Beaver Dam And Fire In The Middle of the Trail

What a gorgeous morning! The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. 

We ate breakfast and started to pack up. A little Red-breasted Nuthatch came to watch our progress.
As we packed up, a gentleman came by and asked if he was on the right trail (because it went right through our campsite so he seemed hesitant to go through). I assured him that it was and welcomed him through. 
At some point the girl from the next campsite over went by. She was so quiet that I didn't notice her until she was already past us. So I never got to say good morning to her. 

We left camp at about 11:30 a.m. The bugs were pretty bad for the first 20 minutes or so. 

But that was because we were in a  marshy area again, and well, it was July so the bugs were to be expected I guess. After awhile the bugs became less and less. 

 We followed the edges of lakes and streams for  pretty much the whole trail. 

When we had been hiking for about 45 minutes we met up with a woman who had just come from site 530 (the campsite we will be staying on the night  after this one). We stopped to talk with her for a good long time. She told us how she was backpacking alone and that she was testing out her new walking sticks that she had just bought.

We must have talked for at least 20 minutes or more, swapping stories and exchanging backpacking tips. She recommended the walking sticks and the tent hammock, which is what she used. We told her about the platypus that we use to filter water. We told her about our adventures on the La Cloche trail in Killarney and she recommended Frontenac Park. So we will have to check out Frontenac Park one of these days soon. 

   We never did get her name, but I told her about this blog. (So if you are reading this, a shout out to you! We really enjoyed meeting you and talking to you!) We eventually parted ways and continued on towards our destination, site 529.

The section from site 527 to site 529 is probably the most beautiful section of the  entire trail.  We passed many beautiful streams. 

It was so beautiful in fact, that we passed a couple that we had passed the day before. They told us that this was their second time hiking the trail in two days. 

There were many places along the water's edge where Cardinal Flowers were growing in a rich and vibrant red colour. 

We stopped for lunch just past the loop that branches off of the Essens loop (where the Abes loop starts).
It was a nice enough spot but if we had known, we would have gone just a little bit farther where there was an even nicer spot up ahead that would have been a great picnic area. 

There wasn't a good spot to set up our little stove so we ended up setting it up right in the middle of the trail. We could see if people were coming and we were close to the water. So we figured it was better to set up there than on a slanted hill close to the trees. It turned out to be a wise call. 

As we waited for the water to boil for our soup and noodles, the hiker that had passed through our campsite this morning came back down the trail towards us on his way back out again. We chatted with him for awhile. He told us how he wasn't going around the whole loop and that he just went as far as site 529 (our destination site) and was now on his way back. He explained that he was not a backpacker, only a hiker. We told him all about the pros and cons of of backpacking and gave him lots of tips in case he ever wanted to try it. By the time we finished chatting and he was ready to head off, he said that we had him convinced that backpacking was the way to go. So who knows, maybe one day we will meet up with him again on one of our backpacking trips. 

Our little stove is made of metal and folds out so that you can put a can of jellied cooking fuel under it as a heat source. You just open the can of jelly and light it with a match. When you are done you put the lid on and the fire goes out. It's a safe way to carry fuel in your backpack. 

However, you still have to be careful with them. Once we were done boiling the water, Heather went to put the fire out by putting the lid on the can. But, she accidentally knocked the can over while it was still on fire! Some of the burning jelly spilled out onto the path.

Her first reaction was to do what you normally do when a small fire is by your feet; you stomp on it to put it out. In this scenario that was a bad idea. The reason was because, since it was a jelly, it just squished out from under her shoe and now she had fire coming out from under her foot!  Little bits of burning jelly had splatted in multiple places and now the fire was in 3 or 4 places instead of just one! She stomped and stomped but her shoe just continued to shoot flames out from under it. It was almost like watching a Road Runner cartoon.

So, instinct number two was to douse it with water. This was a much better idea. We had an extra container of water sitting near by just in case something like this were to happen. So we grabbed it and threw it on all the little burning areas. Out the fire went and all was well. We were so happy we were not the cause of a forest fire. Especially in light of all the troubles there have been in them province with forest fores this summer.

We normally use the cans that have the wicks in them instead of the jelly. This was the first time trying the cans of jelly. We will probably go back to using the ones with the wick because after this, we  believe the cans with the wicks are somewhat safer.

So it was a good lesson not to take the fuel cans for granted. Be careful with anything that could potentially start a fire and always have some extra water on hand just in case. You just never know. 

We ate a quick lunch and rested up for a bit before we carried on. After only travelling for a very short time we came across the spot that would have been perfect for a picnic lunch. If you ever hike this trail you will know it when you see it. There is a spot with a little mini water fall (not very big at all, but it is cute). 

