Surprised by the People

We were on the portage from Rock Lake to Penn. About half way, we met a middle aged woman carrying a load of camping supplies. We greeted her in passing and expected the others in her team to be following along behind. When we reached the far end of the portage, there was the remainder of her gear but no one else. She was travelling alone, and by the amount of stuff still to be portaged, she would need to make a couple of more trips. As it turned out, we weren’t able to transport all our stuff in one pass either, so rather than heading back empty, we returned carrying her stuff, hoping she’d appreciate the help. In fact, she did. We chatted for a while and found that she had been 4 days in the bush and was just making her way out. In appreciation for the help, she took the time to take our picture.

During our stay in the Park, we met a couple of school groups, and lots of young adults too, younger than us anyway.  These young folks for the most part had left their electronics behind and were heading back to nature for a time. Apparently the cell service in the Park is spotty at best and we didn’t see one person texting or with ear-buds in. That seemed unusual in this age.

As we paddled out on Saturday, we met 20 to 30 canoes often carrying people in their late teens or early 20s. Many were obviously inexperienced canoeists and I expect just as inexperienced campers. It was actually good to see, because of course they and their young families represent the future of the Park.

While pulling our canoes out at Rock Lake campground, we were asked to help an older single woman load her canoe onto her car. At the same time, there were some middle aged women launching theirs.

This year, not only was I surprised by who we did see in the Park, I was also surprised that we didn’t see any other retired guys like ourselves.

Click here for some of my other favorite Park pictures:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2012/10/other-favourite-park-pictures.html