Out and Back in La Cloche Silhouette, Killarney, October 2016

Usually I get my trip reports up in a day or two!  Not this one for some reason!  

It was a great trip, after the fact.  Though I left the trail with a significant portion of my left heel missing...hmm.  

We started off from Toronto around 8am (I think) Friday morning (October 14th).  The drive to Killarney was easy, and we got to the park around noon.  

Check in was smooth, and it was off to the trailhead!  We suited up, adjusted packs, got poles ready (I wanted Toby to try hiking with poles this trip, I took Neb on leash and Luc was, as always, off leash).  

We headed out, within a few hundred metres Toby decided he hated the poles, and strapped them to his pack.  Oh well.  Nobody in the family likes poles I guess.  Well, I don't mind them, but I also don't need them.

The hike to the turnoff for H2, our campsite for the night, was unremarkable, though we saw some beautiful fall colours.

We arrived at the turnoff further than the stated map distances, but later decided this was because of starting our watches at the car rather than the trailhead.  

We did get lost on the side trail - I am good at navigating!  Maybe not!  We wandered around for a bit before finding it.  It was a sharp turn with a cairn, but there was also a bit of a footpath straight at the cairn, so we had kept to that.  In the end we hiked 3.94k Friday.

H2 is a decent site - I'd stayed there once before on Luc's first ever backpacking trip, on our last night (where I was unable to get a site further in like I wanted..much like the first night of this trip).  

It's a nice enough site though.  Sort of set up on a hill, but we squished our Big Agnes Seedhouse SL3 onto the tent pad, set up the tarp, and hung the bear rope fine.  Managed to gather a boatload of wood and set about breaking and sawing it up.  I realized I accidentally brought the new saw AND the old saw, and they're the same saw, so good luck telling them apart now me.  The new saw is brighter though...I hope.  Certainly it's sharper!  I should get a replacement blade for the older saw.  But I digress.

I've mentioned before how much I like going on trip with Toby, because he's so good at throwing the bear rope...I also like going with him because he's good at sawing wood, which I hate (my arms get tired, wah wah wah).  

We had lots of wood, so started the fire around 4:30.  Soon we had a nice blaze going.

Our dinner the first night was mac n cheese, we added all the water and let it sit for longer than the package suggested (freeze-dried food) - the sauce was great, though watery, but the pasta was...'al dente' would be kind.  It had crunch.  Next time we'll let that one sit for way longer, or give that brand a miss.  They can't all be winners.  We skipped dessert as the day had not exactly been long enough to work up an appetite.  

Hanging around the campfire, we heard a funny noise - at first I thought it was Luc scratching, but Toby pointed out it was coming from the wrong direction - we investigated, and found a beaver (their lodge isn't far from the site) chilling in the water eating some wood!  Completely unphased at  us watching it with our headlamps shining on it.  Very cool.  

We didn't stay up too late though, and headed off to bed, as we had an early start to the next day.  6:30 am!

We woke up at 6:30 on Saturday, and Toby hadn't slept well, so we stayed in bed til 7 am.  Got up,  had breakfast, broke camp, took just over an hour and a half (so not fast, but not horrifically slow either).  Headed out, stopping once we'd crossed Lumsden Creek to go up the little hill for the view out to Georgian Bay and to enjoy the fall colours.  

Headed off, taking our time - I wasn't in the mood to hurry, and our packs were heavier as we may - MAY - have overpacked in the sleeping bag department.  We boiled each night.  It was colder when we were in Killarney at the end of September!!!!!  Sheesh!  

Saturday just felt like it went on forever.  We got to the Pig, the steep portage by Baie Fine/Threenarrows and on the way to Topaz...and headed up.  Toby was like 'Geez'.  Yup.  Gotta love the Pig.  We turned off it, and had been planning to cross at the dam to cut 3, 3.5k off our day, and I got worried we'd gone past it, but found it soon enough.  Got a little lost finding the main trail again - we wandered towards the old H8 - but soon found our way. 

The day was measuring long from the map distances, which was very frustrating, as it felt like our progress was slow.  I've hiked this lots before, but never used a GPS before, so there wasn't the constant 'WTF we should be closer to the next campsite' that we experienced Saturday.  

We had lunch at H16 and I took a look at a hot spot on my heel - WHICH I SHOULD HAVE DEALT WITH SOONER, BUT I NEVER DO WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO - not pleasant, but not the end of the world either.  

We headed off after a pleasant lunch, and I was like 'Hmm'.  I remember the Threenarrows section being flat, but it's constantly changing elevation, and we were getting tired (I know, US?  But we were.  It wasn't so much the physical as the psychological with the GPS/map differences).  FINALLY we made it to the turnoff for H19, our campsite for the night, and headed down the long side trail.  Our total for Saturday was 18.67k.

