8 Day Winter Trek to Ishpatina Ridge 2011

February 13th, 2011. Snowy, no cloud roads. Yoko and the rest of the gang are behind us. Got a couple kilometers to go today but feeling pretty good and I think it's gonna be a really great trip. Got the candle lights going. Stephen's crocheting, making a headband. You're not telling anybody that I'm crocheting, are you? You're not filming this, are you? No, no. Pretty good day overall. We got a big day tomorrow. I think everyone's ready for bed. It is February 16th. It is 10 to 5 and we are doing the summit today. I am a camp manager and have been spending all day making a nice meal and chopping some wood and reinforcing the living space so that it's ready for another night of sleeping and tromping around in. I've got fresh bread on the stove here. Summit! It is six o'clock and the boys aren't here yet. It is seven o'clock and they still aren't here. Getting a little anxious. Dinner's been waiting here for about an hour now and I'm really looking forward to seeing them so hopefully they're getting here soon and no one's hurt or people are probably exhausted but hopefully they have that little bit of extra. All's good. All's well. Head homeward bound. So I can hear them in the bush. They're coming. I believe it's 7 30. I didn't look at the watch because I heard them in the tent while I was crocheting a hat. I'm really excited. Nicely done gentlemen. That was a nice adventure. It was fantastic. Thank you. Home sweet home. Thank you. Good. Finished. That's only one loaf though. Cheese, onion, garlic and black pepper. Cheers to Kylan. What was your highlight of the day Yoko? Oh I just love seeing all the trees. Yeah. All the gnarly looking trees. I call them old hags because they're like they've been there you know. How about you? Oh go ahead. And the frost on the trees up on the hill was spectacular. Yeah. That final little push through the uh little mushy stuff there with the frost on it. Yeah. My highlight was seeing Yoko getting support from a rotten tree. The tree fell over and then he went right over down the slope. Oh my god. I chose unwisely. So your highlight was seeing someone fall. Oh I'm just kidding. My uh the highlight was it was so serene. It uh as I said to Steve it didn't seem like there was anybody for miles and miles and miles because uh it was just so still and quiet. Yeah I'd have to agree with that. I think there's so much activity during the day but once in a while while we're waiting or we're just on a solo point like on the walk back I was between I think Colin and uh Yoko in front and Raj and Dave were sort of in the back and I was all by myself and I stopped a couple times and the sun was going down and it was just amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah that moon moonlight was uh that was quite a quite a return you know to have you know the phenomena of the moon and the moonlight. Especially after it's been so like you don't want to be there. Yeah. I think we all looked already happy yesterday. Oh boy oh boy you guys. I hate to say it but it it does sort of suggest uh old people's home at some kind at some point. Hold on. Lest you forget. It looks like yours. These same people who are crocheting this morning spent 13 hours tridging up the highest point in Ontario yesterday. So we deserve a little bit of art. Yeah it was so mentally taxing eh? It's just like whoa took you over the edge. We like to be well rounded. So what are you guys making? I'm making a mitt. For? My hands. Have a look. Oh you did? It's February 17th 2011 and uh we've just finished our rest day and we're packing up ready to go taking the journey home across smooth water. We have had some very very mild weather and uh we're making sinkholes everywhere. We've got our biggest lake ahead of us and our previous experience with it was that it was full of slush. It's been raining all night and uh now the sun is finally breaking through the clouds so hopefully the temperature drops. It was plus four this morning. So we're gonna go across smooth water solo meaning no snowshoes. Got a hole in my boot. I think if we're going right through the slush why don't we just cut right across? My goal would be a compromise. Head that way without snowshoes and see how Kylan's travel is. At that point we're a little bit further way down and then we can camp or hit the great shore. We've got more options. Here we go through smooth water. Lots of ice under us but also lots of water on top of us. What do you think of us traveling today? I think it's um let me think of a good way to describe it. It's different. It's dramatic. Yeah. I'm glad it's sunny. Glad. Do you have any holes in your boot? What do you think Colin? My fingers are warm. Good. Yeah. Yeah. Nice and sunny. Oh those rays. The rays feel so good. I wonder how that sun's feeling on the ice. I know we gotta get out of here. Uh no. Next one. Yeah it's the next one. It is about 9 30 and it is blowing but the good news is it was over minus 15 last night and we're walking on sunshine. Just like ran across this section of ice here. Everyone's holding their snowshoes because uh well we don't need them right now. We're just talking about the conditions we've had on the trip. It's it's amazing. Yeah. Like really cold conditions. We've got warm spring conditions. Now we've got the blowing snow and the and the iced up conditions. It's a little bit faster. It's just been fantastic. Work hard during the day. Relax in the tent at night. You couldn't ask for a better seven or eight days.