Doug, we go way back to grade 4.The trip had multiple 'incidents' or turning points if you will, where the true colours of the kids would be revealed. They could talk the talk but when push came to shove they often left Doug and I high and dry with 2 more canoes to carry across.
The plan for this trip hatched while Doug and I looked over the map a couple days before leaving. We opted for, and got approved, a small detour that would help us avoid a 2.4km portage and hopefully show us a part of the park neither of us had seen before; the mighty Tim River. Everything went relatively smoothly until day three, which was our huge day, when we hit the first 1.5km portage into the Tim. This portage would show us what to expect of these future 'leaders' over the next 3 days. The trail was admittedly tough with multiple large hills. However, when all was said and done Doug and I ended up bringing all the boats and half the packs. Upon arrival on the 10 foot wide Tim River there was a kid (15 year old) who was crying b/c he wanted to go home while the rest of the crowd sat dejected and unwilling to help unless if it was to comment on the amount of bugs. Doug and I set out to set up lunch but upon opening the food bag (b/c I wasn't allowed to bring my extra barrel) we realized the jam had exploded. The kids spent the next 10 minutes cleaning that up and lunch consisted of pepperettes and cinnamon toast crunch (more like powder at this point). Anyways, if I continue with this sort of detail the post will be a book but things continued to go wrong that day as our second and last water pump broke while on the Tim, a river the wind doesn't reach. As dehydration set in we finished 4 more portages (all over 400m) and made it to our site on Misty Lake just as the sun was setting.
The view from our campsite on Misty Lake. Those are three of our boats paddling away.
Ya, we got really close.- Mud everywhere
- Moose, really close
- 'leaders' of the day absolutely losing their temper and storming off
- 'leaders' of the day eating first and not telling anyone they had made food
- breaking a paddle in a mad scramble during a downpour
- leaving said paddle on the portage trail complete with Tim Hortons Children Foundation sticker on blade
- having a hissy fit when told we had to go back 2 portages to get the paddle
- zero initiative
- running out of chlorine tablets and having to boil water for consumption
- racing 'weekend warriors' for campsites
- unlimited firewood site!
- dropping cutlery off the drop off into the lake but not volunteering to get it
- CRAZY amounts of mosquitoes (I mean if you were tied to a tree for 2 minutes not able to swat you would tell people anything they wanted to know)
- skipping lunch everyday
- straight up portages
- catching my first Trout
- Doug getting bit in the foot by something that made it turn into a 'Fred Flinstone foot'
An incriminating photo on the Tim River.To top off this great experience Doug and I almost got fired the day after getting back when the administration saw that we, nor the kids were wearing lifejackets on the Tim River. After being separated and both giving the same lengthy story about equipment malfunctions and conditions we were let off with a stern warning. Look at the river, you can stand up in it, practically touch both sides at the same time, it was hot as hell, no wind, our pumps were broken, we had a fixed number of chlorine tablets and no time to stop to boil water AND make it to our site. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. After this I decided to quit and go back to Pioneer Camp, the promised land.