H19 is a NICE site!  There was a bit of a 'Hmm, smells like thunder box' at first, but it dissipated and/or our noses adjusted.  Mostly by our tent - there was really only one spot to set up our Big Agnes.  There was a great spot for the bear hang right off the side trail further down from our site, nice water access, BEAUTIFUL view of the ridges - paradise!  Would love this site in the summer!

We gathered wood, finding 4 or 5 GREEN potatoes in the process - talk about random - no animals had touched them.  Who humps in potatoes that far?  And then doesn't even eat them?  There was also garbage in the firepit, gross, but we managed to burn most of it.  

And someone had kindly left some big logs.  

We were sitting at the firepit relaxing  (and probably bemoaning the state of our feet) when we looked down the lake and saw a large animal swimming.  Either a moose or a bear, we figured a moose.  It was swimming away though, probably at least a km away, so can't be certain.  Two cool water sightings, one at each campsite!

We enjoyed our fire, had our freeze dried meals, and...HAD DESSERT!  Chocolate mousse or something.  Man was that good.  

We hit the hay early as we were both tired, and had a long day the next day - I figured we'd be anywhere from 21.5-23k.  

Another boiling night - I slept better, I had the closed cell foam pads as the thermarest I bought (which is at least 10 years old) was not holding air very well I found on Friday night.  I used the pads we'd brought for the dogs and Luc slept on the thermarest, Neb slept on some clothes between us both nights.  

Toby however did not sleep well again, but we still got up right at 6:30 Sunday morning.  It had rained overnight, and was still misting in the morning, so we were a bit slow breaking camp, and didn't leave until 8:10, 8:15.  

My feet, in particular my left heel, were in bad shape, so there was discomfort, but we had a better idea of the distances between campsites so mentally this day was WAY easier.  We took a few water breaks, took our time on the Pig, and stopped for lunch and a water refill at Baie Fine.  

Which reminds me - Toby had advocated for Platypus Gravity Filter (vs. tablets) and we picked up a 4L one.  It worked GREAT!  And the water tastes WAY better.  Good call Toby.  Picked it up for a reasonable price from MEC.  Definitely look into getting one if you're in the market for a filter.  

On the way out, crossing Artists Creek, I'd had Neb on leash and Luc off leash.  Going back over Toby wanted them on long leads, but - we crossed the same way.  It was fine.  I'm not the most graceful balancing on rocks and logs, but I made it across in one piece!  Luc did good.

Though, Toby had mentioned earlier in the day that his back end was collapsing and he was having trouble getting back up.  Apparently it has happened before.  Luc is almost always exclusively behind me when we hike so I didn't realize this, though I did see it crossing creeks by Acid Lake.

:(  My poor guy.  He is 13 years old now.  Still.  We had been planning to do the full La Cloche next summer when he is 14, but instead we're thinking of doing a trip where we won't exceed 10-13k/day.  And sticking to the 'gentler' side of Killarney.  We're taking him to the chiropractor and are hopeful that this will make a difference - if it's not chiropractic/arthritis, then it is probably a progression of his polyneuropathy to his hind end, as that is generally the next place for paralysis.  He doesn't seem to be in pain, and recovers well - he did end up running ahead at one point towards the end of the day on Sunday, so it's tough to say.  It's hard to see them get old.  

We met one hiker near Acid Lake on the way back, and he passed us again when we stopped for a break on the narrow strip of land there.  He was wearing a bear bell, and Neb heard him going and started to bark and howl (despite being excited to meet him 5 minutes before) - it was hilarious!  The guy thought it was funny, we saw him when we finished (he took a picture of us) and he was laughing at the howling following him.  Tough guy Neb, way to intimidate.  

We enjoyed that break though, it's such a pretty spot, there were good colours, and the sun was FINALLY out (after a cloudy weekend).  Warm weather too.  

We finished in good spirits, 22k exactly on the day.  Went into town for some food before heading home, but greatly happy at a weekend well spent and excited for our next trip!

Though, no backpacking in Frontenac October 29-30th for me though, not trusting my heel to the hiking boots.  Boo.  I was really looking forward to that trip too.

Luc and the La Cloche in 2 days, September 2010

I believe today is the sixth anniversary of Luc and I doing the entire La Cloche Silhoutte trail in two days with our friend Julian.  I'm recording this now because it used to be on a now-defunct Friends of Killarney Park forum, and Luc is 13 years old and not getting any younger.  He's geriatric.

Luc was younger then (obviously), 7 years old.  I'd wanted for a while to fastpack the trail and had done extensive googling and been unable to find any record of any dog doing the La Cloche in two days...so we had a plan.

