2025 Trip 2: Bonnechere

Back to Bonnechere to start our cobbled together summer season. We are camping with Chris & Jen, and their 1743. Snagged a couple of sites along the river, super convenient to get the kayaks out on the water for a paddle.

We have a nice big site, but the trees presented a bit of a challenge to situating the Alto. We backed in as best we could, then put the double front wheels on and pushed the Alto to face down the river. The weather started off great, and a nice breeze flowing through the site kept the mosquitos at bay. This however, would be a short lived benefit. Club sandwiches and fries for dinner, which we had picked up at the Antrim Truck Stop on the drive here. I reheated the fries in the cast iron skillet, and they crisped up nicely. Pressed the SoloStove into service for a nice fire after dinner.

The next day we went for a long paddle with Chris & Jen, up the river to the chutes, a set of rocky rapids that must be portaged around. The river level was quite high, and the water was flowing well. Definitely a bit of a workout paddling upstream, but a welcome relief for our arms on our way home. Along the narrow river the bugs were quite heavy, one paid a price if you stopped to just float for a bit. We did stop for a snack along the shoreline, but the bugs made it into a very quick snack. We had our snack...and so did they!

lots of sunbathing turtles around

Made a skillet dinner that evening...crumbled hot Italian sausage with cherry tomatoes, onion, and penne, all swimming in a white wine sauce. Very yummy. A ceasar salad provided the greenery. Butter tarts for dessert, then another fire.

The following day Dale and I paddled out to the lake and over to the beach for a swim. The shallow water close to the shore was warm and comfortable, but certainly much colder further from shore. BBQ ribs for dinner over at Chris & Jen’s. It got very still, and this gave the mosquitos a toe hold for domination. There were so many, some eventually found their way into the Alto. Nothing more annoying than a mosquito buzzing around in the darkness while you are trying to get to sleep.

just hanging out with a duck

Rain overnight, then just off and on drizzle in the morning. So still once again, and so many mosquitos. Still dull and a bit rainy in the afternoon, so we went with Chris & Jen on a coffee road trip to Killalo, ending up at Engine House Coffee, a nice little cafe, with the roastery and bulk food sort of shop across the street.

once again...Barley being Barley

Our last night we snacked on assorted cheeses and snacks for dinner, while we sat in the relative safety from the skeeters in a screened kitchen tent. The rain cleared by morning, so we poked away at packing up and headed home. 

Always fun to camp with friends, and great to get outdoors again.