Fababoo suggested bringing a canoe along for BT Hike Beaver Valley Part 3 event so we could visit this one. Unfortunately, coordinating the pickup in the morning didn't work out, so Elf and I decided to try and tackle it on a different day. Today was that day! After a summer of non-stop work, I finally managed to book a couple vacation days in, so we were off to the North part of Algonquin for 4 days in the backcountry. What's a little detour on the way up for a paddle?
As we cruised north of Shelburne and entered the windmill fields, I noticed a change in the air... Elf was reading something, and when she looked back up, WTH? Where did all the snow come from? In places, it was almost 6 inches deep along the sides of the road! What a great weekend to go paddling and backcountry camping eh? No worries, we've been out in far worse than this. As we arrived at the boat launch, the snow was not quite as deep, and the water was unfrozen, as expected.
I unloaded David and we bagan to gear up for the short paddle to the island. Elf hopped in, and we were off. The wind was chilly, and the neoprene gloves really didn't do much. We rounded the point and pulled in at an ideal landing spot. After securing the canoe, we entered the forest and followed what appeared to be a bit of a path towards the cache area. Arriving at ground zero and seeing no sign of the container, we began our hunt. Yep, there's the old decomposing rope... (it crumbled when Elf touched it). So at 14:30h, we decided to give the area a through search, just incase the container wandered off, before breaking out a replacement. 30 minutes later and no evidence was found. Boo!
I took a nice camo painted 30 cal ammo can from my pack, and we prepared it to be the replacement cache... but wait, there is no way we can hide it right here... It would be far too exposed! (Plus, I forgot my paracord) Time to locate a more suitable location near by. That rock is cool! As I was filling out the log book, averaging coordinates, and taking some photos of the hide, Elf spotted a WAY better spot and called me over... Yeah! Thanks little chipmunk for leading Elf here... This spot is cool!
So RCA, if the offer still stands, I'll be more than happy to adopt this one! Elf loves the area, and I expect we'll be spending more time here, hiking, caving, paddling and exploring!
TOMTEC and Elf of The Treehouse Gang, with Chip the Beaver and D-Banner.
This entry was edited by TOMTEC on Friday, 29 November 2013 at 15:01:39 UTC.