May 28, 2021 - Lockdown Runaround

It's been a crazy month! Mid April we booked all our trips for the season. The first two of which were scheduled to be in Keji for the last two weekends in May. Little did we know only a week after booking our sites COVID-19 numbers in Nova Scotia would begin to spike and we were forced into a lockdown. The lockdown meant all campgrounds would have to delay opening, and no one would be allowed to travel outside their County. What a bummer! Not only did this put a damper on our spirits, but it also meant we had no plans for a camping trip in May! Luckily for us, our last two months were not all in lockdown, and we spent some of the time in early April scouting new locations for future trips. One of those locations revealed a nice little campsite at one on the access points for the Tobeatic Wilderness Area. After pouting for two weekends about our plans being cancelled, we made a last minute decision to head to this campsite for the night.

We didn't decide to make the trip until late Friday afternoon, and we really had nothing organized for it. This is by far the most 'quick and dirty' packing job we have ever done! We opened our packs and just started throwing things in. If we weren't sure if we would need something, that went too! The only saving grace about this location was that we could drive right to it, so we basically took everything we could think we might possibly need for the night and threw it in back of the truck. We didn't get on the road until around 5pm, and it was still a seventy minute drive on back roads to the campsite. Around 6:30 we finally arrived, and to our delight we were the only ones there despite encountering other vehicles on the road in.

The campsite is a pretty open area with mixed softwoods along a small river. It is well used as there is a rock firepit, a few logs sitting around for seats, and unfortunately garbage from the last group who was here.

As we take in our surroundings we spot a beaver making his way from our side of the water to the other bank. This is no ordinary beaver either, it has to be as big as a bear cub. I would guess it is pushing 60lbs. With both of us reserved to our own sides of the river, we continue making camp.

We fully expect the blackflies to be hot and heavy so first order of business is getting a smoky fire going to keep them at bay. A smoky fire works great for controlling those pesky flying bloodsuckers, I have never really looked in why, but I suppose it probably has something to do with saturating the area in CO2 which is one of the main things which attract them to their next meal. With the area blanketed, it makes it much more difficult to hone in on a specific target. With the dry firewood we threw on back on the truck, getting the fire started was a quick affair. Split up some larger rounds into kindling, shave off a few curls and light it up with the trusty Bic. In no time, we have made fire, and a pretty good one if I do say so myself.

While the fire does its work as blackfly sentry, we hang our hammocks. This is the first time we have used the hammocks this year. The temperatures are warm enough at night now that Bear is plenty warm and comfortable snuggled up with his blanket on the ground below us. This is good news for me, as my back likes the hammock much more than an air pad on the ground. We are able to find a set of three trees that allow us to hang the hammocks in a triangle so we are almost side by side. We are a little close together, but on the plus side one tarp will cover us both. I do like sleeping in the hammock without a tarp when the weather allows, but the forecast calls for rain starting at 9am, so we may be taking a chance going without tonight. When you have no regard for weight or bulk, you tend to take a lot more than you actually need, or even want for that matter. Somehow our hammocks are now set up with a full under quilt, air pad, and plenty of top quilt. I normally don't use my under quilt unless the temperatures are below freezing. This setup would likely be warm up to -20c. The low tonight is around 12c. At least we will be warm!

By now, the fire has burned down to some nice coals, perfect for grilling up a couple ribeye. Steak spice curtesy of The Keg is all these will need to tonight. Fried mushroom on the side completes this camp treasure. Nice and simple. Oh.... its been a while since we have had wood fire grilled steak, and its delicious as always.

It is a beautiful calm evening. Prefect temperature, perfect food and perfect company. It has been almost two months since we have been out in the wild. That is way too long. Hopefully this pandemic gets under control soon and we can all have some stability in our life again.

We crawl into our hammocks rather early and enjoy the songs of the peepers and frogs along the river banks. At about 4am, our beaver friend seems to have taken some offense with our presence as indicated by his tail slaps on the surface of the water. Five or six slaps later, and I suppose he feels that is enough to make us aware of his dissatisfaction. At 6am, I am awakened by the sound of rain drops on our tarp.

The rain has arrived early, but that's ok, we have prepared for it. It's three hours later before we feel the need to exit our cocoons and deal with packing up in the rain. That's never a fun task but at least it we don't have to hike anywhere. Just throw it all in the truck and deal with it when we get home.

We almost didn't make our May trip as part of our twelve month camping challenge. The lockdown really put a damper on our spirits, but we pulled through and made ourselves get out there. Sometimes that's what you need to do, just bite your tongue and do it. We were both very happy we went, even though neither of us were very pumped at the thought of doing an alternate trip. I have had many trips I wasn't really feeling while packing up for it, but I have never had a trip I didn't have a great time and great memories on. Sometimes forcing yourself to do something you are not feeling is the only way to make you feel better, and this is just another lesson learned as part of our Backcountry Evolution.