STILL IN THE WOODS by Ralph Bice
From June 16, 1976
“Every man or woman, especially if they only get to visit the Park once a year, should get down on their knees and thank the Almighty that they have been spared for another twelve months and once again are privileged to visit Algonquin Park. I have travelled all over Canada and there is no place that makes one feel so peaceful. We have the lakes, the hills and the tranquility. There is such a feeling of harmony and contentment and often I wonder if people really appreciate just how wonderful it is.”
Those are almost the exact words of one of the men that I guided last week as soon as he got to camp. He has been enjoying Algonquin Park for more than forty years and still likes it.
Last week I had been in the woods and the fishing was good. The flies and mosquitoes were not too bad. But anyone who would ask for better weather would be hard to please.
Game is very scarce. Did see a few beaver, or the same ones over again on Rain Lake. Plenty of moose tracks but no deer. Should say that several deer have been reported both inside and outside the Park. Early in May we heard the wolves at night but not a sound this time. Had a visit from the Park Superintendent and he heard a lot of suggestions and was asked a lot of questions. Would take weeks of writing to have a similar discussion.
When six or eight men get together for a week there are a lot of interesting stories. I still get a bit of a ribbing over an outboard I lost several years ago. This was on one of the larger lakes and was being used by a man used to a motor that would run a couple of days on a tank of gas. This motor was only 3 h.p. and of course after a few hours went dry. The cord was pulled so many times that it finally came loose. We arranged another pull cord but the next time it went dry he still tried to make it go by repeated pullings. Finally he did what many of us feel like doing on similar occasions; he just unscrewed the motor and threw it in the lake. The saddest part was that I had to paddle down the lake and then row the boat back against a head wind.
A well known summer hotel had suffered evil days and after a number of attempts to revive it the decision was made to sell all the contents. One local man attended who had a weakness for bidding on anything that caught his eye. Finally along came the grand piano. He bid on it and won. How to get it home? This man and his friends had arrived by boat. They found a barge used for supplies and with much help got the piano onto the barge. Two boats with motors were attached and they started the triumphant trip across the lake with their prize. Only thing is the night air plus the fact that their stimulant ran out sort of cooled them out and they started to think about what they were doing.
The winning bidder was the most concerned. This was not the first time he had pulled a similar boner. He knew his house was too small for this piano even if he had got it at such a bargain. Then as most knew his wife was a bit of a battle axe and he worried more about that then the money he had squandered. After a few moments of deliberation the decision was made and the once proud piano that had graced a ballroom and had been enjoyed by so many was slowly moved to the side of the barge and without any ceremony slipped quietly into the lake where it still rests in two hundred and fifty feet of water. There is no record of what happened when he got home.
The only trouble with this party is that nearly everyone is past the allotted three score and ten and the years are getting fewer. But I am sure that this is forgotten when they come to the woods, for each one gets the fullest enjoyment the short week they are in the woods.
Lots of flowers, more Lady Slippers than I have ever noticed. Perhaps this means we will have more blueberries and Lord knows if black flies pollinate these blossoms there certainly were enough this spring to do a really good job.
