Sleeping Beside A Hornets Nest

I was woken up around 8 a.m. by two loons calling loudly to each other somewhere near by. 

There was still no sun and it was overcast again most of the day.  The No-See-Ums were particularly bad this morning. There were so many of them that you could actually see them swarming. 

We were visited by a hummingbird as we ate breakfast. It was just a quick visit, but we were happy to see it. The hummingbirds seem to be plentiful in this park. 

We were packed up and left camp at around 10 a.m.  We had to make our way back around the trees that were fallen across the side trail. This time we chose to go around them from the other side. It was trickier to climb over some of the branches but we didn't have to go as far off the trail as we did last time. 

The maple leaves were looking beautiful in their new stippled red and orange colours. 

Some of the mushrooms had put on their bright red caps. 

And even the Bunch Berries were dressing up in red collars. 

There was a dried up creek bed that we had to cross over. 

And a forest of pines that had an almost mystical look to them. 

There were two or three steep hills to climb but they weren't too terrible. 

Eventually the clouds drifted away and the sun started to come out. 

It was at about that time that we reached the first of two beaver dams. We had to cross the creek here using some stepping stones to get over to the other side of the brown waters of the beaver pond. 

On the other side was a bit of a hill that wound around the pond. We didn't see any beaver but we still enjoyed the view. 

The trail then turned into a beautiful grassy path through the trees. It was almost like a fairy land. 

The grassy path then turned into a trail of ferns. 

We had to be careful where we stepped because there were little toads everywhere. 

Every part of this section of the trail was different and changed as we went.  Next we were on a trail of tiny maples and club moss. 

One of the types of club mosses was Lycopodium. Seeing it brought back childhood memories of when we were kids and we used to go out in the woods with our mom and dad to pick Lycopodium to sell. 

Once again we came to a stand of pine trees. Looking through the trees you could see the second beaver dam that we were expecting to come to. 

The beaver pond here was much wider but the water was still brown. 

Before the trip I had read some comments online about the beaver dam, so I knew ahead of time that we were going to have to walk right on top of the dam to get to the other side. It was the only way to get across. 

The dam was covered in Jewel Weed and it was not easy to see where to step sometimes. 

It was very beautiful though. There were orange flowers everywhere and there were plenty of bees, butterflies, and dragonflies scattered throughout them. They didn't bother us though. 

There were other flowers too, such as Joe Pye Weed, and cat tails. 

And purple Asters.

We did a test run with our backpacks off.  We went about half way just to test it, to see if it would hold our weight. 

We wanted to see if there were any problem spots we would need to watch out for so that we didn't fall in.  We were going to stop and rest for awhile before crossing but the sky was turning grey again and it was threatening to rain. We didn't want to be crossing this in the rain. So, we decided not to waste any more time and we went back to the beginning of the dam and got our backpacks on. 

Carsten went first. The dam was not just a straight shot across. It went in a zig zag pattern around the edge of the pond. Once Carsten went around the corner up ahead I couldn't see him anymore and I didn't know what to expect to encounter. 

But we had no difficulties and neither of us fell in. Carsten was waiting for me on the other side and we continued on. 

​We passed a large pile of branches that the beavers had been using to build their dam and lodge with. 

It wasn't long after this that we came to the spot where the Helenbar Lake trail joined up with the Semiwite Lake trail. This junction is marked with a big sign that commemorates Lt. William Hugh McKenzie who survived for 27 days in the woods after his jet crashed in the Helenbar Lake in 1946. 

Under the sign is a visitor log book. We wrote our names inside the book and then continued on. 

We were now on the trail we had traveled on before. We had come full circle and now we had to go back up the same trail we had been on the very first night we started this trip so that we could get to site number one on Semiwite Lake. 

This trail had all sorts of crazy looking fungus growing on the trees. Some looked like toasted marshmallows. 

The trail was so much easier to travel on now. There were no hills and since we knew we were almost there, we were in a good mood and the time seemed to fly by. 

In no time at all we were at the sign for the side trail to our campsite. 

Carsten pointed out an old leaf on a piece of birch bark that looked almost like it had been stenciled on. But is wasn't a stencil. It was a work of art of God's design. 

And all of a sudden, we had arrived.  It was about 12:30 by the time we got there. But as we looked around, our good mood started turning into a mixed bag of emotions.  The site was tiny. And rocky. And had an unusually high number of yellow jacket hornets flying around.  There was a picnic table; so that was good. 

Behind the picnic table was a little side path. 

It led into the woods where there was a small flat patch of land that had just enough space for one small tent.  We were not sure what we were going to do since we needed space for two tents. We were quickly becoming disappointed with this site. 

Off to the side of the picnic table was a tiny little fire pit. Someone had draped some pine branches across it for some reason. 

Past the picnic table was another side trail. This one was filled with large rocks and it led to the lake. 

At the edge of the lake was another, larger fire pit. This one had big boulders all around it where you could sit pretty comfortably.  Now this made us more happy. This would be a great spot to have supper and watch the sunset. 

You could see much of the lake from here and the view was pretty nice. 

From here we could see the site across the lake that we had stayed at the first night of our backpacking trip. There was no one on it right now and we considered for half a second, packing up our stuff and moving over to that site for the night. But we didn't know if anyone else was booked to stay there so, we didn't. 

