Camping Adventures
It was a very nice four days out at Massasauga Provencial Park, the first time any of us had been there actually, so it was doubly nice that everything worked out well and that the park itself is quite lovely, even with the naked guy across the way. (Yes, it was a Friends moment as it seemed the fellow at the site across the channel from us was not wearing any clothing the entire time we saw him, which, thankfully, was only the one day).
The drive up on Friday was fun, even if we did get lost for a bit in the labyrinth of Barrie in search of lunch, but we got out safely and then got lost again trying to find the turn off for the park because we were working from an outdated map, but eventually, and with the purchase of a new map, we got there, picked up our canoes, loaded them up and headed out.
And proceeded to get lost again paddling to our site. My dyslexia struck so that, the entire time, I thought we were looking for site 313 rather than the real site, 331. I found site 313 readily enough and am glad that at least one of us could read a map and then guide us into site 331. But overall, the three hour paddle in was good, even for those of us who hadn't been in a canoe yet, and for those of us who aren't always used to steering one. But its kinda like riding a bike except in this case, you hit water instead of kissing concrete if you make a mistake.
The site was nice, lots of rock for lizarding moments, nice firepit, thunderbox suitably far from where the tents would go, and even a picanic table. Luxury!
We tarped up the place of course, in anticipation of the not so nice weather we were expecting on Saturday. And for once, the meteorologists had it right, and it did rain for a few hours on Sat. But we huddled happily under the tarps and had a merry time anyway. The other days were simply gorgeous with lots of sun and enjoyable (not too hot, not too cold temperatures). The bug situation was tolerable, although a few of us got attacked more than others. One of the evenings I was sitting between Graig and Nat and I don't think I got attacked once. *grin*
Being on Georgian Bay, I had worried that the water would be too cold to swim in, but it wasn't, and after the initial 'holy FUCK that's cold' exclamation, the water really was very enjoyable. Although, my midriff did get a little burnt after a few hours of lizarding on Sunday while drying off from a swim.
The paddle back fairly early on Monday morning was nice, the sun shone, there was little boat traffic, and no getting lost this time. My shoulders were quite sore yesterday, but today, after enjoying a long, hot shower and a nice soft bed again, I feel quite human. I do love the great outdoors, but I also love coming in from it again.
So thanks to my camping co-horts of this weekend, I had an extremely nice time and even better, we didn't lose anybody ;)
The drive up on Friday was fun, even if we did get lost for a bit in the labyrinth of Barrie in search of lunch, but we got out safely and then got lost again trying to find the turn off for the park because we were working from an outdated map, but eventually, and with the purchase of a new map, we got there, picked up our canoes, loaded them up and headed out.
And proceeded to get lost again paddling to our site. My dyslexia struck so that, the entire time, I thought we were looking for site 313 rather than the real site, 331. I found site 313 readily enough and am glad that at least one of us could read a map and then guide us into site 331. But overall, the three hour paddle in was good, even for those of us who hadn't been in a canoe yet, and for those of us who aren't always used to steering one. But its kinda like riding a bike except in this case, you hit water instead of kissing concrete if you make a mistake.
The site was nice, lots of rock for lizarding moments, nice firepit, thunderbox suitably far from where the tents would go, and even a picanic table. Luxury!
We tarped up the place of course, in anticipation of the not so nice weather we were expecting on Saturday. And for once, the meteorologists had it right, and it did rain for a few hours on Sat. But we huddled happily under the tarps and had a merry time anyway. The other days were simply gorgeous with lots of sun and enjoyable (not too hot, not too cold temperatures). The bug situation was tolerable, although a few of us got attacked more than others. One of the evenings I was sitting between Graig and Nat and I don't think I got attacked once. *grin*
Being on Georgian Bay, I had worried that the water would be too cold to swim in, but it wasn't, and after the initial 'holy FUCK that's cold' exclamation, the water really was very enjoyable. Although, my midriff did get a little burnt after a few hours of lizarding on Sunday while drying off from a swim.
The paddle back fairly early on Monday morning was nice, the sun shone, there was little boat traffic, and no getting lost this time. My shoulders were quite sore yesterday, but today, after enjoying a long, hot shower and a nice soft bed again, I feel quite human. I do love the great outdoors, but I also love coming in from it again.
So thanks to my camping co-horts of this weekend, I had an extremely nice time and even better, we didn't lose anybody ;)