Canada->Ontario->EGL->Ontario Winter 2017-2018 Backcountry Hang> The Shadow of Warmth

[Chard]

The Shadow of Warmth

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Planning Thread

Quick Trip Report - The 2018 EGL Winter Hang:

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I'm starting to like Niger. It's a pretty little lake with a lovely little island. Access is good, amenities are non-existent, firewood isn't scarce and being on Crown land means park fees aren't necessary. Best of all, trout are said to swim those waters. Yes, Niger is growing on me.

Originally we had planned to camp at Silent Lake Provincial Park, just north of Kingston, Ontario, but an unusually warm spell of weather and rain in late January caused considerable melt of the snow cover. Even though the forecast leading up to the weekend called for a dusting of snow, there wasn't likely to be enough to drag our gear laden toboggans. In the end we thought Niger was a safer bet. Located in the Algonquin Highlands, they area had received more snow and held onto it longer. Ultimately it proved to be the right choice.

Our small motley band EGL regulars would be joined by a new member, MaxB from the Toronto area. 76 Highboy and Iguana would drive up together early Friday morning and scout out a campsite. The rest, ConnieB and her husband Martin, Bubba and myself would meet up at noon at the Huntsville Hwy 60 Tim Hortons. Here we would meet up with Max B and all head to the trailhead together.




Walking into Tim's at noon I found Bubba, ConnieB and Martin sitting around a table. It's always nice to have a few minutes of civilization, even if it's only Tim Hortons, before we head out into the cold. We'd received a text from iguana that they were able to drive directly to the lake, a relief, and that they were searching for a campsite. We joked about not being able to recognize MaxB if he walked in the door and I eyed everyone walking in alone suspiciously. As minutes turned to half an hour ConnieB and Martin decided to head off to the trailhead. Still no sign or message from MaxB. Bubba and I continued to chat about life, family and things but decided to give him until 1pm before we would take off. To be honest, we bailed at 12:55. Sorry.

It was a quick drive from Huntsville to the Troutspawn Lake Road turnoff. Although the road was snow covered, there was a layer of sand that I presume was for the logging trucks that made use of the road in the off season. There were signs warning us to take extreme caution using those roads and I was ready to drive my car into the ditch at a moments notice rather than take on a fully loaded logging truck head on. There are no 20-20's when it comes to battling trucks in real life. Troutspawn Lake Road followed the length of the hill east as it paralled Highway 60, gradually rising until it turned to the south between the split in the hills and down towards Niger Lake. There was a narrow shoulder that Bubba and I pulled over into. Getting out of the car my first impression was cold and quiet. The snow was deep and we still had a few hours of daylight. Perfect.

A couple of weeks earlier, at our "Gearing Up" hang in Valens, we discussed making freighter toboggans out of the UHMWPE (Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene). A couple of our fellow EGL'rs used them and they were legendary. As luck would have it, our own Niagara knew exactly where we could find some. The only catch was that the sheets only came in width's of 4 feet, although we could get that in 8', 10' or 12' lengths. That essentially meant three 16" wide strips could be cut from each sheet. Done! 76 Highboy, Iguana and I went three ways and the deal was done. The next Saturday Niagara met Iguana and me at the Burlington MEC and traded cold hard plastic for cold hard cash. It felt like an old fashioned drug sale and I kept expecting Serpico to pop up wearing his old army jacket and toque to bust us.

Given his well stocked workshop, after stopping in at Home Depot to buy a couple of lengths of maple and a handful of screws, I popped by my father's place to build myself a sled. We spent most of Sunday drinking tea and discussing the finer points of sled construction. By the time I left for home that night, parts had been drilled, wood had been oiled and all that remained was for us to let the oils set up overnight and screw everything together the next evening after work. Seeing my newest addition, my wife had a few choice words for me, none of which the moderators will allow me repeat here, but when all was said and done there was a lovely 12' toboggan in my living room. Enter the "Chardmobile"!



