CIA/ETM Camping Kick-off event at Achray P.P. - Part #1

This past weekend (Sept 26 - 28) was a beautiful one. 

The sun was shining; 

it was hot;

almost like summer skipped August and moved into September. 

Lots of people camped or went to see the leaves in Algonquin park and other parts of Ontario.  

Ah, camping.....I do enjoy it. 

I enjoy it with my family.....

I also enjoy it with our youth group, and this year we kicked off our ministry season with camping once again at 

Achray Provincial Park. 

Now if you follow my blog, you will know that not too long ago we camped at Achray, and things didn't go well for many reasons

Black flies in the millions. 

Well, we decided to give Achray a second chance, being that September would be a better time of year to camp, and boy, was that ever true.  

So, on Friday, September 5th, 30 of us packed into several vehicles and headed for Achray. 

Having said that, I have no pictures of our departure because just before we left there was a terrific rain storm that blew through Ottawa.  As I drove to the church from my home I couldn't see in front of my van, it was raining so hard. 

But I had heard all week long that at Achray things were going to be good weather wise, so we went on faith.  By the time I arrived at church, the rain was subsiding, the puddles were emptying, and we piled into our vehicles and made the 3 hour trip into Algonquin park with little fan fare. 

We arrived at about 8:30 pm and Kevin led the way for me into the camp ground.  Well, led may be a bit of a misleading word.  More like he set us off on a wild goose chase to find the campsites.  

First, he turned left at the store, when he should have turned right....[but I followed him so I'm just as much to blame...well not really because Chris (not my son) who was in my van said to turn left, so I believed him].  We toured the sites (pun intended) and realized we were on the wrong side so we proceeded to go to the other side. 

Well, it seems there is more than one road going that way, and Kevin selected the road that led to the canoe drop off point...a narrow, sandy, steep incline. 

I had some pretty fancy backing up to do, and my poor transmission was groaning under the strain of the hill and the weight of all those boys in my van and my fully loaded tent trailer.  

[oh, and again, I believed Chris (not my son) when he said, yeah, yeah, that's the right way to go...just follow Kevin....mistake #2)]. 

FINALLY we arrived at the proper sites and set up in the dark. Lightning was flashing in the distance [quite beautiful actually] and a very light rain was falling.

I got help from some of the boys, and we set up two shelters. I then went to get firewood, and actually ended up having a fire [after I actually said we wouldn't - sorry about that : )] complete with hotdogs.  

By 11 pm everyone was in bed pretty much.

What's with THAT!!!!  : ) 

Well, that brings me to the first of over 200 pictures....

yep, that's right....once again I had help.  

Elayna (new youth leader) wanted to take pictures, and she said she was pretty good at it, so I trusted her. 

Let's just say the jury's still out on the quality of picture taking.  :) 

I deleted many an overexposed picture...

But, between her pictures and mine, we came up with a great way to tell our story about this weekend's camping experience (so thanks Elayna). 

I've broken up the post into two, so be sure to find PART 2 when you are finished with this post. 

It's morning in the picture above and we are at my campsite with my tent trailer and the shelters.  

We made this our eating and socializing site.  

The park was full, but the sites are far apart, so we didn't bother anyone on our 5 sites.  
Cheryl is getting her stove ready for cooking breakfast.  

A more panoramic picture of my site. 
Not much there actually.  
Trees and sand, sand and trees.  

You can see how far apart the sites are.  
That's Annette's site way down there.  

Hey Kyle. 
You look chipper this morning.
And yes, you ARE Cooler than me.  : ) 

Annette pitching in to make breakfast. 
This morning it was once again 
Eggs in a Hat.  
Take some bread, put a hole in it, and place your bread and egg in the hole on a frying pan. 
Quite delicious actually.  

Peter...ah Peter.
He actually likes camping at Achray and agreed to come with us once again. 
He has continually been trying to get me to eat healthier on these trips, and I have been trying.  : ) 
This year, he actually said my menu was good enough that he wouldn't bring his own food....sweet.  : )
We did discuss oatmeal at breakfast and he agreed to bring that along.  

Here is Peter's creation.  
Simple recipe.
Plain oatmeal boiled.
Add what you want to it. 
We had raisins, and other spices. 
Peter didn't bring much because he figured that young people would prefer to eat the eggs and other stuff offered. 
Well, he sure misread this group. 
His oatmeal was a HIT!  
Need to bring more next time, eh Peter.  :" ) 

I pitch in where I can.  : ) 
I actually like cooking when camping. 
Pretty much the only time......

Christine came along again. 
Her son is now in grade 7 (my little Katrina is too - boy they grow up fast) and she likes camping so she came along.  

It does take some time to prepare a meal for 30 people, but people like Jarod waited patiently.  

