DAY 14-16 - SKI PLANES & BANNOCK

pardon me while i geek out over the plane...

the next few days were spent fishing around ROBERTSON BAY, along with working and relaxing around the cabin. catching our dinners was still priority and had not become any easier. although we always caught what we needed to eat, it always took more time and effort than we felt it should have. and the WALLEYE were still as elusive as ever...

one of those mornings we were sitting at the table inside the cabin after breakfast, sipping on coffee while i kicked ELI's behind in rummy, when we heard a plane fly lower than normal over the cabin. we had become accustomed to the daily nine am flyover from the bush pilots at OSPREY WINGS but this one was different, louder than normal, which meant he was lower...

we sprinted out of the cabin to the shoreline and sure enough, a small plane popped up just over the tips of the pine trees along the northwest shore. the pilot landed the plane on the crusty snow in the little bay right in front of the cabin. 

the SUPER CUB taxied bumpily over the ice and snow, the propeller churning up the loose snow and throwing it in every direction. the pilot cut the engine in front of the cabin and hopped out along with a gimpy GL. he had smashed his big toe pretty good in an ice fishing vs. tequila incident two days prior...

the pilot, STUART, who we just met explained that he and GL figured that they would just drop on in for some coffee and neighborly saturday morning conversation. (STUART has a cabin a few lakes over past LA ROCQUE but has never been to FORBES) GL also had packed a box full of groceries and random beer! eggs, bacon and steaks! 

we poured coffee and ate on a loaf of bread that he called 'bannock' covered in blue berry rhubarb jelly. his wife, HELEN, makes the best bannock in all of SASKATCHEWAN and i couldn't agree more.

as we finished out coffee and bannock GL made a point about needing to check on his 'square hooks' on DEAD or maybe DEVIL'S LAKE. we told him that we would phone in again later that week and headed out the cabin door.

STUART fired up the little plane's engine and took off straight away through the ROBERTSON BAY CHANNEL. ELI and I were still standing on the ice in front of the cabin when the SUPER CUB banked around shot straight through the channel right towards us, buzzing us right over our heads as he climbed just over the tree tops.

and then like all of the other departures, it was just the two of us again. only this time we had a bounty of groceries along with our own loaf of bannock and homemade jelly...

DAY 13 - CANOE OFF SEASON

so an idea happened upon us to make a hot tub out of, or in, the aluminum canoes that we have here at the cabin...

we, well ELI mostly, worked all morning and afternoon tending the fire, boiling water, and heating up rocks to rotate in and out of the canoes to keep the water warm until there was enough water in the canoes to submerge, or rather partially submerge, ourselves in. 

nearly four hours of heating water and rocks until finally we hit the point of 'its good enough!' we grabbed the last two beers that we had been saving, stripped down and jumped into the two canoes now turned hot tubs. it was a short lived soak, but looking back on it now, the two of us sitting in the steaming canoes, facing a frozen lake as a fire cracked between us, while sipping on our last SASKATCHEWAN brewed beers, it is a priceless memory...

DAY 12 - THE FINGER & THE FISHER

frozen eggs are similar to hardboiled eggs...they are both inedible...

the cold carried over from yesterday, only this morning the mercury was an unreadable below zero as the thermometer had frosted over. the fire in the stove had gone out sometime during the night and the uninsulated cabin was in a deep freeze. everything that could freeze was frozen...

instead of trying to get a fire going and thaw things out, including ourselves, we decided to head out and fish for the day. physical activity was going to be our answer to the cold. we left right after sunrise, our boots crunching on the hard packed snow and ice while the gunshot sounds of trees exploding as the sun hit them echoed around the lake. the ice was shifting and cracking as it expanded in the cold temperatures. you could feel it shake and shift as we walked over cracks that looked as if they would open up beneath us, but held fast all the same. it amazes me as to how much noise nature makes, simply because of sudden changes in temperature. 

we drilled several holes around the grassy islands on the south side of McMILLAN ISLAND and pulled in a nice TROUT and NORTHERN PIKE as we warmed our faces in the warm march sun as it rose higher in the sky. 

wanting to try fishing several locations that day, we moved along from the grassy islands to FINGER ROCK. the ice was thick near the rock formation that looks like its namesake. it took nearly the entire length or our ice auger to punch through the ice. we only drilled a few holes because of the ice conditions and were rewarded a single PIKE for our efforts. the wind was blowing hard into our exposed position and helped hasten our decision to pack up and move on. 

