We just got back from a place I love — Algonquin Provincial Park. If you’ve kept up on my blog you’d remember that we were heading up that way because the Friends of Algonquin Park asked me to teach a workshop and have a book signing.
It was an honor to be the first person to conduct a workshop in the Friends of Algonquin Park’s new series. The workshop was about wilderness cooking, of course, and it took place on Monday August 3rd. There wasn’t much notice for the event so the group wasn’t too big which was fine by me. I had a great time and, like all good teachers, I learned a few new things from the people taking the class. The feedback from the students was wonderful.
Randy Mitson and the fine folks at Algonquin Outfitters provided some great prizes and Wilderness Cooking provided a WhiteBox Stove as well. The winners were as follows…
Tracy Allison - Bakepacker
Carol Anne Albertson - Light My Fire Meal Kit
Susan Lee Anderson - Light My Fire Meal Kit
Marilyn Orr - White Box Stove
Marlene Montana - Light My Fire Meal Kit
Andrew Bretz - MSR Whisperlite with Primus Fuel Bottle
The cookbook signing on Tuesday went very well too. I had set up a display of cooking gear which attracted a lot of attention. I also took the time to talk with people. It simply amazes me that there are so many parents who are waiting for their children to be “the right age” before taking them on a backcountry trip. It meant a great deal that I was able to inspire more than one family to stop waiting and to give their little ones more credit for being tough enough to handle a properly planned backcountry trip.
Anyway, the signing went over by almost three hours. That was fine with me because there was quite the thunderstorm going on outside. There was a wonderful artist, David Alexander Risk, in the Algonquin Room adjacent to where I was set up in the Visitor Centre lobby. His wife came and introduced herself and we chatted for a bit. Linda is a very sweet lady. I bought my son a beautiful painting of a wolf with some hidden elements in it. He’s obesessed with wolves so he was just tickled with it.
Special thanks to Sophie and Sharon (from Friends of Algonquin) and Algonquin Outfitters for all the support! We plan to run the workshop next year as well but there will be more notice.
The next morning, Wednesday, we headed into the backcountry for five days. We stayed at a place named Welcome Lake on a campsite with over a kilometre of sand beach. It was incredible and some nice down time after such a social beginning to the week.
One morning we saw wolf footprints all along the shore. The next morning the lake was shrouded in mist. It was beautiful. I just adore mornings like that.
Just before I left to go teach my wilderness cooking workshop in Algonquin Provincial Park, I discovered a neat product. I was in Staples of all places, picking up supplies to bind the workbooks for the workshop participants. As I reached the end of the aisle I saw a rack of products from Twinings.
