After Dale’s soccer game, I took the GMC Yukon Steve borrowed for us to use on our trip, stopped at Meijer’s to pick up our pita bread, and drove to Tamara Ulicny’s house. We loaded her gear and said farewell to Dennis, Michael, and a tearful Matthew. Tamara drove to Linda Runyon’s house where we drank wine, and tried to convince her to go on the trip despite her recent health problems.

Linda Crandall joined us in Sterling and was able to convince Linda to go with us. Linda R started packing for the trip while we waited for Cheryl Syniszewski to arrive. When she did, we loaded all of our gear and the five of us into the Yukon and took off about 1:30. We ate cheese and crackers in the car on the way north. Stopped for gas in Michigan, then drove over the International Bridge to Canada. The customs agent seemed rather amused that we were going backpacking with fifteen bottles of wine, but let us through. We paid the duty for the wine above our allowed limit and headed off for dinner at Giovanni’s. Pulled in to the Algoma Motel in Wawa quite late thinking we would just go to sleep, but spent some time packing up our gear for the morning instead. We even set up Cheryl’s new tent inside our room just to make sure there was room for all three of us.

We ate breakfast in town and drove to the ranger station to check in. We asked about bears in the Gargantua area and were told there was a problem bear earlier but it had been relocated. We drove to the parking lot at Gargantua Bay and started on the trail a little after one. A little after that it started to rain. We hiked to Gargantua Harbour in about 45 minutes and checked out the campsites there. There were some very pretty ones on the sandy beach, but since it was by now raining quite hard, we decided to keep on hiking to Warp Bay. It took us just a little over two hours with stops for picking thimbleberries, checking out moose droppings and tracks, and a lovely red toad. Crossing the Gargantua River was the only difficult part of the trail. There was a new bridge but it only went half way across, then you had to climb on logs and rocks. Of course it was still raining. We chose a site at the far end of the beach at Warp Bay and set up our tents. Linda and Linda set up their tent on a rather high area with bear tracks across it. Cheryl, Tamara, and I set up the tent Cheryl just purchased and hoped it was waterproof Neighbors spot a young bear on the beach.. We have a family with dogs next to us and hope they’ll warn us if the bear returns. . It continued to rain through the evening and all night. We skipped lunch today and heated water on Linda’s new stove for dinner. It starts up easily and heats the water very quickly. Drank wine out of our mugs and had some scrumptious Brie with our crackers. We even had a nice fire in the rain. We had a food hanging fiasco. When attempting to get the line over an appropriate branch, it ends up on an inappropriate branch and gets quite stuck. Tamara gets the second line over and our food is all hung on one line. Tamara joined me this evening in taking a sleeping pill and freaked out. She remembers little of Linda R getting her into the tent and into dry clothes for the night. I went into the tent shortly after and Tamara was still trying to get her sleeping bag zipped. She kept saying it was just like high school. No one read tonight. We stayed dry and slept well.

I was ready to get up a little after seven and it sounded like the rain had stopped. It hadn’t. But it didn’t rain hard and did finally quit mid-morning. We had breakfast and tried to dry a few things out. Linda C saw a fox go through our campsite. We packed a lunch and hiked about an hour to the Devil’s Chair campsites. We went to the overlook and checked out two of the campsites. We spent an hour looking at the rocks and eating lunch. We hiked back and all swam and bathed. Cheryl, Tam, and I hiked down the beach to the river and saw the bear prints coming from the river and heading to the campsites. Tonight we all got out our new Lexan wine glasses and enjoyed our Rosemont Shiraz in them.

Up around 8:00 and first heard and then saw a loon in the bay. A family of five mergansers then made their way across the bay occasionally making dives. I saw a small animal swimming and walked along the beach toward the mouth of the river as it swam that way. At the other end of the beach it dove and I never saw it again. After talking to a neighbor, I decided it was an otter. We had clouds and sun during breakfast and weighed the options for the day as we ate. We decided to have a goof off day around the campsite. Linda C headed for the beach with a book. The rest of us got out rocks, waxed linen, and beads and began crafting. We made captured stone and driftwood necklaces and wine glass identifiers. Cheryl asked, "Do you find this relaxing?" She obviously didn’t and took a break from crafting by going off on a hike. We took a late afternoon swim. Not having clothes to wash or near neighbors we went in the nude. After getting all cleaned up we pumped water. Linda R’s new canvas bucket is really handy. For our early evening entertainment we watched new neighbors going through the woods with flashlights. When they came across Linda R and I hanging food we asked what they were looking for. They said their tent. Linda sent them through our site to the water and pointed them in the direction we thought they should go. We never saw them again. In the morning there was no sign of a tent anywhere. Later we all did star gazing before going to bed. I saw two falling stars before calling it a night. Linda C and Cheryl stayed up later than the rest of us and saw many more falling stars in the crystal clear night sky.

