Backpacking Killarney - Day 2

We woke up the next morning and finally got to see our campsite in the daylight. It was actually a very pretty site. It was a shame we wouldn't be able to spend more time on it. Site H6 is situated on Cave Lake. It is up on some rocks and over looks the lake. 

Down closer to the shore a gaggle of geese joined us for breakfast. 

We got Kendra to climb back up the tree to take down our food packs that she had put up in the dark for us the night before. 

Squished muffins for breakfast (and a bee to help me eat it)!  That's OK, the muffins still taste good even when they are squished. From here on out the rest of our food is dehydrated food. 

There had been some talk the night before about what to do next. We barely made it to the first campsite which was only 8 km and now today we were expected to do another 20 km with Heather having blistered heels. There was no way we would make it. Our options were to continue as far forward as we wanted and camp any ole where along the way, or hike all the way back to the beginning in one day, or the third option of hiking back the way we came and stay over night at the nice little unofficial campsite that was right near H3 and H4.  Over breakfast this morning we decided that option 3 was the best.

So after breakfast we started to break camp. I noticed that Kendra's and my mom's tents were pitched in a little area of sand kind of like a horseshoe pit. Our tent was pitched right beside the sandy area. 

This was also the first time I had gotten a look at Devin's tent. Now this guy had the right idea! All it comprised of was one of those emergency shelters with some netting at either end to keep the bugs out and some rope. Definitely did not weigh very much at all. Smart thinking!  

And the rope doubled as a clothes line to hang his socks on. I was impressed, but at the same time it reminded me of a giant baked potato. 

Before leaving camp we made sure to go to the bathroom first. It took awhile for us to find the bathroom but once we spotted the sign we knew it wasn't far off. 

The bathrooms in the back country sites are called "boom boxes". Just a simple little box with a hole cut out to sit on. 

Maybe they are named "boom boxes" because you go there to make a "boom" but when the lid closes it makes a very loud "boom" noise. So perhaps that had something to do with the name as well. 

We also made sure to refill our water before we left. We discovered that we were drinking a whole lot more water than we had expected to. There were not a whole lot of other water sources between here and our next campsite so we took the opportunity to fill up the Platypus while we could. 

The clean water we got from the Platypus we transferred into water bottles, canteens and a couple of handy little water bladders that Devin had picked up from the dollar store. With the water bladders you can either drink straight from the bladder or pour it into other containers. It was a great way to carry extra water with you while you walked. Especially since there can be long periods of time where you may not be near any lakes, streams or other water sources. 

So at about 11:30 a.m. we started on our journey back. We were all so sore and achey. Heather had to wrap her feet before she left. Every step was difficult and slow going because our muscles were so sore that we didn't want to lift our feet very high. Uphills were particularly difficult and there were a lot of uphills.To make the hills more bearable I would go up about 6 feet and then stop for a minute. Then I would set a new goal of about another six feet (pick out a rock or a stump or something that was roughly 6 feet away)  and then stop for another minute or so when I reached my goal. Once I reached the top of the hill I would reward myself with a drink of water. The water was warm and I don't even like water but it was still a reward! My mom had a different approach. She would reward herself with a drink of water every time she reached one of the blue trail markers on the tree. It was very hot out; even in the shade and we were drenched in sweat. Of course since we went down the avalanche of boulders the day before, we had to climb back up them again today. I just thought to myself "wow...and I did this in the dark!...twice!" 

Since we were only going half way back today we took our time and stopped to rest more often. Our breaks were also longer breaks. We stopped for lunch right in the middle of the path in a nice shady area under the trees. My mom boiled water for coffee and while Kendra took a nap right in the middle of the path. I had a bit of a nap myself on Heather's sleeping bag on the side of the path. My mom added water to the dehydrated pizza sauce and let it sit for a few minutes. She explained that she should have thought to add the water before we left so that it would be re-hydrated once we got here, but it just meant waiting for a bit longer and we didn't mind that at all. Once the sauce was ready we put it on some tortilla bread and cut up some beef jerky (pepperoni sticks), added some sliced cheese and voila.... pizza wraps!  Once we were fed and rested we carried on at our slow pace. 

