Campers will be braving the Goat Trail on their way to
Minitikwan Lake this weekend. - Katie Ryan Photo
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For many people this May long weekend will mark the opening of the camping season.
Unfortunately for others they have either been evacuated due to raging fires or rising water levels. So far 2011 can quite easily go down as one of the strangest we have experienced with the winter trying to hang on longer than normal, the rivers flooding their banks displacing the residents effected. Now the raging fire in Slave Lake has consumed many houses, municipal buildings and businesses.
These displaced families are really camping. I believe you really have to be in that situation to appreciate the stress one has to contend with, compound that with fact that most of the effected people have no idea what they may return to.
For many there will be no home left no worldly possessions to dust off, it will be like starting with a new slate having to begin again. Hopefully the elderly and the folks in ill health will be strong enough to survive the stresses which lie ahead.
At Ministikwan Lake we have never had flooding situations to contend with but we have had forest fires very close by and were once on evacuation alert.
During that period the lake was at its lowest and there was at least a hundred yards of newly exposed shore line. In preparation for the worst we parked all the vehicles against the water’s edge giving some distance from the forest. Unfortunately when you see how and what the raging fire in Slave lake consumed we were really just wasting our time and effort.
One must remember while camping that there is a reason fire alerts and fire bans are placed in campgrounds and forest areas. One should not think they are so careful a fire wouldn’t get away from them, a simple little spark could set the forest blazing, then what no one has a place to go.
I may have mentioned this in the past but when Ray Nelson was our neighbour at the lake, they were cleaning up and thought a small grass fire would be a quick way to get the job done. Well when the burning grass found the mature birch trees with the loose bark it was like you were feeding the fire with gasoline.
Fortunately the group of us managed to extinguish the fire. It was an experience Ray never forgot I can still see him running back and forth with a rake putting out the burning grass, he was stressed out that day, then as the years went by the first thing he would talk about when we met was the day of the fire.
Ministikwan Lake welcomes the campers back for another season of lake side living and we hope you enjoy your time around the lake, even if you have to cross the Goat Trail to get here.
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