A Poopy Day With No Place To Poop

I woke up at 6 a.m. because I was cold and I had a headache. I could hear birds flying around within inches of my tent and I could hear a woodpecker just a few feet away from me.  I could also hear toads jumping up against the walls of my tent. Carsten said that he had toads jumping against the walls of his tent that morning too. 

I lay there in my sleeping bag hoping it would get warmer but it was an overcast day and it wasn't getting much warmer. So, at about 7 I got up and started moving around to keep warm. It was earlier than we had intended to get up but since this was going to be our longest day of travel (about 8 km) we didn't mind too much. Best to get an early start anyway. 

A low-lying damp mist was rising about the lake. It made the morning feel all that much more cold. 

The mosquitoes weren't out just yet but the No-See-Ums were taking their place in being bothersome.  

I found an owl feather lying on the ground by the picnic table. I don't know if it had been there the day before and I hadn't noticed it, or if an owl had dropped this recent treasure during the night. 

We packed up and left camp at about 9:30.  I wasn't particularly looking forward to this part of the hike, truth be told. It would be long and mostly in the deep woods instead of near the lakes. As a matter of fact, we had read up about this trail online before we came and we knew that there would be no water of any sort until we got to our destination. So, we were packing the weight of extra water with us. 

Right away you could tell that the trail in this leg of the journey was going to be overgrown and rough. It wasn't well kept at all. It looked like no one came through this way much. That could be why the mosquitoes started to get thick. We were probably the first fresh blood they had seen in a long while. 

Between the mosquitoes and the No-See-Ums I got bit up pretty bad. So bad that even a week later I still had bites all over my neck, jaw line, ears, forehead and hands that made me look like I had the measles or chicken pox, or something. There were about 30 or more around me all the time. It got to the point where I put on a bug hat to try to keep sane. But even then, one or two of them would find their way under the netting; and then I had them trapped inside right next to my face. I couldn't win. I would have to say that about 95% of the bug bites that I got on the entire trip were from this day on this part of the trail. 

Despite the mosquitoes declaring war on me, I tried to stay positive and I tried to enjoy my surroundings. 

The Wild Sarsparilla were changing colours in readiness for autumn. Their stripey reds and yellows were bold and striking amongst the green leaves of the other plants. 

There were groups of puff ball mushrooms looking like they were all huddled together to stay warm. Of course this is not the case, it was just amusing to me to imagine it were so. 

There were plenty of other white mushrooms growing here and there throughout the woods. 

We had noticed a rather large amount of deadfall littering the trail. There had been many online comments about how bad it was so we already knew it would be problematic. So, Carsten decided to take matters in his own hands and he proceeded to clear any and all deadfall that he could from the trail as we went. Of course we couldn't clear anything that needed a chainsaw, but we could clear the tripping hazards and the large branches as we went. Carsten did most of the work, but I would come up behind him and get some of the ones he missed. In this way did it not only help to pass the time, but it also helped to clear the path for any future hikers. (You're welcome!)  

You could see where the park staff had been through with a chainsaw a few years previous and did some proper clearing. 

But it was evident that no one had been through here to clear anything this year, and probably last year either. 

We came to one blowdown that seemed like it had been a doozey when it fell. There were shattered pieces everywhere and the trunk was broken and sprawling in multiple directions. 

We looked up and saw where the tree used to stand. Glad we weren't under it when that one came crashing down! 

Also high up in the trees we could see an old nest of an owl or some other raptor. It was empty now and starting to fall apart, but it was impressive just how big it was. 

There were places on the trail that were pretty overgrown. There were new trees starting to grow on the trail and if left alone for to much longer, there eventually won't be a trail here anymore. 

The official white trail markers were not always easy to see. Plus there were not enough of them. If you were travelling north to south you were more likely to see the markers because most of them faced that direction. But we were heading south to north so most were not visible to us until we passed them and turned around. 

Luckily some people had come along and were kind enough to do additional trail marking with orange ribbons. I must say that without these orange ribbons we would have been lost 200 times over.  These orange ribbons saved the day. So kudos to the people who put them there!

They were so important that any time we saw that one had fallen we would pick it up and tie it back onto a tree. Also if we saw one that was extra long we would take some of it to mark the trail in other places that we thought should have one. 

Without the orange ribbons we would have come to places like this one and not know where to go. With so much deadfall and overgrown trails it's hard to know what's an animal trail and what is the actual trail and whether there is even any trail there at all. 

There was some hill climbing that came with this part of the trail. It wasn't the worst climbs we have done. The reward was to be able to see from the lookouts at the top. 

According to the official published map (the waterproof one you can buy at the office) there should be about 4 lookouts in this section. However, since there are no signs indicating the spots are lookouts, it was hard ot know which one (if any) we were at. 

Some spots looked more like a lookout than others. Perhaps some were intended to be lookouts but the trees had grown taller since they were first designated as such. Who knows. 

It was around this time that we started to see an increase in the amount of moose poop in the area.  Even if the humans weren't using the trails, the moose definitely were. 

And then we began to notice bear poop. Granted most of it was older with mushrooms growing out of it; probably from the spring. However, some of it was not all that old.  And it wasn't just one pile we came across. It was many.  The further we went the more of it we saw. 

On about 2 occasions we thought we could smell a bear nearby.  We made sure that we stayed close together and that we were making noise so that we didn't startle anything. Not much more you can do in those situations. We had bear spray with us but we never did see a bear, which was fine by me. 

There was one lookout that was pretty nice and you could definitely tell that it was one of the intended lookouts. We stopped here to rest for a few minutes. But we didn't stay long because we knew we were getting close to camp and we were anxious to get there. 

It had stayed overcast this entire time, however, it was no longer cold. Just the opposite actually. We were now too hot and we were sweating buckets. So much so, that the sunscreen we had put on earlier that morning had long since washed off of us and sweat was running into our eyes. 

I was too hot and tired to really enjoy the hike much anymore. I just kept my eyes to the ground mostly in order to not trip over anything since I couldn't pick my feet up as high anymore. 

Looking down can sometimes yield some interesting finds too though. In particular there were some interesting looking fungi. 

There was quite a bit of Upright Coral Fungus around. 

And some stark white Northern Tooth. I don't think I had ever seen any quite so white before. 

There were also some vibrant orange Jelly Spot growing on trees. They were a great addition to the fall colours that were beginning to appear. 

Even the moss seemed to flourish here. Some stones were so covered in moss that you couldn't see the stone anymore. 

We were almost at the campsite when we lost our way. We couldn't find the trail and we couldn't find any orange or white markers. We knew we were close because we could see the water and we knew there was no water until we got to our destination.  We followed what we thought might be a trail but there was so much deadfall that it was hard to tell for sure. 

After scrambling over and under fallen trees and logs for a few minutes we finally came to an open area with a couple of logs and a fire pit.  We made it!.... We think.  

Did we make it?  We began to second guess ourselves. 

The lake looked maybe a bit too swampy. There was supposed to be a swamp just before our destination. Maybe we hadn't gone far enough yet? 

And what about the big orange campsite sign that is usually posted on the site? There were none of those to be found anywhere. 

Perhaps this is just a make-shift site that people have made and stayed at when they have given up all hope of finding the actual site? 

The fire pit was full of dried pine needles, like it hadn't been used in quite some time. 

What was concerning to me was that there were piles of bear poop here and there, most of it pretty old,  in and around the campsite. This site is definitely in the thick of bear territory. 

Right site or not, bears or not,  we were stopping here for a rest and lunch regardless. It was 2:30 by this time and it had taken us 5 hours to get here. We took our packs off and leaned them against one of the logs. 

As I went down to the water with map in hand to see if I could figure out where we were, Carsten went and explored further into the tree line.  It wasn't long before Carsten came back and said that "Yes, we are on the right site". He had found an overgrown trail that ran to the right of where our backpacks were and he had found the big orange sign that says this is a campsite. 

The reason we hadn't seen it on the way in was because we had gone off the trail and came in the back way to the site. There was an actual trail to the site but we just hadn't found it. I wondered how many other people hadn't found the trail either and had just stumbled upon the site by wandering aimlessly through the bush until they got to it. 

I wanted to see the orange site sign and the missing trail for myself, so I went to look for it. 

Sure enough there it was and not that far away from the camp. However, I was shocked to see a bag of garbage hanging directly under it. After seeing all the bear poop and knowing without a doubt that this is an active bear area, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Who in their right mind would hang a bag of garbage here?!?!

And just to make a point, there was a pile of poop directly under the bag.  I think this was old moose poop, not bear. I could be wrong though. And if it was then it was there before the garbage was or else the garbage would have been strewn all over the place instead of being all neatly tied in a bag. 

And the odd thing about it was who ever left the bag there, also left a fork to go with it. Was this a joke? Were they saying "Here ya go bear! Dinner is served! We even have utensils for you!" 

I took the bag down and was loathe to see what was inside. But I carefully opened it anyways. 

Inside was a mixture of old rusted cans, that had been in the woods for years, and some more recent garbage and food items in various cans and plastic containers.  In light of the garbage that was inside, a picture was being painted for me. I think what had happened is someone was being good and kind and cleaned up all the garbage that they found in and around the campsite, but they didn't want to carry a bag of someone else's garbage another 12 or more kilometers for who knows how many days, over hill and dale and mountain to take it out of the woods. So, instead they tied it up and left it behind for the park employees to pick up, not knowing that the park employees probably haven't been out here in at least a year or two, if not more. 

What they probably should have done was exactly what we were now going to do with it. Burn it. I took the bag back to camp for disposal.

So, this is it. This is home for the night. Can't say I was too excited with this site. As a matter of fact, when we were at the office and choosing which site to stay 2 nights at, this site had been one of the ones we had almost considered. We were thankful now, that we hadn't chosen this one to stay at for 2 nights.  