Eventually we reached the rock I had dubbed "Turtle Rock". It was right around the bend from our intended destination so on the one hand I was happy to see it but I also dreaded having to climb back up this thing again. Luckily it was so much easier climbing up it on the way back than it is on the way there. There are more foot holds when you come at it from the opposite direction. 

By 5 pm we reached our destination. It was a beautiful spot between two sections of Acid Lake. On one side was crystal clear waters and on the other side (the beaver dam was between the two sections) was a marshy area. There is no fishing allowed on this lake because they are trying to rebuild the ecosystem here. You can tell by it's crystal clear waters that there is not a whole lot of things living in the water. But there were some signs of it slowly coming back around.  Heather saw a turtle on the marshy side.

​The first thing I did before anything else was to go in for a swim. The water was the perfect temperature and it felt good on the achey muscles. I couldn't stay in too long though because I was just too tired. As I was in swimming a group of 5 young guys hiked past us on their way to H4. This was their last night of their trip. They had come full circle from the opposite direction. One of them looked a little more worse for wear than the others. You could tell that it was a difficult trip for them. 

For supper we cooked spaghetti (with bow tie noodles instead of spaghetti noodles) in a pot made from a light weight coffee can that Heather brought with her. It had a clothes hanger for a handle. It worked surprisingly well. We had left over sauce from the pizza earlier today and we mixed that with the noodles and made a nice meal. 

Our heat source was a small tin of "Cook'n Heat" by World Famous. These neat little cans of fuel are a gel fuel (not liquid) so they do not pose a big spill risk. They are light weight and they last about 6 hours. We each carried a can with us so we had plenty of it. They work great with a little fold up stove we had. So we never had to worry about having an open flame during fire ban season. (There was no fire ban in the park while we were there, but there were fire bans in the surrounding areas. So it doesn't hurt to be too careful). Besides, if it rained then we wouldn't have to worry about wet wood or anything like that either. 

It was so nice to sit and relax and have supper by the side of the lake....in the daylight. 

Heather was particularly grateful to get out of her hiking boots and into a pair of crocs. Her feet looked pretty painful but she never complained even once. Half the time I kept forgetting that her feet were so bad off because she never complained. She also had huge bruises on her shoulder and arm from putting the pack on and off. I couldn't imagine how she would have made it all the way around the 78 km loop with her heels like that. It was a good thing we had turned back. 

After dinner Devin set up his tent to one side of the path. Heather and I had our tent on the other side of the path and my mom's tent was on the same side as Devin. 

Kendra, however, set up her tent away from the rest of us. It was nestled in a pretty little corner by the lake.  

We sat around relaxing and waiting for the sun to set. We all wanted to get a picture of the sunset on this pretty little lake.
   As we sat there talking the campers from H3 came to pay us a visit. It was a gentleman named Brandon and his 11 year old son from the Hamilton area. We explained  why we were camping here for the night and not on a numbered site and he completely understood. He told us that this was his 4th time on this hiking trail but that he only ever did the whole 78 km loop once. He went on to say that he and a buddy did the loop but by the time they made it out they were in really really rough shape. Both he and his friend had hurt themselves (hurt their leg) when they were about half way through the loop. At that point it was a decision to turn back or go on. So they figured at half way, they may as well finish the loop. He said that ther further you go back there, the worse the trail gets. In some places the trail is not marked well and they ended up going off the path and on some game trails (deer/moose trails) instead before they realized what they had done and had to back track. He said that happened more than once. He also said that there are places where you have no choice but to cross over beaver dams and the mud after a rain can sometimes be 4 feet deep. At one point they had come to one of their reserved sites only to find someone else on it. But they had felt sorry for the guy because the bottoms of his feet were blistered and wrapped in shoes made of duct tape. The guy who was squatting on Brandon's site had his wife with him who had made him bring things you would never bring on this type of hike, such as a giant bag of gummie bears and a huge bowie knife and a full roll of duct tape, etc. So Brandon and his buddy let the guy and his wife have the site and they just camped nearby. By the time they were done the loop Brandon and his buddy said "Never again!" But, he laughed, despite all he went through, about 3 months later they were planning another hiking trip. He says that now he usually only goes as far as H19 as a group with his buddy and his buddy's son, and his own son. He then said something that completely surprised me. He said that this trail is the second most difficult trail in all of Canada.  After his story and that statement we all felt a whole lot better about having only made it as far as we did. 
   Brandon seemed pretty impressed with Devin's tent, But he had to chuckle because he said it reminded him of a giant Jiffy Pop bag. That made me chuckle and I told him I thought it was like a giant baked potato. 
   We also gleaned a few good tips from talking to Brandon. We learned that 25 lbs is the max you should be carrying (no wonder we were tired...we were carrying about 40 lbs each). We learned that you should always have a second pair of shoes (even if they are not hiking boots and are just something light weight). And we learned that it is easiest to hike in a bathing suit because then you don't have to carry as many clothes and you can just jump in the water to cool off and that will clean off what you are wearing too. 
   

