Getting To The Park

After a great trip outdoors, it always takes me a few days to settle back in at home. 

This time back, I stumbled on a young Bruce Willis singing on You Tube. I've spent everyday with Bruce since. His singing voice is a bit thin, but young Bruce in his hair days was quite the manly heart throb.

Now that I've gotten this out of the way, I can relive the weekend.

It was such a hoot getting there. Algonquin park is about three hours from Toronto. When you get to the 400, there is a sign that says "Algonquin Park 247 km" on the side of the highway. You'd think it's a two and a half hour ride in from that point on. I don't know what time we started out, but you know, we stopped for washrooms, french fries, and during conversations in the car, we diagnosed my friend with iron deficiency so had to make another stop to get iron pills. By the time we got to our yurt, it was 6 PM, we had no gas in the car, and the gas station at Canoe Lake was closed.

We needed firewood. We took a blanket and walked to the firewood lot. We met Ranger Jeff there. He was loading the woodshed with more bags of wood. Since we were taking two bags and didn't bring the car, Ranger Jeff offered to drop the wood off at our site. Then we asked about gas. Oh, that gas station at Canoe Lake is closed for the season. You gotta get to Whitney for gas. But we had just enough gas to get back out to Canoe Lake, which was why we walked to get wood.

So Ranger Jeff offered to bring us two containers of gas from his boat. My friend and I elbowed ourselves silly as we walked away.

Back at the yurt, we put soup on. Ranger Jeff arrived with the wood. He had phoned the office to make sure - the gas station at Canoe Lake will open in the morning. This was the first weekend it has ever stayed opened after Thanksgiving. So he didn't bring us gas. At least he checked for us and brought the wood, which was most important.

The yurt was a depressing little structure inside. Literally bunk beds, a table with chairs, and a light bulb overhead. But the place had an electric heater, which we turned on full blast.

It was cold out there. The coldest camping I've ever done. I kept thinking, Canada, eh? I believe the temperature dropped below zero at night. But we had wood. That is probably the main reason I brave the cold and discomfort - to sit around an open fire at night. And drink brandy and eat chocolates. I love camping.