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For summer vacation this year we decided to do something a little different. Rather than do a long bike tour and stay in cottages or motels, we opted to go camping instead. We wanted to take our dog Hector along, so that meant my Ural would get the nod for transport duties while Angie would take her Harley. As this would be the first long distance trip with the Ural (and with Hector in it) we searched for a campground that had all the following parameters; within 5 hours from home, motorcycle friendly, pet friendly, waterfront campsites, showers/toilets on site, LCBO and food stores nearby and local attractions for daytime touring. We consulted many tourist guides and online sites but only one campground fit all our requirements - Chippawa Cottage Resort, located near Barry's Bay and about a 3hr ride northwest from our home in Gananoque. Angie reserved a waterfront non-serviced site there early in the spring and the countdown to our adventure began. |
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The Planning Stage It had been many years since either of us had done any serious camping, so our skills were a little rusty. However, as we researched and planned the trip it all came back to us and we realised just how little equipment we had for a trip like this. Canadian Tire had most of what we needed and a lot of it was on sale when we began to collect it all. My Dad supplied a few things as well, as he is an accomplished camper of many years, so we were able to assemble an impressive array of camping "essentials". Too impressive, actually, as I began to worry about the Ural's ability to carry all of it. Angie is a former Girl Scout leader and I had many years camping experience courtesy of the Army, so both of us had very clear ideas as to what luxuries we could live with and what we could let go of. In the end, we had a pretty comprehensive list that I was sure could be carried between the two bikes. Over the weeks we bought/borrowed all the items on the list and the day before we left I did a test fit of all the luggage - that poor Ural sure was loaded down! The route was fairly easy to plan, all I had to do was keep off the main highways as much as possible and use quiet county roads. Fortunately they are in abundance in this area of the province, as are gas stations, so we really didn't need to worry about getting lost or running out of gas. So when the departure day finally arrived, we were ready and raring to go! |
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The Trip The morning of 17 June didn't look like a good day for riding, as the previous night's thunderstorms had totally soaked the roads and everything was wet. In fact, it was still sprinkling on and off as we rolled the bikes out of the garage but we hoped that it would dissipate before we headed out. |
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Hector seemed anxious to get going, even though his space in the sidecar was a little cramped. The campstove, propane bottles and other items were jammed in there but he still had room to lie down so I was hopeful he would be okay with it. The Ural looked like a gypsy caravan, what with all the luggage strapped to it and I was a little nervous about how it would perform and handle with all that extra weight. However, Angie put it in perspective when she reminded me that the rig was designed to carry three Russian soldiers and all their gear and I felt a little better after that. |
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Angie's bike was pretty loaded up, too, but she had nowhere near the amount of stuff that my Ural did. Fortunately, she was quite content with the plan to take quiet back roads and cruise at 80-85kmh. We had the whole day to travel the estimated 300km and were in no hurry to get there, so at around 10am we fired up the bikes and headed out. The rain had stopped by then and the roads were beginning to dry, so it looked like we were in for a good ride. About 1/2 hour later the sun broke through the clouds and we had sunshine and warmth for the whole trip. |
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On a county road north of Sharbot Lake a couple hours later we had our first encounter with the wildlife. As I came over the crest of the hill I spotted a turtle ambling along on the side of the road, so I made the "object on road" sign to Angie behind me, then pulled over and u-turned to go back for a photo. I pulled up behind him and he spun around to face me. Well, he "spun around" in turtle-time, anyway. I had enough time to shut the bike off, dismount, rummage around in the trunk for the camera, turn it on, walk to the front of the bike and take this pic before he was even halfway around. |
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Hector was busy squeaking away in the sidecar as he heard me making cutesy talk to the turtle; he wanted to get out and investigate what I was talking to but I figured it wiser for him to stay put. The last thing I needed was to be chasing down a squawking Australian Cattle Dog with a bigass turtle hanging off his nose. Angie wanted to move the turtle back into the safety of the ditch, but I was reluctant to approach it without knowing for sure whether it was a snapping turtle or not. She said it wasn't because there were no distinctive yellow stripes on its head or shell, but I wasn't about to do a turtle rescue without making absolutely sure first. |
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So I grabbed a stick and gently poked it in the face. It closed its eyes and retracted back into the shell a bit, but that wasn't enough proof for me. So Angie (my Warrior Princess) stepped forward, carefully lifted him up from behind and carried him over to the ditch. As she put him down he opened his mouth and hissed at her, obviously not impressed. I rolled the Ural down to where Angie's bike was and we got ready to ride on. She looked back up the road and laughed; the damned turtle was already back out on the road and headed our way. I guess he must have had a hot date and we had just put him behind schedule. |
| The rest of the trip was without incident and we pulled into the campground shortly after 1pm. It was hot - very, very hot - and poor Hector had been roasting away in the sidecar the whole trip. We registered and then followed the owner as he led us down to the waterfront campsite that was to be our home for the next 7 days. Hector got one whiff of the water as I let him out of the hack and he was all perky ears and squeaks, so I took a few minutes and let him splash about and cool off before we unloaded the bikes and set up camp. | |
