Short on cash from the Uganda trip and with nothing to do, I set to work finding a summer job. It turned out alright as I was able to work as a canoe guide for a small adventure company in Algonquin Park, my old 'home'. It was great to be back although the sense of kinship with the naturalists there was long extinguished, despite my efforts to rekindle it. They have a great bunch of guys there and I was able to do the ode and butterfly counts, but trying to establish regular geeking outings with today's naturalists resulted in nothing more than me looking back into the past.
I made an effort to do one solo trip to a place I'd always wanted to see - Radiant Lake. It was a physically challenging trip over 3 days, with 5 portages each way and at the height of insect season. I was ravaged by blackflies, deerflies AND mosquitos during every portage but I did see some interesting sightings and enjoyed some solitude, especially a 4:30 am dawn paddle in the darkness and a wolf howl at Odenbach - the old mill site. There didn't seem to be any wolf or bear activity that was recent. I wondered if Great Gray Owls ever use the meadow at Odenbach? Snorkeling with fish in the Petewawa River was pretty neat as was seeing a few species of trees I wasn't used to seeing in Algonquin, like Silver Maple and Black Ash.
 |
| Sedge Wren at Odenbach |
 |
| Monarchs |
 |
| Moose |
 |
| Common Mergansers |
 |
| Immature Gray Jay |
 |
| Petawawa River |
 |
| Some decent-size smallmouth bass right under my canoe - why didn't I bring the rod! |
 |
| Radiant Lake |
No comments:
Post a Comment