We reserved H33 (Little Mountain Lake) for two nights, in case we were unable to do the trail in two days, we didn't want to trigger SAR.

Luc and I had spent the week prior to going up to Killarney Provincial Park at a family friend's cottage with Neb.  It was a nice relaxing week, I remember Lynn came to visit one night with a couple of her Huskies.  Other than that it was hermit-styles for the week though.

I'd come back to Toronto, dropped off Neb, dropped off the cottage keys, and headed straight up for the five hour drive to Killarney.

We got there in good time and got checked in, Julian arrived at night and we decided, instead of setting up the tent to sleep in, we'd sleep in the back of his van.  Which, FYI, is not all that comfortable.  We set our alarm for 3:30 am...

...and overslept.  We woke up at 5 am if I recall correctly.  Got ready in a hurry, then headed off to the western trailhead (we did the loop in a clockwise direction, getting the easiest hiking out of the way first).

We started off with our headlamps, for the first hour or so, before it got light enough to see.  One bathroom break early on, then we pressed on.

By the time we hit the Pig (steep portion of the trail that is also a portage) we realized we had a couple of failings - I had forgotten to bring my asthma meds and Julian's knees were bothering him.  Luc, of course, was fine.

We pressed on, like two old people, making slow progress.  At least it was easy going.

Soon enough though (after about 25k), we hit the ridges.  We stopped at the top of Moose Pass, which is a brutal climb, and contacted our loved ones/took the only pictures of the trip.

We were pretty pleased with the time we were making, though made quite a team - my asthma meant climbing ridges was brutal for me, and Julian's knees meant descending was brutal for him.

We made it to our campsite on Little Mountain Lake with lots of time - and what a pretty site!  We set up the tent, made dinner and had a fire before going to bed.  We slept pretty well, though it was cool, being September, and us trying to pack lightly (though it wasn't really fastpacking, my pack was over 25lbs!!!!).

We got up about 6 am the next morning, had a quick breakfast, and hit the trail when it got light, as neither of us had an appetite for route finding on the ridges in the dark and hoping we could make out the next cairn by headlamp.

It rained.  Oh how it rained.  Between that, my asthma, and Julian's knees, we were making slow progress.  Sliding down a rock face I tore a hole in the bum of my windpants, so I was very much hoping we wouldn't run into anyone!

Julian was thinking we'd have to camp somewhere for the night, the ridges were so slippery and brutal in the wet.  But I was like 'No, we have to get the dog record for Luc!  Keep going!' and Julian loves Luc, so it was easy to convince him.

We made it to the Crack in decent time, descended, thrilled and knowing nothing would stop us now - we had an easy 8k or so of walking back to George Lake and our cars.  It was great.

We arrived in George Lake, 80kish later, after somewhere over 20 hours on the trail between the two days.

I had taken my mom's car up, and on the trail had only taken the valet key, since I didn't have to worry about it getting wet.  I'd locked everything in the trunk and locked the trunk.

....Valet keys do not unlock trunks when they're locked from the inside.  It's an anti-theft measure.  I did not know this.  Much panic was had, especially as my pants had a big hole in the bum.  Eventually we got reception, I called my mom, who explained this to me, I got the other key from wherever genius me had put it, got the trunk open, changed pants and was much relieved.

We decided instead of camping in the campground we deserved a little luxury, so went into town to the Killarney Bay Inn, which takes dogs.  There's ALWAYS rooms at KBI.  Well, not that night...there was a wedding.  One room left, and the desk person very apologetically said 'But it's got two double beds, not a queen or a king'.  Julian and I were like 'GOOD we're not a couple!'  Heh.  So it worked out well.  I think we got Luc a burger from the restaurant, and Luc was acting like a jerk if I recall and barking in the room so we went and ate there.  Silly dog!

But it was great to have done such a tough trail so quickly, and to get Luc the (known, anyways) doggy record.  If I remember from the old Friends forum, a few years later another dog did it in two days, but Luc was the first that we knew of!

And now he's 13.  Toby and I are planning to do the whole trail next year with the dogs, but in 5 days.  What can I say, he's slowed down, but then, he'll be 14 then, which is ancient in dog years.  The average life span for German Shepherds (and Border Collies which may be in him) is only 10 years old!

So proud of Luc to do the La Cloche Silhouette in two days!  He did great, way better than the humans.  It is a memory I will always cherish.

A flood of biblical proportions...camping in Restoule Provincial Park

What is there to say about this weekend?  It rained.  A lot.  So much rain fell, it was biblical.

We were supposed to backpack this weekend (and boy with that weather am I ever sorry we missed it) but Toby's knee was still not 100% so I thought that it didn't make sense to head back out on the trails with packs.

