Algonquin Park Canoe Camping

 I live vicariously. Our Ottawa kids were canoe camping in Algonquin Park on Sunday. They rented a canoe, and had it dropped off at their launching point. Then they canoed along the lake, portaged, canoodled down another lake and found their camp site. 

You can buy fabulous maps: Maps by jeff.com  Caitlin tells me they are wonderful. All the things NOT on regular maps: hiking trails, warnings of poison ivy, locations of easy, medium and hard hikes, etc. 

Loaded up, and on their way! 

Isn't it beautiful?! You can see the kayaker down in the water.

"A quick stop at Barron Canyon Lookout trail before we get to the canoe launch site."

JL took a video:

They paddled and portaged, and made it to the camp site. Next they had to create their camp.

The living room!

Fire pit and cooking station

Hammock tents for Jo and Aster

A panoramic of the whole camp site:

This is the path from the camp up to the thunder box.

This is the thunder box! Caitlin saw a bear amble by it, but it was a good bear, didn't smell any food, and off it went. Caitlin wrote that she thought the wind and rainstorm kept it home.

Morning coffee in the kitchen! The blue barrel holds their food and toiletries that the critters like.

They forecast a storm Tuesday/Wednesday. Algonquin Park is near Huntsville, just in case you aren't familiar. It is an iconic park. Natural, and wild, with no cell phone coverage! Caitlin told me, just before they left, that she was looking forward to turning off electronics. It was cold overnight, colder than anticipated. 

 

After packing up Wednesday, canoodling and portaging back to the car (2 1/2 hour adventure), they had fast food in Renfrew and arrived home in the dark. Showers all around and then to bed.

Summer playtime

We're both still managing cold symptoms. Mine is in my sinuses, Joe cannot hear, even with his hearing aids. Nothing to do but treat symptoms, and try to relax. 🎾 Tennis didn't help. Our Canadians aren't achieving up to their potential! 

Our Ottawa kids are canoe camping in Algonquin Park. They plan on swimming, canoodling, visiting a couple of lakes, and having a grand time. Tuesday I was watching the weather. A storm rolled in, a north/south system, moving east. 

The kids launched at Achray Campground. We are in Lanark County. The clouds rolled in during the afternoon. 

There was some lightning, but not a great deal. This is a good thing.

Sunday, they grabbed their canoe and then headed on south to a portage, and then east along another lake. And another portage. They are really good at it, freeze drying foods, planning the menu, fitting food into the bear resistant container. They knew the rain would come. I'm sure they put tarps over their cooking area. 

There is another storm on the way today. I hope the kids aren't soaked. They are experienced campers, however. 

Their intended route!
Camping on St. Andrews Lake

Muskoka

I was looking back at summer, beach time photos. This is Isabelle, now known as Aster, in Muskoka. She is 14 now. 😜😝😅  

Jo and I liked to canoodle. Jo is 16 years old, now!

This is me, back in the day when I had perms! 

My parents bought this canoe for me when I was 15! We left it for the new owners when we moved here to Perth. I loved that canoe. It never tipped. Nice wide gunnel.

Caitlin, with Aster in the snugly, Jo on the dock. 

When the kids were here for Gramma Camp, before I sold my Lanark County canoe, we'd go out on the nearby lake. My old back precludes it now. 

Enough reminiscing... I am enjoying our backyard and the back deck. This is a panoramic photo, taken with my phone. I'm getting better at it! The clouds rolled in.

I heard the Eastern Wood Pewee! 

The quilted bag holds all my equipment. This was a lovely 60th birthday gift from JEAN. Such a kind person.  I've been sketching on the back deck, finally relaxed enough to do so. 

 

I was playing around with this drawing. I found an old How-To Draw book we used during Gramma Camps. It had stickers that worked really well! 

That was some rain!

We had a dump of rain on Monday. It just kept falling and falling. We had a total of 28 mm. 

The eavestrough overflowed, so I contacted our people again. The video shows it.

 

The goldfish pond has two blooms, which I noticed standing in the rain inspecting the eaves.

I went out back to check on the bench swing. A Great Blue Heron flew over! Honest! I've seen them before.

After my request, I had a couple of suggestions for the swing's roof. Divers&Sundry suggested Scotchgard. How brilliant! Sending my personal assistant in, he brought me two cans. I used up the first, and some of the second. You can see where the water collected on the topper where it bulges. I think this might be the way to go. It just needs tweaking.

The pillows were soaked. I just have to put more on top of where the bar goes over. That's where it seemed to accumulate. OK, plan B.

Clover was in the yard. She decided to help herself to the sumac leaves. 

doe & sumac from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

One more video: Cinnamon and I about to embark on our walkies. You can hear the sparrow chipping at us. Also, the cardinal yipping. Finally, the red squirrel gave us a look. July 15th.

forest walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Our Intrepid Travelers

While Jesse's sister is in Crete, Jess posted photos for us from Vancouver! It is fun to look back at their visit this month. Just scroll on if this is too many photos, but I wanted JB to see them as well! Here they are visiting.

Jesse took his Vancouver girls camping on the weekend! I'll have to be honest, I have never camped. Jesse was employed one year leading canoe camping trips in Algonquin Park. He was a great Boy Scout, too. He loves the outdoors.

Meanwhile in Crete

Driving from Heraklion to Chania, they settled into their hotel.

They had a beach day at Chania. Sunset gave an opportunity for photos! The first beach photo was by Isabelle.

Here they are in the water, Caitlin's photo. 

Today is a beach day. They love swimming! We'll take them swimming when they visit in August.