Unfortunately for us, we all needed to go to the toilet at
various times through the night. The fire had gone out and it was very cold.
Going to the toilet is not easy. It means crawling out f your inner sleeping
bag (there are two) finding your cold weather clothes and putting them on, and
of course finding your boots inside your sleeping bag and getting them on. It
also means braving the deep soft snow to try and find somewhere to go not too
close to camp.
When it was finally time to drag ourselves out of our warm
sleeping bags and start the day Marcelle already had the outside fire going for
us. We helped her to feed the dogs their first meal of the day before having
breakfast ourselves. For breakfast we had flavoured oatmeal – apple and cinnamon,
maple syrup and brown sugar. We also had toasted muffins, with Nutella, if you
could get it out of the jar it was so hard due to the weather. Certainly no
fear of food going off in the cooler.
As we finished our breakfast Gilles arrived on the snow mobile.
It was time to break camp. We needed to pack up the sleeping bags and mats, the
little fire in the tent, the tent itself, put out the fire and then pack
everything back into the sleds. Marcelle had decided that as we were going to
be spending most of the day climbing the mountains Ryan would sit inside her
sled. This meant she would take an extra dog, Connor would be promoted to 4
dogs, David would still have 4 dogs and I would get promoted to 5 dogs.
Once the sleds were tied to trees and to each other the dogs
were harnessed and slowly attached to their sleds. It was not going to be easy
getting out of camp with such soft, deep snow. When the time came Marcelle took
off and Connor, David and myself followed.
We first crossed back over Annie Lake before heading back
into the windy forest of yesterday. It soon came time to turn off in a
different direction. We had been warned that we would be climbing mountains for
at least 40 minutes today and then once we reached the top of the mountain it would be up and down for quite some distance before we headed down to the next lake to camp.
Climbing the steep parts of the mountain was hot, hard work. The dogs could not do it on their own so it meant we would have to hop off at least one runner and help push the sled. As time passed, it was funny watching as each of us steadily removed more and more layers of clothes and tried to stuff them into our sleds - their were gloves, hats, scarves, jackets. It was so hot....
Finally when the majority of the steep climbing was done we found a place to stop for lunch. We were getting used to our traditional lunch now - cup of soup, flat bread or sandwiches, pepperoni sticks, cheese, chocolate biscuits and Swiss chocolate. Ryan had been enjoying his time sitting in Marcelle's sled taking pictures of the scenery as it went by.
When we were finished with lunch we again jumped back onto our sleds to begin the up and down leg of the day's journey. Gilles had gone ahead to see if the camp site at the lake was going to be available. When he returned in a while he informed us that there were 2 other dog teams and a skier coming by our route. It was decided that it was best for us to anchor the dogs, tie the sleds together and sit on a straight part of the trail at one edge and wait for them to come by. We sat there for what seemed like eternity as the weather began to change and it became much colder. David and Connor were laying down on their sleds, with David even falling asleep at one point.
After a long time it became clear that they may not be coming, at least not any time soon. We couldn't wait any longer and decided to take the high trail to the right in the hopes that they would be coming along the lower trail on the left. It paid off as we never encountered them. After more climbing and descending we reached a sharp downhill left hand turn. Given the extra dogs and the nature of today's trail we had all been trying to leave extra space between sleds. That is no easy task with 5 dogs; I had been riding my hard brake all day.
When I came around the sharp left hand corner I would discover that Connor and David had both come off their sleds. This was Connor's first fall and David had braked hard and tipped his sled to avoid hitting Connor. David, says this does not count as a fall because he did not let go of his dogs. He did manage to get his whole head under the snow and his sled full of snow though. Once their dogs were sorted out we began again. It was a very short distance to a sharp right hand turn. Up ahead I could see that Ryan was out of Marcelle's sled standing on the side. Marcelle took off fast and snaked and slid along the trail. Next it was Connor, then David.
My turn finally came. I could not clearly see what was happening. I came around the sharp right and found myself in the deep snow on the inside of the curve. I managed to get out of there but then it was all down hill. The reason for the sliding and snaking was clear - a large section of hard frozen ice to cross with a steep fall away to the left into snow and water. Unfortunately my dogs headed straight off the ice into the ditch at the left hand side. I came off my sled but was so proud of myself that I managed to hold on to it and get one foot onto the hard break. It wasn't enough though and I came off hard slamming my left knee straight onto the edge of the ice. It took me a while to get up. If you are going to fall do it well I figure.
Once I got back up with Gilles help I got back on my sled and we kept moving towards camp. My knee was in a lot of pain. Thankfully Gilles helped Ryan walk across the ice and then Ryan rode on the back of the snowmobile to camp. This was a lot of fun for him.
After more twisting and turning along the edges of the lake we crossed over to our camp for the night. As Gilles and Ryan had got there first we were lucky that they had already set up the dogs lines. We were grateful for having on less task to do when setting up camp. Next it was to work doing all of the many tasks for the dogs and ourselves. It was much easier finding somewhere to put up the tent today and we were thankful that the ground was much more compacted. Ryan dug out the fire pit and found us some logs to use as chairs.
