A long day has finally ended. As i penned (if one can use that term these days) earlier, rain last night and this morning as i broke camp. Since that was the first time in more than 150 camps over my four previous trips that i broke that i had to do it in rain, i did one thing right and one thing wrong.First, i did it slowly and correctly, not cutting any corners just because it was raining. One never knows what the weather will be when you have to pitch the camp again and you do not want to have to finish the job in worse weather. Also, by doing it slowly, there might be a let up of the rain, as there was this morning once, and that's the time you dismantle the tent. Second, take down the tarp rain protection last. Unfortunately, when the rain let up, i also took the tarp down thinking i had seen the last of the rain. I paid for my mistake. No big deal. Just a few things need to dry out.
About half way into the trip of 300 miles or so, the rain broke and the weather turned for the better. As we drove along Lake Superior, the sunset was probably one of the most spectactular i have ever seen, and i have seen some spectaculaf ones. I was looking for a place to stop for a picture, but there was no place. Maybe tomorrow.
Because we got a late start this morning, i decided to not try for Agawa Bay, farther up the coast. Instead, we are camping at Pancake Bay provincial park, which is fine with me since i have been to Agawa Bay but not here. Besides, just after that spectacular sunset, the rain started coming down again quite hard. By 7:30 in was dark and compounded by the rain created the worst kind of conditions. I absolutely hate driving in strange territory at night and the rain made it terrible. Fortnately, just as we pulled into the empty park just off the highway, the rains stopped.
But the worst was yet to come. As i wrote earlier, my tent had never been tested by me in the rain or wind. Well, last night it passed the first test but tonight it failed the second. Try setting up a 7 foot high tent by yourself in a high wind, like the kind that is now blowing off lake superior. It takes patience, persistence and most of all creativity. The dogs must have gotten a good laugh watching me. Eventually, i succeeded, and everything is now nice and cozy in the tent, as the below ipad photo of the dogs attests. And now that we are all dug in for the night, It promises to be a pleasant night sleeping to the sound of he ocean-size waves crashing on the beach just 30 feet away from where we are camped. I need some reward for having to pitch the tent and set up the camp in the pitch black dark. But I went through the entire evenng routine in less than 90 minutes despite the dark, attributed to the fact that i made no campfire of dinner for myself. Actually, i had a glass of soy milk and a fruit cup, which was fine with me. These trips are all about tradeoffs. But not for the dogs.
Tonight, as i attempted to take a picture of the dogs dining in the tent on their evenng fare, my new Canon camera's flash would not fire, which is why i had to use my ipad camera. It worked three days ago when i used it last. Fortunately, there's a Walmart in Thunder Bay so that camera goes back. Until then, there will be no night photos.
I will probaly stay here for two nights, maybe three, and then move 200 miles north to Pukaskwa national park for a few days and then another 200 farther north to Sleeping Giant. I want to give the dogs a break, especially since Leben has a hard time moving around in my truck.
Below photo is on erde and leben sleeping nose to tail tonight. tough day for the two of them.
Ed Mulrenin
202-747-4704 (mobile)
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