Day 2. I wish I could say that after a full nights sleep we were recharged and ready to make up for lost time…but I can’t. Our sleeps were level 3, 2 and 1 for PR, yours truly and KD respectively. But even with that, I personally became rejuvenated with the weather, and the overall amazing environment we were in. We were ready. Our goal was to now make it to Oiseau Bay for our 2nd night. This would put us back on track. We would need to cover 20 map kilometres through some more challenging terrain than day 1 offered.
KD and PR shared a luxurious tent. Morning started when I could hear, from my tent, PR reacting to opening his eyes and seeing KD smiling at him! Some say creepy, some say brah trail love. Regardless, this camaraderie was my que to get rolling. The routine for me was the thunder box, breakie, pack up tent, and coffee…and then wait. The boys eventually worked out a routine that was neither practical nor efficient, but highly entertaining as I sipped my morning Java. In reflection, these simple moments in the trail were awesome, I thoroughly enjoyed the camp time in Pukaskwa.
By 8:45am we were on the trail, after a short side trail back to the main one, we were greeted by a couple ladies who were heading out on their final day. There is no greater skill/asset for this trail than the cumulative mindset of a seasoned hiker. These two ladies projected such confidence in volumes even bigger than KDs pack. It was a pleasure chatting with them, and it gave us confidence for our big hike we had for the day.
The inland section of the coastal trail that we first faced was quiet, shady and green, not at all unlike a PR only 2 beers in on St. Paddy’s day. Perhaps I’ll interject a few more pictures into the blog at a later date to show this. About an hour and a half in, we met a nice father daughter hiking team. This had us thinking of our buddy Mac who was planning this hike in August with his daughter. Hopefully our experience can be of benefit to his planning and hiking. The couple was making good time and told us that Oiseau Bay was “just a beach”, something that would linger in our vernacular for some time. Also of note was the scenic coastal loop off the main trail that would only add a km to the return journey but would be well worth it in terms of Superior beauty. I knew faster than a fart that PR would be all over this and that there would be no way of avoiding this scenic route on our return; I immediately mentally prepared for this. We covered the 7k to Morrison (where we were to have made it yesterday) in just over 2 hours. We all agreed that making camp at HF was the eight call. Although it made for a longer day 2, we really had no other options. Too early for lunch we pushed on from looked like some amazing campsites at Morrison.
The picture you see does not do the micro elevation gains and loses any justice. This segment of the trail, although stunningly beautiful as it skirted the inland sea, was an arduous hike with the heavy paks. I imagine this section in the rain would be exceptionally slow as to avoid a slip. The trail was slow going, and energy consuming. It’s funny actually, this is a trail where the faster you can actually hike, the fewer the calories you likely consume. By the time we reacher Playter Harbour, we were ready for the boil ina bag lunches. I should add that a typical day of food for me was granola with powdered skim milk and coffee for breakfast, a boil in a bag for lunch and for dinner with trail mix, and 2 protein bars as snacks at different points in the day.
We were feeling good after lunch but still had a long way to go to get to Oiseau Bay. Our plan was still in tack! Our minds were on track and we were feeling it, but how would we feel by Oiseau…and when would we get there?
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