Trip log - Cedar to Radiant: Canada Day - Day 2

Good morning, sunshine!

What a difference a day makes!

I stayed in the hammock as long as my bladder would allow me (isn't that a thought-provoking opening statement?) I got up around 8 a.m. I hadn't slept great, normally the first night is like that. I was comfortable in my hammock, warm even. I took my purple sleeping bag liner out around 3 a.m. when I got up to answer nature's call the first time. I could see the shoreline and the lake from my bag. It was relaxing and today I didn't have to go anywhere.

He's still asleep and hasn't got much clearance from the ground

I went and got the food bags down from the bear hanging spot. I made myself a couple of cups of tea by the time L.T. got up at 10. He'd had even less sleep than me the night before we left. I also attempted to wash my filthy clothes from the day before. I emptied out the small dry bag I use for my camera, filled it with lake water, some camp soap and put my shirt, pants and wool socks in it. I sat in the bug shelter and agitated the bag, jiggling it around. I dumped the water out away from the shore, rinsed my clothes and hung them on my new clothesline (I love this clothesline, I would recommend getting one). The mud stains in my shirt didn't come out. It still looked like I'd gone face first into the mud.

L.T.'s new chair

Breakfast was fresh eggs with bacon and hash browns. We did the dishes, lazed around a bit, enjoyed the breeze coming off the lake. The day was nice so far. We talked about going out for a paddle. Two-thirds of Radiant Lake is fairly shallow. At points you can stand up on sandbars in the middle. We were at the shallow end. However, in the wind, a shallow lake will get very choppy. We waited so long that the water wasn't very friendly looking anymore. Oh well. It was time to gather wood to make our steak dinner.

It did rain a little bit. But it blew through pretty quick. Fortunately L.T. had already put up a tarp over our hammocks. He put another one up to store gear under near our bug shelter. Eventually he tied it into a position to block some of the wind whipping up from the lake.

Any activity outside of the bug shelter meant lots of bugs. As much as I don't mind doing the work, I hate the bugs. I dragged one six-inch diameter deadfall tree into the campsite, used the new saw a little bit (until I nicked between my left thumb and forefinger), then retreated back into the shelter.

I started using the mosquito coils when we landed on the beach the day before. I had them in my fanny pack, mostly so they wouldn't get squished and broken. I jam a lot into my large backpack and it gets dropped a lot into the canoe and onto the shore coming in and out of the canoe.

I burned them in the mosquito shelter the whole time we were awake. I started burning one under my hammock about an hour before going to bed. As for the Thermocell? I used that inside the bug shelter. And it came with me to the thunderbox, even if that was just psychological and made me feel better. 

L.T. suggested we go to the beach and haul up a couple of dozen of the round rocks to build up the back of the fire pit. It certainly helped with the wind break. Once the fire had burned down and the coals were ready, L.T. put two foil packets of steak and two foil packets of veggies onto the grill that was at the site. Most sites have grills, although they all look like they need a good scrubbing with steel wool. 

He left everything on for slightly over an hour and it was all cooked perfectly. The steaks were so tender you could peel them apart with a tiny camp fork. The veggies were cut up white potatoes, sweet potato, baby carrots and asparagus tops. With lots of butter, of course. 

Dessert was rehydrated banana-mango fruit leather with banana pudding and dehydrated angel food cake. I don't rehydrate the cake, we just put it on top of the other mixture and mush it in. Yummy!

The last trip, and this trip, I had brought a deck of cards and the only cribbage board I have, a long, heavy wooden one. I thought we might play cribbage in the evening, but we didn't on either trip and I'm never bringing it again! Instead we sat and talked. I threatened to go to bed around 9:40, but was convinced to stay up another 45 minutes. I was so tired. Even though we didn't do much today, I was still exhausted.

My hammock

Sunset on Radiant Lake

Timetable                                   Day 1                                      Day 3