Perseids And The Lookout Fails To Impress

We woke up just before 7 a.m. and our guests, Frank, Alex, and Roche got up at about 7:30 a.m. Thunder was rumbling like a stomach that hadn't had breakfast yet  and we knew that rain was soon to follow. 

   Our breakfast banter with the guys was about how warm it had been the night before and how good everyone slept, as well as the anticipated hikes ahead of us as we would soon go off in different directions.
We had told the guys how both Heather and I had figured each other would bring the bug spray and so neither of us had brought any. So, as a parting gift, Frank gave us a bottle of bug spray as well as some extra cheese that was left over from the night before. He figured that since we still had many days ahead of us that we would need it more. We thought this was a great trade for sharing a campsite with them and we thanked them for their thoughtfulness. Heather was particularly grateful for the bug spray because she had been getting bit the most. 
   As the rain started to lightly fall, we began to pack up our gear. We were glad to have the tarp up so that we could stay dry while we packed up. 

The guys wore blue rain ponchos while packing up their gear. We said good bye to the guys and wished them luck for their return trip.  They headed up the big hill to the main trail at about 9:15 a.m. and about 15 minutes later we were off too, going in the opposite direction. 

Today would be the longest hike of our 9 day trip. There would be a lot more hill climbing in this section than there had been so far. The biggest hill of all on this trip also awaited us...the hill up to the lookout, which was about half way to our next site on the north end of  Pincher Lake. There are 4 sites on the north end to choose from that are on a first come, first served basis. We were going to aim for the first site on this lake because we will be tired and we will want to stop as soon as we can. (Our plans did not work out that way though). 

We started off in the rain and it rained for most of the day. By the time we reached the site we were soaked through and through. We were hoping that the rain would let up and the sky would clear so that we could see the Perseids Meteor Shower tonight. It usually lasts for a few days every year at about this time but tonight was supposed to be the peak of the shower with about 150 meteors falling every hour. 

Despite the rain we enjoyed some scenic views. There were a lot of boggy, muddy areas but there were also some pretty creeks and a little water fall making its way through the rocks.  

I came across one rock on the ground that made me think of Groot from the Guardians Of The Galaxy movie. 

Eventually the rain let up and it was just water dripping from the trees. A mist formed in the air all around us as the sun started to warm things up and dry up the moisture. Unfortunately this is when the mosquitoes became bad. We tried to just keep moving as much as possible so that the mosquitoes didn't have time to land on us. It only kind of worked. Heather was grateful to have the bug spray at this point. 

Over time the mist dissipated and the sun came out to create a trail of dappled shadows and sunny spots. 

One area was particularly rocky and reminded me of some of the paths that we traveled in Kilarney Provincial Park. 

When the hills started to get steeper and rockier, we knew that we were getting close to the lookout. We knew that we were almost half way to our destination for the day. 

Heather was ahead of me. So, when I reached the top of the hill she was waiting for me on a rock. I looked around and said "This is it? This is the lookout?"  Heather said "Yep. This is it"  The "lookout" may have been a good lookout point at one time but now the trees had grown so big that it obscured any sort of view one might have had of the area below. It was a little disappointing. There was a better lookout on the trail from Rain Lake to Islet than there was here. 

Nonetheless, we took a nice long rest here and enjoyed what view there was. The bright red fungus growing on the old wet stumps were actually very pretty and different from the white ones that we usually see. 

As they say, "What goes up, must come down". And so the decent back down the other side of the lookout hill was in our destiny. It was a little rough in spots, but all in all, it was far from the worst hill we have ever climbed on a backpacking trip. 

At the bottom of the hill, off in the distance we could see a bit of the lake. It looked like someone may have made an unofficial make-shift camp site there at one point. Probably other campers who found themselves to tired to carry on. 

We probably would have stopped more often and enjoyed the scenery a bit more if the bugs hadn't been so bad. Heather usually walks faster than I do so she got to the side trail to the first campsite on North Pincher before I did. When I arrived I saw her pack before I saw her. She had already went to the site and scoped it out and decided that the bugs were too bad on that site. Besides, it was the second one that we had wanted. So we went to the next one. 

