Home early

After a night of camp­ing, I’m home more than a day early. The unre­lent­ing rain and insects were enough for me to won­der whether it’s worth for­go­ing the com­forts of home (and rest, and clean­li­ness) for a few new sub­jects to photograph.

I now have sev­eral mos­quito bites on my body, about the size of my fist each. This is with­out any scratch­ing on my part, and they’re steadily grow­ing. My skin has always reacted badly to mos­quito bites. I’m pretty sure I’d have to turn down National Geographic if they ever offered me a job as a wildlife photographer.

hugs

 

Gatineau Adventure Weekend

Thumbnail: Park map

From the vis­i­tor cen­tre we check the relief map for our trail. As I’m sign­ing in, Heather notices my date of birth is in the 80s. I’m the only one, and they joke about how young I am — espe­cially com­pared to Benoît, who’s a six­ties baby — but it never feels like we’re far apart in heart and mind.

Thumbnail: Parking lot

We car­pool to the clos­est lot, and strap on our packs for the hike to the cabin.

Thumbnail: Pathway there

The trail is fairly easy, and paved most of the way. It’s a very wel­come detail when you’re car­ry­ing sleep­ing gear, rain gear, extra clothes, eating/cooking imple­ments, cam­era equip­ment, sev­eral days worth of food, enough water to keep you hydrated on the way there, and your pack is over 25% of your body weight.

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I Miss Camping

I found this old video of a bunch of us cook­ing burg­ers on the old Coleman while camp­ing in 2004. Back before Trolley or Tyler were mar­ried (or even engaged). I love the way Adam, as the only gay mem­ber of our crew, puts a t-shirt on his head and sidles up to Tyler to join in the mer­ri­ment. Every time I watch this clip, I laugh at this exact point, in the exact same way.

I haven’t been camp­ing in too long. Even though I’m a city slicker, I love to get out and away about once a year. Waking up in the cold, fresh air; talk­ing around a camp­fire; for­go­ing the lux­ury of show­ers and the inter­net; these are the things that bring you back to your human­ity. And often it’s as much about the peo­ple as the event, because there are barely any oppor­tu­ni­ties for us to get together. I miss those guys just as much.

May 24 2005

The long week­end was just plain relax­ing. It’s good to get out every once in a while, although once a year is enough for me to appre­ci­ate my clean room, my com­fort­able bed, and the com­pany of my kitty cat. Getting to know Chris, Aaron’s brother, was a treat.

Thumbnail: Burning log
Thumbnail: Wet and dry leaves

It driz­zled for most of the week­end, but it wasn’t enough to stop us from play­ing poker in our tents or under the tarp. As can be seen in the last photo, on the last day, the leaves were com­pletely dry under our tents (left side of the pic­ture) while leaves on the ground were soaked through (right side).

Thumbnail: Barbecue grill
Thumbnail: Coffee cake

Even camp­ing food is easy. Meals cooked over the fire are plate and utensil-free. Cake is eaten with hands, and one feels no more guilty in the com­pany of oth­ers than gorg­ing alone.

Thumbnail: Friday night
Thumbnail: Moonlight
Thumbnail: Night trees
Thumbnail: Tree canopy

I man­aged to get some great shots at night. I still won­der how I’d do with a nice dig­i­tal SLR though. The one in the bot­tom right cor­ner came out espe­cially well: the cir­cu­lar lens pat­terns of my Maglite can be made out in the leaves.

Thumbnail: Drive through
Thumbnail: Bowling balls

One of the best parts of camp­ing is pass­ing through all the lit­tle towns along the way. It always reminds me of the drive up to John’s cot­tage. The build­ings are homely and unique, with so much per­son­al­ity. We passed by an old, work­ing drive-through in the mid­dle of nowhere, and I had to get a pic­ture of the weath­ered sign. There also hap­pened to be a tiny, pastel-coloured bowl­ing alley, and we decided to play a few games. Funny how the one time we end up going bowl­ing is the time that Trolley couldn’t go with us (he’s never been bowl­ing, and we keep telling each other that we have to go with him sometime).

Thumbnail: Fungus growth
Thumbnail: Trillium
Thumbnail: Salamander

A growth, a flower, and a lizard. I have no idea what is grow­ing on the log, but I do know that the flower is a tril­lium, which is the provin­cial flower of Ontario. It’s also pro­tected, which means that one can get fined for pick­ing it (Any per­son who con­tra­venes the act is guilty of an offence and on con­vic­tion is liable to a fine of not more than $50,000, or to impris­on­ment for a term of not more than two years, or to both). The lizard is a sala­man­der, and there were a few crawl­ing around in the leaves.

Preview: May 24

Thumbnail: 12 eggs in a pot

Went camp­ing over the long week­end. Pictures/video to come soon/eventually.