Algonquin was all booked, as was Killarney, Finlayson Point being a bit far for a 3 day weekend, so that gave us the opportunity to check out a park that I'd had my eye on...Restoule Provincial Park, southwest of North Bay.

Restoule promised several hiking trails, nice large sites, and a dog beach!  Sweet!

We actually drove up Thursday night after work, leaving Toronto around 6:30 and arriving at the park around 10:30.  We did stop for dinner and went the 'long' way as one of the smaller highways leading to the park was closed.

The drive was uneventful save Luc having an upset stomach that necessitated an emergency pit stop...he tried to climb over the backseat and got his leash all tangled with his tie down so that when it did come time to take him out on an emergency basis he was difficult to get out!  Once relieved, we resumed our journey.

We knew it was supposed to rain Friday, possibly Thursday night, then hopefully clear for Saturday, and be good Sunday.

We got set up fine, though - setting up in the dark, we missed a depression in the site at one corner of our tent.  The site was DRY - all grass and soil, so putting in pegs should've been easy, but we needed a rock to hammer them in, the drought has been so bad.

Thursday once we were asleep there was a lightening and thunderstorm.  Luc is of course scared of these.  Normally he just huddles in abject terror, this night, he decided to try to dig his way out of the tent!!!!  After a lot of trying to get him to stop, we brought him up onto our air mattress where he shook and drooled in fear.  Neb slept through it all of course.

Friday morning I got up and went to check in, and in a fit of optimism, bought a bag of kindling and two bags of wood.  Got back to our site and discovered that the screenhouse had leaked (not a huge shock, it's not meant to be a rain shelter) so our chairs were wet - not the end of the world, as we were in rain gear, but still - there wasn't really anywhere good to put a tarp up on the site as it was so open, so we ended up putting it over top of the screenhouse and tying it down and that did the trick for the weekend.

Toby pulling a face!

As it was raining, and as our electric pump for the air mattress was broken (and the mattress was pumped questionably), and Toby's headlamp was dead and I forgot to bring extra batteries, we decided on an expedition.  We went to the general store in Restoule, but the power was flickering and we couldn't see anything in the store so left and went to North Bay, to the Canadian Tire, and stocked up as well as fueled up.  Headed back to our site and passed an enjoyable afternoon reading under the cover of the tarp, and walked the dogs to the beach, meeting a lovely German Shepherd along the way.

There was a break in the rain around 5, so I made a fire - Toby cooked his burgers on it, and then around 7 it started to rain again - we still had one bag of wood, but neither one of us wanted to hang out around the fire in the rain, so back under the tarp it was.

Where we watched our neighbours struggle with their tarp.  All weekend, it would come down, go back up, come down...it was like watching TV, watching them deal with their tarp.  None of the sites were great for tarp placement as these people had it attached to their truck and the people across the way were utilizing one of their picnic tables.

Enjoying our time protected from the rain, with Neb being a suck:

I checked the weather and saw that it was supposed to rain 40mm on Saturday!  Crud!

It rained all night, hard, and rained into Saturday.  We made pancakes again (yum yum yum) and then decided it was raining to hard to enjoyably hike.  It's one thing if you're doing a trail, but just a day hike?  Naw.  You're not stopping to enjoy the sights when it's like that.

The day before we had seen a honey farm in Restoule and wanted to visit for some honey fans, so we went - you could tour around, but it was coming down so hard we just went into the shop.   Then we drove to Powassan to check it out - not much to see, but we saw a museum and after a couple of false starts trying to figure out where the entrance was, got there to find it closed.

We visited a couple of pottery places on the way home, picking up some gifts and some clay wine cups.  We had a set and two broke, but quite like wine from clay, so that is good.  Then stopped for lunch, headed back to the park, and visited the visitors centre, getting intel on the Fire Tower Trail that we planned to do Sunday (spoiler alert:  it's not really 7k).

Got back to our campsite, and oh man - the whole thing was one giant puddle.  Pooled water everywhere, including around part of our tent (why you don't set up in the dark I guess, we thought it was flat at the time).  We debated moving it but it wasn't too bad so we just left it, though the puddle at our door was deep and wide.  Even under our tarp was all pooled water, from run off.

Luc didn't give a damn about the weather - he was going to sit in the rain darnit!

 But there was a lot of water under there.  Neb was not happy, he does not like being wet, he likes his creature comforts.  So we improvised with a small backpacking tarp I had in the car.

Neb was still unimpressed so we read in the tent for a few hours, after which the rain let up a bit.  He figured out a better way to stay dry!

But he spent a lot of time on our laps too.  Even though  he's not exactly a lap dog.

