Caddy Lake to North Cross Lake - June 2019

Date: June 15 and 16, 2019

Length: 34.3 km

Time: 6 hours, 43 minutes (Day 1), 2 hours 54 minutes (Day 2)

Caddy Lake to North Cross Lake

Caddy Lake to North Cross Lake is an iconic Whiteshell canoe route that passes through two tunnels under train lines on the way. From Caddy Lake Resort where we rented canoes to the north end of North Cross Lake is about 14 km if you take a fairly straight path like we did on Day 2.

On Day 1 we arrived at Caddy Lake Resort later than expected, and didn't get onto the water until about 10:30 am. Roslyn and I were in an aluminum rental, Tyler and Steve had rented an aluminum canoe, and Joel and Kyle were sharing Joel's parents fibreglass canoe.

About 3 km into the trip you get to the first cave. When you pass through one of the tunnels you need to blow a whistle and make sure there is no response before entering. This is to help prevent accidents and injuries due to the low ceiling and narrow walls.

First Tunnel Entrance

First Tunnel Exit

After the first tunnel, the route opens up again to South Cross Lake, which is a long narrow lake. About half way up the lake it becomes about the same as a slow moving river. The west side has a fair amount of overhanging bedrock cliffs, while the east side has a thin strip of march building into a dense pine forest.

The narrow end of South Cross Lake

The cutest flower on the water

Entrance to the Second Tunnel

The second tunnel passes from South Cross Lake into North Cross lake. Right at the exit of the second tunnel is a bit of a slalom. There four sets of poles that you needs to navigate between due to a lot of sharp rocks being in the water. This is likely more of an issue for motor boats, but we didn't feel like getting one of the aluminum canoes hung up on a sharp rock either.

After getting out of the second tunnel, we paddled on for another kilometer before breaking for lunch. We tied on at a campsite and pulled out our food and laid back enjoying the sun. We also watched about 6 or 7 groups cruise right by us, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake on our part.

After lunch we started looking for a campsite. As we came across them they were all full. We started getting worried and split up to each search one arm of the lake for a spot. Well, Roslyn and I did and Kyle and Joel did. Steve and Tyler had a very wide, very slow canoe so they stayed in a central location. After about 2 hours and another 5 km of canoeing up and down the lake, we stopped at a pretty crappy spot for another break. Not wanting to camp there, Roslyn, Joel and I jumped in the lightest canoe and took off to the end of the lake hoping to find a free spot. 

It took us about 20 minutes, but we got to the end of the lake and took a look around. There was a pretty great campsite with a privy, as well a small dam to explore another couple hundred feet away. We went back and got everyone moving to the new site where we had a nice evening relaxing and fishing.

Near the bottom of the dam

Past the dam, more adventure awaits!

Very brave frog

Dragonfly close up

The next morning I woke up in time to catch the sun rising and spent some time just watching it come up. No one else was awake and the bay between our site and the dam was almost perfectly still and quiet. Definitely worth being up at 5:30 am to see something like that.

Phenomenal Sunrise

Once everyone started getting up, we had breakfast and packed up camp. We decided to try and get out as fast as possible to get back to Winnipeg for supper. With that goal in mind we managed to get back in only 3 hours of paddling with out any real breaks. Compared to the almost 7 hour trip in from the day before we were pretty happy. We also shaved 6 km off the route by knowing where we going.

All in all, this trip set us on another path of adventure. We now own our own canoe and are looking into completing some tandem moving water courses to get comfortable with canoeing through rapids.

If you want to see a video of this trip, check out out YouTube Channel here: Caddy Lake Canoe Trip - June 2019

Simply Stuff - Gear Regrets!

One of the fun parts about backpacking is getting to experiment with different types of gear and figure out what works for you. I, Connor, am a bit of a gear geek. Roslyn also appreciates trying out new gear and an optimized load out but doesn't like doing all the research.

If you're trying out different equipment, there's always a period where the new gear is the best gear. After the honeymoon period wears off you start to notice stuff that could be better, or that you miss about your old gear. Eventually, you'll know if the equipment is right for you or not. Unfortunately, a fair amount of gear ends up falling into the 'not for us' category or at least into the 'I'd like to keep looking' category.

Roslyn and I thought about all the gear we've used over the last two years and came up with two pieces of gear we wish we hadn't bought. Both of them are water filters, which made for a couple annoying trips.

1 - MSR Miniworks Water Filter

The MSR Miniworks was the first water filter we used. It has a decent flow rate and a reusable ceramic filter that can be cleaned to provide a long term water filtration solution. From our experience, moderately dirty water caused the ceramic filter to foul after only 4-5 litres of water, and maintaining suction was difficult as the pump would start to cavitate if any air bubbles entered it from the hose. We used this water filter for only one trip before replacing it, and brought it as a back up on one other trip but never used it.

