Our days’ started with rich and creamy Nescafé coffee packets. Your basic on the trail double double. Our morning routines were starting to get establish on day two. Personally, I preferred getting up early and taking my time with my breakfast of oatmeal and trail mix, followed by the trail coffee usually with a view of the water, and a weather forecasts. The daily Jays updates quickly became so depressing they would be ignored.
As you can see in one of the photos posted, the morning routine also included a trip to the luxurious washrooms. I make no joke about this, it is probably the nicest back country outhouse you will find. Complete with platforms for your radio and toilet roll. Mornings were certainly a High Point of this trip. This was probably the only morning out of the six that had a little bit of rain. It made for some very treacherous hiking for a small portion of the trail as it skirted the giant melting ice cube. A couple of the team members preferred an even more Leisurely start to the day as tents getting wrapped up and turtles being released only began once the lead hikers were practically on the trail. This however was no problem at all as it seemed the early birds had a slower pace on the trail compared to the late starters with their more efficient cadence.
Some ask what was the trail like? If you’re reading this blog you understand how hard that is to answer. But I include a picture of Nenad on the Cobbly Billy Boulders right at shores edge of the big lake they call Michigamme. I can’t imagine traversing this section of the trail in stormy weather, or even if the waves would be pounding in from the lake. I am sure many a hike her before us has been delayed as they waited for the calmness to return in order to safely get through this section.
Some ask what was the trail like? If you’re reading this blog you understand how hard that is to answer. But I include a picture of Nenad on the Cobbly Billy Boulders right at shores edge of the big lake they call Michigamme. I can’t imagine traversing this section of the trail in stormy weather, or even if the waves would be pounding in from the lake. I am sure many a hike her before us has been delayed as they waited for the calmness to return in order to safely get through this section.
Day two granted us the ability to keep to our schedule no problem. The weather was fine, in fact it was probably ideal as although it felt cold just standing around, the strenuous hiking brought our body temperature up in such a way as to not have a lot of sweating happening during this difficult hike, yet not be cold; surprisingly the temperature was at only about 10°C for much of our morning hiking. It was a wonderful day of hiking and I think at this point I started to think that we might in fact do this thing.
Once again we see the variety of this great trail. Just when you start to think will this green tunnel ever end, or my goodness there is another rock cairn on the coast that we have to go to, we would be blessed with a change of scenery. In fact my favourite was always hitting a beach section of the trail. Can you imagine we never saw anyone on these beaches? It was always fun to hit a beach and get some fresh air, have the bugs blown away and often taking some time for a break or even lunch. The insects were never a problem for me, other than early mornings and warmer days. Often, it was too cold for them or Nenad’s pesticides were so strong that the bugs evacuated to Minnesota.
As previously mentioned, The facilities at the park were good. After a long day of hiking you knew you could count on a decent outhouse, a nice fire pit and a trustee bear box thoughtfully placed far enough away from the campsite to give you comfort in the fact that if the Bears were around they would be busy with the box and not your tent! Although some of us used the facilities more than others, I think we all appreciated having it just in case nature called. #suppository
We made it to the scheduled night 2 camp in Oiseau Bay. This is approximately 1/2 way on the one way trail or about 35km. For those of you cross referencing with map miles, just give up! There is a big difference between the posted map Miles and reality. in fact, if you attempt this trail, please realize any posted map distance is probably only about 85% of the actual distance.
Once again we see the variety of this great trail. Just when you start to think will this green tunnel ever end, or my goodness there is another rock cairn on the coast that we have to go to, we would be blessed with a change of scenery. In fact my favourite was always hitting a beach section of the trail. Can you imagine we never saw anyone on these beaches? It was always fun to hit a beach and get some fresh air, have the bugs blown away and often taking some time for a break or even lunch. The insects were never a problem for me, other than early mornings and warmer days. Often, it was too cold for them or Nenad’s pesticides were so strong that the bugs evacuated to Minnesota.
As previously mentioned, The facilities at the park were good. After a long day of hiking you knew you could count on a decent outhouse, a nice fire pit and a trustee bear box thoughtfully placed far enough away from the campsite to give you comfort in the fact that if the Bears were around they would be busy with the box and not your tent! Although some of us used the facilities more than others, I think we all appreciated having it just in case nature called. #suppository
We made it to the scheduled night 2 camp in Oiseau Bay. This is approximately 1/2 way on the one way trail or about 35km. For those of you cross referencing with map miles, just give up! There is a big difference between the posted map Miles and reality. in fact, if you attempt this trail, please realize any posted map distance is probably only about 85% of the actual distance.
Once again getting to our campsite early allowed us time to recharge our batteries for day two. Our 4 solo tents are nicely set up in sequence after Pierre picked the best spot for his. In reflection, getting to the camp early was perhaps one of the single most important factors in allowing us to successfully complete the hike. The upcoming day three hike would prove to be strenuous yet amazing. However had we have headed in to this hike fatigued from previous days I don’t think the outcome would’ve been as positive as it was. The fact that we woke up on day three well rested and well fed and in a good frame of mind, combined with great weather and fresh cut trail conditions had everything serendipitously converging for success.
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