Training Log Archive: Funderstormin

The timing has never worked out for me to do the BPMR before but this year it did. The long course seemed, um, really long, so I signed up for the short course instead. Hermes and I camped at Bluewater Park on Friday evening and had a lovely picnic dinner while ignoring the suspicious stares of the trailer park locals, then went over to Greg and Julie's trailer (they weren't the ones giving us suspicious looks) for a pre-race hangout.

I got a couple of extra hours of sleep after Hermes left for her race which was much needed as I brought home a nasty cold from Killarney the week before. I was still feeling crappy Saturday morning but figured it was only a couple of hours and it wasn't like I was just going to stay home and rest anyways! The Suntrail course started with a paddle across Colpoy's Bay. I couldn't justify renting a decent boat for a paddle so short so took my big blue tank which felt nice and solid but required a lot of hard work to stay in the middle of the pack.

I wore my bike shoes in the paddle to shorten my transition time to bike but wasted that time trying to wrangle my bike out of the rack! I was debating between my hard and soft tail and was glad I opted for the latter as even though our bike course was short (15km), there were some slick rocks from the morning rain. Managed to make a few spots up on the bike passing people on some of the sketchier stuff.

Back to transition to throw on my running shoes and head back to Bluewater Park via the Bruce Trail. I hadn't run all week and for the first 10 minutes felt like I'd never run in my life before as my legs were like concrete and my lungs were burning. They both warmed up and I enjoyed the run and was glad I'd gone with long socks when I saw all the poison ivy on the run course (we'd been warned and the worst of it was even marked). I managed to pass a few people on the run but was passed by a few others so will call it pretty much even! Was happy to hit the road and push a bit on the last section back into the park.

No idea how I fared and am guessing at my time but felt I pushed about as hard as I could given how I was feeling. Julie and the Diamond brood were all at the finish line waiting for me which was kind of them! Grabbed my gear (was super impressed that it was all back at the finish line already), had a shower, and enjoyed a really fun afternoon of hanging out, watching the kids' races, and waiting on Hermes, Greg and Sarah to come in. An unexpected highlight was seeing Rory Bosio cross the finish line with Zoolander looking like she was out for a Sunday stroll! Although the day had started rainy, the afternoon and evening were stunning and we enjoyed some beer and snacks while watching the awards and then Hermes and I capped off the day with a trip to the Irish Cottage in Wiarton before the long drives home.

A really well-organized race and it is always fun to race in a different area. Super huge congrats to Hermes who won the women's long course and some amazing prizes!

C • Maybe we should ask Cody to... 3

We set the alarm for 6:00, packed up and were on the trail just before 8 with the goal of trying to get done around lunchtime. Our packs were lighter and our spirits high as we rehashed all of the jokes we'd been sharing over the past few days. Although they won't make sense to anyone else, we came up with a whole host of what we believe are lucrative business ideas, including:

- brie flavoured energy gel
- a new TV show for kids where Kristen is a nature detective
- a mountaintop countertop business (but we don't deliver)
- wine gums that actually have wine in them
- Squeal - a vegetarian dehydrated fake bacon product
- Mrs. Tiny's backcountry fusion cookbook

The weather was a bit sketchy again today with threatening clouds that fortunately didn't turn to rain until we were down The Crack and on our way back to George Lake. We got to the East end just after 12:00 and celebrated with a group hug before bemoaning the trek back on the park roads to our car in the pouring rain. We drank a beer (okay, two of us did, and then split Mrs. Tiny's), ate some chips, changed, and then started the journey home.

I am so so glad that we managed to get this adventure in this summer. The park and the trail were stunning and while my dogs were barking by the end of each day, I absolutely loved it and can't wait to try something longer. If I were to do this trail again, I'd take at least 1-2 more days to be able to enjoy the campsites and mountain tops along the way even more, as we were always conscious that we had to keep moving. I am especially grateful that Mrs. Tiny and Allison agreed to join me on this adventure as we had so much fun together. Mrs. Tiny's previous backcountry experience was invaluable and Allison broke some massive physical and mental boundaries. We are all a bit bug bitten, rashy, bruisy, scratchy and tired today but also all agreed (well 2/3 so far) that we wished we were still out on the trail again this morning!

