Trip to Whitefish Lake, Feb.28-Mar.4/07

It snowed lightly again during the night. Markus was up at 5 am, lit the stove and then went back to sleep. I slept great. We set an alarm to wake us up by 6:00 am. We all started to pack stuff away. Derek made breakfast fajitas with eggs. I had like five myself. I am hungry as a bear when I wake up in the morning. I was all fueled-up to leave. A quick clean-up of dishes and I removed all the gear out of the tent. The stove was removed and ashes dumped and mixed with snow to make sure all the embers were out. By 8:00 am we had the tent down. We had some difficulty with frozen ice and snow on the bottom flaps. It did not take long at all to load our sleds.

Derek ready to leave camp.

Mr. Derek.

At 8:30 am we were on the move, back on the Old Railway Bike Trail to the Pog Lake campground. I led for a while and we took a few quick breaks.

Markus drafting me on the trail.

A view down low of our path to come.

One of our last stops for a rest.

We saw some other tracks lead off to the south end of Whitefish Lake Island. We weren't sure if an Island is a smart choice in the winter. The trail was well packed and Jake had packed any fresh now down for us. The weather was the same as most of the days, with windy snow squalls on and off and temperatures around -8°c. We entered Pog Lake camp ground within 2 hours from leaving camp. We followed the main road through the campground going back, different from the way we'd come in. We saw where Jake had stopped and turned around on the road. We stopped also and thought about it. Derek continued on and Markus and I just waited a few minutes to decide to follow Derek or to go back the way we came through before. Well, Derek was correct! We were only perhaps 900 meters from the parking lot! Markus and I followed a trail to Highway 60. I left Markus and my gear, to get my van. I walked down Highway 60 about 500 meters to see Derek packing his car. When I got to my van, I noticed all the snow we'd got while camping was shovelled away for us. Thanks Derek! He said he did not do it, must have been Jake. What a great guy. Thanks dude. We both drove back to Markus and we loaded my van. It was 11:00 am now and another farewell to Derek. Thanks for making the winter trip a huge success.

As Markus and I passed the west Algonquin Park sign, Markus said "See you soon." I laughed as we drove home. Special thanks again to Markus, Jake R and Derek for letting me join the winter camping crew. Great time I had guys.