Great Range Traverse (winter version)

Saturday we hiked/ snowshoed/ climbed and glissaded the Great Range Traverse in the Adirondack's. Here are a few of the stats and some photos from the trip.

Team: Ryan Atkins, Matt Farquharson, Keith Iskiw and myself.

1) 38.89km

2) 10978ft elevation gain

3) 4200 calories consumed

4) 12hr 5 min 58 sec total time

Snowshoe Raid 2013

The week leading up to this years Snowshoe Raid I was medium worried about the lack of snow and I figured that if there was no snow that we would probably just be racing with trail runners.  I arrived in Collingwood Friday night and was all set for the 3ish hours of fun that was going to be had the next morning. There was roughly about 10cm of snow and with that it would not be wise to use snowshoes and a better choice to use my Salomon Snow Cross winter kicks with small grippy spikes in the bottom. They would in the end be a great choice for the conditions that day.

The morning started off as usual... Sort of. I was at the sign in point where we pick up our maps for 830am and started to plot my course. I was without my racing partner Ryan Atkins as he had ended up putting his car in a ditch 20min outside of Collingwood. Thankfully he and his passenger were left unscathed and after a hour of digging with the snowshoes they had in the car being used a shovels they finally emerged from the snow drifted in ditch. Ryan arrived at the sign in 10 min before we were to depart for the bus to head to the start of the event. With some last minute cramming and course plotting we caught a ride with Kelsey to the start of the race.

The race started just after 11am and over 100 teams set out on a course to find as many checkpoints as possible all within a 3hr time limit. Each checkpoint is worth a varying degree of points and for every minute that you go over the 3hr time limit you are deducted 10 points per minute. Our goal was to hit all the checkpoints and hopefully clear the course within the 3hr limit. Ryan and I were lucky to have Kelsey run along with us for the first 90min of the race as he was going to take some candid photos of us racing! We were set a quick pace from the gun and we both felt really good and were stoked to be out running through the forest on a uber fun course.

We were pushing hard and towards the end of the race heading into the matrix we could start to feel the punishment from checkpoint 160 which was placed as a out and back, except that the checkpoint was at the bottom of the escarpment. It was almost a 200m descent to punch the card and then to turn around and go straight back up the escarpment. It was a great leg and lung buster! We hit the matrix with 20min to tag all 5 of the points, punch out of the matrix at the top of the hill and then descend down to the finish. We knew time was going to be tight and that we we would probably miss the time cut by less then a minute...

We barrelled down the hill at full speed, finding the odd spot of snow that we could slide down. We punched our time card only 56sec over the time limit. We were greeted by a cheering crowd and treated to some great treats! After a cool down walk we headed back to the chalet were we would indulge with a burger and fries!

We managed to pull off the big win this year, finding all of the checkpoints and only penalized 10 points for arriving less then a minute over the limit!

It was a fantastic course and always exciting to see tons of people out enjoying the outdoors running through the forest!

4 days of fun (with photos)

The last 4 days we were lucky enough to get away to a beautiful snowy destination courtesy of some good friends. It was a extended weekend of nordic skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and of course some great socializing! I hope everyone had a safe and great Holiday!

XC Skiing

We have been fortunate enough over the last week to be able to slide skis on snow. I just purchased my season's pass at Dagmar and hopefully the winter is kind to all nordic skiers. Happy Holidays!

Silver Peak Killarney Provincial Park

Last week Ryan Atkins and myself decided that we should make a quick trip up to Killarney before the Holiday season. We were unsure of the weather and the snow conditions so we kept our route options open until we arrived to the park.

We hit the road around 530am and hoped to be at the park around 10-1030am. We had a uneventful drive up there and were greeted to having the entire park to ourselves. We parked our car in the access parking lot that is the trailhead for hiking into "the crack". We loaded the packs and we were on the trail for 11am sharp and we were treated to 5-10cm's of wet snow with lots of wet puddles under the surface. We opted to wear our Salomon Speedcross shoes with a gaiter, as we knew that no matter what we did we would end up with wet feet. We made it the 4 km to the top of the crack in around 1hr and we had a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape. For some of you who know my relationship with Killarney and especially the La Cloche Trail, which is 78km long and circumnavigates the majority of the park, I have only ever run this route and never hiked it! Running it a total of 3 times over the last few years, I was always unable to really slow down and enjoy the beautiful park stacked with big ridge views so rare in Ontario. We had no intention of lolly gagging, but in any measure it was refreshing to see the park from a hikers perspective.

We were hoping for sunny blue skies that would really bring out the blue in the lakes that make the park so famous for. We only were fortunate over three days to have 10 to 15min of sunshine and for the majority we had to settle with thick clouds and fog. We hiked along the Killarney ridge section soaking in the gorgeous views along the way. We came up on the campsite on Heaven Lake and tossed around the idea of making camp here, it was only 245pm and we decided to keep hiking until dark. We made our way over to campsite H38 on Silver lake and arrived around 505pm. We set camp, made dinner and were in bed by 630pm. After the lights went out, Ryan was asleep in 6 seconds flat and I was not even done zipping up my sleeping bag and I was treated the pleasant sound of logs being milled, or snoring.  I kept hearing the plastic ground sheet rustle and just put past the idea that it was the wind... That is until I turned my headlamp on! There was mice everywhere! I have never seen them this bad. I have spent many nights out under the stars and I have never ever seen this many little rodents so persistent to get either our warmth or our food. I had a rough nights sleep with a consistent waking up from the little critters crawling around me, or on me. At one point I looked over at Ryan and managed to see one little mouse crawl right out of his sleeping bag and over his head! What a night!

