Training Log Archive: Bash

7th Annual Waterfalls of Hamilton Run

Thanks once again to Trav and Baloney for generously hosting this fun and highly delicious event to kick off the New Year.

AdventureDog and I ran mostly solo around the Dundas Valley, hiking most of the steeper hills. I chose a non-standard route around Hammer's excellent new map to prevent ADog from taking off to find 'Bent and the Fast Boyz. I tried to measure the full height of K2 with my Ambit but it looks like the trail is under construction at sea level so we didn't quite get it all. I think we'll need to come back for some winter hill training since the Dundas Valley trails stay in better running condition than the ones around here.

After the run, we were treated to the usual amazing feast of excellent coffee, waffles, baffles, bagels, soup and much more. AdventureDog was a good party guest - nice to see that. It was great to chat with old friends and meet some new ones. After hearing about so many interesting plans for 2016 (at least two guests are aiming for the Olympics - wow!), I'm feeling inspired for the year to come.

'Bent, BazingaDog, AdventureDog and I went to the Anderson Tract in Hockley Valley, aka the home of the Three B*tches. We climbed a bunch of hills since we need to get our bodies ready for real mountains in the spring. Nice family outing!

Happy 2016! We awoke to a lot more snow - and it was still coming down, as was our tent.







We learned the down side of our enthusiastic snow shovelling when we put up the tent yesterday - lots of snow to be shovelled again today. In these photos, Browner and Storm were shovelling away the snow we'd piled onto the flap around the bottom edge of the tent to stop air leaks.





It felt like quite an accomplishment to take down the tent, fold it up and squeeze it into its bag with poles.



We took down our own tents and got ready to snowshoe back to the vehicles.









It was a spectacular morning to hike out.













We took a shortcut across a wetland. I think there's a boardwalk here in summer but I guess they remove it. It was a little risky!







We said goodbye to Goose and Coach LD at the parking lot.

Our hike out was so fast that Browner, Storm, 'Bent and I decided to do a short snowshoe bushwhack to enjoy the snow a little longer. Then we headed to Gravenhurst for a big Second Breakfast.

New Year's Winter Camping: The Video
Great job, 'Bent!

Browner, Storm, Coach LD, 'Bent and I drove up to the Torrance Barrens this morning. This is a Crown Land conservation reserve near Gravenhurst that is designated as a dark sky preserve. The Logs Rocks & Steel multisport race was held there for two years when it was hosted at Camp Pinecrest.

When we were making plans to go winter camping on New Year's Eve, we needed to find a place relatively close to the GTA since Goose could only be away from Caledon for 24 hours. His schedule was especially important since he was bringing the party venue - a big canvas tent with a wood stove. While we waited for Goose to arrive, the rest of us had some extra time to enjoy the beautiful Canadian Shield terrain.





A week earlier, we'd wondered if we would be canoeing on New Year's but Gravenhurst was hit by heavy snow squalls so we finally got our first real taste of winter. We opted for snowshoes and set out on the Main Trail to look for potential campsites.



Although there was lots of snow, the wetlands and creeks weren't frozen so there were a few soakers on this trip!









This was a great location but it proved too difficult to clear the tent site. ;)



It took some effort to follow the trails since we knew from past trips that the markings are sometimes painted on the rocky ground - like Slickrock in Moab. We had no tracks to follow so I kept my compass handy. We followed the Main Loop (with some variations) back to the parking lot to meet Goose.

Goose's toboggan was a masterpiece of packing. It included everything from his clothing to the canvas tent, from a wood stove to a can of whipped cream - not to mention the kitchen sink.



When we weren't madly running around with cameras, we tried to snowshoe ahead of Goose to break a nice trail for the toboggan.



We weren't planning to go in very far so none of us bothered to pack light. It ended up being a 2 km snowshoe.



Looks like Storm even packed in a Christmas tree!



The wintry landscape was beautiful and silent except when the odd train went by.





We headed down from this ridge to a more sheltered area to camp.



After selecting the prime location for the canvas tent, we stomped down the snow and levelled it, following Goose's instructions.



Then came the adventure of setting up the canvas tent.



The sides of the tent have guy lines that can tie to a tree or a log. There's no point sticking pegs into snow. We shovelled piles of snow onto the logs we used to secure the guy lines, and that froze them in place.



This was the view from our campsite.



Once the canvas tent was set up, we set up our individual sleeping tents. We would all hang out in the big tent but there wasn't room for six people to sleep there.



This is one of the last photos of our tent before it started to self destruct. Actually, that's not true since one of the poles had already broken by this point. Both windows tore away from the rest of the fly, and the fly ripped too. I had to use my emergency blanket under the fly since our tent was only mesh underneath the big rip. Apparently, ours is not one of those summer tents that can be used in all four seasons. It has been around the block a few times so maybe the fabric has been weakened by UV. It sure was a great time for our tent to start shredding all around us!



This was our little community, once we were all set up.



Goose's tent has a wood stove so we collected, chopped and sawed a big pile of firewood.

Then with our final bit of daylight, we went for a short snowshoe trek to work up an appetite for New Year's dinner.









Sunset was a beautiful pastel blue and pink.



Storm and Browner carried in camp chairs for extra comfort.





After sunset, it was time to put on our best down booties and head into the tent for the big New Year's bash. What a comfortable place to spend a fun, relaxing evening with friends!









Browner made yummy chili for the main course.



Sian brought a delicious "make your own" dessert with optional whipped cream.





It had been dark since 4:45 p.m. so we counted down to New Year's at 9 p.m. then managed to stay awake for an entire extra hour before heading back to our own tents. 'Bent had been feeling pretty comfortable in the warm tent even before 8 p.m.



The snow squalls kept on coming during the night.









Happy New Year, all.

Winter came last night - sort of. It started with heavy snow and high winds. If we'd wanted to ski, we would have had to go out at midnight before the freezing rain began. From this morning until early afternoon, it was just plain old rain. The ground is white but the snow is very wet and heavy; some of it is just ankle deep slush disguised as snow.

So... I went running instead of skiing. Rather than push my gimpy knee too hard, I started on muddy, slushy gravel roads instead of trails. After warming up, I did 5 X 200 m intervals, then ran home through the snow using trails and the section of Duffy's Lane that's closed in winter. I could feel mild knee pain but it didn't seem to be affected by the running. Progress.

Gave my knee a rest.