I leave tomorrow on the festival tour. Four festivals and two house concerts in five weeks. There will be camping on English River, Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. I will be swimming in these great lakes and rivers and loving every minute of it.

I have to admit that I'm not much of a backwoods camper anymore though. I quite prefer to be camping in a fairly groomed site with a bathroom facility and preferably showers. But I do enjoy the outdoors and the quiet of a morning beside a lake. When no one is up but me and the wildlife. I enjoy listening to the water, the wind and the birds. I think I'm just too lazy to carry all the stuff needed to enjoy a much more remote place. I'm too cheap to buy a good portable stove and who wants to carry that much water and food anymore?

When I was younger I'd go on long (1 week) bush hikes. One of my favorite destinations was the Mantario trail. 60kms of bush trail on the border of Manitoba and Ontario. No way in or out but to hike or canoe. So me and a buddy would hike in and camp in the dense forest and commune with nature. Usually by the end we were exhausted and smelly but completely happy. Now I prefer a more gentile camping situation. Something where there is a nice affordable diner nearby and a groomed beach. So that I can pretend I'm in the wilds but still have my creature comforts.