First Trip to Camp 2014

This weekend Dianne and Catherine (and Winnie the Schnauzer) made their first trip to Camp Ak-O-Mak for 2014.

Spring is about a month late in Ontario, thanks to an unusually long winter that had temperatures in the deep freeze for the better part of the new year.  In fact, can you believe that a week ago Ahmic Lake was still frozen to the shore?  It just goes to show you how quickly things heat up at camp, because in a few short daysthe ice has disappeared liketime-lapsed photography.

With Winnie in the lead, her nose to the ground, we took our annual "walk-a-bout" camp to see how things have wintered.  It's the first time in a long while that we'veseen so many remnant chunks of snow, paying homageto the large loads that wereshucked from the roofs.  The frost is thawing from deep within the groundand as it does it heaves the earth upward like a big stretch after a long,winter'snap.  For this reason, the baseball shed looks like it has struck a pose, perched unnaturally on one corner.  All will be well, however, whenthe earth finally "sighs" and the ground levels once again.

Although it is May 4th, the forests remain barren….a monochrome of browns and greys, a landscape more typical of November.   As we hiked the Rocky Reef trail on a carpet of dead leaves, the only colour to emerge weretinges of emerald greenfrom themosses and hearty shoots eruptingas the first indications of new life.  The forest is silent save for thevigourous babbling of the seasonalbrooks carrying the winter run off to the lake. 

As we walked, our footfalls and voices stirred the rabbits close by.  Their coats are now a mangey patch work of white as they lose their snowy locks and don the brownish coats so familliar to us in summer.  The deer have left the soccer field and cabin line and retreated deep into the forests to give birth to their young.  I wonder how many fawns we will see in the upcoming weeks?

I LOVEcamp in

 spring and being reminded of what it is all about:   A fresh start…renewal…a preparation for new experiences.  Spring alsoencourages and invigorates us into action to preparethis 86 year old 'grande dame' ready foryourarrival!

Even though our first visit to camp is damp and rainy, we are once again awed by the singular beauty of this place and how privileged we are to experience the changing of the seasons here.  The smell of the fresh, pine-scented air and wet, loamy earth.  The birds filling the bare forests with a symphony of morning song, a call, a "revellie", for us and all of nature to wake up, bloom and celebrate life!

So, please, turn YOUR minds to camp.  Start planing your escape from the concrete and noise of urban life. Pack your trunk and all of your expectations for a great summer in a beautiful place and we'll be waiting for you here at Camp Ak-O-Mak!