Shauna....what's wrong...not enough sleep?   : ) 

Gillian enjoying breakfast after a short night's sleep. 

Thomas....actually eating breakfast....  : )

Elayna...being Elayna.
She's new to youth leading this year, but she's a natural. 
Goofy, gamey (is that the right way to say that?) and engages with youth very well. 
Many a young person gravitated to her.  

I didn't know this, but some of the boys took along straps and set up what I've learned to be called a "Slack Line".  The term seems bizarre, as you will see shortly.  

Our resident Superman.....
Not looking to happy this morning either Jonathan. 

The "Slack Line" taking shape.  

I hope it holds.  : )  

We brought along 4 canoes for the weekend. 
William brought along his own home made paddle to use in the canoe.  

What, not done the Slack Line yet????

Kevin likes to whittle away on a wood project when he camps with us.  
A good excuse to use his knives.  
I think this is supposed to be a very large spatula?  

Good morning to you Miranda. 
Sleep well.  ? 

Ella.  
My adopted daughter.  : )  
Well, not really....Annette's daughter actually, but she's at my house enough during the year that she may as well be.  

Caralynn (left) and Nicolette waiting in line for food. 

William is visualizing his canoe ride.  
So intense.  : ) 

....and then there's Janika......
Always smiling...always ready to chat...always in a good mood...well almost always.  

Sarah, my daughter getting ready to eat.  

Simon put up a great tarp over the fire so it wouldn't get wet.  I've never actually considered that before.  

Me having breakfast. 
I wanted to try Peter's oatmeal. 
It was delicious.  : ) 

The line is almost ready.  

The three amigo(ete's) sharing times during breakfast.  

Peter, it's not raining...you don't need the raincoat.  

Tobie helping cook breakfast....
wait...Tobie...really?   

We used 4 dozen eggs this morning.  

Some chose to relax away from the bustling crowd.  :) 
Or maybe they are just brushing their teeth after a great breakfast. 
Food always tastes better when you are camping.  
There must be a study out there on why. I'll have to look that up someday.  

Annette serving the hungry masses.  

One of the many great conversations I had with Peter.  

So, Slack Line....
Really...with all this pulling...doesn't look very slack to me.!!!

Simon trying out the tension.  

Samantha ready to try.  
I could never do this. 
I have no sense of balance.  

Kevin did quite well. 
Keener. 

Jonathan...doesn't that hurt your feet? 

relaxing after breakfast and before our trek to the falls.

Some wanted to burn any piece of cardboard or paper we had around.  

Cute picture.  Can you guess who the feet belong to? 

One of our many pots used to make hot water, used to make dishwater, used to do the dishes.  
There were LOTS of dishes to do.  : )

One of our canoes just waiting to be put into the water. 

Now this picture was taken by Elayna. 
Not sure why, but hey....  : ) 

Ah, way to go Sarah, Olivia and Laura. 
You are doing a great job on dish detail.  

No throwing our plates out here.  

What Tobie, 
not in the picture mood?

I'm trying to hurry up the group so we can get moving.  : ) 
Didn't work. 

Keeping track of who's dishes belong to whom was a lost cause.  I end up with extra cutlery every year.  This year being no exception.  

Cute picture...it's purpose Elayna??????

Caralynn was quite good at keeping track of her utensils.  So organized.  

Ella, you are crazy.  : ) 

Finally it was time to get things moving for the day.  
I set out to explain what we were going to do. 

We were going to have some people take canoes to the falls (about a 2 hour ride) and others of us would hike (about 1 hour).  

We made sandwiches for lunch, filled our water bottles, and put all the food in the canoes.  

Here is the canoe group getting ready.  

This silver one is the heaviest of all of them. 
The "Tank" as we Iike to call it.  
Peter's extra canoe.  : ) 

And off they go. 

Well, almost. 

See you soon. 

A nice picture Elayna.  
Or did I take that one....hmmmmm

Almost postcard worthy.  

I like this picture of me holding up Kevin. 
A bit overexposed, but useable.  : )

After waiting 1/2 hour for the canoe group to get going, we drove to the trail head.  

The sun FINALLY came out as we were about to start our hike. Figures, but I welcomed the heat. 
Looks like it was VERY sunny, eh Elayna.  : )

And we're off.  

We adults took up the rear.  

And let everyone else walk on ahead.  

A nice stream starts things off. 

And then we hit the real trail. 

Complete with all kinds of good rules to follow. 
I didn't see ONE Privy....just sayin'

After about an hour of walking, some stretches being pretty steep uphill, we arrived at the falls.  
Time to get the bathing suits on and hit the water. 
Time to find entry #2 to see how the rest of our weekend went...........