Warm night but heavy rain and even lightning and thunder. The rain seemed to have stopped at 8:30 and we thought about getting up when it began again. Cheryl, Tamara, and I lay in the tent and critiqued it. The Rokk held up very well in the rain and stayed nice and dry. Tamara’s addition of lines to pull out the rain fly I am sure helped. We would also redo the rear window and add a zipper so you could open the rain fly from inside and change the door through the vestibule to make access easier. But overall we have been very pleased. Tamara and I walked down the beach to the river to look for otter, but unsuccessfully. Chatted with our neighbors Kenny and Rene from Toronto. They used a tandem kayak to get to the campsite. Returned to find everyone attempting to free the line and water bottle we had gotten stuck in a tree the first night. We could use the second line to free it except for the line wanting to loop around the small branch it was hung up on. Linda was on Linda R’s and Tamara’s shoulders leaning far forward and waving a tent pole saying, "Just one more minute." Cheryl was gearing up to shimmy up the tree when we finally got it. We rehung our food. About 12:30 we left for a day hike to Chalfonte Cove. The biggest adventure was crossing a very mucky stream. Linda R and Tamara stepped over it and into the muck to cross. Linda C and Cheryl headed upstream to look for a better place to cross. I just decided to go across, but before I could water came rushing upstream and it was twice as wide. A short time later the water ran back out and I did go across sinking to the tops of my boots. Cheryl shimmied across on a fallen tree. Linda C watched the water rise and go down again before crossing. This surging of the lake is just remnants of wind and waves called seiche. It was very strange. We got to the scenic overlook by 2:30 and lunched there until three. Then headed back. In the meantime a large log had been washed downstream to our crossing area and actually made it easier. While seated on the open air toilet near our site I heard great crashing through the woods. I turned to see two large mammals making their way past mostly giving me a view from the rear. The antlers were not typical deer antlers but I convinced myself they were deer because of the familiar white tail. It was only after reading some park information and talking to a ranger that I realized they were woodland caribou. Sightings are rare, so I feel fortunate to have answered nature’s call when I did. We swam, drank, ate, started a fire, and again enjoyed a night sky great for stargazing. It was rather cool, but Linda C and Cheryl stayed up late again looking for falling stars.

We got up and dried out our tents to pack up. We left around 11:30 with me trailing everyone. My right foot was blistered, but not bothering me. I stopped twice to attend to my left foot, not yet blistered, but hurting. The second stop was with Linda R who took care of the problem with blister guard. This is the first trip for the boots I got from Dolores. I made another unexpected stop when my sleeping bag fell off my pack. We passed Gargantua Bay and headed for the sites north of the parking lot on the advice of our Warp Bay neighbors. We had our choice of campsites and took the one in the middle. Although it is only a five minute walk to the car, it still feels like we are in the wilderness. The beach is beautiful, we will be in sunlight most of the day, and we have the luxury of two picnic tables. We enjoyed a sunny evening on the beach. Our swim was cool and breezy. The sunset was lovely, the wind died down so a campfire was possible, and the stars came out for viewing.

No rain last night but a visitor. Both Linda R and Tamara heard an animal in the night. Morning revealed tracks from the lake to the picnic table and tracks straight back to the lake when it was probably startled. We thought it might be an otter. From the fresh gnaw marks on a tree next to our tent we thought it was a beaver. Checking books for tracks we decided it probably was a beaver. Today Linda R and Tamara chose to hang at the campsite and read and craft. Cheryl, Linda C, and I headed off for a scenic overlook an hour south of the parking lot. It was the beginning of the rugged part of the trail, but wasn’t bad in dry weather without backpacks. The overlook was very pretty. We could see Tamara and Linda at our site but couldn’t tell what they were doing. We ate nuts and cherries and headed back, checking out the campsites on the way back. They were not as nice as ours. They were more in the woods with a rocky shoreline making the water access more difficult. We were back by three, but Cheryl then took off back north on the trail to pick up some rocks she had stashed about an hour back. The rest of us relaxed and swam. It was even breezier today with waves rolling in on the lake. Once again it died down in the evening so we could have a fire. Another starry night too, but tonight everyone turned in early.