The rain let up a bit but we weren't in a fire mood - we ended up giving the remaining bag of wood to the people with the German Shepherd we'd met.  They were really nice, we enjoyed talking with them over the weekend.

We had a lovely evening, then headed for the sack.

Sunday it was not raining!  Misting yes, raining no.  We had a leisurely breakfast of pancakes again, then broke camp.  And headed to the Fire Tower Trail.

Which ended up being just over 4.5k on our Garmin 920s.  We enjoyed it, the lookout over Stormy Lake was beautiful, the trail wasn't too technical but still had some fun sections.  Toby was sad you couldn't climb the fire tower.  The boardwalks were treacherously slippery after all that rain though.

Stormy Lake lookout:

Obligatory fire tower shot:

We considered doing one of the other trails too but Toby's knee was bothering him a bit so decided to call it a day and head home.

On the way out we managed to get some deer pictures.  Wildlife seen this trip, not counting birds, was 6 deer, one porcupine, and one fox.  All while in the car, sigh.  Still.

All in all we liked Restoule.  Despite the rain of biblical proportions and the flooded campsite we had a great time, and I'd like to check out some of the other trails in the park sometime.  Think this is definitely a park to go back to.  Not too far for a long weekend either.

The Amazing Luc...2 days on the Western Uplands 3rd Loop

Yup, the dog that just won't quit.

So Luc, our German Shepherd Dog (with a probably bit of Border Collie, but we don't know...he's under 50lbs though and full grown) is now 13 years old.  Geriatric by any measure, and 3 years past the average lifespan of both GSDs and Border Collies.

A few health issues (hypothyroid and laryngeal paralysis, which can lead to heat distress) but he's in good shape.  We think he's got a wee bit of arthritis, but who wouldn't at his age?

A couple of weeks ago Toby said 'Hey!  I have July 30 and 31st off!' so I said 'Let's go camping!'.  Car camping was all booked up (long weekend) so I suggested we go backpacking - Frontenac was fully booked, we didn't look at Killarney as we were going to be doing the drive Saturday morning before backpacking and it's just too far away.

The Western Uplands trail in Algonquin still had sites available on the third loop, so Algonquin it was.  I was able to reserve Pincher Lake North, which is still 20k from the trailhead, though does feature 8k of mostly rail trail near the trailhead.

Still.  Gulp.  Luc is old, and it's been awhile since he's hiked that far - still does 14, 15k hikes, it's just been awhile since he's done a 20k hike, let along B2B 20k.

But he's a tough guy.  Heck, he's done the lower two and part of the third loop of Western Uplands as a non-stop 60k hike, but he was 5 years old then.  Not 13.

But hey.

We got up SUPER early Saturday morning and hit the road by 5:30 am in an attempt to beat long weekend traffic.  So tired.  Steph had said to me Friday that she'd sleep in the car and I told Toby that, and that 'I don't really/can't sleep in the car anymore'.  He laughed at me all the way up because I kept falling asleep.  SOME OF US DON'T DRINK COFFEE

We got to the permit office uneventfully, though I may have been very sleepy.  All checked in, Toby picked up a cool hiking tshirt, and then we drove to the trailhead/access point  (Rain Lake) only getting confused once (well, I got confused, Toby had the right idea).  Got to the access point, searched for a parking spot (thank goodness we got there by 9 am, it would've been worse later on as we discovered when we left on Sunday).  Hit the trail by 9:18 after changing into our boots/futzing around.

After the first 800m, the trail leaves the rail trail for a short while, which I didn't realize, so I was confused, but checked the map and saw it did indeed leave for a brief burp plus it was marked.  The rail trail was more grown in then expected, and more technical than most rail trail (keep in mind that relativity).  It had trees and roots growing across it, plus rail ties or whatever they were that were handy for navigating wet spots and not getting your boots muddy but otherwise a bit annoying.

(The rail ties or whatever were off to the side in that pic but for parts were not)

Still, we made good time.  We got to where the rail trail ends for a brief bit at an old/broken off bridge, and descended off to the side to a small log bridge (Luc wanted to keep on going...I was like 'You idiot, you'll fall 20 feet into a lake and you're scared of the water'.  He figured it out eventually but we had to yell at him).  Saw some people we'd seen at the trail head talking to another hiker with a dog - they took off, and we talked to the hiker with the dog, who was heading out after 8 days on the trail (but she only did the 2nd and 3rd loops in EIGHT DAYS...I'd be bored at those short distances, but then, I'm easily bored).  She said 'My dog is 9.5 and can't do what she used to...doing this with her while she still can' which is an amazing attitude, and how we feel about Luc, who, incidentally, looked better than her dog did despite being 3.5 years older.  Smug owner moment, me, very nice.