There are lots of rocks to sit on and the view is quite nice. 

There were Ebony Jewelwing damselflies hanging out among the Cardinal Flowers. 

Actually, the Ebony Jewelwings were very plentiful here. 

There were also a number of Variable Dancer damselflies (also known as a Violet Dancer).

Our journey took us to another little waterfall.

And then we came to a place where the trail became tricky to navigate. The trail markers were not as clear here. There was a big beaver pond to our left.

And on the right was a huge grassy marsh. Can't go right and can't go left, so all you could do was go straight ahead. 

And what do you do when there is a large beaver dam in the middle of the trail, right in front of you? 

Well, you just climb over it of course. Yep, that's right. The beaver dam is part of the trail. 

On the other side of the beaver dam we stopped to watch a blue heron fly by overhead. The vegetation all around us was up to our shoulders. I was almost beginning to think we should have brought a machete.

​But we pushed our way through. There are no boardwalks here. One false move and you are going to be wearing wet hiking boots for the rest of the day. We managed to make it to the other side without getting too wet though, and once again we were in among the trees. 

It seemed like no time before we were passing the sign for site number 528. There were people already on that site so we didn't go down to take a good look at it. 

But we could tell, even from a distance, that it seemed to be a pretty nice site out on the point. 

Finally our campsite came into view. Site 529. It was only 3:35 pm. Hiking "51 dots " only took us about 3 hours (not including stops for lunch and breaks).

Our site was pretty nice. There is a great view of the lake. The sound of a loon greeted us as we arrived. 

The rocks go right down to the water. The lake bottom doesn't seem to be gooey and muddy, but since a cool wind was up and we were too tired, we didn't go in for a swim to test that theory out. It looked like a good place to swim though. 

The only down side to this campsite is that you can see the neighbours on the other campsite across the water from you. They were far enough away I guess, but you could still see them there most of the time. It was a little disappointing.  But we did have privacy for the bathroom this time!

For one thing, there was a huge boulder acting as a wall between the campsite and the thunder box. Plus, the thunder box was off the beaten path a little. 

We got water and then we put up our tent. We chose a location that was not in direct view of our neighbours. 

As I was unpacking I came across a little hitchhiker. It was what I know as a shield bug.  What I didn't know at the time is that this is also known as the "Green Burgundy Stink Bug" and if disturbed it could let off a foul smell. But I guess I didn't disturb it because I did not experience any foul odors from it. 

Once we were set up, we did a little exploring of the area. We were pleasantly surprised when Heather found 2 folding chairs stashed beside a bush near the fire pit. When you are backpacking, you don't bring chairs with you, so we felt spoiled to be able to sit in these ones for the evening. 

We saw a rather large toad. There have been quite a few toads on this hike. Mostly tiny, baby ones. You had to be very careful not to step on them while you were hiking. This one was much bigger in comparison. 

Supper tonight was re-hydrated Kraft Dinner. Every day we have a different hydrated food in a container attached to our backpacks. We just add water in the morning and carry it around all day. By the time it is supper time the water has soaked in to the food and we are able to cook it and eat it. It's a simple way to carry in meals that are light weight. 

We also dehydrate foods that we don't need to cook or add water to, like these dehydrated raspberries.  Sometimes we make beef jerky or fruit roll-ups using real fruits. 

We dumped our Kraft Dinner into a cooking pot made from a coffee can and some wire. We cut up some beef jerky to mix in with it and give it more flavour.  It may not have been high end cuisine, but it hits the spot when you have been hiking for hours. 

The previous campers not only left us some chairs, but they left us some wood too. So we used it to cook our supper. We didn't burn it all. We left some for the next campers too. We sat around the fire and watched the fish jump in the lake. There were a whole lot of fish jumping at this spot. One would jump probably every minute or so; and that isn't even an exaggeration! 

The loon that had called to us when we first arrived swam closer to us so we could watch it while we ate our meal.

Then a beaver slapped it's tail on the water not too far away from us. It sounded like a loud crack. Not long after that it it swam right by us. 

Then sun was going down and the bugs were coming out. We put our food up in the tree just as the bugs were getting really bad. We had to escape into the tent to avoid them.

Inside the tent we played Quirkle for awhile.  But we had to put our game on hold while Heather made a trip to the bathroom. When she stepped out of the tent, she called out to me "Dana! You have to see this!"  In the sky the moon was big and orange. The reflection of the moon on the lake made it look almost like there were two moons. It was very beautiful. We both grabbed our cameras and hoped that the pictures would turn out ok in the dark. The cameras did capture the image but didn't do it justice. 

We weren't expecting rain so we decided to leave the solid door of the tent open and sleep with just the screen door up so we could see the moon. It was such a lovely night.