Overnight trip near home

[kinguq]

Winter seems to be ending early this year, so I decided to squeeze in an overnight trip before it’s over. Went into Widdifield Provincial Park, which appears to be one of many parks established in 2003. Like the others, it has no office, no facilities, no fees and there is virtually no information available about it. Almost no one seems to go there, despite it being so close to town. It is about a 20 min drive from my house in North Bay, which makes it rather convenient.




I started off towing a pulk and a light backpack. I soon realized that the conditions were incredibly tough for snowshoeing. The recent warm sunny days and cold nights had created a thick sun crust on the snow, which was strong but not strong enough to bear my weight. As a result I went through with every step, and the shoes would get caught under the crust, making every step an ordeal.




I realized there was no way I was going to be able to tow the sled through this, so decided I would do it in relays, making a trail and then coming back for the sled. It was all I could do to walk through this stuff unburdened.




It took me an 1.5 hours just to go about 500 m, all uphill, and I soon realized there was no way I was going to make it to my original objective of Redbridge Lake. I decided to camp at a swamp where the creek from the lake flows off the escarpment, thus avoiding the final very steep climb up to the lake.




Even if I hadn’t been as tired as I was, I don’t think I could have heaved the sled up to the lake under these conditions. So I packed down a pad and proceeded to collect some firewood. There was a very large downed cedar tree where I camped, and its branches proved to be a more than ample supply of wood for my small stove. Burned well and made a very pleasant snapping sound.





I then stumped over to the stream and managed to chop a nice waterhole, which spared me the chore of melting snow.



After these chores were done, I found my tent pad had sintered up nicely, surprising given the warm temperatures. So I set about unpacking and setting up.



My stove looks rather odd and is made from a 7” stovepipe T-joint. The opening at the top serves as a cookhole and is covered with a pot lid when not in use. It is a bit small but is easy on wood and adequate for heating my tent. I think I will make a new one for next year however.



The tent was set up in short order.



The chimney goes out through the peak. The chimney is double-walled in this section, with the outer part aluminum, so it doesn’t get hot and burn the fabric.



Here is the stove with a kettle in the cookhole. The legs are made from an old folding chair.



Here is a night shot of the tent, taken with flash. It was a beautiful night with incredible stars. No light pollution here.

Next morning dawned clear and surprisingly cold, maybe -15 or so. I packed a lunch and the ice auger and hiked up the very steep creek to Redbridge Lake. Due to the cold night the crust was barely strong enough to support me in some places.



Still I would fall through occasionally, and once through it was difficult to get back on top again.



The lake was windy and cold at the south end, so I walked to the north end to try the fishing.



Here is one of several lunker perch I hauled out of the lake, then released. I think this was about the biggest one. I think there are brookies in these lakes, but not for me today.
I soon grew bored with hooking perch, and hiked around the lake. Lots of otter tracks in the area.





Really a lovely day.

By the time I started back to camp, in early afternoon, I was falling through the crust with every step, which made the going tough. Fortunately it was all downhill.
Got back to camp, had a coffee, then started packing up.



The stove packs into a small package but it would be nice if I could put the pipe inside the stove body. Next design...

The tent is also reasonably compact.





All packed and ready to go. I made this pulk from plywood with retired skis as runners. It is a bit small for this usage however so I think I will make a toboggan for next year.



Mainly deciduous forest here. This is a gigantic yellow birch, for Hoop.



The trip back to the car was much easier over the broken trail. In fact I had to walk behind the sled using the stern rope to slow it down for much of the way. What a difference from the trip in!

So that was my trip. As usual I learned some things I hadn’t thought of before. For example black boots absorb solar heat, causing them to melt snow and get wet. My next pair will be white. Also, there are some snow conditions, like these, that are just impossible for a solo traveller to make any headway. Maybe with bigger snowshoes, but even then I think they would break through periodically and be that much more difficult to extricate. Skis would have been hopeless.

It is also nice to live in a place where such solitude can be found so close to home.

Happy Trails,
Kinguq.

[Oldand Fat]

Great report. You clearly show how hard it is to be in the bush this time of year, even fully equipped. Nice to see you kept the water hole smaller then your head.
Stay safe
OAF

[lost_patrol]

Sounds like you ran into the same conditions as I did, not too many kilometres south of you.  Travel conditions were brutal.  As with yourself, I found myself having to drop the load, walk ahead and pack a trail, then go back for the gear.  At 4:00 p.m., I was only halfway to where I wanted to camp, so I hauled my gear back out to the road and headed for my in-laws' cottage.  First time in my life I've ever had to abort a camping weekend.

Wasn't too bad.  In spite of being terminally bored with most spectator sports, I spent the evening watching the Olympics on TV, drinking tea and eating popcorn.  Could have been much worse.  And the next day, I daytripped on the same trail, got it packed so next weekend I can go back with a hope of actually getting to where I want to go.

Widdifield has a provincial park?  I'm starting to think that it must have been a long time ago that I lived in North Bay.

FWIW, I would have eaten that perch.  They're delicious.  And if you're thinking about a different stove, go for an eight inch T.  After seeing your seven inch stove, I made an eight incher for myself.  Won't last long because I had to use a galvanized T.  But at least I got to test the concept, and it works.

The next couple of weekends should be golden.  Then it's the end of the bug-free camping season, and I'll be back on the bike.

