I came across Algonquin Bice Lake as one of the most beautiful lakes in Algonquin Park because I retired from IBM in 2002. As was customary for good IBM guys like Bang Jeha, my friends in the office showered me with many gifts, one of them is a photo essay of Algonquin. In there, I came to know one person who had seen the most of the 1500 lakes, Ralph Bice. He was a park ranger for many years in his 80 years outdoor life before he died at the young age of 97. Nature lover dies young :-).
I have been to many of the Algonquin lakes and access points, perhaps the only Indonesian oldies, to count my wife too, who have paddled its most lakes. I can agree with Ralph Bice. Once I asked another guy from Swift Canoe Kayak and Rentals who claimed to have paddled all over Algonquin. He said Lake Louisa in the fall is the most beautiful. I have been there and it was OK. Ralph Bice Lake is better because on the way to the put-in, we have a chance to see the fall colour beauty for one hour driving its 40 km dirt road :-).
I went again to Bice Lake, my fourth trip there, three in a row, this past Thanksgiving long week-end. It was amazing, never happened before to have such a nice weather in October in northern Ontario. The day temperature was around 20C and at night it only dipped to the high single digit. On top of that, neither mosquitoes nor blackflies did we have to endure. We canoeist attributed this kind of phenomena to the rookies, there were 3 of them in this trip, ZS, AH and AM.
"They are missing it," said ZS when we chatted why our friends would not want to go in an interior canoe camping trip. Yes, they do not know why we the interior campers are a bunch of joyful people :-). If we ever become sulky or miserable, it must be because we have not camped for years, we forgot to rejuvenate our bodies, recharged our batteries. Interior camping is like being in a place called nirvana. Where else can you wake-up serenaded by the yellow warbler among the pine trees, got out from your tent, still be able to see the brightest object in the sky after the Moon, Planet Venus? Where else that eating bacang still steaming hot is the best breakfast one can have in the world, complimented with a 3-in-1 coffee :-)?
My camping buddy ZS nodded because he is also a bacang lover, we ate that every day for the 4 days trip you see. Only bacang can last that long and is still yummy. I just finished the trip calculation; don't be alarmed or 'kejengkang' in Indonesian, the 4 days 3 nights trip cost only $ 16 per person for the food! And we ate like tomorrow was doomsday, all the good food like Cecilia's bandeng presto and bubur ayam :-). We also had many snack time, coffee and tea time like the English aristocrats. All for only $ 16.
Our happiness came not only from the delicious food we all ate, the beauty of nature and the fall colour, also from the friendship among us. We shared many stories including real experiences ghost stories. Too bad we did not have atheists who joined this camping trip, otherwise I am pretty sure he or she would start believing in Satan, I meant in the existence of soul.
If you cities boys and girls were thankful on this Thanksgiving Day to be able to eat the turkey, we the 9 campers were grateful with God's Blessing of 4 beautiful days in a row, the good food we ate, the many fauna and flora we saw, the paddling and portaging exercises, the special qigong (chi-kung) sessions by Sensei Cecilia and most of all, the togetherness. Till next year canoe camping trip with Jeha Outfitter and friends, farewell, goodbye, adieu.
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