Camping

On July 2, Laura and I went camping at Goldstream. The two of us went out early to set up camp and then back to town to see if the boys would come. The boys had other plans and Susan doesn't camp (not until we get a trailer anyway) so it was just the two of us. We got the rest of our food and supplies and went back to the campsite. By that time it was dinnertime and we started a fire and roasted smokies over the flame. We were going to have hamburgers but we forgot them at home in the freezer, oops. After dinner we cleaned up and went to the meeting place to hear a nature talk about beavers which was very interesting. Then we came back to camp, tossed the frisbee around for a bit and then took a walk down to the river. We ended up taking our sandals off and put our feet in the water which was very refreshing. There were little black birds flying around catching bugs to eat. I took a picture of the waterfall and recorded the sound of it to send to Susan with my phone. The picture turned out great. It was starting to get dark so we headed back up to the cam for hot chocolate and marshmallows roasted over the fire. Our fire was sad (my first campfire of the year usually is) so we turned in for the night.



We woke early the next day and had coffee and tea, then we each went and had a shower. We were both hungry by then so we started cooking breakfast -- pancakes and fried eggs. We cleaned up and then took a walk down to the gate house to pay for another night of camping. We walked back along the river trail rather than the road on the way back to the campsite, which was beautiful. Laura changed and we walked down to the falls where she went for a dip in the river. We found a dead crayfish and then we noticed a live one nearby. There was no one else down there for most of the time but then a bunch of people came and it got crowded so we decided to go. We went back to the campsite and sat around for a bit before we fried up a couple of smokies for lunch. Then we went for a hike. We were planning on just a short little hike so we didn't even bring any food or water. Bad choice because we ended up being gone for almost four hours!



The hike was great fun to start with, going down the river looking for the old prospectors trail. We spent a great deal of time crossing the river back and forth, walking on stones which were up out ot the water. At one point we got stuck and had to cross the river but there weren't enough stepping stones so we had to back track. That was when we scared a crayfish. He was ready to fight me so I got a small stick which he grabbed onto and I pulled him onto a rock so that I could take some pictures. It was very cool. He was quite a fighter! I let him go back to his home and we continued on our way, still looking for the prospectors trail, which we couldn't seem to find. We ended up coming out at the highway where we found a map. It didn't look like it would be too far to the Goldstream Park picknick area so on we plodded.



We did end up finding the trail we were looking for, but a look on a map showed us that we still had one and a half kilometers to the picknick area -- and we were hot, tired and thirsty. It would have been further for us to return to the camp so we made our way to our original destination where we could drink from the water fountain and have a good rest.

Rested and re-hydrated, we decided to just walk along the highway, it was much quicker and easier than negotiating trails. I couldn't believe though, how much crap people throw out of their vehicles on the highway. We could literally stand on a new piece of garbage with every other step.

We crossed the highway under a bridge but had to cross the river once more but couldn't find a way across. We almost gave up and just walked through with bare feet but it didn't come to that -- we found enough stones to get us across and on we continued. We found a large trail which is actually a utility road that brought us right back to the camp grounds. Three hours and forty-five minutes! We both thought we'd collapse before we made it. Training for Mt. Finlayson, we said. Tired and starving, we started a fire and roasted -- you guessed it -- smokies!

We went to the meeting place where they were talking about ravens and crows. We thought that was fitting because we were waken that morning by a raven. The talk was very interesting; they are very smart birds! Afterwards we came back to camp to start another fire but Laura was laughing at me, saying that I was walking like Frankenstein. (During our hike that day, about half way through it, I developed a small cramp in the top of my right calf. I didn't want to bother Laura with it so I walked through it. By the time evening came I could barely walk on it and only then if I kept my leg completely straight.) We roasted marshmallows and drank hot chocolate, using up the remainder of our firewood, then headed to the tent for our second sleep of camping.




At six-fifteen, some fool with a car and his radio too loud woke us up. I managed to go back to sleep until seven when nature called my hot chocolate back. I was happy too, that my leg was feeling better; the sleep did it good. Laura got up half an hour later and we made coffee and tea again and instant oatmeal for breakfast.

After breakfast we broke down camp in record time -- twenty minutes! Then we drove down to the Goldstream picknick area and walked down to the nature house to end our wonderful camping trip. We found out that we'd seen a kingfisher on the river the day before. Laura also bought a book of birds. We walked to the car and drove back to civilization, the perfect end to a great camping trip!