Well, things were planned, and not all plans go the way you intend. Who knew, that in July, when I booked my 4 night stay at Site 19 on George Lake, that, first, there'd be an El-Nino year after so many La-Nina years, Second, The height of leaf season would happen BEFORE Thanksgiving, by almost a week, when it has been on thanksgiving for as many years as I can remember, and finally - that there'd be a Post Tropical Storm breaking up right over where I was planning to spend those 3 days. Well, I collected my rain coat, and warm clothes to go under it... prepared the trailer as best I could, knowing that I had never tested it by driving for 5 hours in rain and snow, and headed out. I was very disappointed.. I had purchased a ‘Previously Loved’ Insta 360 camera, which I had intended to get amazing 'drone like' shots by attaching it to the car or the trailer, and driving through the autumn colours. Though the camera IS fully water resistant, down to an underwater depth I would never dream of even taking it.. the problem is, droplets of water hit the lens, and the video looks like it is being attacked by aliens. Not good. I ended up discarding the idea after a few tests looked like my car was being absorbed into some sort of wormhole. I set out around 8:30 am from my base camp in the Renfrew valley, and headed west through Algonquin, hoping to beat the hoards of people who usually attack the park and make it into an unpleasant place to be. To my surprise, there were only a few people on the east side, mostly people like me by the looks of it.. just passing through to use the washroom. It wasn't until I hit the west side of the park, when I started to see the telltale signs - trails closed, traffic cones, and side roads closed to local traffic only with angry locals sitting at the barricades on the other side of the west gate for several kilometers. It rained, all the way through, I only stopped for gas twice, once at the Esso right outside of Huntsville, before heading into the town proper - there was a line up, 3 cars deep.. and I had to wait for 25 minutes for a pump I could get into with the trailer, and some jack-hat-ass-hat guy pulls up right as I'm about to go into the pump, barges in and then pops out.. the side door opens and seven People jump out like it was some sort of clown car. They left the sliding door open in the rain, and the driver, unable to seemingly figure out the pump diddled around until the attendant came out and gave him heck before he finally filled up after about three false starts, picking up the filler hose and putting it back on the pump. I had to wait while he did this.. and after filling up.. instead of moving his van to make room for the now three people waiting behind and beside me, went into the store for snacks. He then caught heck from his 'wife' I guess? and moved the van so I could finally fill my tank. Five minutes later I was back on the road with steam flowing out of my ears, and expletives exploding out of my mouth to no one in particular.

On the road again, I passed through Huntsville and saw a Shell station.. of course, I could have gotten three cents off per liter.. but I just would have to be happy with my PC Optimum points from Esso. That station was also full anyhow. I was getting pretty damn hungry at this point, it was around 11, and I drove by a McDonald’s.. but the place was just absolutely full. I probably don't need to eat that stuff anyhow. Onward. After about another hour of Driving there was a pit stop along the highway, and I was able to top up the gas at a Petro Canada, and I grabbed a Blackberry Iced Tea and a small package of Black Licorice Nibs to hold me over. I also made use of the facilities - never knowing when the next stop could be. I was keeping my eyes peeled for the stop for the French River, as I missed it last time. This time I did see where it was, I saw the old river crossing bridge.. with its angular trusses poking over the side of where I crossed.. on a new super freeway bridge with high concrete barriers on both sides and no place to stop. I guess that fancy road side stop for the French River that we spent so many hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on is now gone. A shame. I remember stopping there when my parents and I first went to Killarney Provincial park for lunch, and looking down at the river, and then again, after it'd been updated when I went out to Calgary when I was 20. Now all there is to see is the top half of the old bridge. There must be a way to get back down there. I'll have to see if there's a way when I head back on Friday.

Finally, I got to the turn-off ramp to the highway that leads down to Killarney Village, and started watching for the Park. The road had recently been fixed up, at least, most of the way.. the part outside the park was basically just a bit of tar and gravel mix.. and no sign of the construction crews except the odd forgotten red and orange cone. It was much better than last time regardless, when I was having to constantly swerve around potholes big enough to eat the trailer and my car both at the same time. Upon passing the edge of the park I saw 'The Crack' trail with a sign at the end, but I wasn't able to read it.. I would later find out at the park office that that, and Chickanishing trail require reservations due to being 'at their limit' as they’d had issues with emergency vehicles getting in. I was kind of interested in going up the crack, but I told them I didn't intend to do that at the time. I will check back before I do that trail otherwise. After signing in, I found my site easily - Again, disappointed that they do not provide maps or park newspapers anymore (they aren't printed, so you can't even just pay for one). I got things set up, and mostly organized, due to the extra clothing I have to bring because of the cold, there's not as much room in the trailer as usual. I will have to think on that. Also, due to the rain and water, I found a leak.. there was about 2mm of water on and under the floor insulation (I put down Reflectix under my grey foam mat) I think it either came in from spray under the front wall, or through the trailer's signal lights plug. Not sure what I can do about that. Anyhow, I mopped up what I could with paper towels and then set the dehumidifier up while running the buddy heater inside the trailer to try and get some evaporation going. I can't run that heater for long while I'm in the space, my C02 Meter rates the air quality as 'unhealthy' which is about 3000PPM So, I have to then run the fan to exhaust the C02, and of course, that action also exhausts a lot of the heat.. so I'm kind of at an impasse. It is humid in here now, but getting better I will have to shut the ceiling vent mostly overnight or it will become very cold in here. There's a bit of a smell from the redwood paneling soaking some of the water, but it isn't completely unpleasant. When I check my weather station, it shows the outside humidity at 93%, the temperature at 5.5c and the internal humidity at 53% and the temperature at 20c It just feels cooler than it is I guess. I have my t-max long-johns on, and my wool t-shirt and a pair of heated socks set on low, and I'm pretty acceptably comfortable, with the odd chill blowing in from the window which is open just a crack to let the fresh air in. The little dehumidifier is running, it only takes about 1.5 amps of power and it already has about a millimeter of water in its catch container. If that thing was all I used, it could run for around 50 hours straight, on my Lithium battery - assuming there was no solar input. It is getting darker now, as is now 7PM and the sun is going down, but, when I set up.. I had the solar panels set up in Parallel and aimed in the general direction of the sun - angled back as far as I could without just laying them flat.. since there are trees overhead. They were still pulling in about 1 amp of power, so that fairly offsets some of the power used by the dehumidifier during the day. I'll have to check how things are tomorrow morning, but I'm already happy to say the sniffles I get when its too humid are starting to subside.

That's it for today's entry. I'll be aiming to get on the trail for 6:00am with my headlamp tomorrow to see if I can get some nice compositions and marking down my positions on the GPS so I can return hopefully Wednesday when it should be nicer. The weather is fluid right now, so the forecasts can't really be trusted, but it looks like overcast again all day tomorrow with spotty rain and possibly some snow. Fun times.