Rainbow Wilderness Area, January '09

When we headed down the trail it had been dark for hours. Sadie pulled the tobaggan with a lot help from me, I had a harness too. Sadie and I broke trail ahead of Norm. It wasn't bad though. Someone else had traveled this way with a sled in the previous days. Soon the trail of the unknown person turned towards the lake and we continued onward to the west, now in full trail blazing effort. The snow was 18 inches deep and we left a 6 inch furow as we moved forward to our destination. It was zero degrees with a 20 mph wind from the south. This wind was a major factor in our decision to camp in the woods to the north of the trail instead of on a hill next to the lake. It was wonderfull to be in the snow and cold air once again. We made camp efficiently but it was early Saturday morning by the time we were snug in our sleeping bags. Sunrise occurred long before we were out of our tents. It's fabulous sleeping in the northern woods with all the highly oxygenated air. After a breakfast of fried bagels, we hiked around the area. It was a beautiful day but it only got up to 12 degrees. Light snow was reflecting an occasional sunbeam. The afternoon consisted of rice for lunch, hiking, cribbage and a one hour nap in my luxurious chair. We took another hike before supper. We appreciated the fact that we were totally alone in these woods. I don't think people get out in the winter much anymore. Other than an airplane motor in the distance we heard no other sounds of civilization. After supper we took another hike. It was a good way to make sure we were warm before we crawled into our tents. Another long night of dreams and pondering the imponderable left us fresh and ready to face the world.

Secret Hideaway, 09

Our destination and place of residence for 4 days was a shelter house with a fireplace and two large open doors that let in lots of fresh air. It was surrounded by a forest of snow flocked pines. We had sought a refuge from civilization and found it. My friend, BB, discovered this place last fall and highly recommended it for a wilderness retreat. So we drug our stuff in on sleds that left 12" grooves in the 24" snow cover. It was a daunting task but we made our two trips in about an hour's time. My trips were made easier by Sadie my Samyoed who is in her second year with me. She pulled nobly. BB pitched his tent outside the shelter and I rolled out my bag in a corner of the shelter. It gets dark early in the North and we were unable to find fire wood close at hand. I cooked my supper over my stove. I had boneless, skinless chicken thighs which were delicious but could have used some fried onions. Carbohydrates were provided by a Lipton Rice packet. We melted snow and boiled the water to put in our water bottles. These were placed in our sleeping bags to help warm us later when we turned in. BB sacked out at 7:30 and I stayed up and read by lantern light. When I did call it a night at 10pm it was Zero degrees outside. I slept for 12 hours and BB slept for 14. We awoke very glad to be in the woods with 3 days left. For breakfast we had lots of coffee, fried bagels, and oatmeal. A good share of the afternoon was spent cutting down a tree, sledding it to the shelter and cutting it into fireplace sized logs. BB had trouble with his stove the night before and ended up using my stove to cook his supper. So today he pre-warmed his stove by the fireplace and it worked fine. He says a new MSR XGK is in his future. My supper was rice and tuna that Sadie enjoyed about 1/3 of. She did fine enduring the minus 10 the night before. She even scared a critter out of camp sometime during nights long sleep. We saw the creatures tracks come up to the shelter. We had a great fire all evening. BB is a great firemaster. The next morning I took a load of unneeded gear back to the truck. While at the truck I heard the weather forecast. They predicted 12 inches of fresh snow by the following morning. I went back with the idea that BB might want to leave. His choice was to risk it and enjoy one more night in the woods. We had a great evening by the fireplace playing cribbage. We tied. It had started snowing mid afternoon but by our last morning it had only accumulated about 4 inches. We were very glad we stayed. At bedtime on our last night my sleeping bag zipper broke. I spent 15 minutes with a pliers in minus 10 weather trying to fix it. I only had long johns on but succeeded repairing it adequately. Gladly crawled into my bag and hoped that it didn't break again during the cold night. I slept without straining the tenuous bond between the two zipper halves. I was out of the bag at 6am and started the fire and preparations to depart. The walk out was much easier than the walk in because now the trail was well packed.