had taken place since our last trip and like the day before, we sank through several deceptively solid parts of the trail.  There were a few places where we had to build temporary bridges with downed branches because the whole trail had a creek running through it.

As we got closer to where the two trails cross, I saw that the water level was very high, as high as it had been a few years back when there was so much flooding.  And sure enough, when we turned onto the backpacking trail, we were stopped several meters from the bridge by rushing water.  The two sections of wooden platform were washed into their current position a few years ago, and were never put back into their proper place.  The water there was at least a couple feet deep.

Disappointed we turned around and headed back to camp.  With nothing left to do, we packed up and headed back to my parents house to get the kids and head home.  It was a little disappointing, having the kids back out on the trip, but sometimes it's nice to have some camping time to ourselves as well.

Trip Log: Algonquin Provincial Park, Mew Lake, March 13-14, 2017

I hate admitting to have given up.  For a while, I considered writing this trip log as if we had stayed the second night, but I hate the thought of lying even more, so here it is, we wussed out and headed home a day early.

There were multiple reasons for this, but I'll get to that later in the trip report.

We arrived at the West Gate at 4:30pm, half an hour after they closed.  I knew they were closed but I suggested to Chris we stop in and see if there were further instructions posted for people with reservations arriving late.  As I was reading the sheet on getting self serve permits for people without reservations, the woman working the gate house saw me and let me in.  Bonus!  This meant we wouldn't have to drive back out and pick up the permit in the morning.

Not long after we arrived at Mew Lake.  I had promised everyone I hadn't picked a site that was right at the bathrooms, but when we got there, the site we had, was pretty much right across the road from the comfort station.  I swear, when I was booking it, it looked further down the road...  Anyway, the kids hid in the car while we got the electric fire place going, but everything in the Boler was cold because we had been getting temps of -21 for the past several days at home.  The cushions that make up the larger bed actually had ice under them and were frozen to the fibreglass.  It looks like this spring we are going to have to do a lot of work on the little camper, because water is clearly getting in somewhere.

We have two pieces of an old 2 inch thick foam mattress topper that Chris and I put on our bed to make it a bit bigger since I tend to fall off the outside edge a lot, especially with the dog.  Normally we can roll them up and stuff them in the compartments under our bed, but they were so frozen stiff (and a bit wet in a few spots) that they wouldn't roll, so we ended up having to store them in the car while the bed was set up as a table.  While we were setting up though, Chris put them on the roof of the car.  Yeah, we are the super classy campers...

Also the super unprepared campers.  I realized the morning we left that I must have donated my old winter coat or tossed it.  This left me with a not-warm-at-all pea coat, or a bush jacket.  I chose the bush jacket because it at least could close up higher on my chest.  So yeah, there we are surrounded by people in nice, warm parkas and I'm wearing a bush jacket I got on sale at Giant Tiger.

We got the kids into the trailer, but the fireplace was really struggling to warm the place up.  It was -21 according to the weather report posted in the laundry room.  Thankfully there was no wind, as the trailer is less than perfect when it comes to drafts.

While everyone else sat in the relative warmth of the Boler, I braved the cold and made dinner, sloppy joes and instant mashed potatoes.  Normally, we would butter and toast buns in a frying pan, but with only two burners, and it being so cold, I knew I couldn't toast enough for us all in one batch.  Since we wanted to all eat together, we settled on mashed potato.  The kids were't impressed with them though.  Also, we could have made the sloppy joes with toast.  Chris had the idea of bringing our toaster oven from home.   We figured if it worked out well enough, we'd buy a little one that was just for in the Boler.

After dinner was cleaned up, we started to play a game of Sequence when Squatch started to get a stomach ache.  I walked over to the comfort station with him and waited for him to finish.  We picked up the game again, and a few minutes later, again, he got bad stomach cramps.  So again, I walked him over and this time waited in the laundry room.  I'd be able to hear if anyone flushed and could pop my head out to see if it was him, but otherwise I'd stay warm.  While I was there, I saw the Environment Canada weather report and saw that the next day was supposed to be just as cold but very windy on top of it.  My stomach dropped.  When I'd booked the trip, a few days before we'd left, I had checked the weather.  At home. we'd been getting a lot of days of -20 and strong winds, but the reports for Algonquin looked a lot nicer, closer to -11 and sunny.  I had a feeling nobody was going to be happy the next day.