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The Campsite In a word, WOW! It was better than we had hoped. Not only did we have a very private setting, but there was only one other campsite in use other than ours and it happened to be the other waterfront site beside us. The owners had only opened for the season the week before and were still in the process of getting things sorted out and finishing up on all the cabin renovations; apparently the Canada Day weekend is when they get all their business and it lasts right through to September. At this time of year they don't get very many people, so that was an unexpected bonus for us. |
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The Ural fit nicely into the pathway leading up to the site and I only had a short distance to carry all the luggage. Angie's Harley had a bit of a rough time making it down there because the roads were really little more than sandy paths cut through the scrub grass. She almost got stuck a few times as the tires sank into the sand, but she made it. The ground was so soft that the sidestand would sink into it, so the owner was kind enough to fetch a piece of plywood to lean it on. Once the bikes were unloaded, she made the decision to park hers up by the park office where the roads were graveled and more solid. Not an easy decision for her to make, but it proved to be a wise one in the end. |
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Once we got the tent set up we realised the site was smaller than we had thought, but it was still roomy enough to walk around without tripping over trees and such. There was a nice breeze coming off the lake and it kept the bugs away and the temperature down to a very comfortable level. Once we had everything unpacked and sorted out, we loaded Hector back into the sidecar and rode the 12km into the nearest town (Barry's Bay) to load up with groceries and booze for the coming days. |
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On our return, we set about making ourselves comfortable and getting reacquainted with the life of a camper. It took me a few tries to get the fire going but eventually it was burning merrily away. Angie wasn't too keen on my technique of dousing the kindling with a capful of gas, striking a windproof match and yelling "fire in the hole!" before setting it ablaze with a resounding "WHOOMPH!" but I assured her this had been part of my special Army training and that I knew what I was doing. She didn't buy any of that and made me promise to use a less lethal procedure next time. |
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I became concerned about Hector as the day wore on. He didn't seem to be very happy and didn't want to do much other than sit and mope. Whenever he did get up to wander about, he had great difficulty finding his way and needed to be guided almost every step. I realise that as a blind dog he has challenges adapting to new areas, but this time seemed to be different and he was just not himself. It finally dawned on me that he had two new problems to cope with - the constant wind interfered with his hearing and the ground that had too many different scents to allow for tracking by smell. Our poor dog was unable to navigate himself around the area and had to rely on us for help. |
| We knew we'd have to be very vigilant over the next week to make sure he didn't hurt himself. Fortunately, things got a bit better for him the next morning. I noticed that our neighbours in the next site had checked out and I wandered over there to see if they had left any choice bits of firewood. I took one look at the site and immediately went back and grabbed Angie to show her. Within a few seconds we made the decision to ask the owners if we could move into this one instead. | |
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It was easily twice the size and had a much nicer beach area with a more gradual slope leading down to it; this would give Hector more room to move around and the more numerous trees would block some of the wind, hopefully allowing him to hear better. The owners had no problems with us taking it, so we spent the better part of the day moving our stuff over there and getting settled in once more. |
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Angie was much happier with this setup and by the end of the day we both had turned the new site into a very comfortable and spacious home base for our vacation. We had enough space now to set up our luggage tent to keep all the extra equipment, clothes and food relatively safe from critters and bugs. I had set it up at the front corner of the sleeping tent closest to the shoreline, which turned out to be a good move later that night. We were awakened around 1am by the sound of fierce winds rolling across the lake towards us and we knew there was about to be some heavy rain falling. |
| We had just managed to get the rain flaps on the doors zipped up when the storm hit. And it hit HARD. The winds were so strong that it actually bowed the front of the tent in a good two feet; the corner sheltered by the luggage tent remained intact but the other corner (on Angie's side) received the full force of the storm. A few seconds into it her corner tent pole spun from a convex to a concave support shape and it was all she could do to hold the tent steady as it tried to uproot. I was now on my back on the air mattress with both feet up and bracing the front of the tent from caving in while Hector was laid flat out in his corner, ears back and obviously not enjoying this event at all. A few minutes later the winds subsided and we were able to push the tent back into its proper shape, but the rain continued to pour down for quite a while afterwards. We stayed dry, though and eventually even managed to get a bit of sleep. It wasn't until the next day that we learned that same storm had hit the Pembroke and Ottawa regions and caused all kinds of power outages and wind damage. Had we still been in our first site I think things would have ended differently for us, as the tent was much closer to the water and had no trees or the luggage tent to help shield it from the winds. | |
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