She did however point out the momma and calf moose feeding in the water!  I thought the picture didn't turn but it's not half bad, though how well it will show up in the blog I'm not sure.

After this little descent the trail popped up to about another km of rail trail before heading onto real trail (get it?  Rail versus real).  We had a good climb that left me going 'Oh man, I haven't done this portion of the Western Uplands, I hope the rest isn't like this!!!!'  But it wasn't, it was mostly rolling after that.

We had lunch at the first campsite on Islet Lake, after hitting the trail split.  Wouldn't want to camp there, as the trail literally ran through it (what is with Algonquin campsites and that?  Brutal).  Still, a good spot for lunch and to fill up the dog water bottles.

Then we kept hiking, along Islet, Weed, Stammer, and Stutter.

After Stammer and heading towards Stutter there was a big downhill that had our knees complaining (our packs were 25lbs and under with food and water, what can I say, we're ultralight failures, but we had lots of luxuries).

My Oregon (handheld GPS) was measuring way off from the map distances, whereas Toby was using his 920xt and it was accurate.  I was using the Oregon because I thought it'd be more accurate, but I think it's 7 or 8 years old so old technology.  And I haven't updated it in a few years oops.  I used my 920xt for mapping on the return home.

We got to Pincher Lake North.  I'd read that the second campsite was the nicest, but wanted to check out the first one we passed so we went down the side trail - it was okay, I guess, but no real good spot for swimming and it seemed a bit buggy as was in a bit of a bay and didn't have a lot of breeze.  We headed to the second site (also off the trail down a side trail), which was empty (yay) and it was nice.  Good spot for the tent, nice cooking area with two benches and tables, and a rocky area extending into the lake that was perfect for swimming and sitting with your feet in the water - nice after 20k/5.5 hours on the trail!

I wasn't super impressed with the fire pit - it looked like it was on top of some roots - but neither of us cared about having a fire so for our purposes it was fine.

We got set up then lay in the sun for a bit before going in for a swim.  At first we were just cooling our feet then I said 'Nope, I'm going in!' so Toby came too.  The water was fairly warm, but still refreshing, it was perfect.  After our swim we sat in the lake some more.

It was a truly lovely afternoon around camp.  The campsite faced east so we lost the sun and layered up.  The dogs mostly just snoozed.

For this trip, we used the Big Agnes Seedhouse SL3 - it's bigger than my 3-man Tarptent, which is a nice feature of the Big Agnes with two adults and two dogs, and it is very comfortable.  Plus, while I wouldn't call it ultralight ultralight, it's hardly heavy.

Toby was using my Big Agnes Insulated Double Z sleeping pad - the height of luxury - and as I suspected from my last trip in June, it for sure has a slow leak - Toby woke up in the morning with his hip in the ground.  I should be able to exchange it at MEC though.  I used the Thermarest Z-Lite Sol sleeping pad with my Gossamer Gear torso pad which was also nice to place over the wooden benches for extra padding!  Anyways, I digress.

But devolving into gear talk...we used two packs this trip, my custom ZPacks pack (dyneema, with carbon fibre stays and the torso pad as a 'frame') and the ULA Equipment CDT, which was carrying a lb or two over suggested weight.  I carried the ULA the first day, as it was lighter, Toby hated the ZPacks as he found it cut into his collarbone, we switched day 2 and evened the loads a bit more, and Toby loved how comfortable the ULA pack was.

Anyways, after some lovely relaxation, chocolate, and a pot of tea (well, I had it, Toby doesn't drink tea really) we made dinner.  Toby wanted to have freeze dried meals from MEC, which I like, but I find soupy at the bottom, which irritates me to no end.  These were both excellent, but soupy at the end, and in our commitment to LNT principles we packed out the liquid, so the food pack didn't lighten as much as you'd think by the second day.  The package says to use 500ml of water and we measured, think we'll try 450ml next time.

We were full enough we didn't have our chocolate mousse!  Poop!  Next time!

About 8:45 we took the dogs for an evening constitutional down the trail to the 3rd campsite to check it out (nobody was staying there).  Man did it ever suck large.  I've made nicer sites on crown land.  It seriously sucked.

Our neighbours at the first site (they'd arrived about 8 pm) were still going strong, but it was getting buggy so we decided to retreat to the tent (bug spray was hung with the bear bag...there was a perfect branch, and I love backpacking with Toby, because he can get the hang in one throw...talent).  We had the Fenix CL20 (I think) camping lantern from MEC and planned to stay up for a bit but I fell asleep pretty much right away.