As Bubba and I begun unloading our gear, ConnieB and Martin pulled up after stopping by Algonquin Outfitters. Before long all of our gear was waiting beside the trail to the lake and Martin, Bubba and I were driving back towards the parking area beside Highway 60, leaving ConnieB behind to watch the gear. After the cars were parked we enjoyed a crisp twenty-five minute walk back to the lake. As we turned the last corner we were surprised to see an arctic explorer waiting for us in his homemade winter regalia right down to the toque, anorak, mukluks and snowshoes! But it was the award winning beard that gave him away; greetings all around as Iguana welcomed us to Niger.



We climbed up over the roadside snowbank and down the snowmobile trail towards the lake. Our gear was gone! Apparently ConnieB wasn't content to stand around waiting for us bless her soul, so she took it upon herself to haul our sleds out onto the lake for us. A little ways ahead of Iguana, Bubba and me, Martin even took it upon himself to drag my sled to where he met up with ConnieB. Very kind of them both, I must say. I was hoping that the new toboggan would make moving my gear effortless, but this was ridiculous. The valet service on Niger is second to none in the winter camping world!

I took the haul-rope of the sled and dragged it a little way further and off to the right where the trail in the snow plunged into the forest.

To be continued (I reserve the right to rewrite the above section)...

[Niagara]

Looks like a good time and looking forward to reading the re-writes as reserved by the author....

[underserviced]

Awesome adventure and excellent write up.

Next time...

[Chard]

Passing into the stand of fairly mature pines that lined the shoreline the trail ran up into a little clearing beside a tall pine. To each side the hills rose up gently. 76 Highboy already had his Smokehouse set up a dozen yards up the hill while Iguana had his tarp strung out a little distance away directly up the hill.

On the walk in, Iguana had mentioned that MaxB had shown up on his own a little after they had. Almost as soon as I entered the woods I noticed an unfamiliar tarp tucked away up an to the left of the camp. As we all came into camp, MaxB came over, introduced himself and explained what had happened. I'll admit that the mix up was all my fault; I'd suggested a noon rendezvous at Tim's, but on my last post Thursday night I had said "Alright you crazy cold loving people, we'll see you in the morning". Sensible people with a clear understanding of time would see noon and morning as two distinct parts of the day. Erring on the safe side, MaxB had arrived at the trail head early and made his way into Niger long before we did. It wasn't until later that MaxB saw the private message I posted to him on HammockForums. Luckily he met up with 76 Highboy and Iguana and everything worked out in the end, and I was relieved that the group had all made it in safe and sound.



No sooner had we arrived and greetings were out of the way, then the four of us set about getting our sleeping arrangements squared away and the camp chores done. It was already getting late in the day and even at four the sun was getting low on the horizon. After tromping around for a while, I eventually settled on a sheltered little spot in some pines ten yards behind Highboy's Smokehouse midway up the northern slope of our little valley. The way I had packed my gear for the weekend was pretty straightforward. My "bedroom" was a four foot canvas end loading duffelbag that held everything I needed to set up my hammock, quilts, spare clothes and my jammies. All I needed to do was grab this one bag and head off to my trees. My second bag, the "kitchen" was a thirty by fifteen inch toploading travel duffel bag that contained all of my gear, cook gear and food. I could leave this bag near the firepit and have everything I needed close at hand. The next two items on my toboggan were my canvas 5-man Canadian Army arctic tent and a medium sized portable wood stove. I had thrown these into the trunk of my car to bring along just in case the weather turned foul but only if we had road access to the lake. There was no way I'd drag that beast all the way from the car park just on the off-chance that we'd want to use it. In reality it never got set up and I think it's going to be consigned to the heap of car camping gear I rarely use. It's too bad because it's a solid shelter and when used as designed as a group gear, for five, it adds only a dozen pounds to each person's load. But with our free-wheeling, independent method of hammock camping, it just becomes dead weight. Even when the weather turns bitterly cold, as it did in the Kawartha Highlands a couple of years back, it seems that people, myself included, are content to be hunched around a fire shuffling from foot to foot rather than retreat to the relative comfort of a heated canvas tent. After all, we're there to enjoy the great outdoors.