   Unfortunately, the second one was already occupied by hikers who got there first. So, we went to the third one. The third site was the worst of all the sites. It was a fire pit sitting in a small area with nothing but tall grass all around. There wasn't even a good place to put a tent. 
   So now we had to decide whether to go back to the first one or to go the last one and hope it was good. We were tired and wanted to just "be there already".  If we went ahead then we might either find someone on it already or it may be as bad if not worse than the one we were already at. In which case we would have to walk all the way back to the first site anyways.  We decided that I would walk ahead and if the site was good then I would just leave my stuff and come back to tell Heather. So that is what we did. 

It was very muddy between the third and fourth site and I had to climb over a fallen tree to get there. However, the fourth site was actually decent. There were still a few mosquitoes here but they weren't bad like they were on the trail. So I dropped my stuff and went back to get Heather, It's a lot faster to go back when you don't have a backpack on. 

We were so tired when we got to the site that we didn't even put up the tent right away. We did, however, set up a clothes line to get our wet clothes dried out. There was a bit of a wind coming off the lake so that  helped.

At first glance the site looked like it didn't have much in the way of a good swimming area. It looked like just a bunch of bushes between us and the water. We were a bit disappointed. 

I noticed a large rock that was out a distance from the shore and said to Heather "It's too bad we can't get to that rock out there." and she agreed. 

But as we started exploring, we discovered that we could get out to the rock! There was a path with a bridge made of old logs that led straight to the rock. The bridge was not that great and if you weren't careful you would still get your feet wet, but that was worth the price to be able to get to the lake. 

While standing on the rock I looked back and could see Heather across the way taking her shoes off and resting her poor feet. We had done a lot of walking today. 

From out on the rock the lake looked very inviting. The water was clear and the rock was a great place to swim. I dove right in. The water was warm and refreshing. I wonder how many people have passed this campsite over because it didn't look like it had a place to swim. It pays to search around a little bit sometimes. 

   After a swim I went to check out the thunder box. Someone had taken the chain and twisted it over and over again so that you couldn't barely open the lid. It took me some time to untangle it enough to be able to get the lid open again. I am guessing some kids probably thought it was a fun thing to do.  It's a good thing that it wasn't a bathroom emergency.
   When I got back to the fire pit, Heather showed me the caterpillar of a Close-banded Yellowhorn moth that she had discovered. It looked like a little yellow cactus with all its bristles. 

We gathered some wood and made a fire so that we could cook supper. The rain had made the wood wet so it was a bit smokey at first but eventually we got it going. Somehow I threw my back out while I gathered wood.I am sure that the action of gathering the wood was just the last straw in the strain my back had gone through that day. I was a bit worried. After all, we were about half way on our trip and there was no way that Heather would be able to carry both of our packs. I have had back problems before and from experience,  I was fairly sure that if I was careful and if I got a good nights sleep that it would be better in the morning. But there is always that possibility that it wouldn't be. 

   So, for the rest of the evening I was careful not to lift anything heavy and to not bend down to pick things up. Boy was I glad that I had decided to borrow Devin's little fold up chair and bring it along! Heather was super great at helping me out and taking care of me. She wasn't as good at taking care of herself though. When she went to put our food up in the tree, she used a pot tied to the end of a rope to throw over the tree branch. The pot got the rope over the branch just fine, however, it swung back towards her and hit her square in the forehead. It left a bit of a mark but she was otherwise ok. We spent the rest of the daylight hours playing Qwirkle until it got too dark to see the tiles anymore. We were just biding our time as we waited for the stars to come out so that we could see the Perseids meteor shower.

   Once it got dark enough, we sat and watched the stars come out. The night was chilly for the first time on this trip so we sat close to the fire. As we sat looking up at the sky we could hear a rustling noise behind us. We knew some animal was over by our pots and pans, but it didn't sound big. We shone our flashlights over and discovered a little mouse rummaging through our stuff. I would have liked to have taken a picture of him but it was too dark. He didn't stay long because he didn't find anything interesting. All our food had been put up in the tree long before he came along.
   We saw a few meteors, but not very many. We only saw one really bright one. If this was supposed to be the peak of the meteor shower, it was very disappointing. We sat for well over an hour and saw no where near 150 of them. We saw maybe 10 of them. By 11 pm we gave up and called it a night. 
   I took a Robax for my back before going to sleep in hopes that my back would be better in the morning. If it wasn't then we were going to have some serious problems. But I decided not to let that worry ruin my sleep as I drifted off to the sounds of the loons calling near by.