Monday, July 23, 2012

Circle Tour Day 11 - Crescent Lake

July 23, 2012

We're at Lake Superior Provincial Park but things never turn out exactly as you figured. 

We first stopped at Old Woman Bay to pay homage to Bill Mason, the canoeist film maker Gary admired so much. When he died his family held their memorial here at his favorite bay, one that he had filmed so many times with a 16 mm camera he affixed to the canoe.  Later he had even bigger cameras.  How he would have loved the new technology.  His daughter Becky is still filming canoe instruction videos.  We met her at Canoecopia in Madison this past winter. 

Next we went to our planned camping site Agawa Bay, but while there are sites next to Lake Superior they are all booked up this week.  Moreover, all the sites are so close to Highway 17 that the noise of traffic would keep us awake at night.  

The visitors center is magnificent with wonderful exhibits, tea, and wi fi, plus postcards, stamps, and a mailbox so I can get another postcard out to grandson Evan. 

We decided to camp at Crescent Lake instead.  Here we found solitude because it doesn't have all the amenities.  Of all our campgrounds we like it the best and when we thought about it, it was because it is almost exactly like one of our US National Forest campgrounds.  

Two problems immediately were apparent.  All the water in this area is under a boil order, meaning we have to boil water at least a minute to drink it.  We also have a filter on our water container which is supposed to take out at least 99 percent of any evil stuff, but we boiled anyhow.  That one percent could cause a lot of trouble.  

The other problem is rain, which came last night and drove us back to the visitor center this morning so I could have a cup of tea and write this blog. 

Still, the joys of camping.  There were six juvenile mergansers frolicking in the water directly in front of our tent.  The view is grand, a perfect 3-D image of our scene in this order:  reeds, lake, island, back shore, hills, very high hills, all in shades of green. 

Gary is renting a canoe as I type.  We will be out on the water all day between storms.   

Biggest problem:  I have no clean clothes left and I will start reeking as the days go on unless we find a laundromat.  

Tomorrow:  Sault Ste Marie.  

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