After the second bathroom trip, we got back and the game was packed up and Chris was setting up the beds.  This is such a chore, and involves a lot of shuffling, frustration and complaining.  Eventually we all got into bed and everyone read for a little bit, then we turned off the lights and called it a night.

Squatch woke up around 4 and got out of bed to check the time, he also told me he was very cold.  I realized he had a t-shirt on and no socks, even though I'd given him a nice dry wool pair after he was in bed so he wouldn't get them wet walking on the Boler floor.  After a brief argument, I got him to put his sweater into his sleeping bag for a minute, then to put it on.  The next morning both kids had said they were cold through the night.  This was the point I started thinking maybe we should head home early.  I knew if they'd been cold when there had been no wind, they'd be miserable with cold wind whipping in through the gaps around the door.

We made our bagels, which had frozen solid over night.  We had to run them through a toast cycle to thaw them enough to cut in half, then toast them  We also had a box of corn pops that we just handed around.  I made coffee and hot chocolate, but the wind was picking up a bit and kept blowing the stove out.  I admit to being a little depressed at this point.  It seemed like nobody was having fun, and we were likely to end up sitting in the trailer all day reading or playing on phones/ipads.  Luckily, Chris got everyone dressed and insisted we do a short hike to the water fall.

There were protests.  Neither of the kids wanted to go outside at all, but we talked them into it, and headed out to the start of the trail.  When we got to the garbage area, I saw some movement and we realized there was a pine martin in the tree.  We spent quite a while taking pictures and then another one showed up.  They chased each other around for a while then scampered off out of sight.

We made our way to the bridge along the backpacking trail, and stopped to photograph a gray jay who was curious about us.  Normally we just head back, but we decided to continue on along the backpacking trail for a little ways.  The kids started to complain a bit, but kept going.  After a few minutes, we came to the rail trail.  I tried to check the map on my phone and the battery, which had been full when we left, died almost instantly.  We ventured to the right for a little ways, then came back and went to the left.  When we went to the left, we came across a sign for the Bike trail with a map, and I realized we were close to the bridge that you would cross if you were taking the Old Railway Bike Trail.  We opted to cross there and head back over the airfield and back to camp.

We decided to head to the visitor centre for lunch, mostly just as a way to warm up.  On the way back to Mew Lake we stopped at the Spruce Bog Board Walk Trail to try feeding the birds.  Squatch wouldn't keep his gloves on, because no birds would land on them, and I was starting to get worried and irritated.  My hands were frozen with gloves on, so I knew his had to be even worse.  We weren't getting many birds anyway, so we headed back to the car and tried a bit more there.

I was trying to get everyone to get back into the car when I looked towards the trail and saw a fox just sitting there watching us.  My first thought was that it was kind of odd behaviour, so I ushered Squatch back down from the snowbank he was standing on.  The fox calmly walked around the car, came within 5 or 6 feet of us and began eating all the birdseed previous visitors had tossed around.

A little cold, but in good spirits, we headed back to the Boler and turned on the fireplace again.  Crackers were handed around and I headed back outside into the cold to make dinner.  I had planned to make a sort of tex mex thing over rice.  Basically it was canned beans, corn, green chilies and tomatoes thrown together into a pot.  Unfortunately, all the canned items were frozen solid.  I was able to scrape most of them out, but that meant that the corn and beans weren't drained and so I had to boil them longer so the meal wasn't all soupy.  With the temps now dropping, and the wind whipping through camp and blowing out the stove every little while, it seemed to take forever to get the food hot, let alone have it boil down a bit.

Eventually, we were all cozy in the trailer eating and I brought up the possibility of going home.  It was around this time that the stove stopped working.  Chris went out and checked the plug and it turned out the switch on the electrical hub had kicked off.  Not a big deal but in the middle of the night?

Nobody argued against going home, but my big concern was that Chris would make fun of me the whole time.  It was about 7pm and already we were cold, even with the fireplace pumping out heat.  So we called it, did a quick lock down of the stray gear, and got back into the car to head home.

All in all, I don't regret going, nor do I regret leaving early.  The trip proved to be a valuable learning experience for us.  We now know that the Boler needs a bit of work done before we can comfortably camp in very cold weather.   But we saw lots of wildlife, and had a good time.  We were able to leave on a good note rather than in the morning when everyone had spent a miserable night, which would have left us all with a negative impression of the trip.  Now, when we look back we will remember that, yes it was really cold, but we saw two pine martin, a fox and had a great time.