as we talked about heading out, ELI gets a wild look on his face and quickly spun me around to look at our sleds. a MINK was locked in a game of tug of war over the TROUT that was tethered to one of the sleds! the MINK pulled and pulled but the half frozen TROUT was held fast by our stringer. great fortune for us that we tethered the TROUT in the first place to pull behind the sled! otherwise the MINK would have had his dinner, rather our dinner, and we would have been none the wiser. 

we tried to scare the MINK off but he was absolutely fearless. he wanted our dinner just as bad as we did...we would chase him away and he would dive into one of the open ice holes, only to resurface in another one and run for his prize, only to be thwarted by us yelling and running at him. he did this over and over until we finally had everything packed up. we took off towards McMILLAN ISALND and our furry adversary followed! he ran from island to island, presumably dodging any predators that might be watching his movements on the exposed ice. we finally lost him when we had to make the big exposed crossing over to the big island. i guess it was too exposed for him to try and risk it...

unlike our new friend the MINK, we ate a mighty tasty TROUT for dinner that night...

DAY 11 - MOOSE TRACKS

cold and windy this morning, the mercury is hovering around zero degrees. as we were sitting at the split log picnic table that is the focal point in the cabin for breakfast, discussing what we should do for the day, ELI suddenly gets off the bench, grabs the shotgun leaning near the door, and runs out of the cabin. a moment later, bang! ELI emerges back inside with a huge grin on his face and exclaims 'got him!' he had finally taken the ever elusive forest chicken. we knew at that moment what we would be doing that day, chicken wild rice soup was going to be our dinner...

we geared up and headed across the bay in front of the cabin to the 'island' that separates the cabin from ROBERTSON BAY. we walked the entire length of the island searching for more chickens while following a well trodden moose trail, hoping to find a moose shed along the way. 

there is some unexpected elevation on the island and from the top of the hill in the center you can see clear across FORBES LAKE past EAGLE and TROUT ISLANDS to the opposite shore. 

ELI shot another grouse as we headed back towards the cabin. we had just enough meat to cook our soup. add a side of corn bread biscuits that we baked in a pie tin in the barrel stove and we had ourselves a well rounded backcountry meal...

DAYS 8, 9 & 10 - SPRING IS IN THE AIR

a routine of fire, breakfast, wood cutting and fishing for dinner began to form over the next three days of amazingly warm weather. the barometer rose and we had clear skies and warm sun. 

skiing to our fishing holes in the narrows was a pleasure on the track that we formed, but veer off and the skis would break thru the thin crust of snow that would get soft during the day and freeze hard at night. break thru the crust and the tips of your skis would be stuck under the icy layer so hard sometimes you would have to clip out of your bindings just to pull the skis out from under the crust.

we sat out on in the open on the ice in the narrows and i caught a nice size lake trout on the first jig of the day. then nothing. although finding the fish was difficult, the task was an enjoyable one knowing that one or two fish in a day was all that we needed for our dinner. a pretty simple agenda to keep while enjoying the sun as the temperature jumped up to nearly forty.

a word about fishing...we were relying fairly heavily on our abilities to find and catch fish to supplement our dinners for the duration of our trip. we had packed a few dehydrated dinners that we had prepared before we set out on the trip but those were to be used while we trekked to and from the cabin with the possibility of doing some extended exploring as well. so fish was basically the entire dinner menu...it allowed us to pack in lighter and faster, think about packing in nearly thirty days of dinners along with all of the other supplies..there is also the fact that we love to dine on fish, did i mention that we get to eat our catch the same day? 

an attempt at fishing the point off of McMILLAN ISLAND was also made during this stretch and we pulled in a nice trout and two pikes. ELI did lose a beautiful walleye though. when we drilled the hole we did not punch the auger all the way through the ice at the bottom of the hole. when he reeled the fish up to the hole, the fish got caught on the edge of the ice, the line slacked and he lost the fish. the walleye were proving to be elusive, so needless to say we did not make that mistake again. 

our warm days were capped with clear, cold and starry nights. our dinners of battered and fried catch of the day sided with beans or potatoes. cribbage games were played under the warm glow of the propane gas mantle and stove top popped corn was eaten next to the crackle of the fire contained in the barrel stove.

the mercury in the thermometer hanging outside the cabin is beginning to drop, and a cold wind is starting to blow...

