Adventure #9: A Crown Land Adventure with Jeff
Given the recent ease of restrictions that the province had put in place for camping due to COVID-19, my boyfriend Jeff and I decided to head out to some crown land to enjoy the backcountry over his birthday weekend. Our initial plan was to recreate last year's trip to McCrae Lake; however, we planned to leave much earlier as we expected that it would be fairly busy there. On Friday, June 5th, in the evening, Jeff and I loaded up the canoe and finished packing our gear so that we would be able to leave around 7am the next day. As McCrae Lake was only about a half-hour drive, we arrived at the parking lot before 8am, only to discover, not only a packed parking lot but a lineup of cars down either side of the laneway, and a continuing row of cars parked down the road. We decided fairly quickly that we definitely wouldn't be camping at McCrae that weekend.
 |
After a bit of debate, Jeff and I decided against portaging the canoe into the lake, instead opting just to make one trip with our packs full of gear and fishing rods. The trail wasn't terribly long, and for the most part fairly clear except for the occasional mud puddle. Once back to the site, Jeff and I got to work setting up the tent and unpacking our gear. Amid our set up, a dragonfly came to hitch a ride on Jeff for a bit, which we definitely weren't complaining about given it would eat our bugs. Set up went fairly quickly as all we had to do after the tent was blow up our sleep pads, unroll our sleeping bags and pillows, set up a bear hang, and assemble our camp chairs. By the time we got all of that completed, Jeff and I spent a bit of time just relaxing, enjoying the views around us.
It then became noon and we got to work setting up my stove and pot to begin boiling our chicken noodle soup packet. This was the first trip I got to use my new pot set that comes with cups, bowls, and plates that all pack together inside the pot which I definitely ended up loving! While we were still in the midst of having lunch, we heard some thunder rumbling in the distance before noticing a couple dark storm clouds rolling in rather quickly. Thinking we were about to get poured on, we tried to finish up our meal rather fast, but lucky for us, the storm ended up travelling elsewhere. After eating and cleaning our dishes, Jeff and I decided to go for a little hike away from our site and then do some fishing. On the hike, we found one lone flower that was very pretty.
 |
The site we chose had a really nice rock edge with one particular rock that gradually sloped into the water, providing us with a perfect fishing spot. My third cast brought me back quite the prize, with the largest pike I've ever caught before. I quickly grabbed my phone to document it with a photo because fishing always requires proof or it didn't happen haha. As I'm not one who particularly likes to touch the fish, I opted not to hold my catch and requested that Jeff please remove it from my line. Since we had brought other food for dinner and pike are notorious for their bones, we released the fish back into the water. The pike had such strong teeth that he actually left scratches in my lure! After that excitement, Jeff became determined to catch one of his own but unfortunately was unable to catch anything more than some weeds or knots in his line all weekend. While we were down on the rocks, we also saw a loon, as well as, what might've been either a beaver or an otter. We only saw the animal's head poke up out of the water once and didn't have quite enough time to determine what it was. We ended up fishing for the whole afternoon, enjoying the cool breeze and warm sunshine.
Once 5pm came along, we decided to put our rods down to get started with our dinner. Once again, we set up my stove and pot to begin boiling water to make a meal of instant mashed potatoes, brown gravy, and bacon pieces. This meal was a first for me in the backcountry and I was genuinely pleased with the way it turned out. The bacon we used was a box of the ready crisp kind you can find at the grocery store that doesn't need refrigerated. The bacon strips come fully cooked inside of a little plastic package, separated with wax paper and the package is very compact for backcountry camping. I will definitely be having this meal again on future trips! After cleaning our dishes, we had some dessert of pringles and peanut m&m's before retreating to the tent before the bugs got too bad. For most of the day, given the wind off the lake, the bugs had allowed us to roam bug jacket free; however, once that wind died down, the bugs came out in full force.
Inside the tent, Jeff and I played a movie we had downloaded from Netflix. I know some people have their qualms about technology in the backcountry, yet in prime bug season, the last thing I want to be doing is sitting around a campfire getting eaten alive, so watching a movie becomes an acceptable way to spend my time. After the movie, we called it a night.
The next morning we slept in a little bit, waking up to find swarms of bugs crawling on the fly of the tent. Once up and moving, Jeff and I boiled some water for a breakfast of cookies and cream oatmeal. All of our meals this trip turned out very well, and it worked out great using the cups from my pot set to make juice from the water we filtered from the lake mixed with some Mio. After breakfast, we decided it would be best to start packing up our gear as we had wanted to be home a little after noon. Once all packed up, we stopped for some snacks and a little bit more fishing (Jeff was still trying to catch a bigger fish than me haha) before hiking back to the vehicle to head on our way home. All in all, for a trip that ended up requiring some quick replanning, it was an excellent one and definitely a great way to start off the camping season!
Until the next adventure,
- Megan
Comments
Post a Comment