With the dogs attended to and bedded down for the night, the tent up and its fire going, Marcelle used her small burner to cook some risotto with peas and beans, while David cooked salmon over the fire. It was clear that it was going to be a very cold night. Connor tried hard to dry his gloves off by the fire, with both the boys having learnt their lesson about what happens when you get your clothes wet at night. David also borrowed Connor's glove warming sticks to dry his socks which had been wet for the past couple of days despite using the feet warmers given to us by Marcelle.
We were running low of firewood really fast tonight. What we did have seemed to wet or green to burn. After trying to burn one of our seats without success we decided to head to bed.
This was to be one of our most testing experiences. When we got into bed Ryan was fast asleep. Unlike the night before where I had warmed up fairly quickly no matter what I did I could not get warm. I was shivering despite being in all my clothes, scarf, beanie, and using feet warmers. This was the least of our worries though as Connor was awake and was extremely distressed. He was having major problems with his feet and one of his ankles. He kept complaining that they were burning and itching. He was crying and hyperventilating and there appeared to be nothing we could do to help him. We tried looking at his feet, rubbing them, feet warmers, new socks, Panadol. He was just so distressed and we felt so helpless. David cuddled up to him and soon he drifted off to sleep.
Unfortunately again we needed to go to the toilet through the night. There are no words to describe how freezing cold we were both outside when going to the toilet but more importantly also when inside in our beds. I slept completely covered by my sleeping bag with my head inside and still could not get warm. Despite David stocking it with wood, our tent fire had again gone out. The only one who seemed somewhat oblivious was Ryan. We were really worried about the kids and the high possibility of hypothermia!!!!
When I came around the sharp left hand corner I would discover that Connor and David had both come off their sleds. This was Connor's first fall and David had braked hard and tipped his sled to avoid hitting Connor. David, says this does not count as a fall because he did not let go of his dogs. He did manage to get his whole head under the snow and his sled full of snow though. Once their dogs were sorted out we began again. It was a very short distance to a sharp right hand turn. Up ahead I could see that Ryan was out of Marcelle's sled standing on the side. Marcelle took off fast and snaked and slid along the trail. Next it was Connor, then David.
My turn finally came. I could not clearly see what was happening. I came around the sharp right and found myself in the deep snow on the inside of the curve. I managed to get out of there but then it was all down hill. The reason for the sliding and snaking was clear - a large section of hard frozen ice to cross with a steep fall away to the left into snow and water. Unfortunately my dogs headed straight off the ice into the ditch at the left hand side. I came off my sled but was so proud of myself that I managed to hold on to it and get one foot onto the hard break. It wasn't enough though and I came off hard slamming my left knee straight onto the edge of the ice. It took me a while to get up. If you are going to fall do it well I figure.
Once I got back up with Gilles help I got back on my sled and we kept moving towards camp. My knee was in a lot of pain. Thankfully Gilles helped Ryan walk across the ice and then Ryan rode on the back of the snowmobile to camp. This was a lot of fun for him.
After more twisting and turning along the edges of the lake we crossed over to our camp for the night. As Gilles and Ryan had got there first we were lucky that they had already set up the dogs lines. We were grateful for having on less task to do when setting up camp. Next it was to work doing all of the many tasks for the dogs and ourselves. It was much easier finding somewhere to put up the tent today and we were thankful that the ground was much more compacted. Ryan dug out the fire pit and found us some logs to use as chairs.
With the dogs attended to and bedded down for the night, the tent up and its fire going, Marcelle used her small burner to cook some risotto with peas and beans, while David cooked salmon over the fire. It was clear that it was going to be a very cold night. Connor tried hard to dry his gloves off by the fire, with both the boys having learnt their lesson about what happens when you get your clothes wet at night. David also borrowed Connor's glove warming sticks to dry his socks which had been wet for the past couple of days despite using the feet warmers given to us by Marcelle.
We were running low of firewood really fast tonight. What we did have seemed to wet or green to burn. After trying to burn one of our seats without success we decided to head to bed.
This was to be one of our most testing experiences. When we got into bed Ryan was fast asleep. Unlike the night before where I had warmed up fairly quickly no matter what I did I could not get warm. I was shivering despite being in all my clothes, scarf, beanie, and using feet warmers. This was the least of our worries though as Connor was awake and was extremely distressed. He was having major problems with his feet and one of his ankles. He kept complaining that they were burning and itching. He was crying and hyperventilating and there appeared to be nothing we could do to help him. We tried looking at his feet, rubbing them, feet warmers, new socks, Panadol. He was just so distressed and we felt so helpless. David cuddled up to him and soon he drifted off to sleep.
Unfortunately again we needed to go to the toilet through the night. There are no words to describe how freezing cold we were both outside when going to the toilet but more importantly also when inside in our beds. I slept completely covered by my sleeping bag with my head inside and still could not get warm. Despite David stocking it with wood, our tent fire had again gone out. The only one who seemed somewhat oblivious was Ryan. We were really worried about the kids and the high possibility of hypothermia!!!!
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