Brandon said that he and his son were heading to H6 tomorrow and that they had never been there before. They had always gone to number H7 or further. We told them that H6 was nice and they would like it there.  Eventually they went back to their own campsite and we were just in time to see the sunset. 

Since we were in a fairly open area and not deep in the trees, when the sun went down there was still some daylight left. It was light enough that we were able to do a little more exploring of the area before bedtime. I went over to the boggy side of the lake to see what was over there. 

I was hoping to see the turtle that Heather saw earlier, but it was a no show. 

I did see plenty of Spatulate-leaved Sundew (also known as Spoonleaf Sundew). These pretty red plants are only found in bogs and are similar to Venus Fly Traps in that they eat insects. Each of the hairs on their leaves are covered in a sticky substance which looks like dew that traps an insect if one lands on it. When the insect can't get away the plant will begin to eat it. 

The long stalks have buds on the end where little white flowers will open up. This particular plant didn't have the flowers in bloom quite yet. The flowers only bloom in the sunlight so it could be that they were just closed up for the evening. ​

Soon enough it got too dark to see very well. That was OK because we were pretty exhausted and wanted to go to sleep anyways. Before we did we once again hung our food in the trees. It was a beautiful night and we would have liked to have slept with the tent door open again, however, we were expecting a 60% chance of rain the next day from about 6 a.m. to about noon with a chance of a thunderstorm, so we had to sleep with the door closed. 

It was about 1 a.m. when I woke up to the sound of a clawing noise in the food tree. I knew it was a raccoon trying to get at our food. I was so achey that I could barely roll over or even move. I worried that it would still manage to get into our food despite it hanging in the tree (I have witnessed a crafty coon get into a locked cooler hanging from a rope in a tree many many years ago so I knew anything was possible). At the same time though, I knew we were going to be out of the bush the next day and I almost wished that it would get into the food so that we didn't have so much weight to carry out with us. He didn't stay in the tree long and he seemed to give up pretty easily. 

It wasn't long before I heard it back on the ground. This time it was going through Devin's tent! That's when I knew I couldn't just lie there and ignore it. I jumped up and turned on the light, opened the tent door and yelled at it to scare it away. It worked and the coon ran off. Of course the commotion woke Heather up and I told her that the coon was in Devin's tent. She said "That's OK. Devin decided to stay in Kendra's tent tonight because it was too hot in his and because Kendra's tent was so far away from everyone else's that they thought it would be safer."  That explained why we didn't hear any yelling coming from Devin when the coon was in his tent. I lay back down to go to sleep and in my over tiredness I started giggling to myself. All I could think of was the description of Devin's tent as "Jiffy Pop" and "Baked Potato". No wonder the raccoon was rummaging through Devin's tent. He probably thought that he had found the biggest dinner of his life! I fell back to sleep giggling and quietly muttering the words "Baked Potato".