February 28th: Day 1
The group: Markus, Derek (Dogbyte), Jake R and myself.
Wednesday morning, before Markus and I entered the park, we stopped at the Wolf Den Bunkhouse 'n Cabins just a few kilometers from the West gate. I wanted to check it out. We entered the main meeting building. Ben came to greet us. I plan to make an effort to take the family to Ben's place this coming canoe season or even for a winter trip. I love the bunkhouse & cabins with their very pleasant surroundings.
Markus and I met Jake at the West Gate around 9:00 am. Derek entered the park at the East Gate. He called the West Gate and we arranged to meet him at Pog Lake.
After we'd paid for our permits, we met and unloaded at the locked gate to Pog Lake Campground. By 10:30 am, we were all loaded and geared up to pull our sleds to the Rock/Pen Lake area.
We made our way through the campground to the Old Railway Bike Trail. We stopped a few times to rest and have some snacks. We had to climb over 3 blow-downs along the way. We would unhook our sleds and have 2 guys on each side of the tree to lift the sleds over. Everyone agreed that my sled was the heaviest! I did over pack. I packed a few extras that never got used. I'll bring less next time…….maybe!
Views along the way and Markus checking out how soft the snow was!
This was the first time for me to use snowshoes and pull a sled. I felt comfortable making the trek. I just have to learn to lift my snowshoes higher in deep snow. I started off wearing a winter coat, only to take it off along with my hat to keep me cool. I was only wearing a polyester long sleeve shirt and my sweet wool lumber pants (got teased). The temperature was around –12°C, sunny with little wind. We all took turns leading and breaking trails. At the last leg, I felt like giving Markus an anchor to slow him down! He was on the move. 2 ˝ hours from the start we were at Whitefish McRae Lumber Mill clearing. This area had benn a large booming sawmill in the years 1957 to 1979. We stopped at the poster-sign to discuss where we might camp.
At the Whitefish lumber mill clearing.
It was looking at this point that we decided the Rock/Pen area was way to ambitious a distance to go to camp. It was around 3:00 pm and we needed an hour or two to set up camp. We pushed on until we came across a lumber road with a truck roaring by us. The road was cleared and none of us were ready to pull sleds on the gravel. We decided to go back to the lumber camp clearing and look for a spot near Whitefish Lake.
There was an inviting area with tall evergreens. This area looked great for wind protection. We pushed through the trees to find another clearing which looked like it had been an old road that led to Whitefish Lake. The snow was deep here and I fell a few times trying to break trail. I was getting tired, so Derek took over the lead. We went as far as we could before the trees were too thick to continue.
The park rule for winter camping is to not set-up on summer campsites and to be far from trails and roads. You could almost see the lake from there. It was the perfect area for our tent, surrounded by pine trees and a man made berm on one side. The beam was great for wind protection and led the way to the lake. This would be our campsite for four nights. It was about 4 pm and the temperature was dropping. This would be the first time setting up Mark’s tent for camping. We took awhile to get a system going to erect it. In this area, the snow wasn't thick enough for snow pegs and we had to split some wood to pound into the frozen ground. We used all the trees around the tent to tie it up. The tent was up before dark.
Our base-camp, looking towards Whitefish Lake.
We gathered some wood to cut up in a nice pile for the night. Jake set up his wood-stove and got a fire going in no time. Derek found a dead, downed pine-tree to cut boughs for the floor. It's against park regulations to cut from live trees. I brought two cots for Markus and myself. The cots turned out to be great with a foam mat to keep the cold air off your back. Derek and Jake were sleeping on mats.
Derek and I went to the lake to get water. I brought a nice big aluminum pot that was handy for getting water. The ice was about 10" thick. Derek chopped a large hole with Jake’s ice spud down about 4" and used an ice screw to make a few holes through the rest of the thickness. The water would fill up the larger hole and make less work chopping thru the ice to get water. We should have marked the hole with an old tree branch as snow covered both our tracks and the hole, making it difficult to find the next morning.
Derek taking care of our watering hole.
Views of wind-blown snow on Whitefish Lake.
Jake cooked up his goulash with egg noodles for supper. I had two large helpings. Great stuff dude! By 10:00 pm we were all ready for bed. It had been a long day for all of us. I know Markus and I had been up at 4:00 am that morning. We had the cots along two sides of the tent. Jake and Derek had to make room beside Mark and I, after we got out of the way. Derek slept by the wood stove. He was getting up every few hours stoking the stove. I was getting hot and cold in the tent with changing temps throughout the night.