It seems like Kawartha will see a lot of me this year. From our day paddling trip in May, to a solo trip a few weekends ago, to plans in the future to head out as a family, Kawartha is the place to be right now for me. With the opening of back country camping I knew I was heading out somewhere, I didn’t care where, but somewhere. I picked Kawartha as I am familiar with it, plus it is close and I knew exactly where I wanted to go. The boys did not join me on this trip as the bugs were expected to be bad and I seem to tolerate the bugs more than them.
Within the hour of Ontario Parks posting about the backcountry opening for camping I was on the Ontario Parks site and booking a weekend trip for myself. I stalled for a minute deciding between a couple of different sites and got my second pick as the sites were getting booked that fast. I’m very glad that I was able to get a site and my giddyness inside was hard to contain.
My excitement made packing difficult as I couldn’t seem to pack like I normally would do at the end of a season. I had extra bags as there was no space in my backpack. Plus, all my food was in a separate bag too!! How is this even possible? My best guesses for this was that I was planning on trying out a Kickstarter Hammock sleeping system I received a while ago, which meant I packed two sleeping pads. One for the tent and one for the hammock. In the end the hammock system is not what I expected. I didn’t sleep in it and not sure I will. I am so glad I brought my tent as back up.
Friday
This trip would take me into Wolf Lake where I would then portage into Crab Lake. The water was calm and I had a very easy paddle down Wolf Lake. Along the way I spotted a Heron in the woods and it flew right in front of me as I passed. A few minutes after there were actually two herons! They were so peaceful as they passed my boat. I reached the portage in less than an hour. I have never run a portage so fast as the mosquitoes were there to greet me in full force. WOW.
Once on the other side of the portage, now on Crab Lake, the wind was keeping the mosquitoes away and I paddled to my site. We have frequented this site so I knew exactly where I was headed and landed on the shored of my home for the weekend. I took my time setting up camp as I was in no rush this weekend. First was my tent which overlooks the lake and my swimming rock, then I set up my bug shelter with my hammock.
Probably my best decision for this trip was bringing a mosquito netting my mom had gifted to me years ago to place over the privy. Very little bugs bothering me while visiting this box.
Much of my afternoon was spend sitting in my hammock, listening to the birds sing, and going for a swim off my swimming rock. The breeze through the site was nice as it kept most of the bugs away. I did have to spend a lot of time in the bug shelter, but I was enjoying this time alone.
That evening I had a fire going to cook my supper. I was visited by many 5 lined skinks! I have never seen one in person and to have so many around my site and campfire was just amazing. It was fun to see them run around the rocks and my wood pile. As the sun set and the full moon rose, I spent the rest of the evening watching the flames flicker away in my campfire.
Saturday
The morning came quickly and my tent was swarming with mosquitoes. I decided to lay in bed and wait until the morning sun hit my tent before attempting to have a visit with these mosquitoes. It was a late start to my morning, but with no major plans for the day I didn’t mind. I slowly prepared my breakfast of bacon and eggs and sipped on my tea in my hammock.
My biggest goal for today was to hike Blueberry Hill and paddle the lake looking for any good pieces of firewood along the shoreline. If you visit Crab Lake, hiking to the top of Blueberry Hill is something to consider. It’s a very short hike up to the top of exposed rocks and the views are just amazing.
This is a huge exposed piece of granite and my geology brain was loving it. As I sat watching ants wander around my feet I was checking out the rock that contained a lot of pink granite as well as white quartz and even some feldspar. This rock is also covered in large amount of lichens. On the west facing slopes closer to the beginning of the trail the lichens are massive and just beautiful.
With my hike complete, I paddled along the shores of the lake looking for any fallen trees I could use for fire that night. I found some good logs to use and headed back to my site to process this wood and to gather a lot more from the forest behind the privy. It is really important to gather way more than what you think you will use, as it is very surprising just how much wood you can burn in one night.
Having now gathered and processed a bunch of firewood I headed back to my rock to go swimming some more. The water was pleasantly cool and felt really nice on my bug bites that I did acquire from gathering the wood.
It’s funny now fast the time actually passed and it was getting late and I was hungry. I only ate some snacks for lunch due to my late breakfast so my tummy was getting grumbly. For supper I cooked up some bannock on the fire and finished off one of my last few remaining OTG Meals, which was Chicken and Dumplings.
After my awesome meal I sat by the fire enjoying a drink and watched the sun set on the rocks across from my site. These views never get boring. The moon was just brilliant again that night and my site was so easy to navigate in the dark. Once again time passed quickly and I headed to bed. There were threats of thunderstorms overhead as I tucked myself in for the night. I was really hoping they didn’t get too loud as I am a light sleeper.
Sunday
For some reason I had a terrible sleep where I was chilled for most of the night. I woke up not feeling 100% and I wonder if the mouthful of water I accidentally took in while swimming was making me feel this way. I decided to sleep as long as I could as the sun came up and warmed up my tent. I was not ready to get up and pack up and I honestly didn’t care at that moment.
After a while I finally got myself up, ate a small bit of food and slowly packed up my gear. By now it was very close to lunch and I was ready to head home, even though I would have enjoyed a much longer stay. My gear was all packed and I headed back to the portage where I was once again bombarded by mosquitoes and traversed the portage very quickly. Back on Wolf Lake there was a small head wind that kept the bugs away and I enjoyed the paddle back to the put in.
It seems that reality came back quickly and I was headed back down the side roads southeast to my home. I really do enjoy getting out on a solo trip as it’s nice to have time by myself. I’m hopeful that there will be more solo trips this year, as well as some great family trips. Happy Paddling!
Good read and hope you will have many more great camping days. Have you made the herb package for your fire to deter mosquitos? I know one herb is Sage……you can google. <3