We woke up this morning and were provided with a great fry up breakfast by Gilles. It was then time to get all our snow clothes on as we were about to embark on our 3 day dog sledding and wilderness camping expedition. As there is not much space in the sleds for anything but the absolute essentials we only packed a small back pack with spare socks and underwear.
David and Connor had helped Johan to prepare the food for the dogs, and to pack our tent. They also helped to take out all the items for the sleds. It appeared that Flam the cat was keen to come camping too as she rolled about on top of the tent and was not in a hurry to get off.
It was soon time to head off on our adventure. The first part was through the familiar forest trail of yesterday but then we would be taking a different route to Annie Lake - our camp for the night. Today the order of the sleds was changed with Marcelle heading off first, followed by Ryan, Connor, David and then me at the back.
We again had to negotiate tight windy trails, bumpy mogle type sections and some steep downhills and sharp corners that required good braking. We also had to again cross the iced over river which had nearly brought us unstuck yesterday. Today Ryan fell twice. We were so proud of him because he just kept getting up and kept going; not once did he even hint at giving up. David also had a fall this morning. Thankfully I saw him as I came around a left hand corner and managed to stop just in time before running him over.
After a few hours, and a double ice bridge river crossing where both David and I nearly lost control of our sleds and came close to falling off the ice bridges into the river below, we stopped in a flat section at the top of a mountain for lunch. Today we were treated to cup of soup, tuna flat bread, cheese and chocolate biscuits.
When we were finished lunch Marcelle warned us that as soon as we took off we would face a sharp left hand turn and a very steep downhill with a right hand turn at the bottom. This was quite a challenge. Hard brake. Hard brake. Hard brake. I only just managed to hold onto the sled during the sharp left hand turn as I got pushed into the soft bank. Ryan, amazingly, with a little help from Gilles on the first corner, negotiated the turn and the steep downhill without any falls.
We continued along the trail for 20-30kms. When we reached Annie Lake there was a noticeable drop in the temperature and the wind also picked up. We made our way across the lake with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains before we stopped at the place chosen to be our camp for the night.
Setting up camp is a massive feat. After anchoring and tying off the sleds the first task was to make trenches in thigh deep soft snow. If possible the snow in the trenches neede to be compacted. Once the trenches were ready then lines were run along the trenches and tied off to trees; these lines were to be used to tie up the dogs and the trenches would provide them with shelter for the night. The first trench was not able to accommodate all of the dogs so a second one also had to be made. With the trenches complete, each of the 19 dogs needed to be unharnessed and then attached to the line in the trench. Next snow needed to be boiled to make the dogs their first feed - kibble soup (dry food and warm water). After their feed all their bowls needed to be collected.
While we were busy helping to set up camp, the novelty of helping soon wore off for the boys who got engrossed in playing in the snow. This was mainly setting up bases/snow caves/baracades and then pelting each other with snow balls. It also involved Ryan eating "snow cones".
With some of the tasks for the dogs' care complete it was time to do things for the humans. We needed to select a place to set up our tent. Once the place was chosen we needed to shovel and flatten snow to make an even and flat base for the tent. With the ground compacted as best we could (it was far too soft and we just kept sinking with each step we took) we set up the tent. The tent pegs were of no use in the soft snow so Gilles taught us how to make new tent poles - stripped birch tree branches. Gilles, Marcelle and David all used axes to make new tent poles. The poles were knocked into the ground with the axe and then guide ropes were tied off to small trees. Once the tent was erected it was time to set up the tiny wood burner/heater that goes inside the tent and to split some wood to get the fire started. It is this fire that would heat our tent and keep us warm through the night.
We also needed to prepare a fire to cook our dinner and keep us warm outside the tent. Gilles explained that in the snow you must first dig a fire pit. David and I both took turns to dig the fire pit which was then lined with birch to create a bed for the fire. Birch branches were also laid around the edge of the fire pit for us to sit on. With all this done it was time to light the fire while Gilles and Johan went to look for a stockpile of dry wood for us. Once they had dropped off the firewood they left for the night.
In the meantime it was time for the dogs to be fed again. This time Marcelle used the axe to split frozen beef into chunks. The chunks of meat were added to a bucket of hot water and it was all mixed together. This mixture was then shared out amongst the dogs' bowls. After a brief lesson from Marcelle all 4 of us helped to feed the dogs. Once they were finished we collected their bowls. Marcelle then cleaned up any dog mess and laid down straw for each of the dogs to sleep upon.
With the dogs now ready to bed down for the evening we could move on to cooking dinner. Marcelle cooked some potato and sweet potato hashbrowns on a single burner while David cooked us lemon chicken breasts over the fire. It took a long time to cook but was delicious when it was ready. The boys also really enjoyed the Swiss chocolate for dessert. The cranberry tea was also nice.
We put the boys to bed and sat around the fire for a little while before we too crawled into our beds. Although we have camped before there was so much to learn here. Marcelle explained to us that we needed to get the worst of the snow off of our boots and that then we needed to stuff our boots, snow pants, gloves, hats etc inside our sleeping bags. If we did not do this we would find that all of our things would be frozen in the morning and we would not be able to get them on. As if setting up and wandering around camp was not exhausting enough with the deep soft snow, getting into bed certainly added to the exhaustion. Now we were just hoping that the fire would make it through the night and that none of us would need to get up to go to the toilet before morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment