Urban Camping Part 1

Beer sojourn to Omands Creek turned into an overnight stay. The idea of urban camping is kind of like running on a treadmill when it's nice outside, but something I am hoping to explore anyway.



Morning

Gem Lake

Pleasant Valley Evangelical Mennonite Church Men's Retreat 2011
We went up to Gem Lake in Nopiming National Park, which is located in the northeastern part of Manitoba, bordering Ontario. This was my first time on this annually held trip. It was my goal to learn from and get to know the men I see in church every week; men who are skilled in trades, spiritual uplifters, and ultimately desirable role models. What resulted was indeed lots of learning, accompanied with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. Being young and inexperienced is fine with me, but I have a feeling that before long I will be old and inexperienced. The weekend was a tangible manifestation of the dissonance between choosing learning over labor (not to say the two are mutually exclusive, however), and I think I am on the losing side.

We needed to notify the folks already stationed at Gem Lake of our arrival. Two hours on the road and we lost any trace of a cell phone signal, but apparently MTS is farther reaching than we thought.


Getting to the camp at Gem Lake is no facile task. We parked the church van and set out on foot towards the lake.


While this ATV pulled a trailer loaded with our gear.


We unloaded the trailer and reloaded our loot onto a boat. Our destination at Gem Lake is an island.


I'm on a boat


The camp's fishery shack


Main Lodge


A friendly chipmunk


This was one of the projects I was helping with, reinforcing and rebuilding.


I opted to tent


Poker at the Main Lodge


Things that move in the night


The root system of an upturned tree


Campfire banter


Went hiking and things got really real


Dock at dusk


Home time