DAY 7 - THE DARK NIGHT

sometimes there is just a simplicity in shooting photos in black and white. when there is no color, it allows me to see the photo as it is rather than what it could be thru filters and processes. fitting, now that the photos i took on this day were all in black and white...

catching dinner was the goal for the day. we skied to the narrows behind the cabin pulling our gear in the sleds, sticking to the lake rather than cutting thru the woods. it was still cold and overcast like it had been the day before so we stuck close to the shoreline to get shelter from the cutting wind. we drilled our holes and set up the ice house on the north end of the narrows. finding our depth was like shooting a moving target in the dark. our maps did not have lake depths on them so we would need to drill our hole, drop a sinker, and measure the depth by hand. not exactly an easy task when you need to hand drill your holes thru three feet of ice...

we struck out on the first two holes we drilled, one too deep, the other too shallow. setting up in between, we sat and jigged our lines for hours, for nothing. then, just after dark, ELI reeled in a wonderful WALLEYE. our dinner had been landed. we quickly packed up, eager to get back to the cabin and cook up our catch. we were hungry...not thinking it would take this long to catch our fish, the time for dinner was long past. 

the moon had not yet risen while we were heading back to the cabin so there was no glow in the clouds overhead. if there were clouds overhead, we couldn't tell. it was dark. so dark. we stopped gliding on our skis and shut off our headlamps. i couldn't see my hand in front of my face...it was like being in a cave or dark closet. there was no ambient light, no moon or stars, nothing. i waited for my eyes to adjust, and they simply did not. as we stood there motionless, the silence became deafening. i struggled to hear something, anything...and just like my eyes, my ears wouldn't adjust. it seemed like i could here the blood pumping thru my veins. ELI and i stood there in the dark and silence, our senses straining to find some form of stimulation. neither one of us wanting to break the spell that we had stopped into...

finally, one us cried out and the echo reverberated back and forth against the steep unseen shorelines along the narrow section of lake. the spell had been broken and light returned as we turned our lamps back on, gliding on our skies towards the warmth and security of the cabin...

DAY 5 - CABIN COMFORT & COMPANY

banana pancakes from dehydrated bananas never tasted so good...

after breakfast and coffee we had gone out to the entrance of ROBERTSON BAY across from the cabin to harvest firewood and drill a few ice holes. while we were jigging our lines we heard the sound of snowmobiles from back by the cabin trail. as i walked over to get a view of the trail around the peninsula, i watched seven snowmobiles race out of the woods onto the lake and pull up in front of the cabin! ELI and i raced across the lake and met two of sleds coming our way. it was GL and TYLER, and they had brought out half of the town of MISSINIPE with them! 

we opened up our supplies and shared our cheese and homemade jerky with them and they passed around smoked oysters and beers. they all said we were crazy for walking out to the cabin when it took them a half a day to make the ride out on snowmobiles. they were all very impressed by the camp and said that it was the best looking cabin around, and that is saying something since the cabin is nearly 40 years old...

they helped us haul the spindles that we had felled from across the bay back to the cabin where we could cut them down and split them. we turned a half day's worth of work into minutes...

as the group fired up their sleds to head back to MISSINIPE they unloaded a box of groceries on us! ham, bacon, eggs, onions, potatoes...and coffee! in all of our meticulous food planning we had seriously misjudged our coffee consumption...

once again, as they sleds began to pull away, TYLER pulled out a bag of marinating pork tenderloin and garlic sausages. he tossed them over to me with a wink that said enjoy and good luck. i think the adventure and what ELI and i were doing had struck a chord with TYLER...

the sleds disappeared into the woods and once again, silence encased our camp. our camp that was now transformed by a group of people that we had just met but felt completely bonded to.

