Park #1 done!
What a learning experience!
~First time solo camping with my dog.
~First time trying out a good amount of my equipment in the field.
~First time sleeping in a “2-person” tent.
The past two nights I holed up in a tiny tent in -2°C weather with a less than impressed dog. We stayed warm enough but he’s a home-body through and through. Side Note: I’m pretty sure tent manufacturers measure tent capacity using garden gnomes. I just can’t believe that two adults could have shared my little MEC Tarn 2-person tent. She’s little. Like, I’m 5 foot 2inches and it was little by my standards. Throw in a foam mat and my single person inflatable mattress and there’s barely room to add a thirty pound dog let alone another fully-formed human. The fact that I inherited the tent from my dad and its stakes were still pristine might be more of a tell then I’d originally thought… So verdict is still out on that situation. Will update after future trials.
My first day was a lot of setting up my site (acknowledging that I over-packed), exploring the park (walking – all the walking) and learning just how much my dog hates the idea of sitting in the dirt. It wasn’t until he witnessed a neighbour’s husky curl up for a nap that he felt enough peer-pressure to give it a shot himself – 3 hours before it was time to head home.
I struggled with putting up a tarp in the wind, lighting a fire in the wind and getting warm in the wind. Wind is a problem. I can handle chill – gloves and hats and layers are easy, but wind is tricky. It foils a lot of plans. Wind made me question all the things I went to Balsam expecting to be good at. Talk about humbling.
As a first time solo-camper, there was a lot of trepidation about safety when I was planning this trip. I read a lot of other accounts and spoke with women who had experience going out alone in preparation and that definitely helped. But there was also the unspoken discomfort I felt from friends and family when I said I was going alone and that really threw my confidence off initially. But I’m stubborn. And I had made a plan. And I don’t easily back down once that’s happened. And I’m glad.
Because it was an amazing experience.
The solitude was refreshing. I read, hiked, cooked and enjoyed the quiet of my own mind. Balsam Lake was a deliberate first choice – I wanted a park that was popular, not too far, and that I was familiar with. It was my toe-in-the-water park – my trial run at being alone. It was a good choice.
My site neighbours were friendly and helpful – a woman beside me in her mid-forties was also solo-camping and we hiked together and she happily answered all my pesky adventure questions. There’s a world of help out there – of well intentioned people and despite my more untrusting approach, it’s a relief to walk away from my first solo-adventure with such a warm experience.
I didn’t really know what to expect on this first trip. Definitely hadn’t expected my dog’s prissiness to be such a demand. Absolutely hadn’t anticipated the tight squeeze that would be my sleeping quarters. And underestimated my hardiness in windy weather. But there was also plenty that I was pleasantly surprised about. I loved testing out my equipment, brewing my morning coffee over an open flame, meeting new people, wandering without discussion and hiking at my own pace. There was a lot I’ll hopefully improve on – a lot of skills I need to brush up on. But I loved it. And I’m looking forward to the next park. And the one after that too…
She Collects Campsites 