Ahhhhhh
Omg best sleep ever last night. I think things are turning around. Because of the rain we were stuck in our tent from about 7pm onward. Jubs slept hard! I fell asleep at some point early and then woke up at around 10pm needing to pee. It had stopped raining so I made a quick trip to the washroom and upon getting back into bed I quickly fell asleep again.
Woke up around 6am to Jubs staring at me. Still felt very tired so we did a pee walk, Jubs had breakfast and we went back to sleep again. I woke up at 9:30 because I was too hot. I checked the weather on the Garmin and things had changed! Going to be a nice day today!
Got the day started with a bit of tidying up and then went to the visitor centre to connect to wifi for a bit. First time I’d checked work emails since Quetico. Nothing exciting thankfully.
The visitor centre opens at 10, a few minutes after I’d arrived (you can access the wifi on the deck outside), and as the woman was opening Jubs freaked because of her outline and the reflections through the glass. So she came out to show her she wasn’t scary and it was Stephanie!
I met Stephanie last year. She’s an Ojibwe woman who works here and I really liked her. I didn’t think she’d remember me considering how many people pass through here but she said “wait, I remember you. You were here last year,” and I said “Yep! So nice to see you again,”. We chatted for a while about stuff. She told me that she was only covering at the visitor centre this morning as she’d been moved to the admin offices. She wasn’t happy at all about that move and it is too bad because she is super welcoming and definitely loves talking to all the visitors. Maybe that was the problem! She is a great ambassador for the park and unless something happened, they are definitely sleeping on a great resource.
Anyway she ran a program last summer about the medicine wheel which I attended. She also talked about some of her life and was very open about her family and their struggles, coming from a genuine place. This is what I mean about a great resource, she knows how to talk to people without having them losing them in identity politics.
Thankfully she’s still doing some programming and will be treaching about Turtle Island tomorrow so I’ll attend that.
Did some laundry again and then a paddle. The landscape here is just stunning so I love to get out and paddle all the little coves when I can when the wind is cooperative. Wanted to go to Playter Harbour today but you have to go into the big lake to get there. Despite it being calm near Hattie Cove, once out in the big lake the swells were a little too much and made me worried. If the water was as warm as a regular lake, I wouldn’t worry about it and I’d keep going but since the water is only 4 degrees it’s risky. With a dog that has ADHD coupled with the swells, it was a little past my comfort zone. So we turned around and puttered in Pulpwood Harbour instead. We pulled over and Jubs got out and chewed rocks, as she does, and had a swim. I sat on the lichen covered rocks and took in the sun. Along one side of the channel, it’s a sheer rock face and there were lots of little water falls from all the rain yesterday. So cool. We didn’t sit too long because the horse flies attacked us. We ran for the boat and Jubs lost her mind as they were trying to bite her. I don’t know who was more desperate, the flies having found a meal or us trying to escape from being a meal. She managed to eat every single one! Flies done and we had a chill paddle back.
We were out for a few hours looking at stuff. Saw a family of water birds - a mumma and 10 little chicklets behind her. Not a duck but smaller and with a pointier beak. Don’t know what it was but definitely cute. Last year I followed an otter in this same spot.
Came back and had a late lunch and a nap. Slept deeply - guess I still have catching up to do - could have kept going but forced myself to get up.
Just checked the weather - the next two days look stunning too!
Oh and I finally found my aeropress plunger!
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