Sink or swim - 3 days in Algonquin Park
Sink or swim was my option this morning at 10am, as we began packing up camp for the 3 canoe stages and 2 portages back to the canoe park and 'home' - well, the Chevrolet Malibu that was waiting patiently for the 5 of us at any rate - home was still 250km+ for the closest of us..
Swim - well thats what would have been needed to perform a canoe over canoe rescue in the lake. Or Sink - the relative serenity of cleaning from breakfast, rather than the morbid prospect of a losing battle against the wet stuff. If my bank holiday Monday morning had had to involve canoe rescue and trying to remember how i earned that 25m green swimming badge when i was 11 (remember those anyone, the oval things? - i think i cheated. But thats another matter!), then i dont think it would really have felt like a holiday. Besides, I did some pretty beefy weight lifting over the weekend, and felt like i had earned (= i was in desperate need of!) a bit of a rest....
In keeping with fellow bloggers, I think i shall just make some observations from 1 to x about the weekend. To introduce it however, there were 9 of us. Jeff (our guide), me, Szilvia, Lajos, Perrine and Alfonso from work, Quinn, from Kitchener/Waterloo, which is a couple of hours from Toronto, and Ana and Mark (from Columbia and the US, now living in Canada).
Comments and highlights from the trip:
1) Algonquin Park (please google it, you'll love it) really is in the middle of nowhere. And with an area of 7,725 square kilometres, it is probably larger than any city in the world. Draw a rectangle 80km by 90km. You'd still be 500 sq km short.
2) With geography like that, you wont need your mobile phone! So leave it at home. Canoes can be wet, and its just not worth the bother!
3) There are the most amazing numbers of stars in the sky. I remember the South West tip of Portugal. That was dark. But here, there isnt a light for 15km in any direction maybe. Pure dark. And no clouds. Its amazing just how large that world is out there beyond us...
4) The silence was awe inspiring. It took me a day to notice. Right now I can hear air conditioning, my keys typing (very slowly!), the computer whirring. Even in the countryside back home, you'll hear birds singing and grasshoppers doing, er, whatever they do.... (i live in Bham, what would i know?!!). Here, there is nothing. Absolutely nothing....
5) ...until darkness falls! But dont have nightmares. As long as all the food is up a tree and out of harms (=bears) way, you'll be fine!
6) Scousers get everywhere. Sorry, mr not anonymous, they do. In a parallel 9 that we met up with at various stages of the tour, there were 2 of them. Got me thinking though, i wonder just how many people from home are here, or in the States, or in Aus, or NZ or Africa or Thailand... and i wonder how many of them have truly explored the UK...
7) Using a saw to chop through a tree trunk makes you feel manly!
8) ... but my God it hurts the next morning.
9) As does carrying a canoe and backpack 435m through a forest trail between lakes, up and down some pretty uneven, rocky terrain...
10) and as does canoeing for anything up to 10 to 15km a day.
11) Which made me grateful that this was a holiday rather than my job. Combining the lifting with the rowing, as well as a 1 hour hike during the Saturday afternoon really is hard work... after the abuse my body got at Niagara, I was really pleased i pushed myself through it though. And the views and memories are priceless.
12) Cooking was just like being indoors. You see, the best outdoor equipment is so sophisticated, that you really can cook up anything you want.
13) So. Anyone for a camping practical joke? How about our dinner on Sat night. Spaghetti bolognese? Is there anyone else out there who cant eat that stuff without getting tomato sauce all over your face? Try eating it in the pitch black, or one handed with a torch in the other to help guide you. Either way, just wait til you see the colour of everyone's face the next morning!
14) Observation that is new to me. The maple leaf really is bright bright red. Amazing. Not sure what i was expecting, but... wow. I feel an educational blog coming along about why leaves turn colour in autumn (fall). I didnt know it until i looked it up... and i am here to educate. Something for next week maybe..
15) Sunrise. Now i am from the city. In the city of Toronto, as far as i am concerned, the sun rises at 720. Thats the moment when its right in my face and i cant drive without shades. For some reason, i decided i wanted to get up and see a sunrise, so i got up at 610am. The sky was light, but no red. At 645 the sky was lighter, with some red, and i was knackered. So I went back to bed! For anyone who didnt know, the sun takes longer than 35 minutes to rise. Poor Jeff must have felt he got lumbered with a right city freak on Saturday night.. "oh yeah, i'll get up, watch the sun rise and then go back to bed...." God i'm dense sometimes!
A fantastic weekend. 27 photos taken, and i will take the film in maybe tomorrow, and hopefully have something to put on the computer by the end of the week, so you can see i am still eating! I wish i was a better photo taker, but i will take the memories. The red of the early turning leaves. The clear blue water. The mist rising up over the lake at 6am and the sunset across the water on a clear night. Trees and lakes. Now that is a piece of real Canada.
You have to try this. Its like nowhere else on earth. But dont expect washrooms. This isnt a UK campsite, this is the wilderness. If you want to wash, you do it in the lake! Jeff didnt bother, which led one of our group to notice that he hadnt washed or changed clothes in 3 days... and he was off for another 5 day treck tonight.. We came to a consensus that, actually, western comfort probably meant that we washed ourselves and clothes more than we really needed to... as Lajos put it "3 days without washing and the same clothes.. thats wildlife." Not sure Jeff would appreciate the use of the word 'wild'! But it is wilderness life, and it has to be seen. Both to appreciate what we have got in the city... and to appreciate what we have got elsewhere too, and how valuable it is to protect it all....
