Step After Step, Mile After Mile, Day After Day

It was a new morning. The sun was shining, the birds were singing  and we were refreshed and ready to do some more hiking. 

I even had a little Seedling Debarking Weevil that wanted to hitch a ride. 

We packed up and left the campsite at about 10:30 a.m.  The morning air was a bit chilly but once we got moving we warmed up pretty quickly. Kelly left before we did and said that she would meet us there. The group had already left much earlier that morning. 

Our next destination was back to Baldhead.  We planned to stop at Sand Spit for lunch.

​We came to a river that had no man made bridge across it.  

Instead we had to use the piles of logs and driftwood to get across. We managed to do it without falling in. 

On the other side we saw the first toad to be seen on our trip. 

As we walked through the woods, we kept hearing a bird with a really interesting song. The song was very very long. It went on and on without stopping for a breath. I have no idea what kind of bird it was. The song sounded like perhaps some sort of warbler.  We may never know what it was. 

The rocky coves were becoming all too familiar now.  But at least we knew what we were in for. We knew where the difficult areas would be and where the easy areas would be.  And that made it easier for us mentally. 

And knowing that we were going to one of our favourite campsites for lunch also made it more enjoyable. 

I was finding that I had to stop and tie my shoe laces so many times on this trip. On previous trips with the same hiking boots I had never had this trouble. It was a bit frustrating. However, today when I had to stop to tie my laces, I found myself face to face with a Four-spotted Skimmer dragonfly.

All in all, this part of the hike was fairly easy going. We stopped a few times for a quick break and to take a drink. 

But it only took us about an hour and a half to get to Sand Spit. We arrived around noon. 

Sand Spit was as gorgeous as ever. The water was crystal clear and the sky was blue. Now this is a nice destination for a backpacking trip. If I had to do this trail again (which I doubt I will be doing anytime soon) I would try to spend a couple days on this campsite and just relax here and enjoy it. 

I noticed a crevasse nearby that I had missed the last time we were here.  At the very end of it some wild roses were growing.  Kelly mentioned this spot later on when we caught up to her. She said that it looked like a grave. It does kind of remind me of a grave now that I look back on it. 

While we were down at the beach we saw something that took us by surprise. All in one spot there were about 5 Canadian Tiger Swallowtail butterflies all grouped together. We watched as another one fought the wind to try to join this group.  We wondered what they were doing there all huddled together. 

Later on, Kelly told us that what they were doing was something called "puddling" or "mud puddling". They congregate on wet sand and mud to partake in extracting salts and minerals from damp nutrient rich areas. Some of he nutrients collected may be provided as a nuptial gift during mating rituals. 

We knew that the rangers had been here since the last time we were here. The fire pit had been full to the rim with ashes when we were here last and now it was empty.

Also, the toilet had been moved. The old one was buried and a new hole was dug for the new one. They may not have parts of the trails marked well, but one thing I can say for them, they do take very good care of the sites and trails! 

We stayed at Sand Spit until about 1 pm. Then we said good bye to the butterflies and continued on our way.

We still had about 4 or 5 more kilometers to go before we reached Baldhead. 

We came to the area where Carsten and I both fell and "turtled" days before . This time though it was dry and not so slippery. We managed to stay on our feet and not fall over this time. 

The bugs were not bad really. Don't get me wrong, they were definitely there; they just weren't biting much. 

We got to Baldhead site number 4 at about 3:30 pm. (which is about a kilometer away from the other 3 Baldhead sites).  Heather arrived there first and began to filter water for us.

When Carsten and I arrived, Heather told us how a German man arrived at about the same time as her. He saw her and started running to the site. He was worried that we wanted the site. To be honest, we hadn't really settled on which one we wanted. All we knew was we didn't want the one we had last time because of the "no-see-ums" that were biting us all night long.  The man was happy when Heather told him that he could have this site and we would take one of the ones further down.  He went back to get the rest of his family and they all arrived at about the same time Carsten and I arrived.  We chatted for a bit. They told us how they had come from Germany for a vacation and were staying here for one night and then tomorrow they were going to Kilarney Provincial Park for a few days.  Once we got our water bottles filled we wished them well and continued on our way. 

Once we walked away, Heather pointed out that it was good that they had wanted that site because otherwise we might have walked all the way over to where the other 3 sites were only to find out they were full and then had to walk al the way back. That would have added an extra 2 kilometers to our trip. So this worked out well for us. 

As we got closer to the other 3 Baldhead sites we passed a large boulder with ferns growing on it. It looked like a giant head with hair sticking up.  

We arrived at our site just after 4 pm. We ended up on site number one which is the furthest away, but also the one that is the closest to the end of trail. So, less walking tomorrow. 

The group had already arrived and they got site number 3, which was the site we had the first night.  It was one of the bigger sites so it had room for them all. We checked to see if Carsten's tarp was still between the rocks where we had left it, and it was. So we took that with us. 