Packing was straightforward. I laid a 8'x4' tarp down the length of the toboggan. Then my bedroom, kitchen, tent and woodstove were placed down the eight foot length of the Chardmobile with the heaviest items at the rear. I placed the centre pole for the tent, my chair, axe, saw, big jacket and sundry along the top of the parcels and it was then a simple matter to fold the tarp up over the gear and lash everything in place. I had considered a number of different options for the lashing, from rings to straps, but settled on a series of stainless steel spring clips that I put in place during the initial lashing of my toboggan. The system worked perfectly, although my hands did get a little cold digging around in the snow to clip the lashing ropes in place. I just might install 14" straps to make life easier. Atop of everything I used bunji-cords to lash in my auger and glove bag. I forgot to bundle up my big winter Sorel's, so those rode astride the top.

Back in camp, Bubba made camp on the far side of the big pint that towered above our fire pit. ConnieB and Martin continued a little past me and set up their two man tent. There's something to be said to be able to take shelter in a sealed environment with walls, a roof and plenty of room to move about. On top of that, Martin would be spending the night in his -60 Stephenson Warmlite sleeping system, a monster of setup featuring an integrated thick insulated pad, multiple layers of top covers that sleeps more like a well made bed and less like a confined mummy bag. Toss and turn as you might, those top layers stayed put, a luxury that I'd come to envy in a matter of hours.

Trudging back to the firepit, the next matter of business was firewood. ConnieB and Martin had already started to bring in armloads of wood they had found up around their tent site. I grabbed my axe and saw and tromped up into the hardwoods behind camp. I didn't have far to walk to find a number of tall, dead standing. I brought down one or two and they were quickly sawn to length. Between a couple of Irwin 15" Pro Touch coarse cut saws that Iguana and I brought and the lovely 21" Bob Dustrude Folding Buck Saw Martin packed in, we were all set. As far as axes went, Bubba had his Gransfors small forest axe and I had my Grandpa's Swedish 2 1/2 pounder remounted on a Gransfors forest axe handle. Between helping out around camp 76 Highboy kept himself busy laying in a healthy supply of firewood for his hot tent as well. Barely used Crown land; firewood wouldn't be a problem.

I took a break in 76 Highboy's hot tent to change out of my travelling clothing and put on my insulated pants and Sorel boots. It was an absolute pleasure to sit back and relax in the warm glow of his wood stove. Hot tents really take the edge off of winter camping.



As the sun began to set it was time to get on with dinner. This trip I wanted to keep the menu simple, making use of our inevitable fire to heat or cook everything. The night before, back at home, I had prepared two packages of baby potatoes, green peppers, onions, Montreal steak spice and butter wrapped in a double layer of foil. Not wanting to wait for them to cook in camp, I popped them in the oven for an hour and then put them on the balconey to freeze overnight. Combine those with a rib-eye steak the first night and lamb chops on the second and I had the makings of a feast. To go along with that were two loaves of garlic bread, heavy on the garlic and cheese and wrapped in foil ready to be warmed by the fire. For lunches I made six salami, cheese, onion and mustard whole wheat wraps and wrapped them in foil, two to a package. Finally I prepared four grilled cheese sandwiches and carefully wrapped them in parchment paper to fry by the fire in the evenings. Add to that a couple of packs of oatmeal, a couple of packs of ramen and some chocolate and I was set for a weekend of heating things around the fire. All of that fit into a medium sized hot/cold zippered lunch bag and into one end of my kitchen bag. Although I brought home food, the foil approach worked very well. Beverages would be Coffee Crisp hot chocolate, instant coffee and whitener, half a dozen frozen beer and a bottle of Bushmills White label that would ultimately survive it's second hang unopened.


Before long the fire was roaring and my little folding grill was busy with pots, meats and sausages. Good fire, good food, good friends. It doesn't get much better than that. After dinner, ConnieB and Martin offered the group what I believe were some some delicious Hungarian Kakaós Csiga (Chocolate Rolls), a dessert that resembles a cinnamon roll but with a flaky almost crispy pastry. They were absolutely wonderful. Of course there was the obligatory grilled beer as several of us tried to thaw out our beverages.




