Day 22: Prickly Feet

My maps, or my GPS, or possibly my eyes did not make any sense. There were supposed to be islands here, big islands, longer than a mile. But I was lost at sea -- the beginning of Lake Diefenbaker. There was one last chance. I saw a little patch of vegetation near that shore that looked a little closer than the land around it. Coming closer, it was indeed an island, although a small one.

I expertly maneuvered my canoe in close and got out to see if there was enough space for a tent on it. In bare feet, of course. I like to feel the earth beneath me.
About ten feet up I was at the top, and couldn't see any place for a tent here, although there was possibly room on the other side. So I began to - ow! a dozen spikes pierced my foot. I had just stepped on a cactus.

Somehow I had missed them on the way up, but going down I saw them everywhere. All kinds of cactus. Small ones, big ones. Well, I do not know their names. But I had at least two kinds of spikes in my foot as I was trying to make my way down this sandy hill covered in cacti.
After several painful minutes I got back to my canoe and plucked the spikes out with my pliers. I zipped out of my "parking spot", and came around to the other side of the island.

I had to laugh. Every plant I saw had thorns, spikes, and bristles. Even a caterpillar was covered with a thorny layer of protection. But there was a clear sandy spot justbig enough for my tent, so I had found my campsite for the day.

It was kind of funny. The night before had been the island of mosquitoes. Huge clouds of the things humming and buzzing about me. I guess the deer and coyotes I saw there weren't enough for them. It was like I was living a Super Mario Bros game. One night I am on the mosquito world, and having defeated it, I move on to the dersert world. I wondered what the next level was going to be like.

Day 22 ended: 50*51.032N, 108*27.749W