Wake Me!

Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

It’s a great day at the lake. Actually, any day at the lake is a great day, but today it’s 26-28, sunny and a light breeze so were spending a couple of hours exploring the lake.

We head over to second Channel and into Keewatin for some gas an a pit stop. Then its over to Poplar Bay, an area where we have not gone before. Wow, are there a lot of boat out on the lake today, the traffic is quite intense in some of the close quarter areas. We’re noticing more people on docks that any other weekend this summer! The water is finally warm, and everyone is soaking up the sun.

After Poplar Bay it’s into Kenora via Devil’s Gap to pick up a Starbucks. We’re noticing more SeaDoos that normal, but I’m sure that’s because we were talking about possible getting one next year. A trio pulls up to the Safeway docks with us, and guess where the two young ladies are going while mom waits on the SeaDoo? That’s right, Starbucks! This generation is truly addicted.

After we collect our beverages it’s a short hop back to the cottage for some swimming and dock time. Good times!

We’re safe and sound back at the hotel packing up for the trip back to Winnipeg but the hike yesterday was an adventure of a life time. While I didn’t make it to the summit by choice, it was still an amazing day as I climbed to about 10,000 vertical feet from a start in about 5,000. We experienced a great climb up the trail, some very scary scrambling up some very steep loose rock, a 20′ vertical climb without ropes, touched snow in August, watched a helicopter rescuce, sat out a rain and hail storm at 10,000, belayed down a 40′ vertical face assisted by Brian, a mountain rescue worker, and the group who made the summit were walking around in an electrically charged cloud getting shocked and dumping all their metal gear like ice axes and trekking poles and everybody hiked out for several hours in a very close thunderstorm getting quite soaked. Other that that it was a rather uneventful day.

It was quite a crazy experience with a lot of exciting memories and lessons learned. More later with photos of the rescue and some great scenic shots of the mountains and our group.

Oh yeah, the data coverage in the Banff area by Bell Mobility is non-existant, so the mobile Blackberry twitters and blog update of the trip are just not happening the way I’d anticipated.

Garry at Chinaman’s Peak

Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Today, just outside of Canmore, the group met in a mountain road parking lot for the warm-up hike. The start time was 1pm, but some of the group were delayed until shortly after 2pm. With everyone assembled we started the climb which was about 3,000 vertical feet of solid up hill. My cycling payed of, and my legs were good,and the cardio, while fairly intense, was quite managable.

We hung out at the top for quite a while enjoying the view and taking pictures. The climb up was about 1 hr and 20 minutes and we were pushed by a mother anddaughter team that did it in one hour, we ust could not let them pass us.

Going down was a different story. I found it quite hard on my legs, nees, and feet. This is not a cycling motion at all. At the end our smaller group was quite tired and wondering how we’ll make out on tomorrow’s 8-10 hour trek climbing 6,000 vertical.

Off to bed soon as we need to leave Banff at 4:30am to be at the base start location by 6am. After today’s performance they decided that we need an extra hour of daylight.

Well the top is down and we’re crusing across Saskatchewan on a glorious sunny day. I estimate. That we’re half way to. Banff andjust passing Swift current. Speeds a little. Over the limit but hey, its a road trip. Less talk now with the wind noise but still a good time. Darcy seems to be holding up ok in.the back. More latter…

It’s 4:30am and I’m getting the gear together for the 16 hr drive to Banff to climb Mt Thompson. At 5 I’ll pick up one of the other guys and we’ll go to transfer to the convertible at 5:30am for the top down road trip. I’m stoked.

Kayak Stacker
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

I’ve been thinking about how to store the kayaks without having them on the dock for some time now. The original idea was to have two “J” shaped brackets with webbing strung between to cradle the kayak, but I was worried about the stability of the top “J” being only supported by the vertical outside post, which in turn is supported by a 2×4 bolted to the bottom of the dock. The weigh shouldn’t be a problem as I can stand on either support arm and each kayak is approximately 50lbs, so with both on the rack each end only needs to carry that weigh.

After staring at the problem for several days, I came up with this idea. The top cradle is hinged so after the top boat is removed the cradle can be flipped back to gain full access to the lower boat. This method allows for better support on the dock-side uprights and improved stability.

It was a wonderful sunny morning with a strong west wind blowing across the point, so while it is relatively calm water in front of the cottage, there is a nice breeze to keep things from getting too hot. Even so, after a while of working with my shirt off, I could feel the potential of a nice sunburn coming on, so on with a shirt and hat. Gee, is that wisdom or old age? A hat, since when…?

As I’m warping up the job and doing a little dock repair I hear Shirley scream from outside the lower door of the cottage, “Garry! Come quickly, there is something in the cottage!”. We’ll after the recent attack of the Squirrel Army, we’re a little on edge so I came flying up the stairs. Sure enough, as I go in the door I can hear a clatter, but soon determine that it’s just something thunking around in the dryer. Crisis averted. The Fortress is still secure from intruders.

I saw WALL-E last night. Don’t bother.

Shore Stop
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Today was the first day of our vacation with clear skies and no rain. We had a late breakfast on the dock and then headed out in the kayaks. We circumnavigated Sultana Island for a 11.7km tour which saw a deer, a trutle, and several bald eagles (no photo’s this time) .
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