 - fishing report: ELI caught one WHITEFISH and one TROUT in the ROBERTSON BAY CHANNEL

DAY 4 - WARM WEATHER IS NOT OUR FRIEND

we awoke to a pink sunrise bouncing off of the dark clouds passing slowly over the ever so still lake. energized by our good fortune the day before and our dinner of chicken and ribs we elected to skip breakfast and make fast for the cabin, determined we could reach it for a late breakfast or early lunch...

we flew across the lake and hit the first of two portages that would need to be tackled before reaching the cabin. the portage was narrow, with many twists and turns and hills that brought us high above the lakes and down low into the frozen marshes surrounding them. our energy was waning when we hit KRUGER LAKE and we stopped to stuff down as many snacks as we could. the snow on the large open lake was wind swept and hard packed which made for slow going as our sleds would tip on the uneven terrain, slowing down our progress considerably. it seemed that every time i looked across the lake towards the bay that hid our final portage, it was no closer than the last time i looked. time seemed to speed up and my empty stomach began to loath the decision to skip breakfast.

the final portage took some time to find as the snowmobile tracks had been difficult to follow on the windswept lake. but finally, we found the portage and we ate the rest of the snacks that were easily accessible in our pockets, not wanting to take the time to unpack our sleds to eat a real lunch. we decided that it would be worth the short term suffering to eat our lunch, which was quickly turning into dinner, in the warmth and comfort of the cabin. once we reached it...

the portage into ROBERTSON BAY on FORBES LAKE was even more of a challenge than the KRUGER LAKE portage. more hills, more twists and turns, and really deep snow. the snowshoes were needed which slows things down even more, notably when you need to right the sled after it ends up on its side or pull it back onto your trail after it wanders into a buried stump or slides into a snowdrift. i was so fed up with having to dodge the sled from coming down on top of me as i would race it down the hills that once, i just sat on the sled and rode it down one of the hills when it caught up to me as i attempted to outrun it with a pair of four foot long snowshoes strapped to my boots. the sleds were winning today, and soon they would join forces with the elements...

as we were struggling over the portage, the dark clouds that had been sporadic in the early morning were now covering the sky, and as we looked towards ROBERTSON BAY and FORBES LAKE, the darker the clouds became. as we were staring up at the clouds, making our out-loud observation, the clouds began to unload. rain. it had started to rain. the temperature on ELI'S watch read in at nearly 34 degrees. we prayed the temperature would drop but it held steady, and the rain continued to fall.

a word on the snowshoes that we were using: we were both using twin pairs of alaskan style snowshoes. these are nearly a foot wide and over four and a half feet long. the frames are made of formed ash with rawhide webbing for the deck. the rawhide and ash are then coated in a marine spar varnish to give the snowshoes protection from wet, snowy and frozen conditions. these long, narrow snowshoes were worn by the Athapaskan first nations people on dry powder in the northwestern reaches of CANADA and interior ALASKA. with the narrow design they are built for speed and the ability to quickly break trail, primarily for a dog sled team, following closely behind. in our case however, instead of a dog sled team, ELI and i were the dogs, breaking trail for our sleds. so after all of that being said about how good the snowshoes we were using were and why we chose them, this all goes out the window when the snow is no longer powder and it begins to rain. eventually, any place that the varnish had begun to break down or wear off became saturated with water. and as the water began to wick itself into the entire deck and frame of the snowshoes, the once lightweight shoes became heavy behemoths... 

we literally plowed our sleds across ROBERTSON BAY, the wet mess of snow sticking to everything and adding seemingly pounds of weight when we wanted and needed none. absolutely spent, and famished the cabin was finally in our sights. noon, that is what we had thought. now it was nearly five o'clock in the evening, but we were standing on the front porch of the cabin. we stared for a moment at the boarded up structure, our knees weak and sore, bodies utterly exhausted and yet we were mentally ecstatic. we pulled the boards off of the door and stepped inside...

DAY 3 - TRAIL BEER & THE BEST CAMPSITE

so you would imagine that by the third morning we would be getting pretty good and efficient at breaking down our camp and packing up the sleds. wrong. once again it took longer to pack up than we had planned. before we left we spent considerable time melting snow to fill canteens so we wouldn't need to stop and do this time consuming chore while we were trekking. (in hindsight we should have just drilled out a hole and pulled water from the lakes but we will learn that later on). 

the day began beautifully with the sun bright and few clouds in the sky. we had an early morning visit from a local fisherman heading out on a skidoo to fish one of the many wilderness lakes. we tried to press him for intel on how deep he was fishing and what color lures he was using but all the information we could get was on how the national curling team was doing. 

