Camping has always been a big part of my life, growing up I spent most of my summers living out of a trailer. Despite all of the far away and beautiful camp grounds we visited over the years my favourite was always Deer Creek, which is less than half an hour from my home town. The Deer Creek which I camp at is not the same Deer Creek you will see in the following pictures. Once upon a time there were two Deer Creek camp grounds, at opposite ends of the creek. I have not been able to find any information on this old camp ground, despite my attempts to research it. All I know is passed on to me from my father, the camp ground closed down before I was born (more than 25 years ago) and they had camped there many times before it had been closed. The creek itself was the result of a dam which was built sometime in the early 20th century. Once the dam had been completed the creek begin to back-fill, creating a large reservoir beside which you will find the remaining camp ground. In addition to the man-made lake, all of the little streams that fed the creek filled as well, creating countless channels the forked through the heavily wooded area. The abandoned camp ground was much further upstream, and visitors of the two camp grounds often commuted back and forth via canoe to visit friends.

This was my second trip there, the first time being at least 15 years ago. When I visited the camp ground for the first time it was with my father and sister. We had been out on the canoe fishing all day, when we spotted an old dock at the shore. My father tied off the canoe and we climbed out of the boat. As we explored the camp grounds he told us stories of when he and my mother had camped there many years before, showing us the remains of sites they had once stayed at. Back then you could see the old wooden posts marking each camp site, and I also remember finding an old out house that looked as though it was ready to collapse. Beyond that, I do not remember much of this adventure as I was only about 10 at the time. Years later we went back, after much begging from myself, but not only was the dock now fully submerged but the surrounding shoreline was quite steep and covered with trees so we were unable to land the canoe to explore the grounds once again.

When I returned to Deer Creek this past weekend for a camp out I immediately thought of that adventure and knew I had to do what it took to find that old camp ground. Despite having a canoe at my disposal I decided to try and find it by foot. I knew roughly where it was and figured there had to be some path to get there, but I didn’t expect it to be easy to find. Thankfully luck was on my side that day and the first random farm road I turned down turned out to be the right one. At the end of the dirt road I was met with two old rusted gates buried in the long grass. I parked my car, climbed over the gates and started off down the path.

The main path was paved, but quite overgrown. In fact, you could barely tell that it had ever been paved. The sun was beating down on me and I was sweating like a pig. Every mosquito for kilometres must have smelled me because they descended upon me like a swarm and began their feast. Despite the uncomfortable situation I ventured deeper into the woods. The asphalt under my feet turned into dirt and then eventually forked off in two directions. I decided to go left as something told me that the section I had once explored was in that direction.

At this point my camera decided to stop co-operating, after letting out a short beep warning me that it was about the shut down and then lens retracted into the camera. Great, I had forgotten to bring new batteries. But I continued to venture forward and eventually the path I was following vanished. There was no sign of a campground, no sign of anything but trees and the sound of the creek in the distance. I decided to make my way down to the water, hoping to find the remains of the dock I had visited before, in an attempt to regain my bearings.

I could not find the dock I remembered, but I did find what looked like the remains of another. A few wooden poles sticking out from the water, but not signs of the dock itself. Knowing my batteries were dead I continued down the shoreline, eventually finding a fire pit and a hunting perch in the tree above me. Near by I could see what was left of a rope swing hanging from a tree which hung over the creek. It looked as though this area had seen some use lately after all.

It was at this time I discovered that if I turned my camera on I could sometimes snap one picture before it powered off again. If I was too slow I would just power it off and on again until I managed to get a picture. I snapped a few pictures of this make shift camp site and climbed back up the hill and worked my way back to where it had forked off. After turning down this other I was happy to find what looked to be old camp sites. There was a large circular path and on each side you would find clearings which were somewhat overgrown, but were distinctly camp sites due to their lack of large trees and grass growing from the cleared land. Unfortunately as I made my way from camp site to camp site I could find no wooden posts, no outhouses and no fire pits. If one didn’t already know what this place was you probably wouldn’t figure it out just by wandering around.

Despite the fact that I was sure the area I was exploring was not the section of the camp grounds I had been to in the past, I decided to make my way back to the car before the mosquitoes drained me of every last drop of blood. It was on my return that I finally found some items worth taking pictures off. The first thing I spotted was an old wooden water tap painted blue, which I later noticed matched the ones at the other camp grounds perfectly. It was buried under some brush and was completely invisible when you were walking the other way.

I found my way back down the paved path and over the derelict gates. Before leaving I decided to have a quick look down another path I spotted. I followed the opposite side of the ravine that the paved path was on. I did not make it far down the path before I realized it was far too overgrown to traverse. On top of the thorny vines that were entangling it I also saw poison ivy. So I turned and head back to my car once again. Just as I reached the end of the path I realized that once again I had walked past something that was buried in the bush. This was something quite different though, it was a cement structure sticking out the side of the ravine. It was large, round, and hollow. The end facing the ravine was smashed open while the other end was buried under dirt and plant life. I climbed closer to see what was inside, trying to figure out what this structure was. My only guess is that it once served as a septic tank, and since then someone had made a home of it. Inside was very dark, and I could make out the shapes of pop cans, wine bottles, an old tire, and a make shift bed. Not knowing if this squatter was still around or if it had been long abandoned, I decided not to enter it, but rather to return to my car.

In the end I was somewhat disappointed by this adventure. Although I did not expect it to be exactly as I had remembered it, I had hoped to at least find the section I remembered. I did, however, find a couple of interesting things to snap pictures of so it was by no means a waste of time.

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