Sharing A Site With Weary Travellers

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to the sound of a thunderstorm off in the distance. Five minutes later, a light rain started to beat against the tent. My back was a little sore, (something I knew would be resolved if I were to just get up and move around) but it was too early to get up. I had a fantastic nights sleep though. It wasn't too hot or too cold and I had slept well. I decided to wait out the rain and I fell back to sleep for awhile.

​ I woke up again around 8:30 a.m. to the sounds of other hikers going by. There was some mist on the lake, and the leaves were still wet, but the sun was coming out. It was looking like it would be a nice sunny day after all. 

Today we were headed to Weed Lake. There is only one site on Weed Lake so we knew that we didn't have any competition for it. It was only about half the distance we had traveled yesterday (4 km) so we were in no rush to get going. We sat and talked for a few hours and leisurely packed up the camp. We said good by to Theivy and Buddy and  finally headed off at about 11:30 a.m. 

Not too far from the Islet Lake campsite we noticed a number of old beaver chewed trees. We didn't see any dams or lodges around so we figured that the beaver had long since come and gone. 

We traveled for about a half an hour when we came across a log across the path with 3 guys sitting near it, taking a break. We stopped and talked to them for a bit and learned that they were from the Ottawa area and that they were on their way to North Pincher Lake. We didn't talk long though because we were anxious to get going. 

There were quite a number of creeks to cross in this section of the trail. Some of them very small, and some of them very pretty. 

We stopped for a break where we thought the map said there was a  tiny lake. There wasn't. But we were tired so we set up our chairs and rested here anyways. This was one of those times when we were glad to have brought the chairs, despite an extra pound of weight because there was nothing but wet ground to sit on everywhere. 

   We had only been there for about 15 minutes when the 3 guys that we had passed awhile back came walking by. They had caught up to us and were now passing us. Once again, we chatted with them for a minute or two before they continued on their way.
   After we were rested up we started on our way again too. We just rounded a bend when a large creek came into view. I guess we were off a bit with the map and if we had just gone a little bit further, we would have had a more scenic view to rest at. Ah well, live and learn. 

Like yesterday there were some interesting plants and mushrooms along the way. Not nearly as many though. I recognized yje pale pink and white colours of a ghost pipe. I had seen these in another part of Algonquin Park in May of 2019.

In contrast, was the deep red colours of the Goblet Waxcap mushrooms.

But the most interesting mushroom that I saw was the giant stone mushroom that was sitting under the roots of a tree.  Ok, so it's not really a mushroom, but it sure looks like one. 

Roots and rocks were intertwined everywhere and made for some interesting landscapes. 

As Heather often does, she went up ahead of me and out of sight for a time. Eventually I saw the orange sign that indicated I had made it to our campsite. 

The Weed Lake site is situated at the bottom of a very large hill, At the top of the hill I saw a backpack and thought it was Heather's. I looked down the hill and saw Heather talking to some people. I was worried that, like on a previous backpacking trip, we may have to argue with someone over who's site it was. However, when I joined Heather at the bottom of the hill I was surprised to find that Heather was talking to the 3 guys that we had crossed paths with earlier on the trail.  They had seen the site was empty and had stopped here to have lunch. We didn't mind because we have stopped at empty sites for lunch before too. We told them to take their time.  They introduced themselves as Frank, Alex, and Roche. 

We talked to them for awhile and found out that they had started from the beginning of the trail (Rain Lake) and had to go all the way to North Pincher in one day because when they had booked the trip, all the other sites were full. So they didn't have much choice. So in one day they would have to hike over 21 km. And the worst was yet to come. Heather knew that there was a "look out" (that wasn't really a look out) at the top of a very big hill that they would have to climb in order to get there. North Pincher was where we were scheduled to camp tomorrow so we knew what a journey it would be for them. At this point they were only half way there and they were already exhausted. 
   Heather and I let them eat while we explored the site a little and started the water filtering through our platypus filter system. Then Heather and I discussed letting Frank and Alex and Roche share the site with us. It was a big enough site so we were both good with that. 

So we offered to share the campsite with them. However, they declined and decided to keep going, despite being tired. So, as they were leaving, we told them that if they found themselves not able to make it all the way to North Pincher, that they could always come back to share this site. The invitation was still open. They thanked us and then made the climb back up the hill to the trail. (Turns out, the backpack that was at the top of the hill that I thought was Heather's was actually Frank's... he was wise to leave it up there so that he didn't have to lug it all the way back up the hill again. It was a relatively steep hill). 

After the guys left, we went about setting up camp and getting a better look at the site. 

Aside from it being at the bottom a big hill, the campsite was pretty nice.  It had a nice big fire pit area with logs to sit on.

Even the thunder box was brand new made with all brand new wood. 

There wasn't really what you would call a beach area but we did find a flat rock area by the water's edge where we were able to go in swimming. The water was not as cold as it had been at Rain Lake. it was good to rinse off after a long sweaty hike. A momma loon and her baby were enjoying a swim there too. 

After our swim, Heather suggested that we do some painting. She had brought along some painting kits for us that she had devised. They consisted of paint in little old film canisters, some painters tape wrapped around a paint brush, various sized paint brushes, pieces of acetate (to mix colours on), and some paper, all rolled up inside a couple of cardboard paper towel rolls. It was a light weight, space saving way to be able to bring painting materials with us on our trip. 

I had seen a mushroom in amongst some light green moss that  I thought would be a good subject to paint. Heather chose to go down to the water's edge and paint a lake scene. 

So we sat painting for a few hours. When we were done, Heather had a lovely little painting of Weed lake. All I had was a hot mess. I hated mine. The paper was not what I was used to and the brushes would not give a fine enough stroke. Although Heather's painting turned out great, she still agreed with me on the paper and brushes. We both agreed that next time we would bring better brushes and a roll of proper painting canvas and try our hand at it again. 

After giving up on the painting I sat and watched the loons swim by for a bit until we got hungry and decided that it was about supper time. 

The evening sun was starting to shine through the trees and we sat talking and waiting for the water to boil and the fire to heat up. It was about this time that we looked over to see Frank. Alex, and Roche who had given up trying to make it to North Pincher and came back to take us up on our offer of sharing the campsite. They had made it as far as the look out hill, but once they got to the top of that they decided that they were too tired to do the whole trek. They had originally planned to camp at North Pincher and then go around the circle to camp the next night at Rain Lake. That would have been more than 40 km in 2 days (we were doing that in 9 days). Instead, they figured it was best to turn back today so that they were that much closer to the exit tomorrow. They weren't even sure they were going to stay at Rain Lake anymore. They might just hike right out the next day.  

   We all sat down to eat and talk and to let them rest before they set up their tents. They shared their cheese and we all shared some conversation about other camping and backpacking trips we had each been on. It was nice to have the extra company for a night.   (If you read this Frank, Alex and Roche, we both say Hi and it was great meeting you!) 
    Then when it started to get dark, we showed them where the best place was for them to set up their tents.  It was at about this point when the mosquitoes were starting to come out and they were pretty bad. They were tiny mosquitoes so you couldn't see them well and you didn't know they were biting you until they were already half way through making a meal out of  you. At first we thought it was sand fleas but then we realized it wasn't.  So, with the annoyance of mosquitoes and the guys being exhausted, and Heather and I having to get up early in the morning for the longest leg of our trip (over 8 km) we all went to bed fairly early. 

It was a very hot and humid night. We slept with just the screen up in the tent and slept on top of our sleeping bags instead of in them. The last thing I heard before drifting off to sleep was the sound of  Great Horned Owl calling out  across the lake.