Kaladar Jack Pine Barren Conservation Reserve - Day Two (May 20th)

The second day began badly.  I slept restlessly, wishing for the ibuprofen that I'd foolishly left behind.  The whip-poor-wills called incessantly, along with the frogs back in the wetland.  But they didn't keep me awake.   My poor, old body kept me awake.  Pain in my neck, hips and thighs.  No position felt comfortable, and I groaned with each turn.  When morning finally came, dressing in the low tent felt agonizing.  Every muscle complained.  My knees felt like rusted hinges.

And, then, disaster struck -- or so it seemed.  When I slid my glasses on to my head, I couldn't see for mist on the lenses.  So I wiped them off... along with much of the anti-reflective coating.  Somehow, despite my best efforts, I had managed to get DEET (bug repellent) on them -- a very effective solvent, well known for its ability to melt plastic.  Worse still, the coating didn't just strip off, but smeared across the lenses like a cloud.  Water had no effect on it.  The film obscured my vision so much that I feared that I would need to abandon the trip and go home.  But in a moment of inspiration, I decided on a counter-intuitive course; I sprayed on more DEET, soaking the lenses.  Then I scrubbed hard.  After two or three applications, I had removed most of the film from the center of my vision.  I found myself continually glancing over or under a few bad spots, but I could see well enough to continue with the trip, use my binoculars and spot wildlife.

Before breakfast, I went birdwatching in the thicket behind my camp.  The combination of oak savannah, deciduous forest, alder swamp, old field and wetland edge attracted a delightful variety of songbirds:  pairs of catbirds, brown thrashers, yellow warblers, alder flycatchers, two different vireos (I always forget which is which), a black and white warbler, rose-breasted grosbeaks, yellow-rumped warblers, a northern oriole.  As I walked, the stiffness and pain of my joints began to ebb.  I began to regain my good humour.

After a late, hot breakfast, I explored the ridge across the bridge, stopping en route to fill my water bottles.  I concentrated my search on skinks, looking for large, flat stones near the bottom of south-facing slopes -- as suggested by an acquaintance, Dave Seburn, who wrote the COSEWIC status report on skinks.  I had no luck with the elusive reptile, although I did find a green snake, a garter snake and a northern water snake. I also spotted a white-tailed deer, many beavers, moose tracks, a bear track, abundant coyote scat and the track of a wolf (I think).  Down in a thicket near a beaver dam, I found a nodding trillium -- which I hadn't found in many years.

I ate my lunch late, sitting beside a large beaver pond in the middle of the rock barrens, enjoying the afternoon sun and the bug-free air.  I even stretched out on the warm stone and napped.

By suppertime, fatigue began to set in.  I went for a short walk after dinner and retired to my tent at nightfall.