As everyone started preparing their hot water bottles for bed, some of us began to trek back and forth to the lake to dip water from our augered hole. Unfortunately I placed mine lexan bottle a little too close to the fire and the heat caused a large blister to swell up on one side. Luckily we got it off of the fire in time and I was able to carefully push the bubble down without breaking the seal. After wrapping the area in duct tape, I was a little more confident that it wouldn't leak all over me in the hammock, but nonetheless I sealed it up in a large ziploc just in case.

The night passed with only one annoyance; the zipper on my Warbonnet Blackbird netting failed. In the middle of the night, as I was preparing to stand up and get out of the hammock, one of the zipper pulls must have been too close to my hand and the strain caused it to burst the zipper coil. Almost as soon as I heard the sound I had a sinking feeling of what had happened. Fortunately we weren't in the height of blackfly season! In the end, I flipped the netting back over the ridgeline and slept just fine without it. I might be wrong but I think we got down to -16°C/3°F to overnight.

Saturday morning was a lazy affair. Although I woke up fairly early, I was content to stay snuggled in my hammock for another couple of hours until I heard someone down by the fire pit snapping branches. I changed out of my jammies and stomped past 76 Highboy's tent towards the fire where Bubba, MaxB and ConnieB were preparing breakfast. Grilled cheese and hot chocolate for me! Iguana finally forced himself to eat the commercially packaged dehydrated egg and spinach omelet he'd been carrying around for ages and after finishing it announced that it had been good enough to buy again! ConnieB and Martin dressed up some instant pho noodle soup bowls and seemed to be very content.

If the morning started quietly, the rest of the day was quite busy. A little after breakfast, Iguana, 76 Highboy and I hit the ice to try our luck with some ice-fishing. Using spoons tipped with brined shrimp or minnow heads as well as jigging Rapalas we drilled a number of holes along the shore. The day was overcast with a light snow coming down, but the wind hadn't really come up so it was beautiful. Bubba and then MaxB came out to chat and MaxB even went for a stroll, eventually scampering to the top of the little island in front of the bay on the north east shore After almost two hours we hadn't had so much as a nibble, so I decided to call it a day. Not too long afterwards Iguana and then Highboy retreated to the relative warmth of the fire where we had lunch.

I should mention that while we were on the ice, a light snow began to fall and would continue for the rest of the weekend. It wasn't an oppressive snow, but just enough to dampen your clothing or slowly bury objects.

Knowing that we'd want to have a fire burning from mid-afternoon to around midnight, the next order of business was to collect more firewood. Iguana grabbed his saw, I my axe and we followed my tracks of the day before up onto the hill. During the day everyone had heard snowmobiles passing up behind our camp and Martin confirmed that an active trail was just over the hill. During our scrounging Iguana and I hiked up to and along the trail and I found a long abandoned snowmobile rusting under a blanket of snow. At one point we heard a sled approaching from the south and it wasn't long before a sled carrying two guys roared up over the hill and down the trail beside me. Because of his face plate, I didn't get a look at the driver, but the expression on the passenger was priceless. A short guy with a black eye, he just stared at me, mouth open as they drove past me and around the bend out of sight. I can't say I blame him. There I was, looming by the edge of the trail with an axe over my shoulder like some Canadian version of Jason from Friday the 13th slasher films. All I was missing was the goalie mask and he would've likely pissed his pants!

Returning to work, over the next couple of hours we managed to bring in a healthy supply of hardwoods and at one point MaxB even lent a hand to haul in some long 8" logs. Every time we dropped a load off in camp we'd see people busy sawing it into usable length. At one point I suggested that we save some effort and just divide up what we had into four foot lengths. A long log fire, supplemented by shorter logs turned out to be a perfect combination. I don't think anyone was seriously cold that night. In fact I'd often have to move further back to avoid roasting.

Friday night we had dug down eight inches or so to the ground in a couple of spots to provide solid footing for our camp chairs. That proved to be a little awkward as people moved around and tripped in the holes. Before dinner we cleared out a wide area of snow around the campfire to give everyone room to move.