Trip Log: Oastler Lake Provincial Park - August 22-24, 2016

Sunday night before our vacation started, we still hadn't decided what we were going to do.  I wanted to do a longer back country trip, the kids suddenly decided they were afraid of canoe camping, and wanted to just relax in the Boler, and Chris seemed to have no opinion on the subject at all.

After scoping out all the possible trips we could do in Algonquin where we could stay on an access lake, or only one portage in, we quickly realized there weren't a lot of sites available that met those requirements, or the portage would be a long one, at which the kids again put their foot down.

Finally we decided to do two nights of Boler camping, then leave the kids to visit my parents, and Chris and I would do two nights of canoe camping...again, not having an actual destination in mind.  At about midnight, we decided to check out Oastler Lake Provincial Park, since there was one waterfront site available and it wasn't ridiculously far to drive (read previous trip logs to hear more about our misadventures towing the Boler over longer distances.)

Packing for two trips, with radically different needs was a bit of a struggle but we were out of the driveway by about 1:30pm, surprisingly in good spirits.  This whole last minute packing for a trip always makes me crabby but I managed to stay up beat this time.  We weren't in a big rush, we had a site booked, and we would be exploring a new park.  All good things.

There was a few minutes of concern as we went through Bala.  There is a place where you turn left and immediately go over some railroad tracks.  In the gap between the tracks, the road has sunk and the trailer hitch bottomed out and sounded like it might have been damaged.  Chris got out and checked it out and all was fine.  This, coincidently, is where the whole hitch ripped off the frame on one side on our aborted trip to Grundy Lake last year.  Once we made it past the little park by the police station, where we'd stopped before and realized the state of the hitch, we all relaxed a little bit.

table with a view: Oastler Lake Provincial Park

We arrived at the site just before dinner time.  Our first impression was that the site was very small and not very private, but what it lacked in those areas, it made up for in scenic views.  We parked the Boler just at the edge of a meter high cliff where a picnic table was perched.  Down the hill was our own little slice of waterfront, where we could launch a canoe or go swimming.  Unfortunately, the whole time we were there it was extremely windy, so we didn't even take the canoe off the roof of the car.

Dinner that night was veggie burgers and salad, which we ate on our table with a view.  The sunset wasn't spectacular, but the stars were bright and many.  After the kids went to bed, Chris and I went down and just enjoyed the peace...I saw a shooting star.

Unfortunately, peace at Oastler Lake is a fleeting thing.  While the campground was surprisingly quiet given how close together the sites were, the trains going by all day and night was anything but tranquil.  For Chris, who had lived for a few months in a town where trains went by that frequently, it was extremely annoying.  For me and the kids, it was kind of a novelty...that made it hard to get a good night's sleep.

Oastler lake has no hiking trails, and with the wind up, we didn't feel like canoeing so we pretty much just relaxed all the next day.  Chris took a nap, played ukulele, and the kids read and drew.  I woke up that morning with a doozy of a cold, so I was quite content to lay in a chair with my feet up and just do nothing.  That worked for a while, but we somehow are down to only two chairs...and guess who also really likes to sit in them and relax...

Can you tell who has pull in this family?

We did walk around the campground and checked out the park.  I took Squatch to the beach, then shortly after we got back, Chris took both kids down for a swim. We saw a water snake sunning itself on the rocks at our site.  I tried to take a picture but it got into the water and then kept poking it's head up at us before swimming away.  It was just one of those trips where you don't do anything...and it was awesome.  In fact, we were so lazy, we ended up driving into Parry Sound for dinner rather than cook.  Okay, part of the reason for this was that in our frenzy of packing, I didn't realized I'd brought pasta for both lunch and dinner.

water snake just off shore at our site

 We actually contemplated staying for another day, but in the end, Chris and I decided we did want to go canoe camping, and so the next morning, after coffee and bagels, we packed up and headed to my parents house to drop off the kids and the Boler.

Our feelings on this trip were a bit mixed.  The park itself was nice, though the sites were small and lacking in privacy.  The trains kept everyone from sleeping, but then again, so did Biscuit.  The comfort stations were great, and there really isn't anywhere that you aren't close to them (maybe the river side lots?)

Some of the river side lots were better for privacy, but calling the little creek a river was stretching it a bit.

I think, over all it was a good trip.  And I think I could convince Chris to go back again, provided he got some ear plugs.