Toby had the gall to say I (and the dogs) snored!  The dogs, sure, but me?  I DON'T SNORE IT'S NOT LADYLIKE.  And lord knows I'm ladylike hahahaha

I did have a sore throat in the morning though, so clearly I snored a fuckload.  I slept really well, and didn't get up to pee until 6:30ish.

Toby didn't sleep well - he was comfortable, he just couldn't fall asleep (no melatonin) so I got up at 7 and puttered, making some tea and taking down the bear bag etc, and then Toby got up at 7:40.  We enjoyed our oatmeal then hit the trail just before 9am.

We had considered doing a loop on the 3rd loop - using the portage shortcut at the bottom - but that would mean about 24k on the day and we thought Luc seemed a little stiff in camp the night before.  He was fine, so we would've been fine, but in the end we just did the out and back for another 20k day.

Toby's knee bothered him this day - he had Neb both days, attached to his waistbelt, and Neb can really pull and going up and down stuff - well, yeah.  Toby is physically stronger than me but I trail run so I think all the little intrinsic muscles around my knees and ankles are stronger than his.

We hit the big up that we'd gone down the day before - offf.  But we made good time and stopped and had lunch at the same spot as day 1.  Shortly after lunch I took Neb which helped Toby though of course we'd already done the bulk of the day and most of what was left was rail trail, so it's not as helpful as it seems.

In keeping with Neb's theme when he backpacks on the Western Uplands he found some poop and ate it - SO GROSS.  That dog, I tell you.  That's okay, Luc stepped in some.  Sigh.  Our dogs.

Anyways, we were on trail for about another 5.5 hours.  My feet hurt - my plantar was sore (I can't get orthotics in those boots and fit my feet in, and yes, I take out the insoles) and my left ankle was sore on the outside from the boot pressing against it - it's now swollen!  A lot!  What the heck!  I'm getting new boots, sheesh.   I may not be doing my long run tomorrow grrrr

It was nice to get back to the car, the dogs promptly flopped down.

When we got to Kearney (where the permit station is) we stopped and checked out the festival on Main Street.  Not sure exactly what it was, but there were races on the waterfront in canoes (no paddles...some people swamped their canoe LOL) and we saw a few people portaging cardboard boxes...perhaps like the flotilla on the Ganaraska?  Not sure.  We met some nice dogs and eventually popped back into the car and headed for Huntsville, where we stopped for food at Westside Fish and Chips (Toby: fish Me: grilled cheese oh yeah) and ate on the picnic tables with the dogs.

We had a great trip!  The next one isn't until October sadly though we do have some car camping planned before then.

And I'm so, SO proud of Luc.  He keeps defying expectations - I think he probably could've done further than 20k/day, but good to not push too hard at his age.

Dirty Girls Six Hour Run

Well, here's the race report.

I was really wondering how this race would go.  Forecast of 40C with humidity, forecast of sandy, technical trails with some hills, forecast of 'I haven't run further than 25k in a year and that was two months ago...'.

As I said in my preview, what could go wrong?

I'm the master of race prep, shall we say.

The race started at 8am, which was nice as I didn't have to get up until 5am.  After checking that April and Mel got their car started, I picked up some ice for the cooler (need cool Gatorade and beer!!!) and hit the road.

Got to Mansfield Outdoor Centre, picked up my race kit, saw April and Mel, found Tanker and K and got my chair set up with them, Robin B was there too, whoo hoo!  Relaxed, then went and found Joe who was running the 24 hours and hey!  Francesco is here!  He was running the nighttime 12 hours in prep for a fat ass 100 miler later this year.

I started at the back and FINALLY got to meet Robin W.  Joe and I ran together, though he got a bit ahead of me on the first 8k loop.  I caught up to him and we ran the second and third loops together.  I slowed down a bit but it was fun to run with Joe, and I was hurting - that's what I get for running while overweight and undertrained, oof, everything hurts.

Going into the race I had said 'I have to run at least 32k' but by mid-way through the second loop I was like 'Oww, maybe I'll call it at 3 loops' and then I said 'Don't be an idiot!'  I just kept plugging away, ran behind Joe for the 2nd loop and part of the third before I took the lead.  A tree fell on one of our loops and perhaps it was because we were there to hear but believe me, when a tree falls in the forest, it's loud.

Ran with Kelly B and Kelly W for a bit, which was really nice.  Always great to see them.

On the...third? loop Mel and April both lapped me, at different times, looking good.  By the time the fourth loop started I knew I'd finishing at least that.  I tried to pay attention to how long it took me to get to the 2k marker as I thought I'd probably have time to do a part loop...it felt like it took bloody forever!  I swear, that two k is ridiculously long.  The first 4k of the course felt way longer then the second 4k, go figure.

