I visited this site in August of 2017. It was a rainy, kinda miserable day and I was only passing through Ravenau on my way back from a day trip up to Lantern Lake. That being said, I was impressed by this site. It looks like a pretty good spot to spend a night or two, and the nice thing is that it’s the only one on Ravenau, so you get a whole lake to yourself. (It’s also very close to the Lantern Lake Potato Witch site, so it’s not all sunshine and puppies). I apologize in advance for the photos of this site, my primary camera, also known as my iPhone, died on this trip and I was left taking pictures with my GoPro. Unfortunately, I wasn’t waiting long enough after taking each picture so a lot of the shots are kinda blurry. That or the site actually exists in an alternate dimension that our cameras can’t properly capture, what with the quantum vortex separating our two realities and all.
Canoe Landing/Terrain: There are a couple of decent spots to pull up your canoe along the shore, but nothing that screams “ooh, look at me, I’m perfect for loading/unloading”. I ended up in a small slip that you can clamber in and out of, but that would make for a bit of off balanced loading/unloading. Once you climb the (very) short slope from the water to the rest of the site, the terrain is relatively level without much elevation change.
Tent Sites: At least three that I’d consider decent. One was the flattest natural tent spot I’ve ever seen. It looked like Mother Nature took a backhoe to little clearing between some pines. The ground cover is mostly dead pine needles, so soft enough. All in all, some nice spots to pitch a tent. That being said, one of the tent spots is directly en route to the Thunderbox, so maybe make sure the wind is blowing into the woods before setting up on that one?
Fire pit: Good enough. It’s well built and the wall facing the water is high enough to provide decent protection against any wind. No grill that I can remember.
Accessories: A couple of log benches. A really tall pole of some kind stuffed into a stump near the fire pit. I have no idea what you’d use it for, but it’s there. There was also what looked like a really old glass bottle, but I’d file that more under decoration than anything else.
Swimability: There’s a decent spot to enter the water towards the righthand side of the shore when looking out from the fire pit. The bottom drops off quick enough, meaning you can swim without whacking yourself on anything poking up from the bottom.
Thunderbox: In good shape. A decent walk from the rest of the site.
Views: Very nice view up and down Ravenau. Site is on the south shore, so gets some good sun exposure throughout the day. Not many trees obstructing your view from the fire pit area either. So, all in all, lots of visibility from this one. Which is good. You’ll see the Potato Witch coming.
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