Crotch Lake Guest Post

The last time I was "here" I wrote about a truly Canadian thing to do: make bannock. With that in mind I think it is fitting for me to, again, write about something else that is truly Canadian and what else is more Canadian then to go camping on the "MAY 24" weekend?

This past Victoria Day long weekend, Michael joined us for a weekend of paddling and camping on Crotch Lake. Crotch Lake is located West of Ottawa, it is a pretty big lake surrounded almost completely by Crown Land, most of is undeveloped, making it, in my opinion, a wonderful place to camp and paddle. The area is managed by the North Frontenac Parklands, there is a small fee charged to access the crown roads and camp on one of the 77 plus designated campsites. The benefit to the area being maintained is that the campsites are resolvable and there are privy's and fire pits on most sites.


Anyhow, back to the trip. This was our 3rd kayak camping trip together and as in the past a good time was had by all. It seems to me that each trip is better then the last. Our goal is always to find a nice place to paddle and a comfortable spot to camp. The idea is to paddle out to a back country site, with nothing in the way of facilities (I.e a simple box is the privy) and really rough it. But, to be honest, if you joined us, you would soon realize that we don't really rough it at all. First we set up a base camp, which is more like a little village (several colourful tents for sleeping and bug protection and a kitchen area). Meals are particularly important to us (well me anyhow)! Our menu this weekend consisted of things like French toast with fresh fruit and real maple syrup for breakfast, a lunch buffet of pita, hummus, cheeses, pate, olives accompanied by salad and fresh fruit. Dinner was marinated grilled flank steak with foil baked veggies and potatoes on Friday and a peanut chicken curry over basmati rice with a side salad on Saturday. Aside from all that eating we also occupied ourselves by napping in a hammock, reading a novel or writing in journals, searching for forgotten shoes (that is another story in itself) swimming or chatting around the camp fire while sipping on a glass (or two) of wine. On this trip we even found time to create and hide a Geocache of our very own. Of course we also paddled, I think we logged over 10 hours between Sat and Sun just exploring the water around us. The weather this weekend was particularly amazing! Sunny days and warm nights and for some inexplicable reason our little island campsite was almost bug free. What more can you ask for? I really think we are lucky group of people to have met each other and formed such a nice friendship where we all share an interest in getting away from it all to relax, paddle and laugh.

- Mairi Watson