First time up this winter

Well, I finally made it up to the cabin for the first time this winter last weekend. I am amazed at how little snow there was and what was there had just fallen.

We took quite a tour of the lake (almost 2.5 hours) as we couldn't figure out initially that our ice road didn't hook up with the Treaty Island and ended up taking almost every other ice road available. The weather was nice and it was mid-afternoon so was nice to get to tour around and see different parts of the lake. However, this, and other navigation nightmares, has made us resolve to packing our map, compass and GPS with our cabin keys so we are forced to take them with us everytime.

It was the first time we got to use the two-way radios I gave Peter & Kathy for xmas. Definately was nice to be in constant contact without the constant use of cell phones. Plus the built in weather band gave accurate conditions. But when my 4x4 gave out near the top of treaty island we found out their limitations when presented with significant topography (me and peter couldn't raise each other on them because of the hill blocking the signal). But no worries, a 100kph run at the hill was all that was needed to propel me over the top.

Having the road, once we got on it, coming right to the dock was so nice. And after two years of not being able to get any roads in because of the slush, it is kinda funny to have mulitple roads going every which way both in our bay and out on the lake in general.

Made some interesting discoveries when we arrived. For example, with the angle of the sun and the placement of the hill behind our cottage we recieve zero sunshine. A lesson learned oh too well by our solar system. Spring will definately see some relocation of the solar panels. Also too, trucking in a load of wood is alot less work than cutting and hauling a load of wood from the surrounding forest.

First thing Saturday Peter spotted a family of otters or something similar running along the ice. They would run two or three steps and then slide on their bellies. After breakfast, I headed out to try out some new toys. I spent most of the day trying to zero in my SKS with its new stock and then was able to finally try out my M44 and Lee Enfield. I had intended to only go for an hour, but ended up blasting away on the ice for close to five hours.

I was going to go for a hike but it was going to get dark soon so I thought I would save it for Sunday. Saturday night we had a nice bonfire on the ice, our first ever. The temperature was just around zero and a misting of snow set in at about midnight. Peter wouldn't let me burn his precious truck wood, so I scavenged the surrounding shoreline. Another lesson learned, a root of a tree produces great sustained heat and interesting flames.

Sunday was a write-off as, despite only being a few degrees below zero, 30km winds drove the snow to an uncomfortable degree. Basically it was wake up, pack up and drive out. The only drama was when Mark's Durango had trouble getting over a hill and jackknifed on its trailer a little. But a quick tug by the passengers had him rolling quickly enough.

Should be rolling out there again next weekend if weather permits. Hopefully I'll be able to get some fishing and some hiking/photography in.