Summer/Fall 2008
Family Camp at Williams Lake in Turtle Mountain Provincial Park. August 8, 9 and 10
Six members came out for a great weekend of camping, canoeing, hiking, cycling and swimming. Participants were Norma, Grace, Val, Shannon, Di and Eldon. Did all of you guys notice the square peg. Yup good old Eldon down there camping with a all these lovely women. What a weekend.
Cheers,
Eldon
Riding Mountain National Park Central Trail Overnight Cycling Trip.
Do to the rather wet conditions of late I decided not to cycle from the west end of the park. We, Arthur, Di, Fred, Bert, Judy and I, stayed at Lake Audy on Friday evening. We agreed to a 9:30 am departure for the next morning. Come Saturday morning, at 11:30, we decided we would leave from The North end of Lake Audy instead of from the Bison enclosure. It is a 30 km trip, into Gunn Lake, that took us 5.5 hours. The rain started and stopped all through the day so we just left our rain gear on.
During a good lunch break at Whitewater Lake we talked to a couple of young guys that had spent Friday night camping at Whitewater and had called in four bull elk.
We heard elk bugling both Friday and Saturday evenings.
At Gunn Lake we were joined by a couple from Rossburn who rode in from the Long Lake Trail using game trails.
It rained on and off through the night but by morning it backed off enough to let us eat breakfast and pack up for the return journey. The ride out only took four hours. Must be all downhill.
We stopped at the newly renovated Onanole Bookshop for a coffee and all headed for home and a warm bath.
Cheers,
Eldon
Family Camp at Williams Lake in Turtle Mountain Provincial Park. August 8, 9 and 10
Seven members came out for a great weekend of camping, canoeing, hiking, cycling and swimming. Participants were Sylvie, Norma, Grace, Val, Shannon, Di and Eldon. Did all of you guys notice the square peg. Yup good old Eldon down there camping with a all these lovely women. What a weekend.
Cheers,
Eldon
Long Lake Hike & Bike - Sept 13, 2008
Di & Scotty, Shannon, Sylvia, Brian, Lynn, Jackie, Diane, Maureen, Bill,
Carol, Fred & Anne,Grace, and Roger all attended with Roger & Brian on
the bikes & the rest hiking. Some travelled farther than others and
they were the lucky ones to see a moose. Weather conditions were
partly cloudy & no rain as forecast. We departed trailhead at 11:15 &
arrived back at approximately 4-4:30. We crossed two small creeks,
boots off except on the way back, as some ran through the creeks. The
trail was easy & enjoyable, funny that it seemed uphill on the way
back? We gathered back at Brian & Lynn's for a BBQ after at their
beautiful ranch setting not far from the trailhead. Something like out
of " Dancing with Wolves".
Thanks Brian & Lynn for a very enjoyable day.
Submitted Bill & Carol
Moon Lake hike Sept 21
11 people enjoyed a perfect day for a hike around Moon Lake. Scotty (Di's
dog) led the way and was so hot from the hike, he cooled off in the lake!
This year, Cheryl managed to avoid getting blistered feet and kept her
shoes! After the hike we met at Cheryl and Roger's cabin for tea and coffee.
Sept. 27,2008 Bald Hill Hike
At 9 am 8 members and 2 guests from Winnipeg met at Onanole for Breakfast before driving the scenic #19 highway through Riding Mountain National park to the trail head of Bald Hill. At the trail head club member Mike arrived from Dauphin to join the group. It was a beautiful fall day with most of the leaves still on the trees and shinning golden orange in the bright sunshine. The first part of the hike up Jet Trail is very steep and it was not very long before the group was well warmed up from the morning coolness. At the top of Jet trail it was time to take a side trip over to Pack horse trail to enjoy the amazing valley view off to the north east of the escarpment. Here we were entertained by the dare devil antics of one of our older members ( Bert)who still thinks he is a young teenager. Bert would run up and down the steep embankment of the valley like a young deer. Actually he is in better shape than most teenagers.
