Killarney Day 2 - Sunday Aug 9/09

Well, that wine went down pretty quick last night! We realized that a bottle of rum would have been a great thing to pack with us (a little more weight efficient), but could only half convince Josh that it would be a good idea for him to hike back out (only 3.7km after all) and drive to the town of Killarney to find an LCBO. He decided that the likelihood of one being open was a little slim. Oh well.

We were in bed by 10pm last night, but no one slept well. Woke up this morning to a thunderstorm rumbling across the lakes at about 7am. Between the lakes and the rocks, everything echoes up here for so long! It's mighty impressive. I was a little concerned of our location as we were on a pretty open and high point over the lake - not really a safe place to be in a thunderstorm! But the storm never did come right over us, and it didn't last very long anyway. [Note: this is the day that major thunderstorm systems moved across southwestern Ontario - we didn't get any of that up here.]

Packing up in the rain sucked and everything was pretty wet. So much for our bacon breakfast; we grabbed some granola bars instead. Late start at 11am because we were hoping the rain would stop.

We stopped for lunch along the trail at a pretty rock outcrop with a view of the big white mountain we've been catching glimpses of since we arrived in the area. We pulled out the stove and cooked up the bacon and had bacon & tomato sandwiches on english muffins (needed to get that all eaten up to get rid of the weight in our packs). It had stopped raining by then and turned into a pretty nice day.

Some nasty hills in the afternoon where the trail headed straight up these rocky paths with water running down them through the rocks. That part of the trail slowed us down - but it's probably just a taste of what's to come.

The trail comes out at the end of Three Narrows Lake at an actual concrete dam. The river here is pretty deep and wide, so the actual trail goes down the river edge for about a kilometre before crossing the river and working it's way back up the other side. We were tired, and ready for a shortcut so we scoped things out, and crossed right at the dam instead. We had to do a bit of bushwhacking on the other side of the river to find the trail again, but we didn't get too turned around. This little shortcut saved us about an hour of walking, so it was well worth it!

12.7km later, we arrived at site #H16 on Three Narrows Lake around 4:30, got our stuff all scattered out in the sunshine to dry, and went for a swim. It was beautiful - refreshing, but not unbearably cold. Plus, it was worth it just to rinse off all the sweat, grime and bug spray!

Pretty simple meal of Mr Noodles tonight (just because it was quick more than anything). Just hanging out now; Josh & Heather are trying to feed a snapping turtle. Deanne is cleaning up a bit of laundry. And I'm sitting here listening to the sound of absolute silence broken only by the odd fish jumping in the lake, and mosquitoes buzzing around me.

Its a pretty beautiful lake.
Not going to lie though, my back hurts from carrying a pack all day. Feet look good though. Need some time to dry out, but so far, no blisters.