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I do a lot of canoeing and I make a point of putting a portage between myself and any access road where possible. Where I can't, I try to access water ways with primarily local traffic, which helps weed out the yahoos who view burning gas and damaging the shoreline as recreational activities. In certain areas you'll have half of the boaters blowing by you without a second thought. Then you get the types who feel a bit of shame and decelerate just enough to break their plane and double the size of their wake. Wow, so courteous! Even in really remote areas I don't like to camp on the first lake in. Couple of years ago, in Temagami, we found a camp site with an abandoned 10lb bag of potatoes and 6 chicken breasts in the fire pit. That's how you fuckin' get problem bears, people! I think the ease with which they can access islands for camping causes people with motor boats to do it without a single solitary clue about how to do it properly. Here's a good one from 2019. Met a duo at an Algonquin park access point and chatted with them while waiting for my friends to get there. Noticed they had a really heavy looking canoe cart and a lot of extra gear. I'm pretty familiar with this area of the park, and it's one of the more remote access points with rough, often steep hiking trails for portages. I asked them what their plans are and they tell me their route. They are doing a route with some overlap of ours, which, for reference, includes a portage nicknamed "heart attack hill". In fact, they borrowed this cart specifically because of the portages on the route. I tried to warn them a lot of portages would be difficult if not impossible to get a cart through and that they should consider leaving whatever they could in their car, but they seemed determined to make it work. They set off across the lake, and I waited for my friends to show up. It ended up being a bit of a wait because the bastards got lunch on the way when I thought we were having a shore lunch before setting out. I curse them and we set out close to two hours after I had waved off the previous party. We come up to our first portage and see it's signed for 900+ meters, with a 20 percent or so slope covered in rocks and roots leading up to the trees. Then I see a bundle of gear to the side of the trail, and the canoe cart which had been tossed into the woods. Those poor bastards had been on the first portage for close to two hours and there were 4 more before the next lake with decent campsites. We passed them mid trail and let them know what lay ahead. They looked like they were going to cry, and after seeing the campsites of last resort along the creek, I really hope they gave up and turned around! Fake edit: glad others called out Mr. Carry your own poo poo. My wife looks perfectly healthy but has a chronic condition that is destroying her joints. Even when things are good, she's suffering from muscle atrophy from when things have been bad. Yes, I carry everything and we count ourselves lucky that she can still hike at all. Keep an open mind and try not to be the idiot people meet outdoors.
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Jan 31, 2021 21:44
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:23 |
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I honestly think motorized craft should be banned from most water ways. You have all these motherfuckers build giant cottages and rip up all the natural vegetation in place for a lawn, which of course they now must fertilize and let all of the run-off poison the lake. That's not enough though. Then they get loving wake boats and cruise along destroying what's left of the shoreline and killing any birds that nest there, and the rest of them buy sea-doos to drive around in circles all day burning gas just to hit the odd wake. What's left? A lake with no fish, no reptiles and no birds. You killed the very thing you spent millions of dollars to gain access to, you imbeciles. AND THEY FUCKIN LOVE IT.
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Aug 11, 2021 15:22
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I didn't get to meet these particular idiots but I had probably my worst experience back country camping so far. I was in Algonquin Park in late August and while looking for a site in the area our permit was registered for, and I ended up talking to a mother/daughter pair of campers who were on a similar route. Turns out the day before they were forced off their route considerably because there were a couple of dickheads squatting on one of the lakes' two campsites. These guys apparently got very aggressive when they were told you can't just camp off permit. Well, as luck would have it.. that was the same lake I'd be camping on the next night. That alone did a lot to pull me out of my zen.. would I have the same luck? I spent a chunk of my next day's paddle and portaging wondering if I was going to get hosed, and thinking about how I could approach the situation. I have an inreach and an outside contact who can contact the park.. would these guys got evicted before dark? Which areas would be close enough for me to reach and have enough camp sites that I wouldn't be displacing someone else? Not ideal. Well, I get to the lake and not only are the poo poo heads gone, but I've got my pick of the two sites. I get my gear unloaded, go for a swim, and otherwise unwind. All that worrying for nothing. Beautiful camp site across the (narrow) lake from a burn out that took place in 2016. It was really neat looking, and fun to observe how the fire worked its way through. The lake was spotted with islands. Some of which the fire took and some which it spared. Anyway, I was quite happy. This is what I had planned the trip around and it was everything I had hoped for... Until I went to set up my tent. The campsite is a bit of a two level deal. You've got a low lying area on the water's edge with a fire pit and a fair amount of room to set up a tarp, etc. There's a little hill up to a clearing with two designated tent pads, and a path off into the woods with a thunder box (toilet). Well as soon as I get up there I start smelling poo poo. Confused, I go find the thunder box and find that it's in good condition. I assumed it would be rotting away or busted open or something to contribute to this smell. Even more confused, I go back and start to look around. Someone had spent several days here taking open air shits, and marking their precious treasures with toilet paper. Once I started looking I found it was everywhere on that second level.. even within 10 feet of the thunder box. I'm pretty sure it was the squatters because the campsite was otherwise immaculate. They obviously knew what they were doing keeping the area visible from the water tidy.. just.. what the gently caress? What could possibly be going on in your life that you would go into a park, gently caress with random people's itineraries, and vandalize campsites? I ended up having to sleep on a bunch of roots by the water to keep away from the smell.. got the gently caress out of there first thing and reported the condition of the site to the park office on the way out. What a buzz kill.
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Sep 10, 2021 22:08
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