Cold Fingers, Runny Nose
Photos
7:00p.m.
Bruce Trail, Bruce National Park, High Dump Campsite
I'm sitting on a bent tree, with ths sounds of the crashing wavws of Georgian Bay in front of me, and to my left, the trikling sound of a running creek. It is my second day on the trail. The weather could not be nicer. Clear blue skies. The sun setting behind my back. Temperature just above 0°C, perfect backpacking weather. In the morning, the breeze is a bit chilly, but good thing it had died down during the day.
Doa and I arived at the trailhead yesterday at 5:15p.m By the time we began our journey, it was already 5:45. My first thoughts were, "Boy, it is cold!" Cold fingers, runny nose. That has been the theme so far. But yesterday, that was least of my concern. We had a 3km hike ahead of us, through very rugged terrain, on our very fist hike of the year, with just approx. 2 hours of daylight left, I knew we'll be pushing it. Maybe that will help keep my mind off the 45 lbs pack I have on my back. :-)
As we made our way through the forest, I began to wonder why did they chose to use a white trail marker when it is almost impossible to locate with snow still on the trail. Don is quite a character, I noticed he likes to peek into every crack and cravesses in the rock formations. And now, on my distant right, he thinks he is a prehistoric caveman making weapons out of the stones he found on the beach. Though he is quiet, he's fun to camp with. At times, I think I'm more quiet than he is.
Haha, now there is some weird water bubbling sounds beneath the rocks and peddles by my feet.
Back to the hike. When we got to the first lookout, I was in awe. Blue clear skies, green clear waters, white rocks, sun setting in the west. WOW. God is awesome.
As we continue to make way to our campsite, suddenly something else was bothering me. Not the concerns about getting to the campsite before sundown, not the weight of my pack, not the pain in my toes trying to adapt to this vigous hike. No. I realized that this was the first time in 7 years I camed without Winnie. I fought hard against this demon that surfaced. It seemed to be an eternality, thoughts that I know I can overcome, but it was still bothering me. Until we came to an deadend on the trail. The trail led us straight to a rock face. I looked up and realized that this is NOT a deadend, I can see the trail market at the top of the rock face. So we made out way, on all four, and ascended this challenge. When I finally reached the top, I looked back, and realized the demon had disappered. I looked up and said to myself, "Winnie could have never been able to make it up here." And because of that, I would not have able to spend this time with God.
7:15, we are at our capsite, with about an hour of daylight to spare. I realized Don and I hike at a fast pace. Surely faster than my usual 2km/hr in rough terrain. Here we are. Stormhaven Campsite. Beautiful white pebble beach. Sounds of crashing waves. We quickly setup camp and made dinner. Don and I each took a wooned platform campsite. I found it odd at fisrt, Don still chose to camp on his own. But I learn not to question a fellow backpacker on his practice, because my actions can seem weird to others too.
I chose, to save weight, to fastpack my tent. So the evening was colder than usual without the etra layer of protection of the tent body. Plus my tent was on a bed of snow. I had trouble sleeping all night, woke up several times at night due to the cold. I went to bad at 10:00, but by 6:00a.m., I was already up.
When I was up, the sky was already bright. I thought from the position of our camp, we would not able to see the sunrise. So I began to prepare breakfast. To my surpirse, the sun rose over the horizon. FIlled the white beach with an orange glow. Another thing I noticed was the tide was much higher this morning. Where we had dinner last night is now under water. Good thing Don decided against sleeping on the beach last night.
We hit the trail again at record time, 8:45a.m., we have 11km ahead of us today, 3 km back to the car, resupply, and 8 km the other way to our next campsite. We made it back to the car in 1hr 20min. Our pace is really beginning to surprise me. And it is not the easiest terrain too. In fact, it is quite challenging.
The sun has almost set now. What a beautiful sight. I'm gonna have to make this quick, because it is going to get cold really fast.
We had lunch by my car, and resupplied. Since the sky is now overcast, and we saw some flurries, we debated whether of not for me to pack my tent body. Don managed to talk me out of it. Maybe his ultralight philosophy is slowly rubbing onto me.
We wet off again at noon. I noticed that Don's pack was even lighter than yesterday, and he's not even wearing boos anymore. That means his pack is at most 20lbs, that a 20lbs difference from my pack. Plus he's more nimble than me since I'm still wearing my boots. I had a had time catching up to him all afternoon, and I racely got a chance to take a break. We arrived at a major landmark, marking the halfway point in this 8km leg, in 1hr 15min. We couldn't believe it. We initially estimated to arrive at camp by 5:00p.m To do half of the journey in just more than 1 hour, UNBELIEVABLE.
I checked the map at least 3 more times, there's no way I could have misread the map, therefore, we are travelling close to 4km/hr. WOW! 2:00p.m. Pain in my knees and my left shoulder. Trying to keep up with Don is taking a toll on me.
My quads could barely support my own weight now, let alone the 40 extra pounds on my back.
3:00p.m., we arrived at a shelter, one more steep descend and we are at the High Dump Campsite. We got the chance to stretch and layer up before the last descend. The break was enough to give me one more push to the finish.
The vescend was really steep and covered with ice. But it was good. The slow pace allow my legs to rest in between steps. And our hiking poles were doing wonders.
We chose a campsite and began to set camp by 4:00p.m. Don and I are sharing a platform tonight. There was no two good campsites in near proximate.
We had plenty of time to set camp, and to wind down. Don took his time to setup his trap. Meanwhile I had my tent up and prepared dinner.
Now that dinner is done, 8:20p.m. the sky is getting dark... and cold hands beginning to set in. Time to settle in, rest those knees and prepare to play catch up with Don again tomorrow.
It is great to take in the nature, and witness God's creation.
God is awesome.
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