Sat, Nov 20 2010, Sun, Nov 21 2010 - Gary's Early Winter Camping Hike (View Original Event Details)
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Well I think this was one of the best overnight hikes of the year. It was a combination of some river crossing survival series #5, ultralite back packing tarp shelters and early winter camping temperatures of +5C during the day and -6C over night.
We made our goal for the trip to make it to Indian Pond.
We started from the trail head just after 10 am. The skies where partially cloudy, but had a majority of sun today. The river water level was high. We had lots of beaver dam crossings and a few river crossings up to our knees. The water was around 5C. On Sunday, we had a layer of about 4mm of ice on the smaller ponds. Nothing like the feel of ice between your toes for motivation.
On Saturday night we camped at Hermit's Pool. The landscape was classic Canadian Shield with beaver ponds and weather beaten trees.
We arrived around 3:30pm giving use 1.5 hours to set up our tarp shelters and fire pit and start supper before night rolled in. The temperature was about -3C and ice was forming on the ponds.
We had a full moon tonight. The camp fire was a ring of stories and laughs about our day's adventure. We had a full day of activities. Tom was the first to head to the shelter at 6 pm. I think Linzi was next at around 7 pm. A few more left at 8 pm and the reminder headed to their sleeping bags at 9 pm.
I think most people had a good night sleep. The air temperature was -6C in the morning. Most people got up around 7:30 to start breakfast. We rolled out of camp at 9:15 am since we had another full day of beaver dams, train track walking and river crossings ahead of us.
We made good time today. Averaging around 4km/hr moving and 3km/hr overall. The river crossings usually take more time, since you have to remove your foot wear and roll up your pants. Cross and then put your gear back on. So with 14 people crossing a 10 meter river could take 15-20 minutes.
After the hike we meet for supper at our regular greasy spoon in Clearwater to recharge our bodies.
It was a great adventure trip with great people to share it with. See You Soon.
Gary
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