Up a little earlier than usual. We had another nice day to break camp. Dried out the tents before packing them up. Cheryl made a trip to the car with her rocks. We loaded up our packs for the five minute walk to the car. Ken and Rene were in the parking lot too, having kayaked back this morning. Yesterday they hiked to Indian Harbour and saw the prints of a very large bear in the mucky river bed. We all spent some time on the beach, gathered rocks, and left about one (o’clock that is, not one rock). We made our usual stop at the Canadian Carver and after shopping there and in the Agawa Indian Craft Store, we headed into the grocery store. A TV outside was on CNN and we were hearing about DNA testing of relatives of the victims, but had to go inside and ask what had happened. That is when we learned of the terrorist attack that brought down the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon on Tuesday. We were all numb. Linda bought newspapers and we learned of long waits at the borders. We had already intended to drive to Sterling today and decided to stick with that plan. Stopped at the Duty Free Shop for liquor and chocolate. I helped Tamara get her identification out of her backpack. We headed for the U.S. not knowing what to expect at customs. While one agent was questioning passengers another was looking through the trunks of vehicles. In our case an agent popped the whole back hatch of the Yukon. I knew things were going to fall out, so hopped out of the car and to the back to help. One agent was picking up small pieces of driftwood and birch bark off the pavement, when another agent and I stopped our packs and rocks from tumbling down on top of him. The other agent said, "It’s a rock slide!" Then when a rock fell out he said, "It really is a rock slide!" It only took us half an hour to get through. We continued south crossing the Mackinac Bridge in beautiful sunshine. The Sugar Bowl in Gaylord was our dinner spot. Arrived at Linda’s near midnight to find both Charley and her parents there. Linda fixed beds for the four of us downstairs. We sat up drinking wine and listening to details of the terrorist attacks from Charley. We returned from vacation to find the world changed forever!

Everyone except Loretta was up pretty early. We had the TV on this morning and all I wanted to do was cry. Ira and Linda made a great breakfast of eggs, English muffins, biscuits and gravy, sausage, and bacon. We slowly got the Yukon unpacked and Cheryl and Linda C’s cars repacked. Linda C had an alarm go off in her car indicating a coolant problem. No problem with her coolant was detected and the alarm stopped, so she headed for home. Tamara and I followed her in case there was a problem. Dropped Tamara off at an empty house and arrived home mid-afternoon to find Steve, Dale, and Amy at home. It felt really good to hug them all.

BACKPACKING LIMERICKS

There once was a hiker no fool,
Who feared bears at dark as a rule.
An Ambien at night
Made her chill with delight
Just like a high in high school.

There once were five ladies who backpacked.
Three had an afternoon crafting attack.
A fourth joined in
And said with chagrin,
"Does this really help you relax?"

There once was camp food hung high in a tree,
Far away from where any bears would be.
When the line jammed in a crook,
It took a tent pole and hook,
Before we could set the gear free.

LC is a pain in the neck,
But not as you would expect.
She sits on your shoulder
And tells you to hold her
As she tries our line to collect.

There once was a hiker named Cheryl,
Who needed not a backpack but wheelbarrow,
For she threw out her socks
In favor of heavy rocks
And plowed down the trails so narrow.

Showing cleavage on the trail
Isn’t really of any avail.
Her backpacking pals are not impressed.
They prefer Cheryl cover her breasts,
But if they’re exposed – What the hail!

Kindly Old Doc Ruyon
Will duct tape your blister or bunion.
Just give her some wine
And she will feel fine.
Then feed her potatoes, beef, and onion.

There once was a toilet in the wood.
The aroma was not very good.
But for those in need,
It was a luxury indeed,
To avoid a squat if you could.

There once was a terrorist attack.
Unaware five hikers backpacked.
When they returned,
The bad news they learned,
And wished to the woods to go back.

To Duty Free the five they all went.
On chocolate their money was spent.
The end of the adventure was near,
Till customs opened the rear
And a rock slide they couldn’t prevent.

"This is just like high school!"

"Wait, wait, I almost got it."

"Drink now!"

"We can’t find our tent."

"This is just like a fairyland!"

"Were those people real?"

"It’s still going. It’s still going. It’s still going."

"You’re glowing."

"The temperature inside my coat is 70° F."