Oct. 8, 2021 - A Keji Thanksgiving

Friday, October. 8th

We had plans to do the Liberty Lake trail in Keji for Thanksgiving weekend, but for the third year in a row, the trail was not accessible, this time because of a storm a few months ago that damaged one of the access bridges. So at the last minute we tried to snag a site in the front country campground for a couple days. Thanksgiving is one of the busiest weekends in Keji. It is the last long weekend of the season, and there are many events in the park to celebrate it, including early Halloween festivities. I have only been in the front country for the 'great pumpkin walk' once before, in 2019. It was pretty impressive the decorations at some of the sites and I knew I wanted to try and make it a yearly event. This will be Melanie's first Thanksgiving at Keji, so she will get to enjoy it for the first time. Getting a reservation for Thanksgiving weekend however is not as easy as it may seem. For about two weeks we checked several times a day for a suitable tent site, but had no luck until the Sunday before our planned departure. Finally a site had become available. It is a site I was not familiar with, and the photos online did not show much, but we booked it anyway. At least we found one. Friday morning we pack our things. We are car camping this trip so we will bring all the comfort items. Our big tent, big camp chairs, large inflatable double mattress with bedding and full size pillows, a small charcoal grill and lots of food and drink. This will be a glamping trip like no other. We are on the road by 11am. The entire way to the park we check the reservation status to see if anything else comes up. The area of the front country known as the meadow loop is where we were really hoping to get a site. As we are entering the park we see a couple more sites are now available, one of those being in the meadow, so instead of checking in right away we take a look at what our options are going to be. First we drive to the site we already had reserved. It's not too bad, but it's small and right next to a well used walking trail, it will do the trick if that's all we have. Next we check out the site available in the meadow. Lets just say if there was absolutely nothing else, it would give a spot to pitch a tent. The issue with it is it's literally arms length from the bathrooms with no tree cover. Maybe if we were in an RV it would be ok, but with a tent, there would be no privacy. Our other site is way better than this one, even on a busy trail. There is one more option available in a loop I have never stayed at, so we check that out. It is a fairly open site on one side, but that side has no other site next to it. The other side has great cover, and it is only about 50 yards from Keji Lake. The more we look and consider our options, the more we like this last site, so we go back to the kiosk to check in and change our reserved site to the last one we viewed.

It's about 1pm when we get back to the site and begin setting up. We place our tent on the open side of the site to give us cover from the road. That in addition to the truck being parked we have a pretty good amount of privacy. Once everything is set up, we begin to see just how great this site actually is. We made a good choice. Having skipped breakfast we are both pretty hungry by now so we start lunch. The little charcoal grill is something we just bought yesterday for this trip. I have been wanting to dabble more in charcoal grilling and this little $20 gem makes it easy to start out. I was hoping to get the cast iron version of this grill, but they have been backordered for almost a year. We 'invented' a gourmet hotdog recipe last march on a day trip in Keji, cooked on our gas grill. That is what we will be making for lunch. Our gourmet hotdog recipe consists of fresh bakery hotdog buns from a local bakery, (we get ours at Sobeys as they are the softest and tastiest we have found) whatever brand hotdog you like, (we have been using Top Dog BBQ style) Boursin cheese spread for the buns, a Kraft cheddar cheese slice, raw chalets, and Maritime Madness Bacon Blaze zesty bacon sauce. Sometimes we will add a few banana peppers for a little extra zip. Toast the buns slightly and put it all together. We have not had a normal hotdog since we started making these.

The rest of the afternoon consists of lounging in our glorified home away from home. Our setup for the weekend consists of a very large Coleman Tent, which houses our very large inflatable double bed, fully equipped with bed sheets and pillows from home. A pop up 10x10 shelter covers the enterance to the tent providing a little more shelter and privacy. Outside we have our big comfortable camp chairs, camp table, and plenty of firewood. Since you are not allowed to bring outside firewood due to the possibility of transporting pests, we choose to bring Fiber Fuel bricks when we camp in the Keji front country. You can buy wood in the park but you pay dearly for it, and our experience is that it's not of the best quality.

As the afternoon draws on we begin supper for the first night which is surf and turf. Bison striploin, fresh Digby Scallops and mushrooms cooked over and open fire with a fresh caesar salad. You can't ask for much better than this.

The evening weather is fantastic. We take advantage of the trail just behind our campsite and go for an after dark walk. The skies are clear, and the winds are calm making for some great views on Keji Lake.

We wind down the evening next to the campfire with Bear and Ana cuddled up close.

Saturday, October 9th

After the sun has risen and the tent begins to get a little too warm to stay in we get up and make a few breakfast sandwiches to get us going.

We didn't plan to do much on this trip as it is supposed to be a relaxing weekend, but we can't pass up a morning walk on the Rogers Brook Trail. It is only a short loop but has some fabulous views as it follows Rogers Brook on one side and the Mersey River on the other.

We do head out to a few other small trails, and visit Keji beech as well, but for the most part we spend the day at camp reflecting on our trips this year, and thinking about what trips we want to do next.

Since it is thanksgiving, and as a result have no choice but to cook a lot of food, we begin supper mid afternoon. Ham, mashed potato, corn and sauerkraut is a fine thanksgiving dinner in my book. Maybe one day we will try a turkey on the campfire...

One of the biggest reasons to camp in Keji during thanksgiving is the pumpkin carving and early Halloween. While we may be a little old to trick or treat, we do take in all the fancy displays. Some of them are incredible. We didn't decorate our site this year, but perhaps we will next time.

Another late evening at the campfire, and another day in the books.

Sunday, October 10th

It is another beautiful calm morning. A little left over bacon and eggs makes a quick breakfast as we tear down camp and pack things up. We will probably do a couple short trails or visit the beach again, but to be honest, front country camping does get boring pretty quick for us. It is nice to be able to relax, but the change of scenery and not knowing exactly how the day will play out is what keeps the backcountry evolution going. After all, the only way to learn is to get out of your comfort zone a bit an keep exploring the unknown.