At first glance there seems to be quite a bit of space, but once you really look closely you start to realize that most of the space is not flat or level. Finding a decent place to put up a tent was not as easy as it seemed. 
Carsten managed to find a spot for his small tent down closer to the lake. 

My tent was a bit trickier because it was a bit bigger. We ended up having to move a log in order to get enough flat surface space for my tent. Even then, my tent was just a few feet away from a big ole pile of bear poop. (You can't see it in the picture but it is to the right of my tent just under that bunch of ferns there.  Isn't that just wonderful?) 

Next Carsten and I set about looking for a tree to hang our food in so that bears couldn't get it. We knew that picking the right tree and the right spot in this particular area was crucial.  After finding more bear poop and climbing over more deadfall we found a suitable tree that we could use. It was further away from camp than we usually have our food, just in case. 

And what did we find only a few feet away from our food tree?  A huge bone. We were not sure what animal the bone once belonged to or how the creature had died. It looked to be a pretty old bone though. My first guess was a moose bone. But who knows for sure.  It was about 3 feet long and about as thick as my arm. At any rate, it only added to the uncomfortable feeling that you get in this campsite. 

Since we hadn't come into the campsite through the front door so to speak, we decided to follow the newly found trail back from the orange campsite sign to the spot where we had lost the trail to see where we had gone wrong. 

When we got to the spot where we made a wrong turn we said "No wonder!"  The trail was severely overgrown and the orange ribbon markers were not quite visible from where we had been. So, Carsten and I set about clearing the trail so that it was visible and we added some more orange ribbon from the extra that we had. Hopefully any newcomers will not have the same problem we had and they will be able to find the proper trail. 

As we walked along the newly cleared trail back to camp, we came across an interesting rock that was sticking out of the root of a fallen tree. Looks like the tree pulled the rock up as it went down. The rock was flat on the top and it looked like you could sit on the log and use the rock as a table. 

When we got back we had another job to do. We had read the comments online before we came that said that this site did not have a Thunder Box. We did a bit of searching and came to the conclusion that they were right.  There was all this poop around and no place to poop!

This meant that we had to build ourselves a bathroom. So, we found a fallen log that was a decent height off the ground and we dug a hole under it. Voila!  A place to poop on this poopy day.  It wasn't going to win any awards but it was far enough away from the lake and it would serve its purpose. 

While we had been looking for an appropriate place to make a bathroom,  I noticed a sliver of orange in the dirt under a log. I wondered what it was and began to kick at it with my boot. I soon came to realize that this was an orange campsite sign that was attached to a fallen tree and had been buried by pine needles and dirt over time.  Carsten and I rolled the log over and pulled the sign off of the rotten log. It wasn't too difficult to do. 

The sign still had some screws in it that were in pretty good shape. I decided to resurrect the sign in a new spot using the screws that it already had on it. I found a short broken stump behind my tent that looked like the perfect spot for it and I attached it there.  It was low to the ground but at least it was visible and we knew the that it wouldn't get buried by a fallen tree any time soon. Now the next people who come will know that this is the official campsite and not some back up site or something like we did at first. 

The sun finally started to come out for a short while at around 5:30.  

​The campsite has a lovely lakeside view but I wouldn't say that it is great for swimming in. Although the loon on this lake would probably disagree with me. 

We figured that this would be the perfect lake to see a moose. We half expected to see one every time we looked up. But we never did see one.. 

After having been followed all day long by so many mosquitoes, I was happy to say that there were not very many here at the actual campsite at all. 

I did see a Sawyer beetle (Pine bug) though. It blended in with the scenery very well. 

The frogs were trying to blend in with the scenery too but they didn't do quite as good a job as the Sawyer beetle did. Not bad, just not as good. 

At about 7 p.m. we made a fire and cooked our supper.  There was no grill at this site so we just used rocks to put our pot on to boil water. 

After supper was over and all of our food was put away, we took the opportunity to burn everything that had been in the garbage bag that we had found. That included the old rusty tin cans as well as the newer cans, just in case they had the lingering smell of food on them from being in close proximity to the food packages that were in the bag with them. 

Inside the garbage bag had been some empty fruit cups, some empty tins of meat (not SPAM but a similar brand) , what looked to be a box of wine perhaps, and some other various items. It all burnt pretty good. 

The sun went down behind the trees across the lake but there was no real colourful sunset to speak of. 
We sat by the fire for awhile but it was a long day and we were tired so we didn't stay up too long. 

By 9:30 we had put the fire out and went to our tents.  Gotta be honest that such close signs of bear made me a bit uncomfortable.  I thought for sure that I would not get much sleep and would be laying there listening to every little sound and wondering "What was that?"  or "Was that a bear?" 

However, it wasn't long before I fell asleep and I didn't wake up in the middle of the night that night at all. Guess I must have been tired.