Tuesday, July 2, 2013

CIA Camping - well at least a good attempt at it. :) - Got bugged out...

CIA Camping @ Achray - well, sort of......

The day was set, the weather seemed average, and on May 31 several CIA members and adults set out for Achray Provincial Park, in Algonquin.  

We went last year, 
about 1 week later, 
and the weather was beautiful, 
the waterfall wonderful, 
spring was early, 
and the black flies were gone.   

What a difference a week,
 a year, 
and a late and wet spring can make.  : ) 



We set out on Friday evening, about 4 pm. 
Here's my van set up and ready to go.  


Peter came again, and here he is ready to go as well.  



The traffic was heavy at the beginning, but got better as we moved North.  


I took Chris and Ben with me.  



Seems that they went to Bulk Barn first and got LOTS of jolly ranchers.  Ben decided to see how many he could fit in his mouth.  Strange boy that Ben.  


Chris tried to do the same thing.  



We arrived at about 7:30 pm.  As we exited our vehicles, we were met with a very nasty surprise.

Black flies by the thousands.  

Right then and there, I thought this might not have been a good idea....I do confess that this was the first time that though entered into my mind.  


As we set up camp, the biting continued in earnest.   Here is my trailer set up.  I got set up just before a cold front moved through, with strong winds and heavy rain.  
It provided relief from the black flies...but only for a short time.  


Here is Jeannine getting her tent set up, just before the storm hit.  


What are you doing Rosy?...Oh I see, trying to keep the black flies off.  



Sarah and Amy doing the final preparations to their tent.  


Cheryl came prepared.  Had netting and solid clothing.  The rest of us....well, not so protected.  


After the storm blew through, some decided to take to the canoes to get away from all the bugs.....to bad the flies followed them out on to the lake.  
No relief what so ever! 



It looks so nice getting ready to canoe, but boy, you can't see all the black flies pestering Sandy and Peter.  


Jeannine at the lakeshore, making the best of a not so great situation.  



More people trying to get away from the bugs by coming to the beach.  Too bad that didn't help.  



I decided to get some relief in my van.....


It seems I left my window open and the black flies decided to move into my van for the weekend. 
I listened quietly and could hear them in my heater vents.  They were simply everywhere. 


Annette and Kevin tried to get some relief by using those smoking bug repellent devices......nope, that didn't work either.  

We decided to get a fire going to see if that would help.  



The bug repellent [note: we did apply deep woods off, even Peter did, and he HATES using the stuff, but it only gave 5 minutes of relief].  



Someone with a message for all the bugs.  


We did end up having a pretty good camp fire. 
We had hot dogs and pop for a nighttime snack.  : )  


Kevin, our fire guru.  


The smoke was a welcome site, and did manage to keep the bugs at bay for a time. 


We all enjoyed time together talking and sharing, and slapping.  


At midnight we went to bed, but we might as well have stayed up all night by the fire.  Many tents, and my tent trailer, were filled with black flies.  No relief.  Poor Ben tossed and turned all night long......

At about 5 am, I could hear the buzzing of the millions of black flies outside.  We woke up at about 8 am....not feeling great.  Chris looks prepared.    



Kevin's sleeping quarters. 
The cocoon.  



Chris eating breakfast.  We managed to prepare breakfast [well, I did actually].  I didn't know that this message had been prepared for me.  : ) 


Here we are under our shelters. It had rained during the night, and it was humid...all great conditions for black flies to be born......


Everyone making the best of an almost impossible situation.  



Ben, still with a smile on his face.  
Way to go Ben.  I know he wanted to go home.  


Rosy sitting and simply giving in to being bitten.  



Chris taking defensive action.  

After breakfast talk started about what we should do.  
I decided that we could try to go swimming and canoeing, so we did that for a time.  


The water was cold, but provided relief from the black flies...well, if you were actually covered by water, and we don't make very good fish.  



Peter's solution to not being a fish.  



Everyone pretty much went swimming.  I went canoeing.  The bugs were not bad on the lake, but certainly not gone.  


Some of the results of all the black fly bites.  


Inside my trailer vent.  They covered the wall as well.  


After a couple of hours of misery, I decided, along with some persuasion from my leaders, that is was probably a good idea to pack up and head for home. 

We were the only ones in the park, and I know that it was booked with many more sites when I registered back in April. Those were the smart people who stayed home.  

One other family who came in Friday night left early in the morning, and I should have taken that as a huge hint....but I'm always optimistic....  : ) 

So, at 10 am, we began packing up our site.   
As I packed up, the bugs just kept biting.  I basically gave up trying to stop them from taking my blood, and my shirt became blood stained.  


Here's my back, full of bites.  They didn't start to itch until the next day, and boy did they itch then!!! 




I sent Annette's  and Cheryl's van on ahead to the gate so they could get out of the bugs.  I finished packing up my trailer, and Peter packed his trailer up.....


...only to realize that he had left his van keys inside his trailer.  We had to lift up the canoe, etc...giving us another 20 minutes of black fly torture.  


At the gate, I saw the impact of all the bug bites.  Here's Megan's ear - double its size.  


Ben suffered numerous bites.....as did we all.  



This just looks painful.  
Glad we decided to leave early.  


So, we had to leave early, but that doesn't mean that we had to admit defeat.  We could still salvage the weekend if we tried.  So, first stop was Dairy Queen to sooth the soul.  


A group shot. 
Already feeling better.  



It was about a 2.5 hour drive home.  
Ben went to sleep pretty much right away, and Chris started reading a book, but didn't last long.  



We arrived at the church at 4 pm, exactly 24 hours from the time we left.  
We needed to dry out the shelters before putting them away.  
I also decided it would be good to share our dinner meal together in the church, so we began preparations for that as soon as we arrived.  




We set up tables, and all the plates. 


Work began in the kitchen.  


Rosy got right to work.  


Our meal is ready, and we all sat down to eat. 
It was nice to conclude our meal together, even if we all looked awful and were puffed up.  


I had to drop off Peter's canoe, and when I arrived, Rosy drank in the  sweet smell of the flowers.  A nice relief from the painful itching of the black fly bites.  



Once I dropped off the canoe, I drove home and saw that it was going to rain.  So, I drove my van into the garage and waited for the storm to come.  It rained pretty hard, and my trailer was dirty from the km's of dirt road, so I took some soap and a sponge and used nature as my watering source.  

So, lesson learned.  
Camping at Achray in early June is NOT a good idea.
Black Flies are out in force at this time and one should stay away from Achray during this time. 

Even though things didn't turn out as planned, at least we all have a story to tell about the camping experience that wasn't.  :)  


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