Camp Log: 6/17/15

(From Hummingbird’s logs, edited and transcribed 6/23/15)

Whew! It has been a long day! It rained last night; I slept well, but woke up a couple of times and heard it. Probably around 7:00 or so, the boys and I got up, dressed, and packed up our things. We joined the others at the picnic table for breakfast – glazed apple fritters, a banana, cranberry juice, and banana-flavored Greek yogurt. A hungry red squirrel kept sneaking up on us, and looked like they might jump onto Nick’s back or something.

We took down the tents, and got everything into the car and grandpa’s truck. The boys and I went to the pump and filled up all the big one-quart water bottles. Then we went to the Outfitter’s again, this time to get ice and fishing bait. Grandpa drove his truck around to the back and lashed the two rental canoes up on top of his rig, along with his own third canoe. We also rented paddles and PFDs, and locked up cell phones and wallets in the Outfitter’s safe.

I rode with grandpa on the drive over to Hog Creek. It was about 14 miles on a gravel road. We actually crossed over upstream portions of the creek twice. We also saw a large bird of prey, maybe an osprey, flying over the road in front of us.

The entry point was nearly empty, which was nice, and there were many spring flowers, including lots of strawberry plants (no strawberries, though – too early). We had to climb down a pretty steep staircase to get down to the water, but at least it wasn’t too far. Everything got unloaded from the vehicles, and we sorted it according to what was going in which canoe. Then we brought the equipment down to the beach, and I carried a canoe on my shoulders for the first time. Cross that off the bucket list!

I was still worried about the weather, so I made it a point to introduce myself and my family to the creek spirits. Right as I did so, a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly flew right in front of me, so I took that as a good omen.

When we finally set out, right around 11:00, mom and dad were in one canoe, Nick and I took the second, and grandpa and Ben went in the third. Right out of the gate, we saw two turtles, one big and one small, sitting on a rock.

We hadn’t been on the creek for even five minutes when we came to a portage over a series of rapids, which hadn’t been indicated on our map. We were all a little irritated to have to get right back out of the canoes, but it turned out not to be too long, at least. The bigger issue was that the area was only wide enough for one canoe at a time, so it took a while to get everyone over. While we were there, however, Ben spotted the first bald eagle of the trip, flying overhead. I saw some kind of butterfly there, maybe a Painted Lady, and another Tiger Swallowtail.

Back on Hog Creek, things were going pretty well. The day, which had dawned grey and cold, had cleared up nicely to the point of almost being hot. The Creek was narrow, lined thickly with short Alder trees and something which I thought might be sagebrush. The route turned frequently, with the vegetation just tall enough to stop one from being able to see around the bends. There were some rocks, but more problematic was the sharpness of the turns. Nick couldn’t steer fast enough to get around them, so we kept running into the bank and getting stuck in the plants. I saw two more big turtles as we paddled along, and some more Swallowtails, which was reassuring.

Traversing the creek took much longer than any of us had anticipated. Luckily, the water was high enough that we were able to canoe right over the many beaver dams, rather than having to portage around all ten or 15 of them, but by the time we reached Perent Lake it was after 2:00, and we were all starving.

We paddled straight for the first campsite we saw, and hauled the canoes up on the rocks. Then we sat down and went straight for the lunch stuff. A curious chipmunk was excited to see that. We had granola bars, carrot chips, sunflower seeds (chip-chip's favorite), dried coconut strips, dried mango, peanut butter granola, fruit strips, and Twizzlers. I made Tang in my water bottle. 

After lunch, we decided to move. The campsite where we had landed was very buggy, muddy, and without a good view of the lake. (There was a pretty little blue butterfly, and another Swallowtail, though.) Instead, we headed to the middle of the lake, where there was an island with a campsite. We passed some seagulls, and I got out on shore to scout around. The site looked good, so I reported back to the others, and we decided to call it a night. 

The campsite has several flat rocks which fed down into the lake, and a tiny cove with a pebbly beach. The island is covered in White Cedar, which grandpa says could actually be hundreds of years old. There are some big standing boulders, and a humongous White Pine, which is similarly ancient. Mom spotted a Pink Ladyslipper orchid, and then a second one further out. 

I pitched our tent with a view of the lake, and mom and dad have theirs back behind the fire grate. I found grandpa a spot higher up in the trees. We worked to get everything else set up, and dad got a fire going. Nick and I paddled out a ways to pull up some debris-free lake water, and mom chopped and fried some potatoes and onion. We roasted hot dogs on the fire, and saw a toad hop under a log. For dessert, we made up some butterscotch pudding.

Ben had a bit of a meltdown washing dishes (me too, buddy, me too). I'm pretty wiped out, so I'm going to bed shortly. We finally just heard a loon...