Crotch Lake Excursion 200806-14

Saturday, June 14 – 2008
07:30 – 22:00
Start: 09:00
Roads: Dry / Clear
Visibility: 24km
Temp: +20C
Area: Crotch Lake, Ontario
Vehicle: Old Blue Camp Van
Weather: Overcast, Light rain
Trail Conditions: Damp from rain
Hikers: Wolf & camp waterfront staff
Plan: Get to site 19 on Crotch Lake.
GPS: 44 55.76N by 76 47.23W

We awoke early and had some fun before heading to the office for breakfast with the rest of the waterfront staff. We got a great nights sleep in the air conditioned cabins. After 09:00 breakfast we piled all of our gear in the van and made the 1hr trip to crotch lake. I spent the time getting to know some of the girls who I was going to spend the summer with, Adrienne, Alex, Bronwin, Cricket, Max and Jo who was driving us all there.

We arrived and unloaded the canoes and set sail. 3 Canoes and Jo in her Kayak.

We explored a good percentage of the campsites and a few island campsites. We stopped at Stormy Point to eat. I’m really not used to these healthy foods, and my body is still adapting.

It was strange to see motorboats on the lake, instead of canoes only. Crotch Lake allows motorboats on it.

Around 15:00hrs we arrived on a small island campsite – 19, and all went for a swim. I realised very quickly that I am not very good at swimming without mask, fins and snorkel as I am so accustomed to. Everyone swam to a small rocky island, and I joined them. I had a great time relaxing on that island but was exhausted by the time I made my way back to shore.

We sat around at camp for a while as well as used the sat phone to ring camp. I used my GPS unit to get a reading of the campsite at 44 55.76N by 76 47.25W. We sat around and relaxed in the pristine wilderness and as the night progressed I learned of the large responsibilities I would incur. I must admit I felt overwhelmed at stories of having to change children’s diapers (here we call them Attends) and puree foods and insert and change feeding tubes and tracheal tubes. I sort of missed Tori a little as I was surrounded by young, attractive women bogged down by my new responsibilities and being so far from home for 3 months.

A lot of the girls here complain about the no bare feet rule, although very few follow it. As the night progressed and the camp games such as “black magic” finished up we made real smores with marshmallows, chocolate chips and graham crackers. The mosquitoes around 22:00 became so bad we could hear them humming and roaring around us. I went to bed in a tent with Jo and Cricket, put in a set of ear plugs and fell asleep right away.