Sat, Sep 15 2007 - Canoe the Kawartha Highlands (View Original Event Details)
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This is Lillian again documenting the antics of TOCers in another event. I�m getting quite a reputation for these write-ups.
Way back in June Rob set up this Kawartha Highlands canoe trip and since there was so much interest, Michelle and Matt organized a second group. In the end there were ten people in total on this trip, so we merged into a single group.
My participation on this trip came about by courtesy of Matt. You see, he discovered that I had not yet experienced an important Canadian cultural activity: camping (I've gone camping before, just not in Canada). I explained to him that my idea of camping was one of "glamping," which is where people with way too much money pay other people to do camping things for them, like build a fire, cook the food, make the s�mores, clean the fish, and stay in what is essentially a Four Season�s hotel room covered in canvas. As wonderful as the TOC is, and the volunteers strive to accommodate all reasonable requests, I couldn't expect the club to cater to my needs. Matt then proceeded to make a rash promise of taking care of everything if I went camping. As the weeks rolled closer and closer to September, he began to realize the enormity of his promise. I don�t set up tents, I don�t take down tents, I don�t make fires, I don�t cook over fires, and just about anything else associated with camping. �What do you do?� he asked.
�I stand around and look pretty,� I answered. Then I added, "I can provide you with lots of encouragement and say, 'Good job!'" Matt resigned himself to his fate and went into the event with the attitude of �what does not kill me will only make me stronger.�
We got lucky with the weather, as we avoided rain all weekend. Saturday was overcast and cool, which was fine because it meant that none of us would get overly warm while canoeing. There was a canoe rental at Long Lake, which meant that we could just take off from that location. Chris & Andrea, Elena & Adele, and Matt & I were the first ones to set off. Rob and Diana waited for Michelle and Bernadette. The plan was to canoe Long Lake, portage, and find a campsite somewhere on the southern end of Buzzard Lake. Canoeing on the lake, I saw the first signs of autumn as red and yellow leaves peaked out among the many still-green trees. The portage was about 500 meters long, a nice wide trail that wasn�t too hilly. Matt, in keeping with his promise that I wouldn't have to do a lick of work, offered to �portage� me, but I declined. Elena was incredibly sweet as she came back to help Matt and me portage after she was done with hers. Chris & Andrea found a very good site that was able to accommodate all of us.
After setting up camp, everyone got involved with collecting wood for the campfire. Rob built an excellent fire pit. Several people dragged branches and logs for the fire. I ran around and took pictures of everything. Diane neatly sawed a long branch into several smaller pieces. I took a picture of Adele relaxing with her newspaper, while Chris enthusiastically sawed off pieces with his Leatherman multi-purpose tool. Adele got a bit alarmed at this because earlier I had taken a picture of her resting supine in her canoe while she and Elena waited for me and Matt at the portage.
�Everyone�s going to think I didn�t do anything all day if you post those pictures up!� she exclaimed. I showed Adele all the pictures that I had taken of her and she and I laughed hysterically. Rob pretended to grouse. "You're having too much fun," he informed me. All things in moderation, even fun. Evidently I was using up all my fun quota for the weekend.
I continued to document the happenings of camp, including pictures of other people lounging around. I was incredibly impressed with Andrea and Chris's Therm-a-rest seat. During the day it was a comfortable seat, which kept your bum off the cold ground and provided back support, and at night it was a sleeping pad. Bernadette has a vast knowledge of songs and whenever a question arose, we turned to her for answers. I also liked her incredible collection of camping paraphernalia, especially the telescoping fork-- very handy for roasting food!
Dinner was quite a feast as Rob�s group had chicken fajitas, and Michelle and Matt�s group had steak, pork, tofu, and veggie kabobs. We also baked eight potatoes and only one got eaten because we were all too stuffed to eat any more. Then we sat around a cozy roaring fire, which kept the nippy soon-to-be-fall air at bay. We had lots of fun burning leaves and pine needles.
We had a huge breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon, sausages, and oatmeal. Chris was in charge of the toast (we called him the Toastmaster). It was a beautiful quiet morning, until loud ear-piercing shrieks disturbed our camp.
�STOP IT!!!! PUT ME DOWN RIGHT NOW!!!! STOP IT!!!! STOP IT!!!! THIS IS SCARY!!!!!! I WANT TO BE PUT DOWN ON THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!!!! PUT ME DOWN!!!!!!!!! STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!� The TOCers were treated to the sight of Matt hauling me on his shoulders as if I were a sack of potatoes because he wanted to demonstrate that he was perfectly capable of portaging me.
We broke camp and cleaned up our site (leave no trace!). There was the question of what to do with the seven remaining baked potatoes. I tried to convince Chris and Andrea to take them as another prize (their first TOC event was an urban chase where they came in first and won t-shirts), but in the end somehow I ended up with them.
Many of us took a detour and canoed to look at another pretty little lake. There was a lunch break at the portage before heading back to the rental. It was a wonderful camping trip.
Many thanks to Michelle and Rob, who did much of the planning and food shopping. I can�t recommend going on a camping trip with the TOC enough. The volunteers do a lot of work to make sure that everyone has a good time and the event goes off well. Although the TOC doesn't offer glamping services, there might be a volunteer who offers to portage you instead.
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Erik Sonstenes at photos@torontooutdoorclub.com. Please note that we prefer to receive the photos in approximately 640x480 or 750x500 pixels - do NOT send original high-res photos. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to twenty of your favorites (only) for a day event, or up to forty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.