It was then time to bushwack our way around Mount Baker and across the deep ravine to Bald Hill. Our great leader Jim who has lead this hike for many moons again tried a new route. First it was up a hill then it was down a hill then up and down many more times until we heard Jim yell here is the crossing. By this time most of were so exhausted that it was a challenge to climb the final steep hill to Bald hill base. Thank goodness it was time to eat lunch as we were all ready for a well earned rest. After lunch it was time to climb to the top of Bald Hill except for some of us who elected to lay and rest at the bottom before hiking out. Again young (old) Bert, Willie, Dorothy and our two guest from Winnipeg, Maria and her daughter embarrassed the rest of us by climbing straight up Bald hill and running down not once but four times. For Maria’s daughter , this was the high-lite of the trip. Actually Bert seemed to be enjoying himself also!
It was a much quieter hike out to the vehicles as most of us were running on reserve energy by then. Thanks Jim for doing a great job of leading us in to Bald Hill for about the 20th year in a row.
Alf
Oct 25, 2008 Gorge Creek Day Hike
Our hike to Gorge Creek in RMNP on Sat. 25/08 was well attended. Brian led the way followed by Lynn, Elf, Janice, Grace, Maria, Kim, Michelle, Kelly, Kelsey, Stefanie, Agnes, Ginger & Sarge(The Pettinger's dog}. This was my first time to Gorge Creek and after turning onto #19 highway it wasn't long before Agnes & I lost site of the two vehicles we were following. I believe that was Brian & Kim driving! I was sure there were speed limits posted--but maybe not! The windy gravel road seemed to go on forever and we were sure we missed a turn off but lo and behold we came to Ox Creek and there was everyone. Luckily we hadn't turned back. We carried on to Gorge Creek starting the hike @ 11:30 crossing the first bridge and hearing the soothing trickling water and then on to the one of many get you heart pumping climbs---and that it did!! To the top we go-- the trail is very narrow and a long ways down-- not a good place to stop to enjoy the scenery, but that we did from other locations. We stopped for lunch where Sarge entertained us by chasing a squirrel up a tree. That was the wild life of the day. The stairs that have been made to get up the embankments I'm sure were made by a six footer definitely not for us with a short wheelbase. Coming down is also a challenge but thank goodness the're there. We finished the hike by 2:30 . Kim & Maria had to leave but the rest of us headed to Kelly & Michelle's cabin at Kerr's Lake for refreshments & snacks. We even played "Guesstures". I'm sure our team would have won if Agnes & I didn't have to leave!! Everyone else stayed to enjoy the moose chili. Thanks for a great day.
Ginger Mann
Oct 25-26,2008 Back Pack Trip to Cairns Cabin
All those who were not with us missed a good event.
Bert, Judy, Kelvin, Kelly, Di, Scotty, Fred and myself enjoyed sunshine for the hike in on a late fall day. The creeks and low areas had a little more water than a lot of years, but the trail was generally quite firm overall. The logs and beaver dams were mostly in the right places.
The stove has been moved to the center of the wall, directly under the chimney, and a new fire escape ladder put up, also a new cupboard installed.
After rest break at the cabin three people explored further up the trail and followed a side trail to the warden shelter/cabin/campsite area. A very light rain started on the return from this side trip. Two others explored up the creek aways, crossed over and came back along the east side of the creek.
The evening saw light rain for the most part, but by the time we went to bed we could see stars in most of the sky.
Next morning no one was in a big hurry to get up and when we did, the ground was white with 5 cm of fresh snow and the last few flakes were still falling.
By the time we left it had brightened up a little with a brisk breeze, which is not a big issue in the bush. It was about 0 to 1 degrees when we got back to the vehicles about 2 pm, and was trying to melt under foot as we came out.
Wild life seen was mostly partridges and squirrels. One bird nearly took a hat off as it took off, surprising its owner. A squirrel nearly stepped on a head as it raced over the hiker on the trail. Fresh bear tracks were observed on the trail as we came out.
A good overnight weekend.
Edward Beamish