At his first campsite, Steven had small toads like this jumping up on his tent during the night. When it first happened Steven got up to see what the heck was happening.
Turn over any rock in the north and there are likely hundreds of ants. Here are ant eggs and pupae, which are good to eat for humans as well as for bears, high in protein and fat.
Steven and I played a game of gin rummy. Good thing we were not playing for money or I would have been broke.
Camp 28, after 16 km of canoeing and two portages (200 metres). This was Steven's last campsite from which we canoed two km to the vehicle for him to return home and back to work.
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After Steven left, I canoed two km back to Camp 28 to continue on by myself. It was great having Steven with me and it took me a few days to get used to being on my own again.
Shortly after I got back to camp, I thought I heard the likely sound of a large animal getting in the water. I walked towards shore and saw two black objects swimming directly towards my site. After confirming that they were black bears I made myself known by walking to the shore. It was a mother and her cub, who turned and swam back to where they entered the channel. I certainly did not want them landing near my camp. They clambered up the steep rock cliff and disappeared into the bush. Steven missed all the excitement!
The wind was getting up and blowing directly into camp so I added stones to increase the height of the fireplace that Steven had made.
Shortly after the bear action, I went for a bath in the lake. An otter swam right by the shore near where I was sitting. I was able to get these photos by making "kissing" sounds to draw in the curious otter. This also works for other small animals like squirrels and rabbits.