we finished packing our sleds as our curling enthusiast friend left us to find the fish. our camp was at the beginning of the long portage over GREAT DEVIL'S RAPIDS and that was our first challenge for the day. crossing the portages was always a bit more difficult than trekking over the frozen lakes in that there were obstacles in your way. downed trees, sharp turns, hills, and snowdrifts slowed our overland progress. as we pulled our sleds over the portage, the sound of the open water water rushing thru the narrow  chute that forms the devilish rapids was near in our ears. although catching sight of the rapids thru the thick forest was impossible. even with snowshoes, bushwhacking thru the thick undergrowth and waist deep snow would have been an unnecessary and time consuming endeavor. 

the sun was still shining bright and warm on our faces as we broke out of the woods onto HAYMAN LAKE. the pulling became easier as we set our bearing for the next portage and marched quickly ahead. soon we heard the sound of snowmobiles to the rear and were passed by two conservation officers. they stopped, shut off their machines and expressed just how curious they were as to who or what had been making the odd tracks in the snow. their surprise and interest peaked as we explained to them our plans and what we were doing. we were nervous about talking about the rifle that we had brought with us but were relieved and opened up to them when they told us that we should have a firearm with us. and just like everyone else, thought that we should have a bigger gun...the gun conversations in CANADA was beginning to surprise us. they alerted us to the recent wolf sightings in the area and we confirmed that the hand size tracks we had seen the previous day were in fact belonging to the wolves. we ensured them that we had left word back with THOMPSON CAMPS in MISSINIPE and would be phoning in with our satellite phone regularly. 

the officers said that they might head towards FORBES as they checked in on any locals fishing so we would have a trail to follow, at least for a ways. we thanked them and they started their machines and were off. leaving us again in still silence.

as we crossed over the short peninsula towards our turn north at FOGG ISLAND the trail deteriorated. we put on our snowshoes and trudged forward. forward progress was slow, massive snow drifts would tip and dump our sleds every few feet it seemed. as hopes of reaching the cabin faded for the third day and our moral began to dip, the sound of snowmobiles once again greeted us from where we came.

three snowmobiles pulled up alongside us. GL, TYLER, and an unnamed friend had ridden out from MISSINIPE for a day ride. they shut the machines off and GL pulled out a beer for each of us from the saddlebags! we talked for a bit about the trek out thus far and they told us that they would ride ahead and lay down some tracks for us. 

they took off to the north and ELI and i stood in silence for a moment, then let out a whoop and hollar with a high five at our new found rejuvenation. we checked our map and set a new goal for our camp that night on a small stepping stone lake before the long KRUGER LAKE portage. freshly motivated and following fresh tracks we hit our goal in seemingly record time. the trail dumped us out onto the tiny lake and we stood looking across the untouched snowy blanket unlike the larger windswept lakes we had been crossing. we dug out a camp next to a stand of black spruce under a short cliff and rock outcropping, while the still lake stretching towards the portage on the opposite side lay ever still. 

as the light began to fade and i cut downed spruce limbs for the stove, the stillness was broken by the snomobiles once again. it was the conservation officers on their return trip. they stopped briefly and told us that they had ridden up to the cabin and that everything looked all well and in order. they rode off and as soon as they had exited the lake the trio out of MISSINIPE rode up to our camp. they reported the same about the cabin and that they would try to ride out in a few days with an extra propane tank for the gas lights and stove in the cabin and maybe a few fresh groceries. we couldn't thank them enough for riding out and looked forward to seeing them soon. as they left the lake, TYLER pulled up and tossed me a zip lock bag filled with grilled chicken and pork ribs. i looked at him bewildered, and he laughed and said that they had planned on heating them up for lunch but ran out of time, so he wanted us to have them. 

eli and i finished setting up our camp and lit a fire on the ice that we had cleared. we 'cooked' up our chicken and ribs and sat around our fire and laughed at our good fortune. after the hardest day yet, our spirits had been lifted and we had a fresh trail to follow in the morning, straight to the cabin... 

