Algonquin
Park 2000
Aug. 26, 2000 - Aug.
29, 2000
Despite the fact that I was pretty sick, and even missing my last day
of work at Rand, I still decided to go to Algonguin Park to go portaging
with my friends. I was pretty much dead the first day, but it turned out
for the better by the end.
The trip had everything from bears, raccoons, and rain, to "the washroom challenge", which May won with flying colours.
The start of our canoeing adventure. Just look at all the stuff we're bringing... not your typical portaging trip, now is it!
Ken and I making our way downstream, trying to make like we know where we're going.
May looking like she's doing all the work. :)
Our first campsite... to the left of these rocks. I was totally exhausted after canoeing since I did not recover from my illness yet. We dried our stuff on the rocks since we got rained on during our canoe ride.
The next morning, I was feeling much better, and so was the weather. Off to our next site!
Ahh... finally we arrive to our next site at Little Joe.
Our "we made it" snapshot, while our clothes dry in the background.
What's all the excitement up there? This was the fun part, trying to get the rope over the branch so we can hang our food... despite all our efforts, we still ended up getting a visit from the local bear. Yes, bear, not raccoon!!!
May, Jon, and I caught by surprise.
Watch out for Evil Taku and his flames of death!
...and here we have Master Chef Ken strutting his stuff where he's most comfortable... on the log. This is our third, and final campsite.
Jon: "Hey, where are you looking at, buddy?"
Ken lost in confusion.
Outside our shelter from the deep, dark woods, we pose, not afraid of anything.
Meet the hat-head family.
The most important part of our trip: Bear Safety Training 101. Here we have myself and Ken, in action, fighting as if our life depended on it. Most people passed with flying colours, while others... well, didn't really pay enough attention.
Part of BST101, each of us had to be able to carry the canoe on our heads
and walk about. Always a necessity when you encounter a bear... yeah right.
May and her canoe not knowing what to do next.
Jon thinking he can make a run for it with a canoe on his head.
That would be Ken and I canoeing in the evening sunset, looking for places to fish.
May fishing, looking like she knows what she's doing.
Finally, we come back to where we began three days ago. We survived!
...and where is the first place we all wanted to go when we hit civilization? McDonald's of course! Man oh man, was I craving for that Coca-Cola soooo bad. It must have been the best tasting Coke I've had in my lifetime! Yes... Coke is it!