Gradually we lost the light and folks gathered around the fire to begin feeding again. I think we estimated that we could have easily managed to feed another couple of people with all of the food we brought. I easily had twice as much as I needed, although I find that my bush appetite is never close to what it is at home. Instead of lamb chops and potatoes, I just threw a package of salami & cheese wraps and the second garlic bread on the fire followed a little later by another grilled cheese.

During the course of the evening we talked about many things, including where we could go canoeing in the spring. Algonquin, Temagami, Killarney were thrown around. In the end, it doesn't really matter where, just when and with who. I wouldn't mind returning to McIntosh or Opeongo and trying my luck at the lakers that swim there. McGarvey in the south is also supposed to be a pretty good spot. We'll see.



After dinner Connieb and Martin brought out a Queen Elizabeth cake and it was amazing. ConnieB has allowed me to share the recipe so here it is. It comes with the EGL seal of approval!

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Queen Elizabeth Cake

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar· 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup cream

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour boiling water dates in a small bowl - let stand until cool.
2. Mix flour, b. powder/soda, salt, nuts in a small bowl.
3. Cream 1/4 c. butter, white sugar together in a mixing bowl; beat in egg and vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture in 3 parts alternately with date mixture in 2 parts, beginning and ending with dry mixture. Spread batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 40 min. or until an inserted wooden pick comes out clean.
6. Topping: Mix coconut, brown sugar, 6 tbsp. butter and cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Boil for three minutes. Spread over warm cake, and brown under broiler.

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Saturday night felt quite a bit warmer that the night before and at points I was all but sweating in my quilts. I believe that we only got down to -6°C/21°F. I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night to a loud sound and found my tarp still shaking, like a Sasquatch was trying to use it for toilet paper! It took me a second to realize that I had been "bombed" by an avalanche of snow falling off of the branches directly above me. In fact by the morning I had respectable mounds of snow piled up along the lengths of my tarp.



Morning came quickly and everyone busied themselves with breaking camp. I quickly repacked my bedroom duffel bag, grabbed my camp chair and walked down to the fire pit. I kicked the snow off of the Chardmobile and got to work loading my gear aboard. A number of us were working underneath the tree by fire pit and from time to time we'd get covered in snow from the branches above. In fact all weekend we'd be subjected to random snow bombs from above, making for some hilarious moments.

We were all almost packed up when MaxB said his goodbyes and left about thirty minutes ahead of everyone else. ConnieB, Martin, 76 Highboy and I were next, followed shortly afterwards by Bubba and Iguana. I'm not sure if it was the snow conditions, the trail conditions or the fact that I was wearing snowshoes, but whereas I was slipping my way into camp hauling a surprising heavy sled, the way out proved to be very easy. The sled slipped over the snow beautifully and I had all of the traction I needed to plod along. We didn't have far to go, but Highboy and I enjoyed a couple of rest breaks on the way back. Fortunately by the time we had left the lake and started our way up to the road, MaxB showed up in his SUV. We gratefully accepted his offer to give Martin and myself a lift to the car park and within half an hour, Martin and I were pulling up to the rest of the group and a pile of gear. Martin ferried Iguana and Bubba back to the car park and we soon were all loaded up and driving down Highway 60 towards Huntsville and Wendy's.

76 Highboy, Iguana, Bubba and I enjoyed a hot meal of burgers and fries as a large troop of scouts, themselves just returning from some primitive winter camping on Mew Lake descended upon the restaurant. It was a nice way to finish off a trip, seeing our passion for the outdoors being passed on to the next generation.

[Max B]

Great trip report Chard. Here’s photos of you and Iguana fishing.

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[Canoefor2]

Love the snow shoes and coat

[backy]

Fantastic trip read sounds like a good time was had by yalls

[Bubba]

My set up with Iguana in behind



76highboy's Smokehouse



Morning on Niger Lake



Trio of ice fishermen



Upside down fire and the thawing of one of many brews



The gang



Nice fire



Hanging out by the fire



The muted sun on the way out

[WalkintheWoods]

Looks like another great EGL outing. Wish I could've been there.

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[KeeWayKeno]

Looks like another great EGL outing. Wish I could've been there.

What he said. Great trip report too (as always) Chard.

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