Happy Canada Day

What is turning into a bit of an annual tradition, I again trekked down to my regular, quite private spot to view the Canada Day fireworks from.

Where I was going. The mythical “land on th’other side.” Vulture soaring on the thermals created by the Iroquois Bar.

How I would be getting to th’other side. Valley Inn Bridge in the distance.

Lots of vultures soaring on the thermals. Must be something foul and rancid and awful tasting down there.

That dude looks like he is really cool.

Whoah. A backpack that he designed and made. He is really cool!

Stopped to smell the flowers.

I told those damn swans to clear out. Said I was now the supreme ruler of this peninsula. They didn’t listen. Given that they can break a leg with a swipe from their wings, I decided not to press the issue.

Stack of twigs and sticks for the stove.

Not the ideal tool for the job, but my Spyderco Tenacious did an admirable job splitting some of the thicker wood into smaller pieces. I would usually prefer a stouter knife for this task, but I think it should be within the capacity of a knife like this.

Since the BushBuddy has a fairly small aperture, I needed get a few of the pieces too thick to snap to size cut down. Not having my Laplander with me, I used my trusty Huntsman’s saw, and as expected, it worked fine. Decent saw in a pinch.

The view.

Used my BushBuddy.

Cup of tea.

Bridge and boats.

Time to stoke the fire back up. If there is a drawback to the BushBuddy it’s that it burns hot and fast, can only burn small finger sized pieces of wood and requires a constant feeding of wood. It can only go for a few minutes before it needs a top up. Given that the spot I was on was a sandy spit and the only wood available to me was willow, might have had something to do with it too. Perhaps if I was burning maple or oak, it might burn slower.

Fire is so great. I wish I had the chance to have a little fire like this every day. Good for the soul. Had that thing going for three hours.

Still life with pack.

Good thing I had that operation to have all my nerve endings removed so I feel no pain.

Iroquois Bar.

The fireworks were okay. Given that I know the pictures will turn out badly, I never bothered to take any photos. Hiked back up the cliff and out through the cemetery without ever turning on my flashlight and then home.

Happy Canada Day! I love living in this country.