Pukaskwa: First Official Paddling Day!

Finally. On Saturday morning, we headed out from the Puk River Campsite.

After just an hour or so of paddling we got to Imogen Cove and had the opportunity to check out the old Pukaskwa Depot, a logging town from the 30s. There wasn't much left to explore, but the bits and pieces left are enugh to inspire the imagination & have you seeing the old town alive again in your imagination!

Imogen Cove also had a beautiful long beach, and we ate lunch here (more like snacks & oranges.)

After leaving Imogen Cove, it took us another couple of hours paddling on the beautiful, calm lake to get to our destination for the evening: Bonamie Cove.

At Bonamie Cove, we found a surprise. Although there was no loo for us, yet there were real patio tables, a full size shovel, and a wire grate for over the fire. We took advantage!

Dinner at Bonamie Cove was supposed to be lunch....quinoa salad. We added the ham that was supposed to go with the evening nasi goreng meal and I have to say, I think it was my favourite meal of the trip!

Good-bye Puk River campsite!

Destination: Imogen Cove

Shaun checking out the remains of a cabin in Pukaskwa Depot @ Imogen Cove

My boat & Ed's taking a break on the beach at Imogen Cove

Our party at Imogen Cove

Ed filtering water at Bonamie Cove.

First group shot at Bonamie Cove on our wonderful, shoveled-out sand bench :) L-R: Richard, Shaun, Kim, myself, Ed

Sunset @ Bonamie Cove

Silhouette group shot. Who's who?

Pictures of the full campsite @ Bonamie coming tomorrow!

Dah-dah-dah-DONE!!!!

Two Mondays back, I came home from work to this wonderful notice on the bulletin board in the entryway.

My basement is done being painted! (Thanks to Ed :)

And no yellow footprints in funny places thanks to this note. Just the stretch under where the wardrobe sat & the walkway to the laundry had to be finished yet, and now they are complete. And we had to walk around it for two days, but that went just peachily.

Also, the last bits of paneling & baseboard were finished.

When I get back from these holidays, I can get it all set up. Woot!

Pukaskwa Trip - Arrival Day!

After a brief blip in our last few hours, we got to the park at about mid-day.

(I wasn't driving....but yes there was a little green slip of paper. Grrr.)

Finally, arrival at the 7th park in my goal to visit all 42 Canadian National Parks!

After we arrived, we had to sign in, pay all of our fees, have a back-country orientation & then figure out if all of our gear fit into our boats! (And I managed to get in the last hot shower for the next ten-ish days!)

Richard & I packing our boats (it all fit in!)

Ed's boat, Kim & Shaun packing their boats

 Our gear fit (barely), we unloaded again, and in came the water taxi to take us to our first campsite at the Pukaskwa River mouth.

water taxi incoming!

Drop off at Puk River

First kayak campsite!

First kayak sunset!

:D

Meeting Kaylin :)

On the evening of the 7th - the night that we returned to our vehicles from our trip, a friend of mine had her baby!

Kevin & Andrea welcomed a daughter: Kaylin. She sure made her mommy wait it out - before we left on our trip she was expected to come any day. Still, at just one day past the due date, it's not toooooo bad!

I think probably the most excited person in the family was Kaylin's big sister, Serena! Serry is nearly 5 and has been talking about having a sister for years. Although, her 2.5 year old self had an imaginary sister named DW.....

Anyways...pretty cool stuff. This past Monday I visited Andrea & Kaylin for the morning and got to hold the 'little' peanut (9 lbs isn't so newborn anymore, but she still seems tiny!)

Camping Recipe: Pizza

I haven't posted any new recipes in awhile. But I have a slew of them now!

It's interesting what new things you'll try (and which work out) when you're camping! And it's also great what kayakers can take along (that backpackers won't because of the weight.)

One of the recipes that drew out the cameras were our pizzas. We ate these on either the first or second night at Cascade Falls, and boy, were they good!

Campfire Pizza!
Yield: 10 individual-size pizzas

Tools:
- Aluminum foil
- Frying pan (optional if you have a grate)
- Campfire

Ingredients:

• 10 flat greek pitas (not pocket pitas - we discovered for another meal that these go bad too quickly.)
• 1 green pepper
• 1 onion
• half-size bar of cheese (we used cheddar) (or one bag of shredded cheese. Both keep well for days)
• 1 bottle squeezable pizza sauce
• 1 package pepperoni slices

Directions:

1. Start a fire, and try to get it to good coals.
2. Chop the onion & green pepper
3. Grate the cheese
4. Line the frying pan with foil, or cover the grate over the fire with foil.
5. Squeeze sauce onto your pita, sprinkle on cheese, veggies, and layer with pepperoni.
6. Set on foil over fire
7. Bake until cheese melts.
8. Enjoy!

We enjoyed this meal with a melon for dessert.

The life....

Pukaskwa Trip - An Evening at Agawa

On Day One (Thursday, July 26) we left at approximately 6 am (I think a touch later.)

Our cars:

Stuck in construction traffic....

stopped for lunch...or a break...or gas...or the other kind of gas..!?

It was a long day of driving - the first half in the rain.

We got past the Sault and decided to start thinking of a place to stay for the night.

First we stopped at a look out....we were preceded by this dude...who actually came after us....??

I think I'm with the guy calling "poo" on the right...

By the time we got to Lake Superior Provincial Park, we decided to pull into the campground and find us a site for the evening.

Agawa Bay, site # 145. Book it if you're ever going that way. It's right on the beach, and a short distance to the comfort station. AND it's not on the road like the campsite like many of the back row are. This is the view of the tents. The fire pit was on the other side of the picnic table and off to the right was the beach.

Little tent for the girls, big tent for the boys.... dinner's cooking!

If you need more convincing that this was a great site/park: look at the sunset at the bottom!!!

perfect water for stone-skipping

miniature wave splashing up on the beach

And Ed's cam has even nicer shots:

We ate dinner here (sausages, potatoes & fresh green beans. Yum!)

And away we went the next morning....

Back!

Oh yes, I am back from an amazing kayaking trip 15 hours north in Pukaskwa National Park.

Awesome pictures, detailed itinerary, and camp-out recipes coming soon.

I nearly forgot technology existed while I was out there. I didn't even miss my hot shower (until I stood in one back home!)

This is it for now. It's 1:39 am!

So much email catching up to do.

Can I delete facebook? I didn't miss it at all these past couple of weeks...