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Daily
Trip Log Reports
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July
27
My curiosity takes me up the ravine at the back of the campsite. It seems it was created by flooding from a spring fed stream. At this time of year, it's so dry that the water doesn't make it to the beach, but ends well back in the dunes. After my curiosity is satisfied, I realize the fresh air and exercise have made me tired. I go back to the tent and not long after my head hits the pillow I fall back to sleep again. |
When we come back from our walk, everybody decides to go for a swim. The water is cool and refreshing. The kids continue to romp in the water and the sand while Deb and I prepare supper. When everybody gets up and has had breakfast, we decide to go for a long walk to explore the dunes. After we prepare our drinks and lunch, gather the camera gear etc., we head up the ravine towards the dunes, following the same path I took earlier in the morning. It was somewhat unnerving to note that a black bear came down the bank of the ravine after my walk and when it encountered my trail, his footprints follow in mine for a good distance. When I turned in a direction the bear didn't want to go, his path veers off from mine. Obviously, the bear isn't concerned about the smell of humans. Tonight will be pizza baked on our reflector oven. This meal is one of our camp favourites. Anyone interested in having one of their own reflector ovens can visit our web site www.blazingpaddles.on.ca where we've posted the plans for making them. After supper, there's a beautiful sunset that seems to last forever. We walk back to the old forest and get some pleasing shots. The walk back along the beach to our campsite is also spectacular. The dunes are an interesting place to explore. Even though they all seem similar at first glance, there are significant differences in them. This dune has different forest structures and photographs quite differently. There's an interesting area of old tree stumps that we'll come back to in the evening light. |
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July 28 |
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We rise early and break camp, wanting to cover some miles today. The wind is calm and the first part of our paddle is smooth an easy. As we round Beaver point into Cantara Bay, the wind picks up and we are now paddling into headwinds and waves. We make slow progress in this section and pull out of the water near the bottom of the bay to let the wind die and grab our lunch. We spend a few leisurely hours here, relaxing eating and exploring. The plant life along the shore is quite unique and we even find a few orchids. Once we're back on the water, we make good time as the wind is now behind us having shifted direction over lunch. On one of the bays, we see some eagles in the trees. A little farther along, we pull off the water looking for a campsite and find what's keeping the eagles in the area. The carcass of a huge lake trout has washed up on shore and judging by the tracks in the sand, the eagles come here often to dine. Brendan is amazed at the size of the fish and says, "I want to catch one of those".
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We set up camp on a point of land with a nice forest behind us and some very nice dunes around the corner in a bay. There's another beautiful sunset to lull us asleep. About 4:00 a.m., I snap wide awake, realizing that there's lightning coming our way. I frantically scurry to make our gear and tents more secure. We normally batten things down fairly well, but didn't take as much time doing that as normal because it seemed so idyllic. The loose sand doesn't hold tent pegs very well and I do the best I can to make them more secure before the storm arrives. When it reaches us, I'm forced to spend about an hour with my back against one wall of the tent, trying to keep it from being blown down. Fortunately the storm doesn't last long. Once it dies down a bit, I don my rain gear and go outside to replace the pegs that came loose. Once everything is ship shape again, I head back into the tent to catch up on the sleep I missed.
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