Same place, same person, same tent, etc... Yesterday, I saw the new Star Wars and quite enjoyed that! We've also done some christmas-y things with family and friends, which is quite enjoyable! But now, on to the camping! My dad has an infrared wildlife camera, so we set that up outside the tent to see what Finnegan and Darwin got up to during the night. I'm positive they managed to evade the camera on a few occasions, but there were some neat results!
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My plan for the next week is to knit, drink lots of hot chocolate, play with Finnegan, figure out some new board games, go skiing, and get some more nights in! Since I'll be staying in the same spot, I won't have tonnes of new material for the blog, so this is where you come in! Feel free to send me questions or comments on things you'd like to hear (more) about!
I got it! The elusive night 37 has finally been conquered. Between more searches, conflicting schedules, and school (exam season is in full swing) it's been tough getting out, unfortunately... That said, this weekend was fantastic, and just the break I needed. I was doing a course with Search and Rescue Saturday and Sunday, staying the night was optional. We spent most of Saturday practicing our map and compass navigation and building solo-shelters. We wrapped up around 20:30 and half the group headed home for the night. Four of us remained, and, inspired by the shelter building we had just done, three of us decided to forgo the tents we'd brought. After picking out hopefully-perfect spots, we got to work. After getting settled, we decided there was just enough time for smores, so we got a fire going. It was a fantastic evening all around! In the morning, I realized that I had broken the sticks at my feet when I slid down, so my feet were sticking out of the tarp and I had considerably less head-space than I had when I first crawled in. For next time, I will definitely find a flatter spot! My sleeping pad is also really slippery, which probably didn't help... I also plan to incorporate slightly more/bigger air vents. I though there were enough, but I woke up with lots of condensation on the inside of the tarp and outside of my sleeping bag. This may also have something to do with the kicked-out foot supports, so I'll have to test this out some more! Also this weekend, I got a chance to try out my new Keen Liberty Ridges! I'm still working on breaking them in, so stay tuned for more extensive testing. However, they are pretty comfy so far! They do give me blisters, but literally (and I don't use that word lightly) every single pair of shoes I've owned in the last 10 years or more have done that, and trust me, I've tried everything to stop it! The only thing that has worked so far are my ezeefits... There were no major puddles, but they held up well to soggy underbrush, so that's a good sign! Stay tuned for more boot news soon. Note: Keen did sponsor the shoes, but the ezeefits are just a piece of gear I have and love. This weekend, I was supposed to be taking a course as part of my Search and Rescue training. I was going to camp Saturday night at the base with some other people on the course and was really excited about that. Then, with one email, everything changed.
Friday evening, I got an email saying there was a search. Shortly after, I got an email from the course coordinator saying the Saturday part of the course was cancelled due to the search. So, I frantically pack up all my school stuff, get home, pack my search pack, and then head off to the search! After lots of searching, I got home at about 4.30 Saturday morning. Did I spend a night in the woods that night? Yes! Did I spend it snug and asleep in my tent? Nope. Stay tuned for Night 37 - Try 2... Happy American thanksgiving! (I knew it was sometime this weekend, but the only reason I know it is today is because I just had a great night camping with the equally great Alayna, who is American!) We headed out to Chebucto Head after dinner. It's a gorgeous location with a really cool lighthouse. Most of the area is protected lands, so no camping, but there are a couple bits of crown land, which works out perfectly for us! Being that it was a full moon, we barely needed our headlamps to find a flat spot and set up camp for the night. The moonlight on the water was spectacular! We hung out on the rocks with Orion, and chatted for a while, until it got too chilly. After crawing into our sleeping bags, I remembered that I had a gingerbread clif bar, which we both thought was really really tasty (note: I'm not getting paid to say that). After that bit of fuel for the night, we cinched up the hoods of our sleeping bags, and drifted off to sleep to the sounds of the waves crashing. The next morning, I awoke to my alarm, which was slightly surprising! I wasn't sure I would since it was buried in my sleeping bag. We both had the option of a more relaxing morning, but also wanted to watch the sunrise. Boy, was that ever worth it! I popped my head out of the tent and the eastern horizon was beautifully aglow. Once I got out of the tent, I turned around to an even more amazing sight: the sky to the west was a gorgeous purple, and the moon was hovering just above the trees. Every direction I looked was just incredible! We then hung out on the rocks for a bit more, watching the sun in the moment it pops into view, and turned around to witness the moon setting. I love starting my day like that! A short while after, I noticed a cute little cloud, just below the surface of the water. The very next second I realized that wasn't any old cloud, it was from a whale! I managed to point it out to Alayna, despite struggling for words (I described its location as 'to the right of the sun shadow' when I really meant the sun's reflection on the water...) and we both saw it come it for air a second time, before disappearing for good.
It was truly a magical morning! Best study break ever! We had the 11/12th off for Remembrance day and a study day following, so I, along with a few other lovely people, decided to hang out in the woods! It was a hilarious trip, with the best campany possible (See what I did there?! That wasn't a typo, just a really bad pun.) Since Renita had to be an adult (aka work) we got a late start. For the way there, I somehow got shotgun, despite being picked up last, and therefore had to navigate. Note: giving someone, who doesn't know how to use a phone, a phone to navigate with is a bad idea. I'm excellent with a GPS, with a map, with a compass, but give me a phone and everything falls apart, apparently. I told Renita to get on the 7, and assumed she did because I couldn't work out the phone thing. It wasn't until we ended up in downtown Dartmouth that we realized that there was some miscommunication going on! Eventually, we got back on track, and to the trail-head to the Crowbar lake area! Out of the four of us, I was the only one who'd been here before, and that was almost exactly 4 years ago, so my memory of where we set up camp was a little fuzzy. Fortunately, the path at least was well marked and generally quite easy to follow. The reflective trail markers definitely helped. There were also reflective maps at forks, though somehow none of us noticed those except Corin! It was slightly tricky to navigate all the rocks and tree roots, but we all managed to come out of this in the same condition we went in! We eventually concluded that we probably wouldn't find the great camping spot I stayed at, but found a very nice alternative. We had some supper on a rock, and then headed off to bed. The next day we had a slightly more relaxing time, but since we all had homework to do, we didn't linger too long. That didn't stop us from taking some silly photos though! I was worried by the forecast, since it called for some rain around 21:00, but it never materialized! It was sunny and warm in the morning; the perfect fall weather! I had such a great time, thanks guys!! The crew:
A new-new person! Well, sort of. Doug has already appeared on this blog (we stayed at his boss's cabin and went to Five Islands with him, both trips where we happened to camp and get a night in, rather than going camping for one of the 100 nights) but this is the first time he came with us one one of the nights for explicitly for the challenge!
To make it even better, my sister is in town again! She has the whole week off from uni, so she came down to visit, again! This is by far the most I've seen her in quite a while, what with me being either across the country, or even across the pond, for uni. It's quite nice! (Don't tell her I said that :P ) We went back to our regular haunt by the sea. I do love that place!! |
AuthorCarmen has successfully camped for 100 nights out of 365. This blog is a record of those nights outside! Archives
July 2016
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