DAY 2 - SNOWFALL & CHRISTMAS MORNING

there was a light snow falling on our camp as we awoke. it had dusted our shelter and surroundings in a thin blanket of fresh white. we rekindled the fire in the stove to get some coffee brewing and have a warm oatmeal breakfast. as we ate we discussed the plans for the day and thought we could make the cabin today if we pushed hard. we finished our breakfast and coffee and broke down camp. this was the first time that we had to break down camp and repack our sleds after a full night. we quickly discovered that it takes a considerable amount of time to get things packed back up as we ran into unforeseen challenges. our groundsheet had frozen to the ice that formed underneath from the melted snow due to our stove, the legs for the stove had melted into the ice and then refroze and had to be chipped out with a hatchet. the cord to tie down the sleds was wet and icy with snow and became difficult to handle. it was now nearly lunchtime and we were just finishing tying down the gear the to sleds. we both felt rushed at this point, knowing that a push to get to the cabin today was now going to be a grind.

it was slow going along TURCOTTE CREEK and we quickly learned that a well packed sled made all of the difference when pulling it over the rough terrain. i dumped my sled several times while on the portages between lakes as the trail dips and climbs over buried trees and unseen obstacles. even on seemingly perfect trail conditions our poorly packed sleds would seem to dump for no reason other than they came slightly out of the tracks we made with our snowshoes. it became a frustrating battle. as soon as a i could get into a rhythm, i would feel the depressing tug of my sled, stopping my progress and forcing me to retreat back to the overturned sled right it. then get back to my original position, gently tug the sled back onto my snowshoe path and begin again. at times, the sled would dump immediately forcing me to repeat the process. every time the sleds would dump the load would shift and the cord would loosen against the soft packs and hard crates. it seemed i was constantly retying my load until i finally took my time while breaking for a sip out of the coffee thermos and some homemade jerky to repack my shifty load. it made all the difference as i used more bungie than static cord to keep my loaded sled working for me rather than against me. 

the cabin was now well out of reach as we approached the rapids named after the prince of darkness. it seemed fitting as dusk was fast approaching and we were spent. we made camp on a small frozen pool of water between GREAT DEVIL'S and LITTLE DEVIL'S rapids just passed a small island that we had camped on a few years back while canoeing the river in the fall. what had been a day of relative quite was now interrupted by the sounds of open and raging water from the rapids above and below our camp. 

the key to success on any adventure is to learn from your experiences and improve your skills. we were much smarter with our second camp. a thick layer of fresh pine boughs separated our shelter floor from the snow, ice, and melt water. we slept warming and instead of waking up in a half frozen puddle of melted snow and ice, we awoke to a dry floor and the smells of christmas morning...

DAY 0 & THE MORNING OF DAY 1 - A DRIVE & THE ARRIVAL

we crossed the one lane steel bridge that connects GREY CLOUD ISLAND to the mainland around 4:30 in the morning. it was cold...20 degrees below zero (fahrenheit for those of you that needed to know). we had worked furiously the night before to get everything packed up and tied down on the jeep so we could have an easy departure in the morning. our work had paid off as the only thing we needed to do was fill up our coffee thermos and say farewell to the grandparents (i couldn't tell who was more excited, us or them) there was no sense of time as we made the highway and began our northwestward journey that would take us nearly to the MONTANA/CANADIAN border before heading straight north. 

REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN by 5pm was our goal as we needed to pick up our sim card for the new satellite phone before the communications store closed. we made it to and thru the border crossing at PORTAL, NORTH DAKOTA with little issue. the CANADIAN border guard, McGEE (really) was helpful in every way while we filled out the documentation for the .22 caliber rifle that we were bringing with us. he was excited to hear our plans and thought we were crazy for not bringing a bigger gun...we phoned up to the communications store while at the border before we lost our cell service and confirmed with the store manager, BRAD, that he would meet us at a store that was open later to ensure we got the right card and activate our service. 

it was nearly 6pm when we arrived in REGINA and BRAD was still at the store waiting happily for us to arrive. we shared our plans with him as he set us up and activated our phone. he too was excited to hear about what we were doing and like McGEE, thought we should be carrying a bigger gun with us...starting to become a common theme...

BRAD pointed us in the direction of a burger and some poutine and wished us good luck. we zig-zagged our way thru REGINA (navigating with a small scale atlas and no google maps is a 'fun' challenge) and found our burger. we bellied up to the bar and convinced the bartender to turn on the WILD hockey game while we ate our food. we stayed for the entire game and watched our team pull out a win. the first half of our journey to MISSINIPE had been nothing but success and generosity from the people helping us to this point, so we set off for the second half of our 24 hour drive in high spirits, feeding off of our positive energy.

the TIM HORTONS in PRINCE ALBERT was our shot in the arm at 2am. PRINCE ALBERT is the 3rd largest city in the province of SASKATCHEWAN (only 35,000 people live here) and is situated along the SASKATCHEWAN RIVER which creates nearly a perfect natural border between prairie and forest. we crossed the river in the bright moonlight and could start to the trees appear, one and two at a time until they grew in their numbers and neighbors to turn into the boreal forests of northern SASKATCHEWAN.

