Bike Touring June, 2024

Day 9th & 10th:

June 25th – 26th, 2024

Arrive at Lake Whittaker Conservation Area Campground

Severe Thunderstorms and Raccoons Make for two Bad Nights sleeps

Arriving at Lake Whittaker Conservation Area

We arrived early in the morning and had to wait a few hours before the office opened. This gave us time to ride around the conservation area and check out all the amenities. Started with our breakfast on the Picnic table by the office under a big shady tree. Then Dax and I rode down to the lake to take a walk around. Was able to take Dax in for a cooling swim off the docks. By that time the office was opened. So we went and checked-in for a night. The site we had was huge. No other campers in our area and had lots of shade from the sun with a cool breeze off the lake. Very pleasant. We did laundry and set up our pop-up tent for bathroom and changing in. We used one of our tarp guidelines as a laundry line between the trees. This allowed us to air out all the sleeping bags and hang out wet clothes to dry. We took a nice long hot shower and settled down for some reading and napping the rest of the day. Later on we took a bike ride around the area to see where the pool was and enjoyed seeing the seasonal camp sites and how they had landscaped their properties. We also found another community library that Dax was very interested in. I found a book I was interested in reading. Good thing to because I was almost done reading the book I had brought with me. I love having books to read while on these tours. Great entertainment without using my phone battery or data.

Later in that night Dax and I got woken up several times by raccoons trying to get into the dog trailer. That was where my panniers were stored and I forgot to take our food out of them. Fortunately they couldn’t get into the trailer but Dax and I were so worked up about the raccoons bothering us that not only did we not sleep but Dax tore two holes in my sleeping mat with his nails. I had to use my down sleeping bag as a buffer between me and the cold ground. I was so tired and annoyed the next morning, I decided to stay an extra night to rest more. My plan for the next night would be to take all the food and put it in the panniers and then the washrooms for overnight. Hoping that the raccoons would leave us alone and we’d be able to sleep. Unbenounced to me and Dax, it didn’t quit go that way. That next night, the raccoons had different plans for us.

So, in the morning I patched my sleeping mat using my bike patches. They worked well. After lunch, Dax and I settled down in the tent for some reading and a nap. We woke up around 1pm to some terrific wind. Rain was coming and the conservation employees came around to check in on us because of it. They said that there was a storm warning with severe winds and they wanted to know if I was going to be okay tucked into my little tent. While she was telling me this, a tree fell right behind my tent. Well, it didn’t take any more convincing for me to jump out of my tent and into her truck. I said, I’m going with you!!!!! We squeezed Dax in the front-seat and off we went to the office to take shelter. The power had gone out as well, so there was no communications for the employees or the campers – no phones or wifi. We waited in the office for almost 2 hours before it felt safe to return to our tent. Fortunately, my campsite was unharmed and all my equipment survived including my pop-up tent. I was impressed that the 4 little stakes held it in place through those severe winds – good to know. It took till well after 7:30 pm for the power to come back on. I was grateful that I had all my electronics fully charged from the day before. So Dax and I had some supper, put all the food in the panniers with a note on them that said,” don’t tell the raccoons the food is in here!!!!….ha!!!” This was just incase another camper or employee came into the washrooms and thought the panniers were left behind by someone. I hoped that anyone reading the note would clue into what I was doing and not take our panniers to the lost and found. This part of our plan worked perfectly.