March 3rd: Day 4
I tossed and turned for ½ hour around 6:00 am. Crap! Nature was calling again….darn it! I did not want to get out of my sleeping bag knowing I had to slide thru the snow doorway into even colder temps. I found my headlamp and camp booties, then climbed through the snow doorway. It had snowed during the night again. I returned to my still warm sleeping bag. Mr. Jake was still sleeping. I fell back to sleep again. I tossed and turned a few times with the daylight lightening the igloo. About 7:30 am we got a wake-up call from Derek. He came in to say good morning and take a few pictures of us ... I must say that sleeping in the igloo was my best sleep so far. By 8:00 am, Jake and I were back in the warm tent. We got some warm drinks in us and Jake made breakfast of his famous eggs and bagels.
Fresh snow on the igloo the next morning.
Sorry Markus…had to!
This was going to be a relaxing day. Jake was leaving today. He had a commitment on Sunday. We were joking with him that as long as he left his woodstove, he could go. By 11:00 am, I went and got some water and came back to gather some firewood. It was very nice out, with breaking snow squalls and the sun in-between. I still wanted to explore some more, but the boys wanted to play cards and relax. I couldn’t! I just could not sit still that long. I politely said "Sorry to be a party pooper, but I‘m going for a walk about". I went for a walk going north down Whitefish Lake to look at the cliffs and such. I enjoyed the tranquility. I was gone over two hours. I decided to return to camp by walking down the Railway Bike Trail the way we came in. I did not know what time Jake was leaving and I would meet him on his way out should he leave. When I got back to camp, the boys were still playing cards! I could heart the guys laughing 100 feet away for crying-out-loud. They were still playing Wizard at 1:30 pm.
The boys playing wizard.
Jake had time, leaving by 3:00 pm, it would give him 3 hours of daylight. I sat and laughed watching them finish their game. I found my Nalgene bottle of gorp almost gone! After Markus won again, we all went outside about 3:30 pm to get some pictures taken by the igloo.
Last group shot before Jake left.
We took some group pictures and then we had Jake try to get on top of the igloo. He fell through the door tunnel. It was funny, as he got a snowshoe stuck inside. He got on top and then Derek got on. I could not believe the weight the igloo was holding. I then got on top with no snowshoes on! Markus set his camera on a timer and we had him get on top as well. We pulled him up and got situated before the timer went off. We had over 700 pounds on top!
Jake getting a hand.
Gravity took Jake for a ride.
Derek and Jake on top of the Igloo. Markus has a picture of all of us on it!
Jake and Derek were switching snowshoes trying out the different styles before Jake left. We walked towards an old building to check it out. Derek was running thru the deep snow and I tried to tackle him a few times but failed. We had a blast. The old building turned out to be an old outhouse that has not been used in a very long time…. and yes, I looked down the hole!
An old outhouse near our camp….if we only knew sooner!
It was going on 4:30 pm and Jake finally left us after they switched snowshoes back. I was kind of sad to see Jake leave. He’s a great guy and hope to trip with him again. The three of us went back to camp and gathered some more wood for the night. I felt bad as I broke the handle on Derek grandfather’s hatchet…sorry dude! We got some water on the stove for supper, but in the mean-time, Markus went out to the lake with his camera and tripod hoping to get some night shots of the moon. The clouds took over the sky tonight. Derek and I went out to the lake also to throw his Frisbee around until we ran out of gas. It was fun running around on the lake trying to make the catches. Derek had to run more than I. I had a terrible throw…or did I? Ha, ha……It wore him out!
With no moon shots to take, we went back to the tent to heat up supper. It was Markus’s turn for our last supper. He brought stew that was frozen in 1 liter water bottles. By putting them in the pot of hot water on the wood stove we would eat like 2 hours later. It took a long time to heat, but was worth the wait. Thanks Joan for making it for us! We turned in early, about 10:00 pm.