- Joined
- Dec 5, 2008
- Messages
- 596
A couple weeks ago I posted my gear list for my hike on the Mantario trail. I've been back for a week, but just haven't gotten around to posting the pictures, sorry guys!
Anyway, without further ado....
I got off to a REALLY late start, instead of spending the night before tying up loose ends I went out and got my clown shoes on until 5am... I still had a lot to do to get ready so I didn't get to the trail head until about 5pm... At this point I was already exhausted and had only eaten a small breakfast, not a good start.
I wanted to get to Caribou lake, about 15km in, so I really hustled hard but the trail hasn't been tended to for a while, a lot of the flagged trees are blown down which causes a lot of confusion. At one point up on the rocks in a big clearing I lost the trail, I tried following the foot prints that I thought were the trail, but they were left by lost people too. After a while of back tracking and following false leads I decided to just hike down the hill and follow the river to the crossing and then I'd be back on track. Big mistake. The river was surrounded by marsh and bordered by steep rocks and thick poplar groves. I figured it'd be easier to trek through the marsh than fight my way on steep terrain through the poplar, but the marsh is absolute shit to walk through. Solid looking sections would give way to waist deep muck that stunk like death. Every 10 steps I'd end up balls deep in slop, and the air was thick with mosquitoes and black flies. Eventually I made it to the crossing, now totally soaked, boots full of water pants laden with mud and exhausted I really had to make up time. To make things worse a cold I was getting over had a resurgence and made my nose completely congested, having to breath out of my mouth was even more tiring, every time you swallow you interrupt your breathing.
The 2 beaver dam crossings were also a nuisance, it's been an incredibly wet "summer" (coldest and wettest in decades), the areas around the dams were complete slop, the dams themselves were completely obscured by blow down and around them were lots of false trails of other hikers.
I was making such bad time and so worn out from the rough start and pushing hard over the roughest part of the trail with a lot of extra water weight that I had to stop and set up camp before I reached my destination.
Now, some might recall the gear list thread, I decided to bring only one 1L canteen, cause there's so many damn lakes and rivers and water sources. Well, I hand't planned on being so delayed and there was no water where I set up camp. I only had the 1L that night and the next morning.
I made and ate some supper, which I immediately threw up. I was too exhausted, it was getting dark and I didn't have water to spare, so I just washed down a snack and got ready for bed.
My hammock had a gear failure. It has an attached bug net, but the zipper broke, so I had to rig up another net in the dark with my flashlight in my teeth. Now because my nose was so stuffed everytime I'd take a breath with the flashlight in my mouth I'd suck in a bunch of mosquitoes. Eventually I got everything sorted out and climbed into bed, now wearing only shorts cause my pants were soaked, with a mosquitoe stuck in my ear and at least 4 more in my sinuses.
I ditched my sleeping pad before I left, and only brought a wool blanket, which didn't bode well with an empty stomach, dehydration and inadequate clothing. I didn't want to back track for water in the morning, so I decided I'd save my last sip, skip breakfast and power on to Caribou lake in the morning. It was a long, cold, thirsty, sleepless night, and every time I'd move around to get comfy my legs would cramp up.
I took no pictures that day, I was in no mood and had no time to stop.
Caribou lake has 2 camp sites, the east site is on the trail, the west site is a diversion that doesnt link back up with the trail. Being that I only had a bit of water for the hike I decided to hike up the west site trail, then skip over to the east trail, it's a bit of a short cut that shaves at least 1km off the hike. The "shortcut" goes through a bit of a wet grassy area, which was fine last fall, but this year it was like a pond, so I had to just carry on the the west site.
Once I got there I was dieing for some breakfast, but damned if there wasnt a scrap of firewood around! That place has been scavenged clean, not a single fallen tree to be found for a good 100m! Eventually scrounged up enough scraps too cook breakfast, and it was a fine breakfast indeed.
Caribou lake was just so gorgeous, and after the rough first day I just wanted to relax, really didn't feel like back tracking to get on the east site trail, or blazing a path around the north side of the lake to find the main trail again. Decided to just set up camp and figure it out the next day, and in the mean time do some fishing!
Here's my camp which was situated on a little peninsula, surrounded by water on 3 sides, to the north is a bay full of weeds and pike with a sheer rock wall behind it which echoed back every pop of the fire and every note I sang out. Really glad I tied down the tarps corners from 3 points, cause it was windy as hell that night! Definitely would have ripped the grommets out had I only tied down 1 point.
Mixing up some bannock with some wild blueberries on my birchbark plate
baking the bannock, boiling some water for tea
This one was full of garlic, cheese and sausage, delicious.
The fishing was good, I know some people aren't a fan of pike, they have a hard time dealing with the bones, but I grew up on pike and I LOVE it. Plenty of pike to be had.
This blue one made me go 'wtf', I've been catching pike since I was a little boy and I've never seen one that looked like this. Can anyone tell me something about this one? All I know is that it tasted fine.
I didn't bring any butter, not nearly enough salt, and I thought I forgot the herbs & seasoning at home (was just in the wrong pocket of my bag), so I cooked em up plain. This one I threw on a rusty old grill I found and just let it roast.
Another one I sandwiched in a bed of sphagnum moss and put on the coals, the wet moss would steam, dry out then burn, eventually leaving about an inch of moss around the fish when it's done. It turned out just like the one pictured (but not curled), the skin & scales come right off the meat and the fish is steamed/baked to perfection. No seasoning? No problem, its just that delicious on its own.
to be continued...
