KILLARNEY PROVINCIAL PARK, northeast of Manitoulin Island on the north shore of Georgian Bay, is one of the most beautiful settings in Canada, and its hiking trails and canoe routes some of the most picturesque in the world. Once Killarney gets under your skin, it’s usually there for good, calling you back whenever you can.

Enjoy this fourth installment in a series of selected excerpts from The Killarney Provincial Park Canoe Guide published by The Friends of Killarney Provincial Park and written by Leslie Joynt and Roel Teunissen of Ontario Parks. The guidebook promotes responsible wilderness ethics and safe, enjoyable canoe tripping. The Killarney Provincial Park Canoe Guide is available from the Friends of Killarney Park, Killarney, Ontario P0M 2A0.

The Camp Kitchen

The key to wilderness cooking is to keep it simple:

- organize all of the required ingredients for each meal in separate bags (refer to our July Parkzine article, How Much is Enough?);
- plan your meals so that you’ll need only one or two pots. Not only will this keep the weight of cooking gear down, there will be less to clean up after the meal. If using a one-burner stove, too many pots mean that something is cooling down while something else is cooking;
- keep items such as mixing spoons, cutlery, spices, matches and biodegradable soap together in a nylon bag.

When heating water for dishwashing or water treatment, set pots aside in a safe place to cool where they will not be knocked over or stumbled upon. If one of your group is scalded, immerse the injured area immediately with cool water. Get the person to the lake, or bring cold water in pots or other containers.

Do not scald the vegetation on your site either. Straining hot water from your pasta, or getting rid of dishwater? Do not pour it onto plants! Let the water cool before you dispose of it, ideally into a small cat-hole you have dug for the purpose, well back of the shoreline and campsite.

NEXT MONTH: Packing Without Cans and Bottles