Actually, this picture isn't in Bowron Lake Provincial Park,B.C. ... it's in Keji, N.S. - but that's another story.
The first summer Ann & I were dating, I suggested we take a four-day canoe trip in Bowron Lake Provincial Park, about 1-1/2 hours east of Quesnel in the Cariboo Mountains.
Ann had camped and canoed, but never on an overnight wilderness trip. Because of that, this trip really helped set the stage for our relationship to either sink or swim ...
Between fighting over who would start the campfire, accusations of Ann being a "lily-dipper" and all the rain we encountered, it certainly was a test of our patience (a commodity neither of has possesses in great quantities). But on the positive side, Ann tasted "spam-kabobs" cooked over an open fire for the first time; we slept in a "trapper's cabin" our last night; and, we saw a moose, an osprey, a heron and several other birds.
As for the reason Ann always wore a hat ...
She had very short hair when I first met her, and after one night of sleeping in the wilds, without access to a hair dryer and curling iron, Ann's hair was sticking out all over the place like a bunch of springs. Thus, the nickname, "Springhair."
Of course, if I took my hat off, my hair was plastered to the sides of my head, something I thought made me look like a "Bullethead."
But we survived that trip and have paddled on many more since, including the trip on the South Saskatchewan River we'll be just starting the day before Ann turns 40.
(To read a more detailed account of this trip, try to get a copy of the August 2002 issue of Canoe & Kayak Magazine; or, check out http://members.shaw.ca/naturessoul/bowron.htm )
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Our First Canoe Trip (almost our last!) |
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