Bernie's Travels: 2009

From New York I decided to take the Greyhound bus back to my home state of Ohio for novelty sake. I had just spent well over a year taking hours long bus rides all over Central and South America, how bad could it be? Pretty Bad. Almost all of the decent buses I ever took in Latin America easily beat the Greyhound with its stinky bathrooms and mentally ill passengers . The bus ride wasn't so exciting but It was great to finally be back home with my family. And, as great as it was to be back home it was only a few days before I left the country again! For several years I had missed an annual canoeing trip to Canada's Algonquin and this year I made sure to make it back in time to make the trip. One more hurrah to round out my trip through the Americas and enjoy the waning days of my temporary retirement.

I went with my surrogate father Jim and his two fraternity brothers Randy And Dan. They had been coming up to Algonquin park for almost thirty years and founded the aptly named group of DEPRAVITY (Dedicated Enthusiasts Planning Return to Algonguin's Vast Interior Tracks Yearly) . I had been initiated years ago and I was finally returning to once again to test my liver, and this year my back, in the beautiful Algonquin Park.

Algonquin Park covers a huge tract of land, nearly 8,000 square kilometers or roughly twice the size of the State of Rhode Island. Spread throughout the park is a network of trails that connect more than 1500 lakes and hundreds of rivers and streams. The park is traversed by canoeing through the waterways and carrying, or portaging, gear across the trails connecting them.

To get to the park we drove all day with Canoes in tow and made it up to Huntsville, Ontario for the night, Just outside of the huge park. In Huntsville the guys rested up for the big trip while I went out to see the town. I met some friendly Canadians, had a fun night out, and somehow made it back to head into the park with the rest of the crew. Before making it to the park we stopped off to visit our good friend Red, then ate lunch at Tek's Seafood Restaurant, both were DEPRAVITY requirements.

This year's trip was not as strenuous as some other trips. We stayed on the first lake, Kiosk, for two nights before continuing further into the park, making a loop and returning back to Lake Kiosk. The first couple of days were spent relaxing at and soaking in the calm beauty of the park, and of course drinking plenty of scotch.

After a couple of relaxing days and a bit of rain we moved on, canoeing and portaging our canoes and packs to Mouse Lake. There we stayed for another couple of days with rain showers coming and going.

From Mouse Lake we began our trip back to Kiosk by way of Birch Lake. We broke the trip up this time staying on Birch Lake before our last night back on Lake Kiosk. On the way back I took on the challenge of carrying both a pack and canoe across the trails to help lighten the load. So Strong... not so bright.

Our last day of canoeing and portaging went smoothly and we made it back to Lake Kiosk for one more night. Our original campsite was taken but we found another to enjoy one more campfire and the remaining drops of our scotch. The next day we paddled onward into a dense morning fog to make it back to the truck and civilization. On the way back Red had a cold beer waiting for us and we had another quick visit before making the drive back home to Columbus.

The final stop of the outing was back in Columbus at my sister's very own bar! She had opened it while we were away so we had come to congratulate her and give it the DEPRAVITY seal of approval. We made had made it back safe and sound and I was finally home to stay for awhile.