Chapter 5 - Into the (Pukaskwa) Wild

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"I was beginning to think I was the only one in the park.

You are. You're trespassing. You passed through 3 barriers to get in here.

Oh I thought the park was closed, optionally."

I finally got my solo winter camping trip when I left Wawa and got to Pukaskwa (apparently pronounced puck-a-saw) National Park. I was very dissapointed when I arrived to find this park closed, as every other park had been (with the exception of Killarney). However there was a difference. The closed gates on this park were not locked, so in I went. Once I got inside I found some stacks of logs from a run down staff shack, and everything fell into place. It was an interesting park, very high in elevation so a short stack of pines and spruce trees were all that surrounded me. Moss and lichen covered the ground and the beaches were littered with drift wood. I thought about having a fire on the beach but I wanted to get my camp fire going before dinner. After some hiking around, and setting up my camp, I began to cook supper. It was about 4:30 by the time I ate, just in time to catch the overcast sky turn dark as the sun went down.

It's a strange feeling to have darkness fall so early when you are outside in the cold and there are a good 5 hours at least before you're tired enough to sleep. This would be a particularly cold night. Sitting in front of the fire, carefully placing the wet old logs strategically to avoid the constant smoke in the eyes, I found exactly what I had been looking for; myself - with absolutely no distractions and lots of time. For so long when I had been planning this trip, I quit my job and left my (career) life behind with the hope to finally be able to get down to my core. My inner strength and sense of self was something I had to find again, as if it was something that I had forgotten about. Like that money you stash away and actually forget about, when you do find it, it's like an incredible reward. That was my experience.

The paranoia of going through barriers to get into the park I think caused an unnatural fear of what was all around me. Thinking about it now it seems crazy to imagine that I was in danger from bears, wolves, etc but when you are cold and alone in the dark - what you really have to face is yourself. The one piece of evidence that there was something around my campsite however, was something I would realize the next morning. (check side link for videos)

Asked for by popular demand, I'll give you the low down on how I got kicked out of the park - After a night in the darkness, I got up around 7am and it was still dark out (the self portrait) so I went for a hike on the beach. Not having seen anyone the night before I figured it wasn't a big deal I was camping come morning because I was leaving in any case. So I took my time packing up my campsite. At about 930am I heard distinct voices from people off in the distance as well as heavy machinery. Someone had arrived for work. It wasn't long before someone drove by my campsite and realized some crazy guy was camping in a closed park (and they wouldn't be able to continue cutting trees - because of safety concerns?) Anyways they soon found a couple of park rangers and they screached out to my campsite and then we had our conversation as above. I gave them my story, life in my van, headed out to whistler, really wanted to camp there - and immediately they changed their tune. They were very interested in my quest and allowed me to pack up and leave (which of course I was doing in any case)

After getting kicked out of the park, I was off to the Sleeping Giant and Thunder Bay and a new start on my adventure with a new sense of direction and purpose. What a difference! Will I ever leave Tbay!? Stay tuned!