The group  was hanging out on the rocks and most of them had gone in swimming. You could hear them yelling and whooping as they jumped into the cold water.  They were happy to be there and they were having a great time. 

After the group's site came Kelly's site. We said hello to her as we passed by and told her to come by a little later after we set up. 

And that just left our site. Site number one.  On the first night we were at Baldhead I thought that site number 3 was the best site. But after staying at site number one, I think I actually prefer it over site number 3. 

After arriving here, we realized that the sand bar we were looking at just a little ways out from the shore was where we had lunch the very first day we arrived.  We could potentially walk or swim through the water to get there. However, we had no desire to do this so we didn't.

The flowers were everywhere around this site. There were pink wild roses and purple and pink Seaside Peas. It was a really lovely site. 

We got to work setting up camp. The main trail runs to the right of the campsite but that was no big deal because it is not a high traffic area. 

Carsten set up his tent closest to the trail. 

While Heather and I set up our tent closest to the bathroom. There was plenty of room for the tents with lots of room to spare. 

The thunder box was clean and in good condition. It was easy enough to get to in the middle of the night without tripping over things or climbing mountains to get there. You could see our blue tent from there, and yet it still afforded plenty of privacy.  As thunder boxes go, this one was a pretty good one. 

After we were  all set up, Kelly came by and we sat down at the beach and chatted for awhile. 
As we were talking something very big flew around us. At first I thought it was a butterfly but once it landed at our feet I realized that it was actually a very large moth.  

I got it to climb up on my hand and was able to take a better look at it. I loved the big fuzzy body and antennae. I rarely ever see these gentle giants. 

Kelly and I talked about the moth and tried to figure out what kind it was. We both thought it might be  Sphinx moth. But after getting home and submitting its picture to inaturalist.ca I found out that it is actually a Polyphemus moth which is a member of the giant silk moth family.   The name is not as fun as the Sphinx moth's but it is more beautiful than the Sphinx moth is. 

I noticed that this moth had some tears in its wing. It probably wouldn't be able to fly very far. 

Not knowing what else to do with it, I put it up in a tree off the ground in hopes that it would stay safe. Once on the tree it started to flutter its wings and climb higher and higher up. I guess it liked it up there. 

After that Kelly went back to her own campsite for awhile and I decided to go for a walk by myself for awhile in order to do some bird watching. I could her plenty of birds nearby but they didn't really want to be seen.

I walked down the trail a way and found a good spot to look for birds. Standing very still, it wasn't long before I saw a flash of red in the trees nearby.  

It was a male Redstart. He was beautiful!  I had never seen one before. 

As I stood there quietly watching him , along came another bird in a nearby tree.  It was a female Redstart. 

At first I thought she was an Oven bird or  Vireo or Wren. But her yellow tail and sides gave her away. Of course I didn't know this at the time. I had to look it up when I got home. I don't know my birds all that well. 

But these two birds I knew well enough.  These ravens were easy enough to see and hear as they flew across the lake to an old tree in the distance. 

Down at the beach the moon was coming out early this evening. 

The sun wasn't even near to setting yet and still the moon insisted on making an appearance. 

I put on my water shoes and waded out into the lake for a bit. The water was cold! 

When I got back to the campsite I started thinking about gathering wood for a fire. I guess the rangers hd been here not too long ago because they had left behind some wood that had been cut with a chainsaw. They were dry enough to burn. All we had to go was take the extra branches off of them. Gotta like that! 

There were two things that reminded me of my mother at this campsite. The first was a daisy. My mother likes daisies. 

The second was a dime that we found sitting in the crack of the wooden bench by the fire pit. The reason why this reminded me of her is because both her and I have been finding dimes in the strangest places for the past few years. Supposedly it means that someone who has passed on is watching out for you.  I couldn't wait to tell my mom about this latest dime in a strange place. 

We started a fire in the fire pit and had our supper as we watched the sky over the lake slowly start to change colours. 

We put our food up in the tree after supper because we didn't have a bear bin this time around.

After supper, Kelly came by and we sat around the fire swapping stories.  Tomorrow we head off the trail and will be spending the night at the Agawa campground again. Kelly asked if she could hike out with us tomorrow and catch a ride to Agawa where her truck was parked.  We were more than happy with that plan because we had become friends with Kelly and enjoyed her company. 

From our campsite we got to see the gentle pale colours of the sky as the sun set over the lake.  We could hear the loons calling in the distance. 

Kelly made her way back to her campsite and we stayed by the fire for awhile longer.  At about 9:30 pm we decided to call it a night. This would be the last night for us out on the trail. As nice as this evening had been we were ready to get back to the Agawa campground. So going to bed early would make tomorrow come faster. It didn't take long to fall asleep because we were still feeling the effects of all the hiking we had done the past few days and we were tired. I am sure it will take us a few days before we get our energy back and recoup from this trip.