One word that could sum up our experience in P.A. National Park would be "Wind". It was windy the whole time we were there. Other than the wind it was a great weekend concidering that the day after we left Saskatoon the forecast was calling for 60% chance of thunder storms, we really lucked out. It was sunny and fairly warm the whole weekend. After registering at the information office we set out from the parking lot at the kingsmere river at mid morning. When we were in the woods the wind couldn't touch us and we enjoyed a peaceful walk along the tail. Zoe hasn't done a lot of back country camping and was pretty nervous about bears. She especially didn't like it when I would point out all the bear signs that we came across along the trail. We had gotten in the habbit of hanging the bear spray from the back of her pack so that it was within easy reach for me if we happened across a bear. I also carried bear bangers in my pocket.
Kingsmere River
We made it to the Sandy Beach campground where we had planned to stay the night. When we got there we were the only ones there and we could pick the best of the camps sites. We weren't there more than an hour and we had a fox walk right threw our site. And that wouldn't be the only time that we would see him. On another occasion he came threw camp with a feathery mouth full.
The route to Grey Owl's cabin as recorded by Zoe's running watch, the laps are where we stopped to rest.
On the second day we left our camp set up and set out for a day hike to the cabin. Again it was a warm but windy day and when we got to the north end campsite we found it was empty. We decided to sit a while and rest. Again we weren't there more than a half hour and another fox trotted by with in 20 feet of me.
Kingsmere Lake and storms clouds to the south
By the time we got to the cabin it had started to sprinkle just a bit but not enough to get wet. A couple of weeks before we had planned to be up there a forest fire had been burning only about 4 km from the cabin and the hoses and sprinklers were still set on top of the cabins to keep them from burning. After eating lunch and resting in the cabin to get away from the bugs we headed back. Along the trail just down from the cabin we came across a black bear busily eating along side the trail. We were down wind of him and he had no idea we were there. After taking a few pictures I fired off a bear banger. He took off into the woods but with in a couple of minutes he came back to the trail. This time I made sure that he saw me by stepping closer, raising my arms and shouting. Again I fired a bear banger and this time he left the trail and didn't come back. I was very proud of Zoe for keeping her cool and not panicking. We were pretty close to the bear when we rounded the corning and saw him there. I'm glad that her first experience with a bear was a positive one, though she remains nervous of them.
Our bear on the way back from the cabin
As usual the food is second to none, even when we're hiking. Items on our menu for this trip included green chicken curry, lentil chili and corn bread, coconut cream hotchocolate and lemon grass and coconut cake.
Well it's been quite a while since I last made an entry. Late in May, while biking home from work I had and accident and went over my handle bars. The result was a broken wrist, a scaphoid fracture to be exact among a bunch of other injuries. So my summer was set, I was to spend the following 2.5 months in a cast and now I have to wear a brace when every I do anything. Under strict instructions from the specialist there was to be no canoeing for me this summer so I had to look for other ways to satisfy my cravings for the outdoors. My girlfriend Zoe and I decided to focus on hiking.
Our first hiking trip was planned for the last weekend in May and as it worked out that was the Friday that I broke my wrist. We were set to head out of town on Saturday for an overnighter in the nesbit forest. I thought my wrist was just badly sprained, it was swollen and hurt REALLY bad but I could still move it and so we headed off for couple of days away from the city. The weekend was warm but windy, so windy that it prevented us from having a camp fire. With my wrist wrapped up in a tensor bandage and with the use of pain killers and instant ice packs I was able to control the pain to a certain degree. The thing that stands out in my memory is all the pollen that was in the air. It clung to every surface and when a tree or shrub was knocked it came floating down like it was snow. It covered everything. It was certainly not a place for someone with allergies.
Sunday March 15th proved to be a fantastic day for snowshoeing or more accurately, it was a great night for snowshoeing. It was warm and the winds were low, especially since we were snowshoeing late in the evening. Six members of the Saskatoon Snowshoe Club met at the Holiday Park golf course parking lot and headed out into the night. The evening started out clear with only a few clouds but as the evening wore on the cloud cover rolled in. It was a lot of fun trying to find our way in the dark, being sure to stay off of the ski trails. We saw deer tracks and evidence of their feeding, we followed porcupine trails and saw where they had fed on tree bark. Every one had a good time and I'm pretty sure we'll do it again next year.
Zoe (my girlfriend) and I decided that we needed a bit of adventure and the first thing that came to my mind was the Old Tree. A Cotton Wood tree near the North Saskatchewan River is the largest known tree in Saskatchewan. I had been to the tree in the summer but never in the winter so I wasn't sure how the roads would be. So we dicided to take snowshoes. It was a good thing we had snowshoes with us, the grid roads are not well maintained in this area. There are no farms or anyone that lives along this road so I don't think that the roads get cleared on a regular basis. We drove as far as we could being careful not to end up in the ditch. It would be a long walk back to the highway to get help. Finally the snow covered the road and we could go no further. Leaving the car at the side of the road we dawned our snowshoes, quickly checked my gps for a direction and headed off across a stubble field. I knew we weren't far from the tree and the gps confirmed that we were only about 4 km's from it.