At some point I accidentally dropped Joe.  I'd figured if I was going a bit slower running with him that's okay because we're running buddies and I would be pacing him at Haliburton, so good practice.  I may not be good pacer material, because I looked behind me, and was like 'He'll catch me' but he never did, he was gone.  Oops.

My stomach was upset, I stopped after the first loop and otherwise held it until the end of the fourth loop.  I thought 'Do I have time to go out for another 2k to get to 34k on the race?' but math is not my strong suit while running and decided I didn't, I felt like I was moving really slowly.

So I stopped at 5:23:06, 32k.

Of course, looking at my Garmin data after, I had a huge amount of time to get to 34k.  Sigh.  I shouldn't talk myself out of these things.

Oh well.

It's funny, I was all proud of myself for only getting lapped by Mel (who was also running the 6 hour) once but she ran 52k so she obviously lapped me twice and we just didn't notice each other.

I thought I'd missed Joe going back out when I was otherwise occupied in the toilet, but after a long time wandered back towards the start/finish and saw him by his tent sitting in a chair - he was done, after 32k (though he never crossed the mat so he's only credited with 24k).  Talked with him for a bit, to Mel, cheered on April and K running the 12 hour, hung out with Tanker and drank beer in the sun - it was a great time!  Robin had a strong 6 hours, she got to 40k, very impressive.

I think - THINK - I was 29/41 starters.  Not a strong showing, but given how little I've been running and how heavy I am - I'll take it.  No complaints here.  I had a GREAT time - such a fun course, lots of sharp turns, stumps, a couple of nice long hills (one that just went on forever....).  The rumour is 2016 is Dirty Girls' last year which is sad if true.  The volunteers and aid stations were amazing - this is a really great race and course.

One change this did make to my season - obviously Joe is not prepped to run 100 miles at Haliburton.  So instead of volunteering during the day and pacing at night at Haliburton, I'm running the 50k (what could go wrong hahahaha I predict my slowest-ever 50k), and then volunteering overnight.  Looking forward to it, should be fun!

What could go wrong?

Indeed.

I continue to struggle with training motivation - I'm doing a better job at short/mid-length runs, not so good on my long runs.  I'm psyching myself out.

To that end, I had planned next weekend to go to Dirty Girls Trail Races to cheer on K (#illadvised) in her first 12 hour race and keep Tanker company as he wonder sherpa'd.  Joe is running the 24 hours and as it turns out Mel registered for the 6 hours and April for the 12.

So lots of people to cheer on!

Sunday is my niece's birthday at the cottage near Awenda Provincial Park, so I thought I would have to get up SUPER early, run for 5-6 hours, then go to her party and hopefully make it in time for cake.

...if only there were a way I could run on Saturday...

So I registered for the 6 hour race at Dirty Girls.  I'll hang out with Tanker when I'm done.

Of course, I haven't run further than 25k this year, and I did that about 2 months ago, at Sulphur.  This weekend's conditions look to be similar - 32C, feels like 41C - so I'm just going to take it easy, walk lots, and not fuss about distance.  It's an 8k trail loop.  Should be interesting, I've never done a timed race before.

Then I will go to the cottage Saturday night, rather than coming back to Toronto, do a nice normal-length run Sunday morning at Awenda and have lots of time to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday.

So what could go wrong?  After all, I have such solid training.  Well, my training is better than it was for Sulphur.  I'll be fine.

July 30-31st Toby has off, so I suggested we go backpacking.

What could go wrong?

Well, as we booked rather late, all the sites in Frontenac were taken - I didn't check Killarney as we aren't going up Friday night, and who wants to drive to Killarney the same day of a 2 day trip????  So Algonquin it was.

We're on the Western Uplands trail, third loop.  Going in at the Rain Lake access point.

To North Pincher Lake.  Approximately 20-21k on Saturday.  Toby is of course more than equal to that though he likes laid back trips...and Luc hasn't hiked that far in awhile.  21k with a geriatric 13 year old German Shepherd in forecasted 27C before humidity...what could go wrong?

Naw, we'll take breaks and be fine.

We may do a loop and go out the longer way on Sunday, for 24-25k.  We'll assess how the dogs and everyone feels once there and decide.

But I am really excited for it.  I think I'm starting to irritate Toby I'm so excited!

That Monday I head to Frontenac to run the perimeter (approx. 50k) - THAT should be a challenge.  What could go wrong?  LOL.  I may hike large swaths of that.  Oh well, it's all time on my feet.

While I've been psyching myself out of long runs Dirty Girls and Frontenac Perimeter are 'events' that I'm excited about, so I'm not concerned.

Dirty Girls will be a chance to assess Joe's fitness before Haliburton.  Should be interesting.