We wondered why there were two fire pits. But then we saw the orange sign down by the waters edge and we figured that maybe canoers used this site from time to time. And some days the weather might not be so great for sitting by the shore. So, a more in-land  fire pit might be the way to go on days like that.  But today was not one of those days so, we intended to use the bigger fire pit over by the lake. 

 Maybe we could make this work. We just had to get creative and do some problem solving.  First we had to find room for a second tent. 

We noticed that there was a small area beside the big fire pit where the picnic table might fit. If we could get it across the boulder path and moved to here, then we would have room for another tent where the picnic table used to be. 

It was tricky getting the table over to the new spot, but we did it. Once it was moved, it looked like it was the perfect spot for it and it felt like it had always belonged there. 

And this opened up a whole lot more room for another tent.  "Perfect!" we thought. 

Perfect that is until Carsten discovered a slight problem.  Under the picnic table had been an underground  hornets nest!  No wonder there were so many yellow jackets flying around the area!   We were lucky that we hadn't disturbed the nest. None of the hornets seemed to be upset and they weren't coming after us or bothering us in any way.  

After we thought about it, we figured it was a good thing we had moved the picnic table. What would have happened if we had sat down at the table for dinner and had put our feet right into the doorway of that nest?  Or worse... what if someone who was allergic to bees had done that?  

So now, in light of our new insect friends,  we had to re-think our tent set up strategy. 

Carsten's tent had to be pegged into the ground or it wouldn't stand. Since we didn't want to be accidentally ramming pegs into an underground hornets nest, we decided that Carsten should take the spot down the side trail that was furthest away from the nest. 

Since my tent didn't need to be pegged down, that meant that I had to share a spot with the yellow jackets. 

There was not a whole lot of space on that little patch of land. So, the door to my tent was only a couple of feet away from the door to their nest. This was going to be a fun night!  I wondered if I would be able to hear them buzzing underground as I slept above them.

I decided that for our safety, and the safety of any future campers (and I suppose in a round about way, the safety of the hornets) that it would be best if I took out a sharpie and wrote a warning sign on a big white rock and placed it beside the nest. This way there would be no surprises to any new comers and both Carsten and I would be able to see exactly where the nest was since it was not easy to see at first glance. 

Behind my tent we found a trail that led to the Thunder Box.  The path to it was overgrown and the sign for it was put up sideways making it difficult to see it. It looked like the Thunder Box hadn't been used in forever.

Once again we found Rove Beetles near by. These ones were a different type of Rove Beetle than the last ones we had seen. 

You couldn't really see the lake from the Thunder Box, but I did get to do some bird watching from there. A woodpecker came around and didn't seem to mind that I was there. 

Once we got set up and ate lunch, we decided that the campsite wasn't all that bad. It may be tiny and full of hornets, but it was still quite lovely here.  The fall leaf colours were stunning. 

Even the fungi wanted to get dressed in pretty colours. 

A Western Dusky Slug was enjoying the wet, slimy top of a mushroom.

A Picture-winged fly landed on my knee. I found the spots on its body and the stripes on its wings to be beautiful, even if it was just a fly.

And once again, that same group of Merganser ducks came swimming by. 

We also had a visit from a little green hummingbird. It even landed on a tree ranch for a couple of seconds. I didn't get a picture though. It was too fast. 

The sun kept coming and going all afternoon.  ​Mostly going. 

There was a moment where we could see a bright light behind the clouds and we thought that the sun  was pushing through. However, when the clouds parted for a brief moment we were surprised to see that it was actually the moon and the moon looked like a full moon even though it wasn't supposed to be full yet. 
At first we thought it must be the sun we were seeing but then we could see the sun through the clouds that had parted a little further away at the exact same time. So we were not sure what to make of that. It was kind of weird. And we didn't have time to study it much because the clouds quickly came back and covered both so that we could no longer see either of them again. 

After lunch we gathered wood for the fire and water for the water filter. Unfortunately we somehow managed to puncture a hole in our water filter bottle. It wasn't too bad though. We managed to patch it up with a piece of duct tape. (This is why you should always have a little bit of duct tape with you on a backpacking trip). 

At about 4:30  we decided it was nap time. In answer to the question "Can you hear the hornets underground when you are sleeping next to them?" The answer is "no". At least not from where I was napping.  

At about 6 pm we started a fire for supper. The wind was up and it kept blowing ashes and little bits of bark and debris into the water we were boiling. So, we took a clean towel and put it over a pot and poured the water into it to filter out the unwanted bits. 

We were almost done eating when the sky turned very dark and it began to rain.

But the sun kept shining right through the clouds and the rain.  

This left us in the dark side of the lake while the other side of the lake was all bright and sunny. 

And naturally when you get rain and sun at the same time, you get a rainbow. 

The sun continued to fight with the clouds. The rain would stop and start and stop and start.  Eventually it stopped raining all together. 

A lone Canada Goose swam by. I wondered where it was going all by itself. Usually they are in a group. 

With the rain gone the sun was able to provide us with some colour as it prepared to set. 

The moon also made an appearance. Now that it was fully visible we could confirm that it was indeed not a full moon that night. 

A chill started to fill the air and the mosquitoes started to swarm. It was time to escape to our tents. Tonight would be the last night sleeping out in the back country. Tomorrow night we would still be sleeping in a tent, but it would be in the main campground. 

So, we took a moment to appreciate the peace and quiet and the reflection of the moon on the lake. Sometimes its the little things that make life so wonderful.