July 2025
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Tuesday
We woke up to a lovely mist drifting across the lake surface. The sun was starting to come out and I could tell that it would burn off shortly.
Breakfast of fresh-made cinnamon rolls
This little guy tried to steal a roll when we weren’t looking
This was “Dan’s Trip”: I left all of the planning up to him. Permits, rental, gear, food, destinations. I would help him execute his plans, but I let him take the lead. He had worked out an extensive Food Plan that was aided by the addition of a cooler to keep fresh foods longer. Last night’s dinner was “back country pizza”, which was some pitas heated up over the stove with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and some slices of meat. It was a tasty dish – and one that we’d have again and again during the trip.
A butterfly likes my shoes
Because Dan wasn’t sure how we’d feel after our first day of paddling, he planned for us to spend two nights at the first campsite. This was overly cautious, but well-intentioned. He hadn’t been paddling for years, I’ve never done a full day of paddling, and we hadn’t been camping in the backcountry together before. But this now meant that we had all day to go…nowhere.
We decided to take the canoe out and just poke around the lake and take a closer look at little bays and inlets we had floated by yesterday.
Calm morning waters
Viewing our campsite from the lake
Perfectly mirrored reflections
Dan using the water purifier to, well, purify more water!
I asked if we could paddle back further into Teepee Lake, as the map showed a couple of small inlets that we had sped by. I had no idea what I’d see in these offshoots, but it seemed like a nice way to explore. As we reached the far (eastern) shore of the lake, I saw something blue caught up in tree roots on the water’s edge. I asked if we could go check it out, and it turned out to be a life jacket. We pulled it into the canoe and kept going. Then I saw something else further along the shore and it turned out to be a plastic paddle. It didn’t take long before we found our third treasure: a purple pool noodle!
Yesterday we had passed a large summer camp resort, Camp Arowhon. This resort sat on the western shore of Teepee Lake. Dan and I figured that the items we found must belong to the resort and had been blown across the lake by the prevailing winds. While the resort had been quiet yesterday, today it was full of laughter and noise. We started to paddle towards the resort, intending to return the items. We were enjoying watching the antics of the young sailors attempt to steer the sailboats, instructions called out by camp counsellor from their motorboats, when one of those motorboats suddenly veered towards us. I knew that we were heading for private property and I anticipated the confrontation and explanation. What I did not expect was the completely neutral question that the young man started with. Instead of a hostile “What are you doing here?” or even “Hey! This is private property!” he simply called out “Are you guys ok?” No judgement, but an inoffensive way to start the conversation. We quickly explained what our intentions were and he looked relieved and even pleased, and said that we could just drop it off on the dock and someone would come and get it later.
And with that, we unloaded our treasures and paddled off into another bay to see what we could find.
Post-resort photo
We were casually working our way towards the lily-pad covered edges when Dan pointed out “A moose!” We stopped there, not wanting to interfere with the animal (both for our safety and its comfort). I really was wishing that I had my Super Zoom camera, but did what I could with my Olympic “Tough” camera. We sat for quite some time, enjoying this special glimpse of nature.
A beaver lodge near the moose sighting (no beavers were seen)
Lily pad still life
This little guy had settled on my paddle while we were moose watching
We went back to camp for some lunch, and then lazed around for the rest of the day. The mosquitos had a pattern: from evening until the sun came up strong, they were flitting around looking for a way to eat me. But once the sun was up and the day was dry and warm, they generally stayed away. I was good with this.
Another tent view of a spider
