Despite an adventurous summer in Europe, Shay and I were missing the outdoors. We had booked a backcountry site at Bon Echo back in May or June, and were excited to find that our regular site, 520, was available for 3 nights mid August.
We packed light, our goal, to make it down the 500m portage in one go. It's not a good idea to bring coolers to this campsite, as you have to tie your food up in a tree at night. Coolers aren't tree friendly. Some good tips we've learned for packing food for several days are to eat your meat the first night, freeze drinking boxes, wrap them in newspaper, and they double as an ice pack and a beverage, invest in a dehydrator for longer trips, boil in a bag foods such as Kitchens of India, are your friend! Another tip, beverage-wise, is to avoid bringing glass bottles. We bring wine via Tetra pack, and other alcoholic beverages in plastic bottles. Much lighter, crushable, and will not break and litter the campsite.
We usually pack three large bags, one for our clothes, one for dishes and tools, and the final for food. We tie our tent, sleep mats, and sleeping bags to one of these bags.
When you get to Bon Echo, you get your permit, but then drive down to the main beach to register for the backcountry sites, and reserve your canoe. Best thing about Joeperry, is that the canoes are set up by the lake already. You just need to pick up your paddles, bailing bucket and life jackets. I think they charge about $25-$30 for 24 hours. The sites have a per person charge.
We managed to get down to the put in with all of our stuff, but had to return for paddles, water and wood. The trek down the path is wide and it's a bonus to not have to carry the canoe.
We paddled over to our site and unloaded. It seemed smaller than previous trips, how we fit three tents and six people here I will never remember! The sites have a toilet "box" hidden in the woods.
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| The loo! |
After setting up, we needed a swim. There are only 25 sites on this lake, and seeing as we were checking in on Sunday, most people were leaving. We swim-suited up and jumped to the little rock, to jump into the lake. I had to keep finding new ways to do this, as I kept smashing my shins on the rocks underneath...ouch. On Shays second attempt at getting in, this time hands filled with beer, he slipped on the rocks, launched the beer (that luckily floats) and fell ungracefully into the water. Upon learning he was ok, and stifling back the laughter, Shay pulled his hands out of the water, only to reveal that he had, AGAIN, lost his wedding ring. This time, in a lake!
I immediately called it a sign, that the ring should have been lost in Barcelona, and this was fate. He was determined to search until he found it. I told him not to bring it, I never bring mine on trips, but he won't go anywhere without it. I suppose I should be flattered by his sentiment.
The sun was bright overhead, making it easy to see through the water. The water was also shockingly still and clear. No motorized boats on these waters, another added bonus.
He may have looked for about 10 minutes, when a shiny object lodged between two rocks caught his eye. Low and behold, the bugger pulls out his wedding ring! From the bottom of a lake no less.
A re-enactment of the event:
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| The fall.... |
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| The realization... |
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| The determination... |
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| Victory! |
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| Sunset over Joeperry Lake |
Watching the sun go down from site 520 over Joeperry Lake, Bon Echo
The night continued to be warm and clear. The bugs came out with a vengeance at 8 or 9, but we luckily had our netting. They get your through your chair! This wasn't a star-gazing trip, as the moon was approaching it's full status, but it's startling bright glow, was equally mesmerizing.
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| My knee after a buggy night. |
Day 2 was a canoe day. We wanted to paddle around the lake and check out some of the other sites. We were low on wood, and wanted to hunt some out. We wanted to check out the island sites, 522 and 523. They are nice enough but don't have good water in front. They had lots of wood left behind, so we grabbed some of it and tossed it in our canoe. We paddled around to 520, we stayed here last year or the year before. It's a popular one, but I still prefer 525 and 524 for privacy and swimability.
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| Salamander Sammy! |
We paddled by 511-505 then decided to head back for some lunch and a swim. I love vacations where days revolve around eating and swimming.
Our site is at the east end beside a channel that is deemed too shallow to pass, so it doesn't get a lot of traffic. Some people perch up and fish here, but after our loud swimming escapades we were able to get them to return to their part of the lake. I don't understand that mentality. Who comes to a lake, leaves their site and then sits in front of someone else's? It's likes sitting at the end of someone else's driveway. Not cool.
We decided on a midnight swim by moonlight tonight, to save us from some of the bugs. It was glorious and refreshing. The moon was so bright we didn't need lights, and it lit us up so we could see our feet below us in the water.
Day 3 was another lazy day. We canoed around the other way to check out the beach. It;s cute if you have kids that need a walk in entrance to the beach. We prefer the jump and float approach to Ontario lakes. We decided to paddle down the west channel to Pearson Lake, and attempt to navigate through the low reeds to get back to our site. We watched two other groups make it through the day before so we were determined. The paddle around west side is relatively easy. It winds a bit, but we only beached ourselves in mud a few times. There are sites on this side of the lake that no one ever comes to I'm sure, on account of the long portage. If you want privacy, then sites 513-517 are the way to go. They are more rustic as well.
We got to the reeds in front of our channel. It was difficult to see. I had to keep standing up in the canoe to see which way to go. There were little waterways through the reeds. We had to reverse out of the mud a couple of times, but were determined to make it through. When we did, we were directly across from our site. We pulled in and took a much deserved break.
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| Serenity now! |
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| Beautiful sunsets! |
More day and night swimming before calling it a night. The last night we forgot to pack a bag of vegetables into our tree bag. The happy, noisy animal who found it was quite pleased. It's so hard to determine the size of an animal outside your tent in the middle of the night. This one sounded as big as a bear, but was likely no bigger than a small raccoon, as it nibbled a hole in the bag and pulled out the celery.
The paddle and portage back to the car were easy without wood, water and fire. We did it in one trip.
Until next year Joeperry!