Trip Log: Balsam Lake Provincial Park: June 29-30, 2015

Before I start I want to apologize.  I didn't even take the camera out of the car for this trip.  We were only there for a night, and I spent most of my time cooking, doing dishes, or tidying up.  I never really left the campsite except to walk the dog or go to the comfort station…except for once to walk to the Park Store to get burger buns.

So, before we left, I'd checked online and there were a lot of sites available so I didn't bother to book one.  I made a short list of potential sites and figured we'd be fine.  When we arrived, the girl who first started to help me get my permit asked what equipment we had, I answered a 13 foot trailer.  Then she showed me 3 sites that were all that were available.  I started to panic, but took the map out to the car to ask Chris and the kids what they wanted to do.  We chose site 18, in the Lakeshore North section.  It wasn't a bad site.  Not much for privacy but a decent size and it was a corner lot so we figured if there were lots of people there, at least we could park the Boler and car so that we'd block the view of the two sites next to us.

I'm not sure if the girl was mistaken about the availability or what, but in the entire section of 28 sites, less than half of them were in use, and almost all the empty ones could have accommodated a big trailer, let alone our little 13" one.

Not that it mattered.  Our site was fine and we only had 2 other sites anywhere near us so it was quiet except for people walking by to the path heading to the beach.  And for some reason when we got our permit they gave us a free little can of baked beans…not sure what that was about.

When we arrived, we quickly got set up and then made some burgers.  Bubbie and I had to walk to the Park Store to get buns and grabbed some chips and a Mr. Noodles cup for her.  We'd brought an organic, brown rice and millet ramen packet but she was worried she wouldn't like it.  The weather was great, not sickeningly hot and with a bit of a breeze.  Chris tried to take Biscuit to the lake to cool him off because he gets so worked up in the car, he was panting like crazy.  He got within a foot of the shore then dragged Chris back to camp.

After lunch, Chris took the kids swimming and I took Biscuit into the trailer so he wouldn't bark when Chris walked away.  I read for a bit, then came out when it got too hot to be inside. A few minutes after that, Chris and the kids came back.

Dinner was spaghetti with italian seasoned bannock.  I cooked while everyone else goofed off with the ukulele's or rode around on their bikes.  We ate inside, then while I cleaned up, Chris and the kids played Viking Chess.  After a few minutes, a father and daughter biked up and the man said his daughter had begged him to come check out this cool game and to ask about it.  This was the first time on the short trip people asked us about Viking Chess.  One of our camp neighbours came over and asked, and even played a few rounds with Chris, then a little while later, some people walking by asked about it.  We've played it many times while camping and never had anyone say a word.

After dinner, the kids biked to the Park Store to get some treats.  They had these peanut butter cups with toppings, like chocolate chip cookie, oreo and M&m's.  They were a bit expensive, $3.59 for a pack of three, but the kids thought they were cool.

Once all the dishes were clean and put away, I took Biscuit for a walk.  He'd had some left over spaghetti and seemed a little desperate to walk around.  When we got back, Squatch was using Chris's new hatchet to make kindling from the bag of firewood.  I nearly had a heart attack.

A miracle happened.  The wood was actually dry!  I almost had another heart attack!  We got a good fire going and then Chris and Squatch played catch until it got too dark to see properly.

It was a comfortable night for sleeping.  Not too hot, and just a bit of cool breeze blowing in so we weren't in and out of the sleeping bag all night.  Biscuit made it uncomfortable though.  Every time one of us moved, he'd climb up our backs and bunt us with his nose or lick a bit of exposed skin. Nothing like getting a wet kiss on the back or on the bottom of your foot to wake you up.

I was up early, thanks to Biscuit.  He was still regretting eating the spaghetti I think because he ran through several doggy-do sacks on our little walk around.  I managed to get him back to bed for a while but a while later he was bugging to go back out.  Figuring it was late enough to get up I started the coffee and not long after, Chris and Squatch got up.  Bubbie slept in the latest this time.  Usually it's Chris.  Breakfast was fried potatoes, pancakes and some oatmeal for Squatch.

By the time we finished and had another game of Viking Chess, it was starting to cloud up and get dark.  We knew it was supposed to storm so Chris took the kids back to the beach while I cleaned up and started packing.  When they got back it only took a few minutes to finish up and we were on the road.  It started sprinkling five minutes after we left, but never stormed.

All in all, it was a short but fun trip.  I don't know that I'll rely on sites being available again.  While our site was pretty good, it was on the opposite corner of the section from the comfort stations.  There were vault toilets nearby but they were tucked into the bushes and I was leery of going there in the middle of the night by myself.