The weather was nice, around -10 to -15 with a very slight wind. When we crossed the field and approached the river valley we discovered that we would have to descend a large hill to the valley floor. Before we made our way to the bottom we took a moment to snap a few photos and take in the view. From the top of the valley we could see a number of deer running along the trees. We slowly made our way down the bank like a switchback road making it's way on a hillside.
Making the final jump at the bottom of the hill we found ourselves on a skidoo trail which I had a feeling would lead us right to the tree. The Old Tree, you can't miss it. A plains cotton wood crossed with black or balsam popular, it stands 68 feet high with, its branches reach 104 feet and is estimated to be over 160 years old. Over the it's life time this old tree has seen a good deal of changes in the area. This area is rich in dukabor history and surely was held in high requard.
After spending some time at with the tree, sipping tea it was late in the afternoon, the light would be fading soon so we packed our things and retraced our steps back to the car.
If you're feeling a bit adventurous or would like to get out of the city for an afternoon, the old tree is definitely a nice place to visit. The tree can be found at this location. N 52° 44.724 W 106° 43.334
Bryan and Rob picked me up Saturday morning and after getting gas and Tim's we hit the road. We parked at the south parking lot at Eb’s ski trails, crossed the highway and headed east toward the South Saskatchewan River.It was very nice on Saturday, though windy with gusts up to 35 km/hr.As we made our way along the trail we pulled our pulks through open meadows, dense poplar forests and open stands of pine.The aroma of the forest, filled the air.It was obvious that we were nearing the river, the land started to descend at a steeper rate and soon we found ourselves at a very steep bank that was the final drop to the rivers edge.Bryan was the first to make his way down, half way down he very gracefully lost his balance and tumbled the rest of the way down.Landing in a pile of ridged poles, snowshoes and covered with snow.I was the second to make my way down and after watching Bryan’s attempt, decided to try another approach.I unhooked from my pulk and walked it down though somewhat out of control on the slippery surface.This went much better.Finally it was Rob’s turn, his was a text book descent, under full control.Along the bank we were out of the wind and in full view of the sun so we took the opportunity to stop for a snack.Muffins, bannock and gorp were on the menu for today.
We didn’t really have a set destination, so we put togeter a loose plan to folow the river south for a few miles then find a suitable place to camp.From our snack spot we could just make out an island a mile or two away so we headed off in that direction.When we arrived at the island we checked it for possible camp spots.We found a nice spot in a stand of white spruce but decided that it was too exposed given the winds, so we pushed on.After a short lunch break we were all feeling a bit slugish and found our pulks to be a bit heavy.For a moment I thought that the dog, Kaya, had stowed away on my pulk for a free ride up the bank to higher country.When we arrived at the top of the hill we were greeted by a wide open, meadow, that swept to the south.Dicrectly across from where we crested a hill was an invited stand of pines, nestled into the lee side of an even bigger hill.I think we all were thinking the same thing and imidiatly went over to have a look.After a brief look around we decided to make camp.
Three grown men and a dog pulling toboggans up a hill must have been a ridiculous site but having discovered that the other side of the hill that we were camped next to was a, long gental slope, we couldn’t help ourselves.We disassembled our pulks and went tobogganing.Senseless immature fun, what more can you ask for.
The wind died, and the evening was warm well into the night and we enjoyed sitting around the fire, eating good food, sipping coconut cream hot chocolate in our fleeces.When it was time we entered our tents prepared for a balmy –10 degree night.I was cold during the night and choked it up to getting old but when I got up in the morning and saw that the thermometer read –20 , I knew that I hadn’t dressed for the weather.Historical data on Environments website listed the temp at –30 with and wind gusts up to 78 km/hr over night.
Though it was cold we still got up and went for an exploratory outing into an area that I’ve never been.As we were leaving camp I noticed that there were fresh deer tracks on top of our tracks from yesterday.They had visited us during the night and though we didn’t see any deer on this trip it’s still nice to know that they’re there.Upon our return we broke camp, ate a quick lunch and headed for home.It was sunny again but just as windy as the previous day, only it was –15 this day.
The route back to the vehicle was mostly the same but near the end we found another trail, or what looked like a trail, and gambled that it would take us back to the highway.Actually, judging by the tracks and the signs along the trail we figured that we were following a coyote trail.It did eventually lead back to the highway but we came out further south than we had anticipated and had to walk threw the ditch back to the parking lot.
Good times were had by everyone.All in all it was a great way to spend a weekend.
Sunset over Kingsmere Lake
Kingsmere River
The route to Grey Owl's cabin as recorded by Zoe's running watch, the laps are where we stopped to rest.
Kingsmere Lake and storms clouds to the south
Zoe preparing green chicken curry for supper
