Day 30-Caliper Lake
Kenora, to Caliper Lake
Distance: 127 km
Hot

It rained on and off throughout the night last night; there is something comforting about sleeping in a dry (hopefully) tent while it’s wet outside.

Lewis and I did a cycling trip in Newfoundland a couple of years back and experienced torrential downpours; unfortunately our tent then wasn’t up to the challenge, and I ended up spending the night akin to what I imagined Chinese water torture to be like; with a constant drip on my forehead.

Luckily the rain let up by the time we set out in the morning, and we cycled for most of the day under cloud cover, but by the end of the ride the temperature was measured at 36 degrees, making it an intense ride.

It’s also strange to be in Ontario now, with its very typical Canadian Shield terrain-even though I have never been here; it seems all very familiar with the rocky, sandy, treed terrain with many lakes - it’s very much like the Muskokas north of Toronto.
Also immediately noticeable to all of us is the hilly terrain after the flat lands of the prairies.
I am not a fan of the hills usually, but I surprised myself by being appreciative of the challenge that the undulating terrain offered today-even though the legs did start to protest once again the strain placed upon them.

We were very proud of ourselves this morning for leaving just before the galley crew; and managed to be the first ones into camp-but very little good it did us since Megan had missed the turn and got into camp hours after us, which is too bad as I was looking forward to having some extra chill time.

We’re staying at Calliper Lake Provincial Park, which, as its name suggests, is on a lake-very scenic and pretty.

Galley crew did a good job with dinner (the Aussie crew) and made a curried beef and veggie stew served with rice and cabbage salad.
So far all their meals have been a big hit; unfortunately ours haven’t been.
One can always gauge the success of the meal by how much leftovers there are; so far ours have had copious leftovers and these guys have people lining up to lick the pots.

The pressure is on us next time however, as we’re staying in residence at Thunder Bay and will have access to an indoor stove, as well as will be allowed to stay in a townhouse while all the others will be staying in the dorms.
Suggestive jokes have been lightly dropped about the expectation of the meal; I have taken them as threats since we have underperformed for the last few.
(But in our defense we’re following Bud’s suggested cooking menu, so we’ve blamed it on that each time.)

I’m getting bitten to pieces so must jump into the tent.