Swim - well thats what would have been needed to perform a canoe over canoe rescue in the lake. Or Sink - the relative serenity of cleaning from breakfast, rather than the morbid prospect of a losing battle against the wet stuff. If my bank holiday Monday morning had had to involve canoe rescue and trying to remember how i earned that 25m green swimming badge when i was 11 (remember those anyone, the oval things? - i think i cheated. But thats another matter!), then i dont think it would really have felt like a holiday. Besides, I did some pretty beefy weight lifting over the weekend, and felt like i had earned (= i was in desperate need of!) a bit of a rest....
In keeping with fellow bloggers, I think i shall just make some observations from 1 to x about the weekend. To introduce it however, there were 9 of us. Jeff (our guide), me, Szilvia, Lajos, Perrine and Alfonso from work, Quinn, from Kitchener/Waterloo, which is a couple of hours from Toronto, and Ana and Mark (from Columbia and the US, now living in Canada).
Comments and highlights from the trip:
1) Algonquin Park (please google it, you'll love it) really is in the middle of nowhere. And with an area of 7,725 square kilometres, it is probably larger than any city in the world. Draw a rectangle 80km by 90km. You'd still be 500 sq km short.
2) With geography like that, you wont need your mobile phone! So leave it at home. Canoes can be wet, and its just not worth the bother!
3) There are the most amazing numbers of stars in the sky. I remember the South West tip of Portugal. That was dark. But here, there isnt a light for 15km in any direction maybe. Pure dark. And no clouds. Its amazing just how large that world is out there beyond us...
4) The silence was awe inspiring. It took me a day to notice. Right now I can hear air conditioning, my keys typing (very slowly!), the computer whirring. Even in the countryside back home, you'll hear birds singing and grasshoppers doing, er, whatever they do.... (i live in Bham, what would i know?!!). Here, there is nothing. Absolutely nothing....
5) ...until darkness falls! But dont have nightmares. As long as all the food is up a tree and out of harms (=bears) way, you'll be fine!
6) Scousers get everywhere. Sorry, mr not anonymous, they do. In a parallel 9 that we met up with at various stages of the tour, there were 2 of them. Got me thinking though, i wonder just how many people from home are here, or in the States, or in Aus, or NZ or Africa or Thailand... and i wonder how many of them have truly explored the UK...
7) Using a saw to chop through a tree trunk makes you feel manly!
8) ... but my God it hurts the next morning.
9) As does carrying a canoe and backpack 435m through a forest trail between lakes, up and down some pretty uneven, rocky terrain...
10) and as does canoeing for anything up to 10 to 15km a day.
11) Which made me grateful that this was a holiday rather than my job. Combining the lifting with the rowing, as well as a 1 hour hike during the Saturday afternoon really is hard work... after the abuse my body got at Niagara, I was really pleased i pushed myself through it though. And the views and memories are priceless.
12) Cooking was just like being indoors. You see, the best outdoor equipment is so sophisticated, that you really can cook up anything you want.
13) So. Anyone for a camping practical joke? How about our dinner on Sat night. Spaghetti bolognese? Is there anyone else out there who cant eat that stuff without getting tomato sauce all over your face? Try eating it in the pitch black, or one handed with a torch in the other to help guide you. Either way, just wait til you see the colour of everyone's face the next morning!
14) Observation that is new to me. The maple leaf really is bright bright red. Amazing. Not sure what i was expecting, but... wow. I feel an educational blog coming along about why leaves turn colour in autumn (fall). I didnt know it until i looked it up... and i am here to educate. Something for next week maybe..
15) Sunrise. Now i am from the city. In the city of Toronto, as far as i am concerned, the sun rises at 720. Thats the moment when its right in my face and i cant drive without shades. For some reason, i decided i wanted to get up and see a sunrise, so i got up at 610am. The sky was light, but no red. At 645 the sky was lighter, with some red, and i was knackered. So I went back to bed! For anyone who didnt know, the sun takes longer than 35 minutes to rise. Poor Jeff must have felt he got lumbered with a right city freak on Saturday night.. "oh yeah, i'll get up, watch the sun rise and then go back to bed...." God i'm dense sometimes!
A fantastic weekend. 27 photos taken, and i will take the film in maybe tomorrow, and hopefully have something to put on the computer by the end of the week, so you can see i am still eating! I wish i was a better photo taker, but i will take the memories. The red of the early turning leaves. The clear blue water. The mist rising up over the lake at 6am and the sunset across the water on a clear night. Trees and lakes. Now that is a piece of real Canada.
You have to try this. Its like nowhere else on earth. But dont expect washrooms. This isnt a UK campsite, this is the wilderness. If you want to wash, you do it in the lake! Jeff didnt bother, which led one of our group to notice that he hadnt washed or changed clothes in 3 days... and he was off for another 5 day treck tonight.. We came to a consensus that, actually, western comfort probably meant that we washed ourselves and clothes more than we really needed to... as Lajos put it "3 days without washing and the same clothes.. thats wildlife." Not sure Jeff would appreciate the use of the word 'wild'! But it is wilderness life, and it has to be seen. Both to appreciate what we have got in the city... and to appreciate what we have got elsewhere too, and how valuable it is to protect it all....
posted by CBC at 1:10 am
1 Comments:
CBC, take a look at this blog when you get a sec:
ditchmonkey.blogspot.com.
Forget living in a flat when you come back to Brum - try a bush in Cannon Hill Park instead! Piece of cake after your adventure here - don't think CH park has much in the way of white water rapides or bears.
Post a Comment
<< Home