March 2019 – Easy Wave Studio

After gang of four had the kickoff camping in the wildness of Ganaraska at temperature -28c, they decided have another winter camping to enhance bond of the group. They set up the date to be March 2nd and destination Algonquin Western Uplands.

When the date draw near, they started panning details. First, the weather, which could not be planned but, it could make or break the trip. It was forecasted for 10cm of snow with strong wind on March 2nd. That could create hazards on the road and they were hesitated to go if the weatherman was right. But the weatherman never take things seriously. It changed mind and only put 3cm snow and mild wind on that day, and left Sunday free of snow. So, the trip was a go as originally planned. Other things fellow through quickly as they were all seasoned outdoorers. Except one thing, Lao Ma lives in Mississauga and does not drive. How to get carpool place in the early morning is a problem. Wei figured it out that Ma could take subway to downtown and Wei pick him up from subway station. Problem solved! On Thursday, everything was decided and ready. Lao Ma sent out message saying “See you all tomorrow!” – but tomorrow was only Friday. He just couldn’t wait for another day.

Finally, on Saturday, March 2nd, everyone woke up early and greeted each other around 5:00am on WeChat. And greeted each other again at parking lot at 7:30am. The gang of four officially gathered together again!

They stopped once at West Gate for getting permission then, drove to trail head, 3 km from the gate. We put backpacks on, crossed a snow band 1 meter high, we were on trail. Few hundred meters from trailhead, there was folk which marked the ending of day hike and beginning of backpacking.

It was snowing, snow flares floating silently in the air, looking for a perfect landing spot. Well, everywhere was perfect. With snow base more than 75 cm, everywhere was white and untouched, except the trail. One inch off the trail one might step into waist-deep snow and hard to get out. The trail got less and less snowshoe prints as they went on. And too many mis foot into deep snow now, they decided put snowshoes on. That made the walking more stable.

They met one single person walked out from the trail but no body walked in. At the first lake (Guskewau Lake) of the trail, they snapped a few photos.

_DSC0697-1 Wei wandered away, others gave her some privacy and had lunch near the stream. After lunch break, Wei did not come back, and I went looking for her. She was sitting on a bench at a campsite, enjoying the view and lunch. No wonder why she did not come back to the bush. On my way back to the rest of the group, I noticed that no footprint on main trail. All footprints went to the side trail that led to camping sites.

They went on to the side trail and realized that that’s the furthest they could go. Footprints ended soon after few campsites. The rules said, in winter, backpackers can’t camp on campsite. So they went further in deep snow searching for flat surface for setting camp. Finally, they settled location. With snowshoes and body weight as tool, they stepped back and forth to make snow platform for tents. Now tents were set, next thing to do was collecting dead wood for campfire.

Everyone went to different directions, searching for wood. It wasn’t easy to find dead standing trees. Some dead trees were too big to cut with portable saws. Some were buried in deep snow. Most standing trees looked lifeless, but they were not dead – in spring they would come to life gloriously. Finally, hey found enough dead trees but move then to campsite still difficult – they were hundreds meters away. Using rope to pull, or carrying on shoulder, they moved all log and cut them into manageable size.

It wasn’t easy to make a fire pit in deep snow either. Using snowshoe as shovel, I dug out loosen snow as deep as possible. Then they laid down layers of logs to separate ice and fire. With the help of fire starter, and a pile of dead trigs, fire was lit and burning happily, while ice was melting and crying.

They walked one hour and 40 minutes on trail but spent more than two hours preparing wood and another hour to make fire stabilized. Now they could make dinner on fire, and chat about plans in the future.

_DSC0707 It was much warmer this time, they sit around the fire and watching the fire pit sunk down gradually. “It would be nice if we brought a pig to roast on the fire.” they thought. “Roasting a beauty leg is good enough.” I said, while Wei put her legs near the fire.

Before they went into tents, Lao Ma decided keep the fire burning all night. So they put all wood onto the fire including logs they sat on.

Next morning, I could see a little light behind the hill. I carried my camera gear and put on snowshoes wandering around the lake. The snow was deep, even with snowshoes, I could still sunk to keens. When sunlight hit the frozen ice and snow on the lake, ice was coated with a light golden hue. A few young pines lifted heads from deep snow, happly suck the warmth from the sunbeam. The scenery made me feel warmth and tranquility.

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_DSC0718-1 Back to the campsite, the fire was lit again. Giving the fact that the fire pit had sunk 80cm below icy snow surface, they just sit around the ice ring and dangling their legs into the fire pit.

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Finally, it was the time to pack up and go home. They walked about an hour back to trailhead.

_DSC0735-1 Shwan sighed, “we just walked out from winter wonderland.” Everyone realized that the second meet up of the gang of four was about to end, and how wonderful that they enjoyed outings in such prestiges natural beauty and peace. They made more photos at the trailhead as a token to remember this winter wonderland.