Part Deux

It rained again Saturday night so I packed up wet stuff and dropped the Boss at the bus terminal in Sudbury and raced down the road to meet Heavy-C and the J-Set at Kiosk. They were already there by the time I got through the police blockade. It was insanely windy at Kiosk so we put my wet tent on a line to dry in the wind. It worked. Steak for supper. Bratwurst for desert. That's living large!

It was still pretty windy when we headed into the wilds of Algonquin Park Sunday morning but fearless adventurers that we are we forged ahead. Really we did. Into the dragon’s maw as it were. At our first portage we met a pair of less intrepid adventures staring fearfully out at the unforgiving expanse of raging half frozen lake. They greeted us with bad news: "not a fish, not a bite". With some encouragement, they decided to test their metal against the waves. We never saw them again.

The portages were almost good. Not too long and only the second one had some rough spots in the form of mud reminiscent of the lowlands of La Cloche Silhouette. The main issue of the day was that the rented kayak weighed about 9000 pounds. In the future we will have to book Physh camps as canoe teams. Too bad they don't rent 14 foot canoes. I'd probably be willing to take a 14 footer out by myself. But in that wind a 16 foot canoe with one paddler wouldn't have gone anywhere but back onto the rocks.

The Wheels come off

The three days of day hiking didn’t materialize either. The first full day back at the car camping (Wednesday) we felt it prudent to let the Boss' feet and IT bands heal up some. I honestly have no idea what we did that day, it just sort of passed. We didn't do anything but I don't recall getting bored. That night I learned that it doesn't rain in Killarney but occasionally Georgian Bay overflows it's banks and inundates the park. Oh and my tent is now more water resistant than water proof - and not particularly resistant.

So we drove into Sudbury thinking about shopping for a new tent. First we ate a huge breakfast at Gonga's Grill - now with 6 locations! Another good meal IMO, really liked the sausages.
Who knew that Sudbury was such a culinary delight for a working man's appetite? After checking both outdoor stores and deciding that neither store had what I was looking for we went to the IMAX and watched the Grand Canyon movie. Lots of nice visuals that make me want to visit it even more but like pretty much all environmental films a bit too much preaching to the choir.

When we got back it was warm and sunny so we got to dry out our stuff more or less.

Friday we finally did a day hike. We chose the Granite Ridge Trail which is rated as medium. The otherl choices were a trail called Cranberry Bog but after the flood I thought about the mud on La Cloche back when the forest fire index was high and figured a trail called Cranberry Bog might need SCUBA gear now that the index was down to low. The third trail involved a short drive to the trail head.

There is a colossal gap between medium and difficult. Good views of Georgian Bay from the granite ridge and we met some dude who was sending cell phone pictures from the Ridge to his GF to show her what she was missing. Apparently she doesn't go in for the camping and hiking. I was jealous of his awesome day pack. It was a bigger version of my own waist belt day pack.

We finished the Killarney leg of the trip with a trip to Herbert's World Famous Fish and chips in the cool village of Killarney. $13.00 for whitefish and french fries! It was delicious. Killarney is a nice little town. Not overly touristic but it obviously has a tourist industry with the Georgian Bay boaters and the Park goers.

La Cloche Sillouette

The weather was beautiful as we set out on the La Cloche Silhouette trail Monday morning and we made some good time in the early going. Before too many kilometres though the trail began to earn it's reputation as difficult and the hubris of doing a 7-10 day trail in 5 days began to look more and more like folly. After lunch, with the Boss' feet covered in a layer of moleskin, we didn't make such good time. At 3 PM we had done about half the planned first day of travel and decided to pack it in.

We both figured another 5 kms was possible but it was pretty obvious we weren't going to do the loop in 5 days. Maybe we'd do two days in and two days out? We had gone about 10 kms most of it over broken rock or through ankle deep mud filled with wet roots. And this is the easy section... At camp that evening we decided that the Boss' flesh eating hiking boots were not going to drag a heavy pack over these mountains and that we would head out in the morning.

The campsite (H7) was difficult to get to and on a sloping hill but gorgeous! Pine forest over looking a glacial looking lake surounded mostly by white quartzite cliffs. A small waterfall on the far side provided a relaxing background noise. I expect it would be a glorious spot in late summer when the lake is warm enough for swimming.

Tuesday morning we headed back out. The new plan was to car camp at Killarney test the camping gear and camp routine while doing the three day hiking trails offered at the park. Another nice day of weather but the trail didn't get any easier and the day did exhaust the moleskin supply. I even had to put some on my heels and I was wearing my New Mountain Lites and they haven't caused me trouble in about 15 years!

I also decided that trekking poles are a good piece of gear to have. They can seem annoying at times but on the descents they are a huge help. Trekking poles = Ken sans knee pain! And yeah, I cheaped out and just bought $10 rubber feet for my $30 snowshoe poles. Imagine what I could do with $200 poles...

Maybe finish the trail?

It will take more than $200 trekking poles.

The Big Nickle

The La Cloche Sillouette hike didn't exactly go as planned. Mostly because the planning was not very good. It started out with me mixing up my days so on Saturday we drove to Sudbury and stayed in a motel (The Belmont - probably should have gotten the Grecian Suite) and ate at an all you can eat Chinese Buffet. It all worked out in the end as I got to fulfill a dream and on Sunday morning had this photo taken of me at the Big Nickle :

Awesome! All in all I rather liked Sudbury but the poor planning did add to the expense of the trip. Oh, and it was chilly so I bought a long sleeve Under Armour shirt to take the chill off. It was on sale at least.

I've decided to post recent events in instalments over the next couple of weeks rather than do one massive update.

And Happy birthday bro!

A short note to civilization:

You can collapse at any time now. I am ready. It says so right on the box! Ready for what you ask? Anything. With my shiny new Leatherman Charge TTi.

And now it's off to Killarney!

May already?

Hey y'all. I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya but I've been busy with year end at work and with prepping my house to sell. My house was colourful so I've had to make it bland for the masses. So now my house is a slave to conformity - just like The Man wants it.

But enough of that depressing topic. The Killarney hike is imminent. This time next week I'll be cursing my descision to do an 8 day hike in 5 days after a winter of sloth.

In preparation I recently bought even more new stuff. I finally got some zip-leg pants/shorts, a new, modern (not itchy) camp towel and two pairs of quick dry underwear (which should come in handy if there are any bear or cougar encounters) and some Superfeet, Superfeet, shes a Superfeet! Superfeet are the cadillac of insoles. They are highly recomended by Bill and I will be testing them on La Cloche Sillouette. Around the yard they feel like they are going to rock.

One last thing to purchase is a Leatherman. Survivorman always has a leatherman and it looks like he uses it a lot. I didn't get one yet because I was paralyzed by choice. Any recomendations out there as to what model I should get? Please bear in mind I am trying to keep an eye on the grams so I have already ruled out the giant total package one.

Immediatly after La Cloche Sillouette is Physh Camp '09 which promises to be relaxing - lying about in the quiet of a northern forest being hand fed foie gras by beautiful native girls... Or maybe not. In any case we have a last minute opening so if you don't mind some light portageing contact Heavy-C or the J-Set before they change the canoe reservations.