If you recall, when I had my retirement luncheon with my colleagues from the office early this year, they presented me with many gifts. One of them was a photo essay of Algonquin and that was how I came across Ralph Bice. He stated in his book, Along The Trail in Algonquin that he was perhaps the person who had travelled the most of park lakes. So when he claimed that Butt Lake, now named after him as Bice Lake, is the most beautiful among all of them, I knew I had to check it out and so here is this story.

I knew when I started to read the book that Butt Lake, a.k.a. Bice Lake could only be reached through access point 3. I had to figure out how far to reach it from Toronto, whether we would be able to get to the lake on the same day. This is a standard planning, knowing when will the sun sets and when will we be able to reach the put-in, the first place we put the canoe on the water. The closest town, rather village, to access point 3 is Kearney, 250 km from TO. When we reached it around noon, the lady in the Park Office nodded when I asked if she knew the late Ralph Bice. Yes, Ralph lived in Kearney, where with a population of 800, I am sure everybody knows everybody's dogs and cats' names. I had been to access point 4, Algonquin Rain Lake, close to access point 3 and we knew therefore that after the small town, we still had to drive quite a distance. In this case, it was another 40 km to really reach the put in, through dirt road or gravel road. As it was late autumn, we could still enjoy the fall colour of the trees along the road.

It was 1 PM when we reached the put-in on Magnetawan Lake. Just when we started to paddle, we realized that this lake had already scenic views. It is connected to another lake on the south, Little Eagle Lake. We headed east toward the portage to Hambone Lake. A very short paddling to P135 portage, a piece of cake for my wife Cecilia. She needed all the exercises, she said. So reluctantly I allowed her to portage :-). Hambone Lake is also a small lake. It is connected to Daisy Lake in the south, the source of the famous Petawawa River. Once finished portaging to Hambone, we paddled again and headed eastward to another portage to Bice Lake, a P295, one more piece of cake for my wife. If you see her getting plum in the winter, now you know why. I offered her to portage the canoe to a nearby park the other day, but she told me that I was crazy. :-) So we lifted the canoe and hung it inside our garage these days.

Once we finished the portaging and were on Bice Lake, we kept looking around, Ralph Bice was right, Bice Lake is a lovely lake without weeds with sandy beaches and clear water. We had been watching the weather forecast before we departed from Toronto and were aware that there could be bad weather on the day we planned to be back. Since we couldn't afford to be windbound or stranded, we decided not to venture too far away to an island at the end of the lake. We brought just enough food to last during our camping trip, no spare and we had to be back in Toronto on the week-end. As soon as we spotted a nice and scenic campsite, we landed our canoe and made the place our home and glorious land for the next 3 nights.

Some people 'recharge their batteries' meaning rejuvenating their bodies and souls doing other things, but for us it is a camping trip to the interior. If you recall my essay entitled 'The Healing Nature' you know what it is like to get healed by nature. As usual, we got a loon on the lake who would sing lullaby for us in the evening as soon as we 'turn off' the fireplace :-). Well, there was no aurora borealis performance on this trip but we still had the opportunity to watch the planets and the stars from a pitch-dark place. Too bad it was already cold and I didn't own any wetsuit other than my natural 'wetsuit' :-). I knew I would freeze if I jumped to the water because the weather was already freezing, close to zero Celsius. Luckily I had a 100 Watt nature 'warmer' at night. We played Scrabble as usual, we read our books, we pondered and chatted. There was never a dull moment to be in the interior, to feel close and so dependent on our Maker. What is also good in campsite living, we have to go to 'basic'. It means we had to work to keep on living, prepared and cooked the food, pumped the water through the filter for drinking, looked for and cut wood for fire, etc. Our happiness came from doing the chores and sharing them together. Our joy happened when we did an outing, be it by just paddling around or fishing or hiking. We felt we were blessed on being able to do this and we were happy to be back in time for the Thanksgiving Day.