Cheers

[fisherman]

Nice trip report Kinguq!
Thats a great looking setup youve got. Iam eternally envious of you hottenters
I agree too with lostpatrol regarding the perch. So tasty.
Thanks for sharing.

[cousin Pete]

Hello Kinguq:  Nice pics and write up!  Nice set up as well.  Neat stove! 

Take care,
Cousin Pete

[Mike]

Great  report and pics. I am fascinated about your stove and the ingenuity used to create it. How long was the fire lasting? Remember a hard day in the winter woods is better than a good day in the office or something like that :-).

[kinguq]

Thanks for the comments.

Regarding the park, there appear to have been a number of PP's created in 2003. There is almost no information available about them and they do not appear on topo maps. Widdifield Forest is close to North Bay, as is Jocko River, a waterway park that no one appears to paddle. https://ozone.scholarsportal.info/bitstream/1873/5709/1/10315082.pdf

Regarding the stove, it works really well. I would say it is a bit small, making it "fussy" with some kinds of wood, in that it requires more attention than a larger stove. With the cedar and mixed hardwood available here, it worked really well, but it worked less well with the jack pine available on my last trip, which seemed to have less life in it. The fire lasts no more than about half an hour, although you can blow it back into life after an hour or so. It is a one pot stove, but that is what I am used to so I don't miss the extra cooking surface. I was thinking of making my next stove out of a large (ca 20 L) stockpot or a turkey roaster, but a stove similar to this but made with 8" pipe would also be good.

Winter definitely over here, expecting 5 to 8 degree highs all week.

Kinguq.

[HOOP]

Hi Kinguq,

Thanks for the tree photo dedication!

RE conditions with snowshoes and the tough going:  

Due to the cold night the crust was barely strong enough to support me in some places...

Still I would fall through occasionally, and once through it was difficult to get back on top again...

By the time I started back to camp, in early afternoon, I was falling through the crust with every step, which made the going tough....

Also, there are some snow conditions, like these, that are just impossible for a solo traveller to make any headway. Maybe with bigger snowshoes, but even then I think they would break through periodically and be that much more difficult to extricate. Skis would have been hopeless.....

I can relate to those brutal crust conditions and melting snow.   The snow can get airy in layers under the crust, depending on the conditions, so when you break through, you punch down through airy, non-bouyant snow layers.  

From the photo of your snowshoe track and the snowshoe photo, it looks like your shoes were too small for the snow depth.  Your stride is long enough to cause a clear separation of the shoe depression, which does not form a float for the sled.  Small prints cause  troubles because the sled dips then hits a post hole edge.   When solo hauling, the optimum float maker is a very wide teardrop pattern traditional shoe 16 inches wide, with that yin-yang type of overlap.  Unfortunately in these brutal crusted and thawed conditions, the tradtionals can get damaged, or they slip too much on the crust.    Synthetics with crampons and water proof decks are the ticket.

I think you would  have had a better go with big honking synthetics - the biggest size they sell.  In GV that's their Wide Trail, which is 12x42, and in Faber, 10 x 36.   Even these are too narrow for optimum sled float making, but they will float you much better, and make a flatter, less post-holed pattern for the sled.   They won't get caught up in the crust on the lift up any more than a little snowshoe, and in fact less, since they don't sink as much, and the bigger blunter toe gets caught less.   Once your trail is packed, your little snowshoes were fine.  But for trail breaking in any sort of deep snow, fresh dry or wet crusted, big snowshoes are the only way to proceed without sinking.

Your tactic for packing the trail first, then returning to haul the sled, is unfortunately  often required for solo trekking, in both deep dry snow and late wet crusted snow.   So don't feel bad about your progress distance - its often the way it goes.  

Very long and wide back country skis with skins might actually work.   The skins would provide the grip, but it would be a walking motion, no glide if those tips dig below the crust.  

I had a week-long solo hot tent trip planned this week up north, with snowmobile assist to get deep inside to start.  I think I just cancelled it.  We have had a week of temps of +5 to 10C, not very cold at night, and continued high temps and rain in the forecast.   I can't see hot tenting this week which would be a sauna, on a pad of sinking slush.  Maybe I will cold tent it closer to home, although camping in slush is not appealing.   I would have to destroy some spruce trees for a huge thick bough bed to stay off the slush, which I don't want to do.   Maybe this dispointing "winter" is done here.    We had barely 2 months.

[kinguq]

Thanks for the pointers. My snowshoes are not that small, at least not the tiny track ones you see at the box stores. They are 23 x 74 cm. But more flotation would of course have been better. I am thinking of a new pair for next year.

The separated gait was just in that particular spot, I don't normally walk like that. I did find that if you want to have any chance of getting up on top of the crust, you have to take a big step to get away from the hole you have made. Also I was coming back along the same track to get the sled, so I would make a point of tracking the snow between my previous steps. The sled actually would float on top of the crust, but that was no advantage. Maybe I should have tried pushing it ahead of me!

As you noted, the snow under the crust was "rotten" and provided no flotation at all. Actually I was amazed how much snow was out there as I thought this was a low snow year.

Clearly difficult travel conditions, but I guess one must just adapt. I wonder if people would travel at night under such conditions, as we often did in the North?

If I were you, I would take my week and camp in an area with lots of lakes, and take advantage of the fine klister skiing conditions. You could probably find bare ground to camp on.

Kinguq.