2 hours later, LA RONGE is the end of the pavement. it is dirt road for the rest of the way to the small resort town of MISSINIPE (year round population about 20, give or take if any of the residents are out on the lakes or not). 78km (we're in CANADA now) of frozen dirt and gravel. surprisingly, the road was in decent shape. a huge difference from the ruts and bumps i had been expecting... we tested out our satellite phone and called home letting our home support know we were nearing the the air base in MISSINIPE and we would shortly be off the road and in the wilderness.

we walked into the OSPREY WINGS air base and found GL and ZACH behind the counter, sipping coffee while tracking the blip of a plane on their navigation computer. I wasn't sure what kind of reception to expect from the local guys. i mean, a couple of young guys from the states heading up into their backyard with dreams of adventure, i could just see them laughing and them grimacing at the thought of having to bail us out 3 days in...boy was i ever wrong. after telling us that we were nuts for wanting to walk in when there was a perfectly running snowmobile parked outside, GL looked over our map with us and marked it with all of the snowmobile (or SKIDOO) trails and portages. he alerted us to any areas of thin ice or places that we might lose the trail. he tried once again to convince us to take his SKIDOO instead of trekking in but we declined as we were intent on walking in, this was our journey, our throwback to adventure. days of trekking thru a snowy wilderness to the apex of our journey, the cabin. we planned on a two or three day journey to make the cabin...

we left the air base office and began to unload the gear from the jeep onto the frozen parking lot and worked on packing the sleds like we had back on the island. it was a surreal moment as we packed our sleds and gazed at the still planes around us, outfitted with skis and canvas engine covers, the summer pontoons stashed in the various hangers around the air base. most sat silent in their respective hangers or around the perimeter of the base while a few sat idle on the ice, pieces of chrome, glass and aluminum reflecting the sun brightly back at us. we stashed the keys to the jeep with GL and promised we would phone in to the air base when we settled in at the cabin.

we took off pulling our sleds thru town towards the trail across the road. the sun was high in the sky and felt warm on the face, warm to bone really...forcing us to shed our layers rapidly. as soon as we crossed the road we faced up a 150ft hill, straight up. really, straight up. feeling the fresh energy of the adventure we charged up the hill, our 130lb sleds and gravity working hard against us, the soft snow warmed by the sun giving us little footing. and finally, struggling to the top we stopped, legs and lungs burning and caught our breath. as we looked back down the hill and at the town below, we knew the tone for the trek out had been set...

DAY 0 MINUS 2 - ANTICIPATION & EXCITEMENT

after quitting my job, days of preparation ensued... we spent days cooking and dehydrating food, and filling in the gaps with pre-made soups, beans, and enough (or so we thought) cooking oil, shorelunch, and tartar sauce for as much fish as we could imagine eating. 

we found a pop-up ice fishing shelter on craigslist and decided to use that as our fishing shelter while at the cabin as well as our 'tent' while trekking out to the cabin. with a few small modifications it was ready for our stove that we had built out of an old 5 gallon pail.

we trekked around the frozen MISSISSIPPI river with the pulk sleds that we built, pulling them, fully loaded with around 120 pounds of gear apiece, with quick steps. grinning the entire time, finally feeling and knowing that we were going to pull this thing off.

we made some last minute phone calls up to MISSINPE to check on weather conditions (lots of snow we were told) and get our satellite phone service connected. 

we were as ready as we could be and as anxious to leave as ever...

DAY 1 - BIG HILLS & NORTHERN LIGHTS

we followed the trail until WAPIYAO lake and set up camp on the leeward side of a forested peninsula to shelter us from the steady breeze. this was our first attempt at setting up our camp in the bush and took us considerable time to strategize the best location and easiest set-up. by the time we were finally settled in and eating our dinner of rehydrated camp chili, the northern lights had come out to dance alongside the full moon...