Barking Space

Ready…Set…Launch!

I was up before everyone, which is what usually happens when we go camping. Something about being away from the city and all of the demands of every day life really allows me to sleep better, and I enjoy my solitude in the mornings.

Once everyone was up and had breakfast, we mobilized pretty quickly. I took care of the permits and everyone else set up their packs at the launch site.

The canoes arrived shortly after, and we loaded them up with our gear and headed down Smoke Lake. Eight of us departed, as Brad and Phung had to work and would be joining us in the evening…

Packing up for Smoke Lake*.
Click to enlarge…

Smoke Lake is relatively large lake to cross. From the launch point to the portage landing it’s almost a six kilometer paddle**. Someone had the idea of actually using one of our tarps to create a sail, to aid our crossing…

The sail of the century*.
Click to enlarge…

After about a half hour we finally got the sail up and ready to go. Of course, as luck would have it, the wind died, leaving us with a big blue banner.

The wind being nonexistent made life easy in terms of paddling, though. It’s a lot less effort when there is no head wind to worry about.

We reached the portage point and made quick work of the land crossing.

The mighty legs of Tien aided us in our quick portage*.
Click to enlarge…

The second leg of the journey involved traversing south for a little while and then curving back up north. Of course, once we rounded the corner to head north again the wind decided to spring up, uninvited. This made the last leg of our journey very tiring.

Not only was the wind in our faces, but all of the sites that we originally wanted were taken. Add the fact that we had to find two sites*** instead of just one (that were relatively close to each other), and you’ll have added a good chunk of time. Needless to say when all was said and done we earned our dinners and our delicious bevvies.

For more camping goodness, you can check out Dave’s Version.

* – Photo courtesy of Isha.
** – That’s almost 4 miles for you American Bloggers.
*** – Interior campsites have a maximum allowance of 9 people.

Filed under: Anecdotes, Friends, Special Events | 9 Comments »

My Kingdom for a Functioning Brain

Seriously.

So much stuff happens during these camping weekends that it’s hard to keep track. It’s also silly to try and recap the whole thing, so what I intend to do is just type out what I remember in order and see what happens (I will most likley add things as the days go on. I’ve also decided to type this up in segments)…

Tea Lake

Thursday held sunny skies and very slight winds, aiding our drive up to Algonquin Park. Be that as it may, it was a little unnerving to see sections of the landscape adjacent to the highway torn to shreds by what must have been the touch-down points of tornadoes.

Mrs. J and I arrived at Tea lake in the late afternoon, giving us plenty of time to set up our brand new tent* before Dave and Isha arrived. Obviously this was done to allow uninterrupted drinking time later on. Brad made a brief stop at our site to pick up some Tea we got for him, and promised to visit in the morning.

Mrs. J took a stroll as I took a nap in the tent under a now overcast sky. Well, I tried to nap, but apparently the family camped on the adjacent site didn’t seem to care about how much noise they made. The best thing about this family was the fact that when the dad was sleeping, the mom would yell for the kids to be quiet. Ironic**.

Some of what we enjoyed. Click to enlarge…

Dave and Isha showed up at the campsite in the early evening. It was then that the alcohol began to flow. Nothing insane, mind you. Just some beer and wine. And…well…more wine. Horribly, I had forgotten a corkscrew, and had to actually use one that belonged to the loudies next door, as they had a really good handle on their Alky.

Dennis, Lorraine and Farley showed up later on in the night, and we were all one cozy family.

It was a fine evening, filled with friends, alcohol, and more alcohol***. Best of all, I got to unload six pounds of beef jerky, as I have an undisclosed source who makes some fine product****.

What happened after we drank what
we enjoyed*****. Click to enlarge…

For more camping goodness, you can check out Dave’s Version.

* – Our tent is large enough to comfortably sleep four people or contain a small rave party.
** – This irony has been approved by Dave.
*** – We enjoyed some Alizé and Jägermeister before bed.
**** – I had ordered this stuff a while back, and it had been sitting in my fridge for a week. I wanted to eat some so badly, but I held back so that we could all eat together.
***** – Photo courtesy of Isha.

Filed under: Anecdotes, Friends, Special Events | 16 Comments »