More about the Widerness camping trip Labour Day week-end.

The trip was an adventure. When I got to Hawksbury I stopped at the McEwen on the 17, just down the road from the Canadian Tire and Walmart. I bought worms for the first time.  So when I was paying, the clerk asked me if I wanted a bag, I said no, the worms wouldn't mind. The guy behind me asked "What if they got away". I replied "bah, I'm faster then they are. They aren't going anywhere".

We met up in the Walmart parking lot, between 5:30 & 6pm. We then drove to Lac Ste Marie by the 50, then the 5, and then the 105.  A bit past chemin Ste Marie we take the road to Lac Peminchigan and then drove down that road. At some point my friends stopped, perplexed, as the sign that usually advertises which lakes are available from the road was ripped off and there was a huge "PONT FERME" sign.  Since we both have SUV's we decided to investigate. From my friends memory this had to be the right road.

The road itself compared to when I last used it 2 years ago has deteriorated visibly due to rainfall and erosion. When we got the the bridge, again a huge PONT FERME and "passage interdit". This was a small bridge over a small creek, that techinically we wpould have been able to drive through with our trucks. The bridge had been repaired completely with new wood. We walked across it, all 6foot of it. Jumped across it, and then decided to go one truck at a time. THeir truck has a winch, so if something happened we would have been fine.

In the end the bridge was fine, and like good Quebequois we proceeded on. When we got to the parking lot on the edge of Lac de Bagnoles, we found not only that were was 4-5 vehicles there, but 2 small cars. Not sure how they got down the road, but they did.  There was also a jeep with a trailer holding 8 canoes. Like really? DOwn that road?

What surprised me is that there was also guys from Ontario. I mean I know Quebequois don't listen very well ....

By the time we got our canoe's in the water and packed it was dark. But we were going to camp just across the bay, and we did it using head lamps.  We set up one tent and hunkered down for the night. The next morning we woke up to heavy fog on Lac des Bagnoles. It was really awesome.

Tayha on the edge of Lac des Bagnoles

My friend looked like an elf or tree sprite here

Sun coming up through the fog on Lac des Bagnoles

Loon stretching

Loons meeting in the fog