Had a lovely leisurely morning enjoyed coffee in my hammock before packing up and setting out for my next site. I vowed to meander a bit more today than yesterday and enjoy the trails. The weather was perfect - sunny and warm with enough breeze to keep the bugs away.
Arrived at campsite 8 just after lunch to find people on the site I had booked. Eeek, this was one of my fears! There was a family who had booked sites 8A, 8B and 8C for three nights but because I had booked 8B for Saturday they had been moved to 8D for the last night. They asked if I was interested in 8D instead so I went to take a look at it and it was beautiful! It was up on a little ridge overlooking Birch Lake and set well away from the other sites. I set up camp and had a wonderful afternoon collecting firewood, swimming and hammocking. I did discover that 8D was also double booked...with a ton of rat snakes!
Now, I like to think of myself as a friend of wild life but it seemed that everywhere I went, I ran into one of these big fellows. They are harmless to humans but the largest snake in Canada and a constrictor so a little bit imposing to come across:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/gray-ratsnake There was one that I swear was taunting me on purpose - I named him Sassafras and yelled at him a few times but he was not the least bit scared of me. When I went to get some firewood, there he was. When I went to hang my food, he was in the tree I wanted to use. What a jerk! Because I have an active imagination I was pretty sure I was going to find him loitering outside of my tent on Sunday morning. Fortunately, I think he was sleeping in.