Hot Tenting with Christina

Friday Evening

Since our last trip was so much fun, both Christina and I knew that we would be booking another winter trip together, so back in the fall we both checked our calendars and picked a date in February. At first the plan was to do a one night trip somewhere near her new place, but as the trip got closer, we eventually decided that we would do two nights instead. For me, that meant leaving right after work on Friday to make the drive North to our chosen destination.

That was the beginning of our easy two night trip….. or so we thought…. I will apologize now for the long winded upcoming paragraphs, but this information is important to share.

• 

• 

We arrived within minutes of each other at the Frost Center parking lot, packed our sleds, and headed out onto the ice towards our site. Christina was hesitant about travelling on the ice, but with lots of snow machines zipping back and forth in our direction, and conversations with the staff, we knew the ice wouldn’t give us trouble. But things didn’t go as smoothly as we had planned – That never happens!

The first issue was that we had to go through some areas with a top layer of slush. Little did we know at the time, but this was probably our main issue pulling the sleds across the ice. The slush created a snowy mixture that stuck to the bottom of the sleds, which slowed them down and made them much more difficult to pull. At first we thought our problem was that the sleds might have been too heavy, so after painfully walking about a third of our distance, we had to stash some wood to come back and pick up the next day or on our way out. With both sleds being a little lighter, we kept moving and took turns dragging the heavier sled. It was a tough haul, and I’m not sure how I made it the whole way, but the decision to lose some weight helped us get through.

As if dragging the sleds through the slush wasn’t hard enough, we ended up walking about an extra kilometer because by this time it was getting dark, which made navigation much more challenging – totally my fault since the GPS looked to be leading us right, when in actual fact the site was to our left. That didn’t make our trek any easier, but Christina didn’t make me feel too bad about it since I was hauling the heavier sled the whole time! Not a major mistake, and we both had some laughs about it over the course of the weekend.

It took us about 2 hours to finally reach the site and I let Christina do her thing setting up her tent and stove. Meanwhile, I tackled the task of getting the remainder of the gear and sleds to the site, which sat on top of a steep hill. Christina was in awe as I crested the hill the second time with a sled in tow. You really did have to be there to know this struggle, and I’m not sure how my body accomplished that task, but I was happy to be done with it.

With the tent up, we found the privy (which needed to be dug out a bit), and finally sat down in the tent to warm up and enjoy our seafood pasta supper. It was getting close to 9:30 and we were exhausted, so we ate, reflected on our day, dealt with some stomach issues, and at midnight we tucked ourselves into our bags and went to sleep.

• 

• 

• 

Saturday

First thing in the morning, I got up to visit the privy and took a couple of pictures looking out from our site over the lake and the absolutely beautiful view. Now that there was light, it was very noticeable just how far we had walked away from our site before turning the correct way the night before. But that was behind us and we had a full day ahead – and with the temperature at about -13 degrees, it was perfect for a lovely day of snowshoeing.

• 

• 

• 

• 

With the stove going hot first thing in the morning, we figured it would be best to get the breakfast that Christina had prepared – (pre cooked) sausages , eggs, and buttered bread – cooked. This made the tent smell so goooood and made us realize just how hungry we actually were.

• 

• 

With our bellies full, we laid down for a little longer contemplating the plan for the day. It would involve a snowshoe hike somewhere, but we also had to decide if we would go back and get the wood we had stashed the night before. In the end, I suggested that we get the wood since we would also be packing down a trail that we could use to haul gear out on our way back to the cars. Since it was daylight and we knew where we were going this time, the trip to get the wood took us only 45 minutes round trip.

• 

• 

Upon returning to camp it was time to get some lunch – we both opted for our emergency oatmeal (something warm and hearty) – and then we got ready for our afternoon hike. There are many trails in this area and Christina knew there was a path from our site that connected to the main trail system. We headed off off in search of frozen waterfalls and adventure!

All I can say are that these trails are amazing! We found the blue frozen waterfalls (big icicles really), beautiful snow covered trees, and views up on a hillside. All of our bad feelings from the trek in were washed away and we were both truly enjoying ourselves. There MAY have been some dinosaur impressions and other shenanigans along the trails. Check out Christina’s upcoming video for the live musical versions, complete with dancing! 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After a few hours of hiking in the snow, it was time to have some supper, which consisted of pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy al la Christina. We really do eat well when camping! Night time progressed and we were watching the weather closely for our trek out in the morning. Freezing rain and sleet was predicted to start as early as 8 am, which had the potential to make our trek out a bit challenging, so we planned on getting up early and assessing the weather at that time. For now, we had some fun enjoying the night, sharing some laughs about our trip so far, and playing mustache face. I’m sure our laughter could be heard across the lake to nearby cottages.

• 

• 

• 

Sunday

Morning came early, but we were actually well rested as we had close to 9 hours of sleep (occasionally waking up to stoke the stove). I was on breakfast duty and warmed up eggs, bacon and English muffins on the stove.

• 

The weather was not looking great, so we started our packing and had decided to pack the sleds a little differently for our way out. The one sled that seemed to glide a little better across the snow would be packed with the heavier items, and then everything else on the other sled. Of course, just as we were about to leave, the drizzling rain started. On the positive side, the rain was freezing and creating a slick layer of ice which made it a little easier to pull sleds.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

It took us about an hour to get back to the parking lot, and we were officially done with our trip. Our bags were covered in freezing rain and the sleds had accumulated ice sheets. We didn’t spend a long time packing our vehicles as I did still have a three hour drive home, and with the freezing rain there was the possibility of being delayed along the way. We said our good byes, but we will be together again for two more events in February. One will be the Winter in the Wild weekend in Algonquin Park, and the other the Outdoor Adventure Show in Toronto! Be sure to come by and chat with us if you are going to either of these two events.

One thing I should mention is that for the bulk of this trip, I was wearing my WoolPower jacket that I had purchased last year through a friend. The jacket kept me warm and cozy the entire time, even when walking through all the freezing rain and drizzle on our way out. And no, I’m not being paid to say that, it’s just an awesome wool jacket and this was the first true test that I threw at it!

Sneak Peak! Here is the link for the YouTube video of Part 1 by Christina.