After assessing the conditions we decided on a plan for the remainder of our two days in the park. Tomorrow (or day two) we would leave our packs in camp and hike up to the top of Silver peak (4km from camp) and back to finish packing up and make our way roughly 10km back along Killarney ridge. until we either found a nice spot to camp or we ran out of daylight. The plan sounded good to me! Silver Peak in these conditions would be a fulfilling 3 days.

The next morning after breakfast we made our way from camp to the summit of Silver Peak at 539m. From camp H38 it took us just under 90min to get to the socked in rime ice covered summit. We were hoping for good views and there was none of that. Although it is only 539m above sea level, it is 362m above Georgian Bay, so it can make for some bad weather. We left the summit and made it back to camp in just over a hour. We loaded our packs and hit the snowy trail following our footsteps we had left the day before. We made it halfway along Killarney Ridge and at around 4pm we arrived at H49 on Little Superior Lake, we decided to call it camp for the night. We set up the tarp, laid out the sleeping bags and made our delicious dinners. Not log after the sun set we decided to climb into the soon to be warm sleeping bags and as usual Ryan was snoring before I was even in my sleeping bag! I brought along my little ipod nano incase I needed some distraction during the 15 hours without daylight. I listened to cbc radio one, all the while I could hear and feel what we had encountered the night before, mice. No way not again I thought, how could this be? Never have I encountered mice situations like this before! I kept turning the volume of the ipod up hoping to drown out the sound (and feel) of the little critters crawling around all over us. At around 730pm and after a solid 60min sleep Ryan awoke to the pleasant sound (or feel) of the little buggers in all of our gear. We tossed out a idea... We were only 8km from the car and it was only 730pm... Hmmm. We could potentially be to the car for 10-1015pm. We decided to break camp quickly and hike out to the car.

The Section of trail separating us from our car was one of the more technical sections on the La Cloche and we were going to try and hike it not only at night, but in winter with very slick conditions. We enjoyed the hike along the ridge, stopping to soak up some of the views of the big dark sky above us. We made it to the crack faster then anticipated and would soon be on easier terrain. We descended down off the ridge and through the crack unscathed and really enjoying the hike we just did. We marched the last 4km to the car and set up a rodent free camp in the confines of a metal car. We had a solid yet cool sleep in the motor vehicle and just after 6am awoke and made our way slowly back to civilization. It was very refreshing to get out in the wilderness for a few days and especially as we are approaching the holiday season. For me it makes me feel not only recharged but more appreciative of the friends and family close to me.

Here are a few pics from the trip. Enjoy.

Raid The Hammer 2012

This year was my second year attending the Raid the Hammer and it was a blast! This years course was much flatter then last year and it seemed to me that the course layout was more diverse. It is always fun getting bused out to a location and racing back to the finish line, point to point style. I was teamed up with two fit lads, Jack Van Dorp and Ryan Atkins. I have raced and trained with Ryan a fare amount and although I had never teamed up with Jack I was sure we would be a contender in the front of the race. 

The racers were loaded onto busses and transported out to Mount Nemo where we would be starting the roughly 27km journey back to the finish line. We Started around 9:15am and the 3 of us went right to the front of the group trying to stay in front of any bottlenecking that may occur at the first few checkpoints. Every team had in their own minds the order that they wanted to hit the first few checkpoints and it is always neat to see what other racers plan for their route. We found the first few points with ease and soon after that we split up to enter the matrix section of the course. There was one checkpoint for each team member to get and I took checkpoint "C" in Nemo north. I found that point easily and after punching my card I started to put the card back into my map bag while I was running back to the checkpoint where I will meet up with Ryan and Jack. 

I was not paying as much attention to the footing and the terrain that I was negotiating as I should have because I was fiddling with my punchcard. Then, I tripped in a fence that was flat on the ground and I went down very hard. I didn't even know what happened. All of a sudden I was down on the ground in a pile of rocks with a severe lump in my quad. It was about the size of a grapefruit cut in half and hurt like hell. At first I thought it was my kneecap, but I quickly ruled that out. I laid there for about 30secs trying to regather myself and I figured it must of just been a bad charley horse. I applied direct pressure and tried to get the muscle to relax... There I was laying in a pile of rocks, less then 20mins into the race and I was already hurt. I got up and hobbled on my good leg for a few minutes slowly introducing weight and some speed to the painful leg, I needed to stop being such a wimp and get on with it. 