Bice Lake, October 8, 2002

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1. How you pack and load your gear into your backpack determines whether you arrive at the campsite crying or smiling :-). The lighter the item, the deeper it should go into your pack. The heaviest should be on the top part. Also a bulky or fat backpack makes a difference compared with a slender one. Don't get cheap on backpack especially if you are over 50.
2. Have you ever climbed the mountain in Indonesia with your friends? Did you remember the many items dangling from their pack? Their water bottle, their kitchen utensils, sometimes even their stoves and fuels. This is a waste of energy. All your items should fit in your backpack or should be loaded on top of it. If you can't, it means you are not camping but moving your home.
3. Cecilia and I bought 2 nice rain pants at MEC for our last camping trip. We didn't encounter pouring rain in Europe and our Gore Tex jacket was already adequate but keeping dry or becoming wet makes a difference between heavenly camping or a 'lousy' one. I shall always remember the three hints my fellow camper told me on winter camping. Number 1 don't get wet, number 2 don't get wet, number 3 don't get wet.
4. On waterproofing, we did that regularly to our tent from time to time. The fabric is OK in general unless you put your tent in a washer :-). What needs reapplication is the seam (jahitan) of the tent zipper. Make sure your hand is steady when doing the waterproofing cause if the glue gets to the zipper, you may have to sleep outside :-).
5. I love leaving for the campsite on a Friday morning. This way, we get to choose from many scenic sites and are not forced to camp in the dark.
6. When you are tired, you will be hungry and thirsty. So if you lead a team, make sure you allow time for rest. If you are a member of the team, munch on your snack from time to time :-), but share.
7. This is a secret actually, not all of my friends know. I keep pee bottle just outside my tent (inside the vestibule). If the weather is lousy or cold, I don't have to wear jacket and get into the boots, just to go pee. I took that bottle inside my tent, ser-ser-ser, finished, I slept again.
8. I told you a hundred times by now, get a good map. The same when you are backpacking, especially to an area you have never set foot before. In this province of Ontario, you can buy any topographical map of any place from MEC or other excellent camping store. Each geographical area in Ontario has a number, you just have to know roughly where you are going.
9. I don't know about your breakfast style but I eat big meal for breakfast. The best type of food is either bean or rice. Sandwich will only last me a couple hours. As said above, bring along snack like nuts and raisins.
10. I have used all kind of fuels for my camping stove. I have to say, gas is the best. There are several varities and if you are a beginner ask advice from the store person which one is suitable for your needs.
11. The temperature dropped to almost 0 when we camped in Zurich. Other than one down-filled sleeping back that Cecilia and I shared (both of us can fit sleeping in a twin-size bed :-)), we had headband that kept us warm. If your head is big, you may want to buy a tuque to cover all of it.
12. Do you know what is a perfect campsite? This is a place close to the water, well drained, above the waterline, lots of space for your friends' tents, the 'john' or biffy is nearby, far from the human noise, in a place you love and you have the company of someone you treasure. :-)
13. Don't bring the following items just by yourself but SHARE the load. Stove, pots and pans, tarp, water filter, water bag, map, first aid kit, GPS, compass, rope.
14. Bring the following and don't borrow: whistle, headlamp, lighter, sunscreen lotion, TP (toilet paper), pocket knife, personal medication.
15. Never save money on tent, your camping enjoyment depends on it. For beginner campers, it's better to borrow or rent first if you intend to camp more than once. This way you get a better idea of the tent you want to buy for the next trip.
16. A tarp could also contribute to a nice camping experience. If the rain is a downpour and the tent is leaking, you can expect a four-letter word swearing followed by 'never-again-in-my-life' oath from your friend.
17. I don't like to wear jeans when camping. It sucks. When it's wet, it is heavy. It is not easy to get dry and when you have a few jeans in your backpack and the climb is a 70 degree slope, I bet you will swear too :-).
18. "You don't want the breast you pay the price," said an unfriendly Popeye Chicken guy to us in Florida at one time. You don't want to get wet ever, you pay the price to wear Gore Tex pant, jacket and shoes :-). They are indeed one of the best inventions of human-being.
19. You don't want to get sick after your camping trip and in Ontario, Canada you could get the 'beaver-fever' from giardia. Invest in a good water filter or if you know how, bring iodine to kill the bacteria from those parasites. (You can use chlorine too if you want.)
20. When you go camping for several days, you can use a 'base camping' method. You stay in one place and only go to explore in different directions. This way, you don't have to pack and unpack every day.
21. Your stove could be your life. At one point in time, at the beginning of a 10-days interior camping, the main stove I brought was broken. We were already a day canoeing from the starting point. My back-up stove was a gas type with only one canister and there were 12 of us. I was lucky that we had engineer among us who was able to fix the stove. Moral of the story, brought either important part or a full back-up if the success of your whole trip depends on just one small item like that.
22. The same thing in clothing. If your pack falls to the water, you want to make sure you don't sleep with wet clothes. So store them inside a plastic (garbage) bag. During a day trip in one fall season, Cecilia fell to the water and was totally wet. Campsite was an hour paddling back. She was lucky that she could borrow dry clothing from the 3 of us because we also brought spare clothing when we went on a day trip.
23. Invest in a good first-aid-kit, especially if you go to the interior (read: several hours or days from civilisation). In Canada it is quite common that people are trained to do first-aid, else make sure that you could have one first-aider participant in your team. More important actually, DO NOT HORSE AROUND in the interior. It means do not do stupid things (becanda keterlaluan) that could cause trouble.
24. Be nice to the environment (exception: peeing a beaver dam, kidding). When you leave your campsite, make sure it is cleaner than before you come. When you walk on the trail, do not litter but put any wrapping in your pocket where you can stuff it in the garbage later on. This way, your grand-grandchildren would have the same enjoyment as you.
25. I don't think most of you will go to bear-country or camp in the interior. Regardless, important stuff like your (bear) pepper-spray, water, first- aid kit, etc. should all be easily accessible, preferably in the outside of your backpack.

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