Actual trail time was 4:15 with 45 minutes deducted for stops.

C • OMG plus one for Mrs.Tiny's... 5

Our goal today was to make it through the rest of the Hansen Township and most of the Silver Peak section so that we'd only have around 10km left on Tuesday morning. We set the alarm for 5:30 but getting going and breaking camp took a bit longer with the tarp up and everything soaking wet. We watched the sky carefully and crossed our fingers we'd have better luck today!

Which we did! It was a beautiful sunny day and we were prepared for it to be a long one. We had gone through all of our food the night before and rejigged our meal planning to ensure we had enough for an extra day. We had plenty of fuel and other supplies so knew we would be fine. I think we all enjoyed this day the most as both the weather and the views were spectacular! We decided to save our legs and forego Silver Peak and pressed on to have lunch on Bunnyrabbit lake, spreading out some of our wet gear to dry on rocks in the sun.

Over the course of four days, we only saw about 6-8 other groups of hikers (save the yachters) but mid-afternoon we fortuititously happened upon two groups of guys who we stopped to chat with. Conversation naturally turned to number of days (they all thought we were nuts) and campsites. We had called the park from a peak and left a message to say we'd be out one evening later than expected so that if someone found the car and the permit, they wouldn't worry. We didn't have a campsite for this evening since we didn't plan to be out a third night, but both groups of guys we talked to mentioned that the old H49 was empty when they hiked by. We decided that we'd check that out and arrived there around 7:00 p.m. The official H49 had moved but the old site had a nice flat spot for "our" (graciously lent by simpy sweet tea) tent and access to water. We set up camp there, had a quick wash in Little Superior Lake and a boil in the bag pasta dinner that couldn't have been more delicious since we'd been rationing food all day and were quite hungry! We had also rationed out our Fireball and each had a couple of wee nips to toast the end of a long day. After dinner, we had the brilliant idea of fashioning a pseudo apple crisp out of some of our remaining supplies: two apples, three brown sugar cinnamon oatmeal bars, about 15 raisins and a few sliced almonds. We cooked the apples for a few minutes on the Jet Boil, crumbled the oatmeal bars, added the other tasty toppings and wouldn't you know we had a mouth watering dessert that we ate right out of the pot. After tons of laughs on our sittin' bags and a game of throwin' the rope into the tree, it was an early bed.

Total time out was just over 11 hours with time deducted for lunch and photo breaks.

In order to make it out by Monday we had an ambitious 30-35 km planned for today. We were up at 7:00 and Allison, who was on breakfast duty, planned an awesome oatmeal bar with tons of fixings. By the time we broke camp and got out on the trail it was just before 9:00 and the weather looked like it was going to be glorious...

Unfortunately, the glorious weather did not last and after a couple of hours of easy, fast miles, the rain started and continued for most of the day with periodic thunderstorms. On the flats this wasn't too bad and we all had lots of rain gear with us but on some of the rock climbs and once we entered the Hansen Township section, it made for very slow and somewhat sketchy going. Allison, my trooper of a roommate, had never done a backpacking trip before and I don't know that I fully considered how physically and mentally challenging this was going to be for her. She rose to the occasion but suffered a bit more than Mrs. Tiny and I and had a couple of good falls on wet rocks that shook her confidence.

Lunch today was PB and nutella sandwiches in the pouring rain on the side of the trail while we hoped the rain would stop soon...but it didn't. By late afternoon, we were not even halfway through what we had hoped we would get done today. We all had headlamps but had packed lightweight little lights instead of something suitable for hiking as we didn't plan to be out in the dark. So around 5:00 p.m. before entered a long, high section with no access to water, we decided to call it a day and set up camp on the edge of a portage trail on Little Mountain Lake. We got a tent and tarp set up in between rain storms and managed to send out a few texts to let folks at home know we were likely going to be out an extra day. We made the best of the situation with a swim, another gourmet backcountry dinner made by Mrs. Tiny (lentil and couscous curry!), a plastic flask of wine and a game of crazy 8s before bed. Mrs. Tiny and Allison also entertained themselves each evening with a game of throwing the bear bag rope up into a tree.

Total time out was 8 hours with an hour deducted for stops and whining about the rain.