Day 4: All-Inclusive vacation day at McKaskill Cabin
No map for today because we didn’t go anywhere. We slept in (resulting from either the 6-hour day trip, or the booze. Or both.) and didn’t get out of bed till after 9am. It started out foggy though it eventually became sunny but cool. I got the wood stove going and fired up the gas stove for some coffee. It was a slow-going morning. Neither of us really felt like doing anything, including making breakfast. We opted to take a morning walk down the trail behind the cabin to the logging road. It was cool enough that you could see your breath, but not uncomfortable. I was hoping to see some wildlife along the way because so far we’ve only seen planes, trucks and boats (which may account for the lack of wildlife). A quick there-and-back walk, no wildlife and once back at the cabin it was time for breakfast. We really wanted to keep it consistent with respect to the bacon, so for the 3rd morning in a row we had bacon again – but not strip bacon, not peameal bacon – this time it was fully smoked bacon diced into chunks. We would enjoy this along with some Reese pancakes (a breakfast we developed at the Crooked Chute Cabin back in 2014). So there you have it – 3 different mornings, 3 different bacon’s. Kings!! Shane took special care of the bacon, opting to cook it inside the wood-stove while I made the Reese pancakes on the gas stove.
The guardian of the McKaskill Lake Cabin
Though it was sunny, it was cold so we kept the woodstove going in an effort to keep the cabin warm. It’s really nice to have a cabin during this time of year – sure it’s not exactly ‘camping’ but it’s still ‘canoe tripping’. With the fire pit complete, I figured it was time to dip into our alcohol stash – after all, this was the last night and we didn’t want to carry out anything extra – lighten the load! So, day 4 was pretty much spent around the cabin property with a drink in hand – this day we could probably be compared to Julian from Trailer Park Boys in that, no matter where we went or what we did, we had a drink in hand. Sounds terrible but that was what happened.
Reese Pieces Pancakes - a Crooked Chute Cabin invention that has stuck around.
Shane patiently are carefully attending to the smoke bacon chunks
A sunny day at McKaskill Lake
Sun all around the McKaskill Cabin property
Now tell me that doesnt look like the most delicious bacon in the world
tr 77: McKaskill Lake cabin
I spent some time rebuilding the fire pit at the cabin
The day passed like any other and when it came time for dinner, we were slightly less excited. Originally, we planned for a fish dinner but we realized the fishing season closed on our day 1 – so instead we had a dehydrated meal with Bannock and fresh-cut fries. It was good – but it was lacking something special – a trout. We enjoyed our dinner out by the fire this time and of course once complete we started pouring the drinks again. It’s nice to have an ‘all-inclusive vacation’ type of trip to Algonquin – a change of pace for sure. We sat by the fire for several hours, watching the flames eat through log after log. It was bittersweet – here we are in the most peaceful place on the planet, but it’s our last night. Nothing lasts forever I guess. Neither of us were eager to go to bed, even though we were both tired. As we poured our last drinks we tossed a final log on the fire and once again the loons began to call out. I swear they were telling us not to leave tomorrow, but that just my interpretation. Eventually the time came to go to bed. I have no idea what time it was, but I dragged my ass in the cabin and reluctantly went to sleep.
Shane took a more artistic approach to time killing and carved out this head with his hatchet
It didn’t take long for us to be enjoying yet another awesome meal in this cabin. With breakfast done we cleaned up and decided today was a ‘do-nothing and enjoy it’ day. We really didn’t do much – just kind of hung around the cabin. Shane took a hatchet to a stump and carved out a head while I decided to rebuild the crappy fire pit. Both of us just doing mindless tasks with no real purpose – but we enjoyed our time out there. You don’t always have to be doing something – sometimes its better to sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
A campfire can be so mesmorizing sometimes
TOURduPARK
Sunny October day at the McKaskill Cabin