2019: closing out the season

What better way to wind down the camping season than an AltoGather? Close to forty Altos and their owners descended upon Arrowhead Provincial Park, just a tad north of Huntsville, for a few days of chatting, laughter, and the sharing of ideas.

Arrowhead is a huge park, surrounding two lakes. There are several campsite areas, lots of hiking and biking trails, a river to explore, and some nice looking beaches. The sites are huge, and the heavy forest cover provides lots of privacy. The park is very close to Huntsville, which has a nice downtown area to explore.

Huntsville 

hard to resist...

Undeterred by the soggy weather, we collected around evening campfires, the cold temperatures pushed aside by the warmth of the fire and the conversation. We met lots of new people, listened to travel stories adventures, and generally talked all things Alto. It never ceases to amaze me that even though we are all using a similar camper platform, the diversity of how each is utilized is fabulous. There is always so much to learn from a fellow Alto owner.

We spent most of Saturday wandering the park and visiting. Saturday evening was the traditional pot luck dinner, and as always, the food was simply amazing. The boys on the Bbq were busy grilling up some very tasty sausages from Around The Block butcher shop, which is located in Ottawa.

Several other hot and cold dishes soon filled everyone’s plate. Dessert was an extravaganza of sweetness, which makes it hard to stop piling up your plate. Afterwards, another campfire rounded out the evening.

AltoGathers are a really enjoyable time, and as soon as one is over, we start hoping that another is only a short time away.


Winterizing happened a week later at Cedar Cove. Chris & Jen joined us, on what turned out to be a crisp fall weekend.

Barley loves the sun and the outdoors

the colours all through the Ottawa Valley were spectacular

There was a bit of spotty rain, but we relaxed, slowed it down a bit, chatted, then treated ourselves to a nice dinner at the restaurant. Afterwards, Chris & Jen fired up their Solo camp fire. We had heard of these, and there was one at Arrowhead, but had yet to really enjoy a fire up close. The design of the stainless steel enclosure circulates the combustion air, creating a hot flame, which reduces the overall smoke generated. It starts fast, and burns the wood completely. Once the top air holes, what Chris call “the jets”, really get working, the flame just rolls beautifully. It is a very enjoyable fire. It all packs up nicely in its own durable bag, and I’m sure one would fit in nicely amongst our camping gear.

the fire pit sits on this ring, burns super hot, yet these leaves underneath were just fine

lots of wood burned, but it is so efficient only a handful of ash remains

So that pretty much rounds out the season. The year of our first extended road trip, some nice summer camping and catch ups with friends, a big rally where we met even more Alto friends, and a nice relaxing  closing weekend.

A hell of a good season!