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Next morning we had the traditional high fat breakfast and got all packed
up; Joe arrived with 2 Young
Canada Works staff, Mark Vennari & Travis Haliday, to help us up the trail.
He assessed our boys & their load and quickly sent Mark & Travis back to
pick up larger packs. Then, all loaded, we took off to the trial head parking lot. |
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Once the bikes were unloaded and packs strapped on we hopped on the bike
and headed up the trail. My high center of gravity caused me to end up turtled on my back after
trying to mount the bike. |
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We made great time on the 1st 6km. On dismount at the end a small
backpack carrying a can of paint popped open when tossed to the ground. Word spread fast
to gently lower the pack when taking a break. |
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The hike continued for another 6km of gently inclines. The sun got quite
hot (ranked as 1 of the hottest we would see for the season). We finally reached a large
fallen log that marked the split in the trail and started the steep switch back ascent
(the bulk of the almost 1km elevation gain) |
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We crossed a fresh water stream a couple of times and cooled ourselves in
them and loaded up our canteens. The trail kept alternating between extreme and easy zigs
and zags until the final one up to the lookout. Joe could see the strain on the group now
with the high heat and heavy loads. He signaled his 2 assistants to who were still holding
their own quite well to blaze ahead, drop their packs at the lookout and come back to
relieve the boys. They agreed this was a good plan and hurried off. |
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The last zig and zap seemed extra
arduous. I made sure my pack was extra
heavy to keep me sensitive to what the boy were experiencing. Need the end I was only able
to take 6in. steps up the steep slope. Ranger Joe spelled me off on the 100-lb. pack
and seemed quite un-phased by the endurance test. |
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Finally Joe's 2 assistance Mark & Travis met the leads of our group.
They loaded off the tired scouts and soon Ranger Joe was meeting us at the rear to off
load our packs. It was heaven to finally reach the top and not be carrying a pack. |
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The trip in the heat kept us from getting the full impact of the beauty of all the peaks
visible from the lookout. We rested a bit and worked out sleeping arrangements and got
dinner started. Ranger Joe instructed us on how to use the radio to keep in touch and
arranged a call in time at 1:00pm Friday. |
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Joe had to be back down with his 2 assistant as they had other work commitments the next
morning. Well they headed back at about 9:30pm. We assumed they'd be walking all night. |
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Up early again the boys got to start painting the finish coat on the 2nd
floor. They team below was wrapping the base with chicken wire over
the primed
wood and reapplying the tin. They cistern didn't seam to capture water as the eaves
troughs were needing adjustment. Most of the rock and sand was washed out from under that corner.
The corner at other end was graded too high so a team dug out the rocks and sand and
used it to fill the other corner. We wanted to make it difficult for short porcupines to
get at walls above the tin. |
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For R&R the boys took plastic
garbage bags and tried luge down the
large long snow patches. It didn't take much of a slope to really build up some speed. One
of the leaders gave it an attempt and miscalculated where he wanted to stop. After
some minor 1st Aid he was back at easier things like working on the Lookout. |
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Called in with Joe on the radio, asked it there was any
likelihood of
getting more paint and chicken wire, plus a full sheet of tin to cover the Door. He didn't
thing it was likely to round up troops into for tomorrow, but would try. Who wouldn't want
to take a Friday night and hike up a steep mountain with paint and chicken wire. Its the
perfect date! |
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Spent the rest of the work day painting trim standard Parks Canada green.
Bugs got a bit out of control and we resorted to some bee keeping tricks. |
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About 4:30 am we heard voices outside, but
chalked it up to the boy
upstairs with the windows open talking. Finally at 6:00 am I hopped out of bed hearing
bacon frying outside. This doesn't sound like our boys. Sure enough Joe left after work
got those volunteers (Jenny Kingsley and Adam Mills) with the materials and headed up the
trail around midnight. |
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He made a mean breakfast of bacon and eggs for our whole crew. The teams
were keen on showing Joe all that had been done. Joe and his colleges were impressed and
thanked everyone for their efforts. We still were looking at getting a few more tasks done
before we left. Joe and team needed to get back for work assignment and after some group
shots left. |
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We put final touches on the exterior, the new aluminum sheet to cover the
door, a new tin roof on the outhouse, with some re-constructive work on the frame
and seat. A quick tidy inside and we headed out. |
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We got to our bikes in 1/2 the time it took us getting up. Once on the
bikes we blazed out (except for a flat). The weather was cool with a bit of mist, a
big switch from the trip up. |
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We stopped at the Natural Bridge with all the tour busses, it was
impressing to see all that water flushing down and though this hole in the rock. Took a
quick trip into Field and dropped some stuff off at Joes humble abode. We missed Joe who
was madly getting together thankyou packages for the boys. Called him later, we found out
we even missed pop-cycles, but he indicated he'd mail the stuff up, except for the
pop-cycles. |