A peek at the REAL Thumbster

Squirrel Island

Mitch, (my son), and I had a great time camping and canoeing, but as always, things didn't go exactly as planned. (I think that's part of the appeal and charm of roughing it.) Mitchell wanted to sleep out under the stars, (which he's done before), but I figured that might be a little too much roughing it for me so I packed one of our tents. As always we found we had forgotten stuff...but not until we went to unpack it. Like the tent poles for instance. (We made do with a couple of branches, lots of guide ropes and tent pegs. It was just as sturdy in the end) Mitch had forgotten his new sleeping bag. (That REALLY sucked.) I had forgotten the matches (I had reminded myself to bring), back in the car. I also forgot to bring spoons (but not the spoon related food, which sucked too). I also should have packed way more to drink. There's not much shade when you're canoeing out in the middle of a massive lake for 14 hours on a 22+ kilometer paddle. I forgot to put sun screen lotion on, (I left it in the campsite), so I've got a bad burn today.

We were very fortunate to get the campsite we wanted...a secluded site on a small island miles from anybody. We've canoed this huge lake with it's hundred of islands and rivers, bays, and other connected lakes many times before but even with our map we had a time finding our particular island. (We had never stayed at that site before) It's often difficult to tell what's an island and what's mainland. (Very few islands are circular in shape. They're often huge, with numerous bays and points, that stretch as far as the eye can see.) I was surprised to see we shared our island with at least one hungry squirrel. (I take it he got on the island during winter over the ice. We called our island "Squirrel Island" in honour of him) It was also interesting seeing all the names carved into the picnic tables...names from around the world. (One even from New Zealand) Somebody named Hannah had carved her name only the day before we got there.

To make a long story short, we saw plenty of wildlife (we always do), including an osprey, (a fish eagle) that almost flew over our heads carrying a fish in it's talons, turtles, herons, heard and seen plenty of loons, (we decided to go canoeing for a couple of hours after dark which was a first for us) and counted ourselves lucky we didn't arrive the very next day as most of the park employees had just gone on strike. They let us leave without a hassle but they were asking anyone entering the national park to turn back.

We're thinking of going back again next week, but this time there will be four of us. If the strike is still on we'll probably head over to a privately owned park on the seacoast known for it's sea caves, high cliffs and grottos. That's another favourite place of ours. Or maybe we'll go whale watching again...that's not too far from where we live. We'll see.

I must scoot now. (The Olympics are on don'tchya know. I love the Olympics)

Take care.

Gary


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