Far North Friday: We are Not Alone - Baby In The Bush

There was an evening when I was really spooked. Four of us were in a fly-in tent camp on McVickar Lake, northwestern Ontario. I spent many evenings, after plotting the daily geology work, standing on the hand-made dock watching the sunsets. But, I discovered, we were not alone.

One evening, I heard a baby crying in the bush. Yes, a baby. I was stunned. Did I really hear a baby crying? Are there other people on McVicker Lake? We had flown into the lake. We were a long way away from any community. It was possible there was a First Nation camp on the lake, but, when we flew in, we flew over most of the shoreline to locate a suitable camp site. We did not see any other camps and we had not hear any bush planes land on the lake during the 2 weeks since we arrived. Each day, we boated to and from the map area. We would cruse the shoreline on the way back. We saw no other tent camps on the lake. But, I did hear a crying baby.

Over the next few days, I asked colleague Bob to listen with me on the dock. He too heard the crying baby! I was not crazy after all.

There are times when your imagination challenges you. This was one of those times. If there were no other people on the lake, why did we hear a baby crying? Spirits? I considered that possibility and it really spooked me. Friendly? Angry? A child who has passed on a long time ago? Oddly, despite living in a tent camp, we did not sense any danger at night - when spooky things happen. We coexisted, it seemed, although Bob and I wondered each evening as we stood on the dock.

One evening, Bob and I took the zodiac out to fish. We purposely went to the area where we heard the crying baby. The sky was on fire - vivid reds, shades of blue, and violet (Photo). The shore was black. The water was calm as glass.

First, we heard the baby. Then, we saw it. Rather, we saw them. A family! Swimming in the lake. It was a mother beaver and its baby kits! Eureka - we just learned something. A baby beaver kit sounds exactly like a baby human when it cries (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HmlThCqGO8&ab_channel=SoperCreekWildlifeRescue).

So, we were not alone. Perhaps there were spirits, but the baby we heard was a beaver kit - or was it?

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April 23/21 (Facebook April 23/21)