Camping Trip Encounters

I went camping this past weekend in Pinery Provincial Park.
Did a lot of hiking and canoing, listened to Coyotes howling at night, watched the stars and lost count of how many fireflies we saw.  We watched a beaver in the river collecting sticks, swimming back and forth to his lodge, got swarmed and attacked by black flies both times we attempted to get the the beach. I'll take mosquitos over them any day. Try running as fast as you can up a sand dune while carrying a screaming 3 year old and lugging towels and beach crap while swatting at 40 or more flies that are biting and stalking you all the way back down to the car. Not fun.

Hiking through the forest trails was really serene though.  I went on a short solo hike and was the only one on the trail.  Just sitting there in the middle of the forest, listening and being still was one of my favourite moments of trip.

The next night after falling asleep in a chair outside I woke up to see a buck with 3 does about 20 feet away from me! I was shocked and sure I was dreaming or something at first. The buck was facing the does with its back to me, but I must have made a noise because it turned it's head and looked right at me.  I started panicking a little, I didn't want them to see me as a threat and charge at me or anything, (those antlers were pretty intimidating)so I lowered my head a little and tried to think of what to do next, but they just turned and walked off into the woods.

I still almost don't believe they came that close to me.  I thought that animals like that would smell people around and steer clear of us, not only were they less than 10 feet away from the tent, but there were other campsites all through the same area full of people.  I've been to that park 6 times now and never seen a single deer before this trip, was pretty amazing to see so many and be that close.


Anyway, was a mostly good weekend away from the city, packed everything up in the rain and came home feeling sick but still went out to The Sound of Music Festival in Burlington.  Listened to some bands play (saw Walk Off the Earth play there too, they're so fun and energetic lol) Paying for it today though because I feel like garbage.  Having a fever in the summer when it's hot makes things so much worse!