I had a brief minute where you start talking to yourself and try to get motivated. It was coincidentally Remembrance Day and I had to think about all of the hard times that our Veterans must of endured while at war. I imagined that I was now running with a serious wound and that I was in battle. It sounds pretty cooky, I know but it really put the situation into perspective. Most of us have no idea what it was like to be part of a world that was at war. The suffering that our grandparents had lived through is incomprehensible for our generation and here I was playing running in the woods with a leg that sort of hurt and it got me thinking about how bad it must of been to be at war. In the end the right quad wasn't that bad. Today (monday) I went to work and yes it still hurt a bit but it was really fine. Back in the forest and back to my leg..., I had not stepped in a grenade or I had not been shot and I was by no means running for my life. What I did have was my remembrance day moment, it was far from silent but to me it was a moment that gave me a shiver down my spine. I would like to say that I am very grateful  for how good of a lifestyle that we have today, but the truth is that it is hard to be grateful when we only have a 1min of silence once a year to remember our Veterans and all that they suffered for us. It was moments like this that really get to me. 

Okay so I am way off track.... I ended up making my way to the checkpoint where I met Ryan and Jack waiting for me. Little did they know all that had just gone down, in real life and in my head. We hit the next few checkpoints bang on and hit the road section with only one team ahead of us, Canyonerro. We hunted them on the road section and with Jack setting a blazing pace we managed to catch them as we entered into the forest. We hit the next couple checkpoints with them and made our way onto the bruce trail. We were on the bruce trail for a few km's before entering the next section with  a bunch of scattered checkpoints. We were being chased by some very good teams and we needed to minimize our navigational errors, because we were making a few. Ryan, Jack and I are all fast runners and not strong Navigators. We would loose time every checkpoint and have to make it up by running faster to the next one. We were all running very well together and managed to enter the last few road sections as the leaders of the race. We held onto our meagre lead all the way to the finish.

I know all 3 of us had a great time and I look forward to racing with these guys again. What I took from the event was something unusual. Sure there is the obvious, a great event with a amazing course. Everything from the race organizers to the race volunteers, it was top notch. What I took from the event was what I had mentioned above. That moment running through the forest with a sore leg where I was able to imagine being someone who we are now remembering.

Thank You Veterans!

Western Uplands Trail Algonquin Park Trip Report with Photos

Last weekend I hiked the Western Uplands trail in Algonquin Park. I hiked it in a counterclockwise direction completing the blue, yellow and red trails. I had my dog Rambo with me and we were destined to have some serious solitude. The weather was sunny on Friday, cloudy/ rainy Sat and Sunday. We left the car at the Hwy 60 parking lot at exactly noon and we headed to Clara lake 23km away. We passed two backpackers leaving the parking lot and then shortly after that a family of four headed for Maggie lake. We made good time arriving at Clara at 5:15pm. We had not seen anyone in 4 hours and we had the entire lake to ourselves. It was a gorgeous evening and the colors were in full swing. We made camp, ate dinner and took some photos before heading to bed around 7:45pm. There were tons of strange noises that night... I think the "whacking" we heard in the forest was a Buck deer or a bull moose hitting it's antlers against a tree...? The massive splashes we heard sounded like something large jumping in the water right outside the tent. I never could figure out what that one was.

We awoke around 7am to grey skies. We had a quick breakfast, packed up camp, took some morning photos and hit the trail for 8:30am. Ahead of us we had a 31.2km day on trails that I have never previously been on. The northern part of trail was slightly overgrown and was made worse by the tall wet brush I was walking through. The trail also had allot of leaves on it it and that made it harder to follow. There were a couple of super neat beaver dams that you have to ford en route to Saturday's night camp on Rainbow lake. We made it to camp at 3:20pm and with a light rain set up the tent, had dinner and got ready for bed. The campsite on the point was the best of the three site options on Rainbow lake and once again we had the place to ourselves. With it raining out I contemplated carrying on to a open site farther down the trail or even to the car (would of made for a 50+km day). I decided that since I already had the tent up that it was probably best to just get a goods night sleep and a early start tomorrow morning. We hit the hay around 6pm and woke up 2hrs later once everything was now pitch black outside. It was a super quiet night with the only sounds being the rain on the tent and the wind in the trees.

I woke up 3 minutes before the alarm sounded at 6:12am to a dark foggy morning. It was cold and damp. After a bowl of oats and a cup of coffee I packed up the gear and tent and set off at 7:20am on the 19.4km distance to the car. We got soaked. The trail was wet with all the foliage we touched getting us wetter and wetter. Luckily there we were on our way out and there was warm dry clothes in the car waiting for me. We had a very quiet peaceful walk out. The foggy morning mixed with the beutiful fall colors made it surreal! We hit the car and the busy parking lot at 11:15am. I had no idea where all the people that were parked were at? We seen some people also just coming out from Maple Leaf lake and a few other hikers but that was all. It was one of the best weekends for fall colors and one of the best fall seasons in years and I seen only a small handful of people out there and most were close the the parking lot. Before I started the hike I was sure that it was going to be a busy trail and I was very wrong.

The western uplands trail was all in all a great weekend. I have wanted to do it for some time and I wouldn't of changed anything. Below are a few photos I have picked out of the many images I took. If you want more info on the trail or the gear I used please feel free to contact me!