Anyway, without further ado....
I got off to a REALLY late start, instead of spending the night before tying up loose ends I went out and got my clown shoes on until 5am... I still had a lot to do to get ready so I didn't get to the trail head until about 5pm... At this point I was already exhausted and had only eaten a small breakfast, not a good start.
I wanted to get to Caribou lake, about 15km in, so I really hustled hard but the trail hasn't been tended to for a while, a lot of the flagged trees are blown down which causes a lot of confusion. At one point up on the rocks in a big clearing I lost the trail, I tried following the foot prints that I thought were the trail, but they were left by lost people too. After a while of back tracking and following false leads I decided to just hike down the hill and follow the river to the crossing and then I'd be back on track. Big mistake. The river was surrounded by marsh and bordered by steep rocks and thick poplar groves. I figured it'd be easier to trek through the marsh than fight my way on steep terrain through the poplar, but the marsh is absolute shit to walk through. Solid looking sections would give way to waist deep muck that stunk like death. Every 10 steps I'd end up balls deep in slop, and the air was thick with mosquitoes and black flies. Eventually I made it to the crossing, now totally soaked, boots full of water pants laden with mud and exhausted I really had to make up time. To make things worse a cold I was getting over had a resurgence and made my nose completely congested, having to breath out of my mouth was even more tiring, every time you swallow you interrupt your breathing.
The 2 beaver dam crossings were also a nuisance, it's been an incredibly wet "summer" (coldest and wettest in decades), the areas around the dams were complete slop, the dams themselves were completely obscured by blow down and around them were lots of false trails of other hikers.
I was making such bad time and so worn out from the rough start and pushing hard over the roughest part of the trail with a lot of extra water weight that I had to stop and set up camp before I reached my destination.
Now, some might recall the gear list thread, I decided to bring only one 1L canteen, cause there's so many damn lakes and rivers and water sources. Well, I hand't planned on being so delayed and there was no water where I set up camp. I only had the 1L that night and the next morning.
I made and ate some supper, which I immediately threw up. I was too exhausted, it was getting dark and I didn't have water to spare, so I just washed down a snack and got ready for bed.
My hammock had a gear failure. It has an attached bug net, but the zipper broke, so I had to rig up another net in the dark with my flashlight in my teeth. Now because my nose was so stuffed everytime I'd take a breath with the flashlight in my mouth I'd suck in a bunch of mosquitoes. Eventually I got everything sorted out and climbed into bed, now wearing only shorts cause my pants were soaked, with a mosquitoe stuck in my ear and at least 4 more in my sinuses.
I ditched my sleeping pad before I left, and only brought a wool blanket, which didn't bode well with an empty stomach, dehydration and inadequate clothing. I didn't want to back track for water in the morning, so I decided I'd save my last sip, skip breakfast and power on to Caribou lake in the morning. It was a long, cold, thirsty, sleepless night, and every time I'd move around to get comfy my legs would cramp up.
I took no pictures that day, I was in no mood and had no time to stop.
Caribou lake has 2 camp sites, the east site is on the trail, the west site is a diversion that doesnt link back up with the trail. Being that I only had a bit of water for the hike I decided to hike up the west site trail, then skip over to the east trail, it's a bit of a short cut that shaves at least 1km off the hike. The "shortcut" goes through a bit of a wet grassy area, which was fine last fall, but this year it was like a pond, so I had to just carry on the the west site.
Once I got there I was dieing for some breakfast, but damned if there wasnt a scrap of firewood around! That place has been scavenged clean, not a single fallen tree to be found for a good 100m! Eventually scrounged up enough scraps too cook breakfast, and it was a fine breakfast indeed.
Caribou lake was just so gorgeous, and after the rough first day I just wanted to relax, really didn't feel like back tracking to get on the east site trail, or blazing a path around the north side of the lake to find the main trail again. Decided to just set up camp and figure it out the next day, and in the mean time do some fishing!
Here's my camp which was situated on a little peninsula, surrounded by water on 3 sides, to the north is a bay full of weeds and pike with a sheer rock wall behind it which echoed back every pop of the fire and every note I sang out. Really glad I tied down the tarps corners from 3 points, cause it was windy as hell that night! Definitely would have ripped the grommets out had I only tied down 1 point.
Mixing up some bannock with some wild blueberries on my birchbark plate
baking the bannock, boiling some water for tea
This one was full of garlic, cheese and sausage, delicious.
The fishing was good, I know some people aren't a fan of pike, they have a hard time dealing with the bones, but I grew up on pike and I LOVE it. Plenty of pike to be had.
This blue one made me go 'wtf', I've been catching pike since I was a little boy and I've never seen one that looked like this. Can anyone tell me something about this one? All I know is that it tasted fine.
I didn't bring any butter, not nearly enough salt, and I thought I forgot the herbs & seasoning at home (was just in the wrong pocket of my bag), so I cooked em up plain. This one I threw on a rusty old grill I found and just let it roast.
Another one I sandwiched in a bed of sphagnum moss and put on the coals, the wet moss would steam, dry out then burn, eventually leaving about an inch of moss around the fish when it's done. It turned out just like the one pictured (but not curled), the skin & scales come right off the meat and the fish is steamed/baked to perfection. No seasoning? No problem, its just that delicious on its own.
to be continued...
Last edited:
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