2 - Lifestraw

We bought the Lifestraw as a back up filtration system in case our primary filter broke. We've luckily never has to use it, but after the first summer we also stopped carrying it with us. For less weight and a smaller package, you can get water filtration tables to make water drinkable for you. The tablets will also fit in your first aid or odd's and end's containers instead of having to be another piece of gear to keep track of.

We wish we hadn't purchased the above gear, but having said that other people might like to use them. In the conditions they are meant for, both the MSR Miniworks and the Lifestraw work properly, we just found both of them limiting out backpacking experience.

Images obtained as screenshots from:

Atmosphere.ca - MSR Mini Works

Atmosphere.ca - Lifestraw

Carry Your Weight - Backpack Weight!

This is the first in a series of posts I plan on writing about weight! Backpack weight, food and water weight, maintaining body weight on trail. Weight is one of the main topics on every backpacker's mind and is related to pretty much every topic in the hobby.

The most commonly talked about is backpack weight. Backpack weight is the easiest to measure, easiest to change, and the target weight is as low as possible while remaining in budget and comfortable. Because of this you'll generally be able to find a lot of information about how to minimize pack weight.

The only real question surrounding backpack weight is: What is the correct weight?

The rule of thumb many people use is to have a 15 to 16 lb base weight. Base weight includes everything except for your worn set of clothing, water, fuel, and food. Once you've gotten the consumables put together, your pack ends up weighing about 30 to 35 lbs for a 5-6 day trip. This is about as light as most people are going to go without starting to spend a lot of money (though you can find decent light weight gear for a low cost if you look for it).

One problem with this rule of thumb is that it neglects different body sizes. Smaller people can not carry the same amount of weight without risking injury. One study (linked here) shows that you should not carry more than 20% of your body weight, or 30 lbs, which ever is lower. The 30 lb limit falls in line with the above rule of thumb, but only for people weighing 150 lbs or more.

Why does pack weight matter? 

There are three main reasons pack weight matters: Fatigue, Energy Consumption, and Risk of Injury. 

The heavier your pack is, the faster you will fatigue. Increased fatigue means you won't go as far in a day, you will have an increased risk of injury, and you won't recover as quickly during down time. All of these issues mean that you lower your chance of completing your hike on time and injury free.

Energy consumption is somewhat related to fatigue, but increased energy consumption is a problem all on its own. Backpacking long distances with weight requires a lot of energy and many long distance trips require 4000 to 6000 calories per day to keep up with energy needs. If your pack increases your energy consumption even more then you may have to carry more food. Which leads to a heavier pack and a slower speed. A slower speed potentially means more food is required, which again increases pack weight. From what I have read, a fair sized group of people lose a lot of weight and many people stop hiking due to malnutrition. Lower pack weights can help with this by reducing energy consumption.

Increased risk of injury is probably the most significant impact of a heavier pack. The more you carry, the more stress you put on your feet, ankles, and shins. These parts of your body are prone to repeated stress injuries, and lower weights help to reduce the risk. You are also better able to control you body with a lighter backpack, mitigating the potential of tripping or reducing the severity of a fall when it does happen.

Our Pack Weight Journey

Roslyn and I started out with about 40 to 45 lbs of gear each on our first hike. By the end of it our feet were painful to walk on and we decided to start losing pack weight. Over two years we have succeeded in getting down to an 18 lb base weight or about 30 lbs for a 4 day trip. Over the next year we plan on trimming small amounts of weight from items until we can hit about a 15 lb base weight. This is both our comfort zone for pack weight and we get to keep some extra items we'd rather not go without.

If you struggle or have struggled with pack weight, or want advice on how to lower it, drop us a comment and let us know about it!

Riding Mountain National Park - May 2019, Part 2

Here's the second and third day of our 2019 May Long Hike in Riding Mountain National Park. The hike continued to be interesting, but since we want to get to some new topics and document all our trips I'm going to be doing more than one day per trail post going forward!

Date: May 19. 2019
Length: 17.65 km
Elevation: 343 m
Time: 6 hours 18 minutes

Whitewater Lake to Gunn Lake

Date: May 20. 2019
Length: 15.91 km
Elevation: 393 m
Time: 5 hours 14 minutes

Gunn Lake to Baldy Lake Trailhead

On day 2 we woke up early and hit the trail. The Central Trail in Riding Mountain is a nice easy hike, generally 3 to 4 people wide and with very gradual elevation changes. While we walked we were surrounded by spring finally starting in full. Trees were starting to bud and grass was growing. All the slight spots of green stood out in contrast with the beiges and greys that still lingered from winter.

One great part about the day was the crisp air and the bright blue sky. There were some fairly large clearings with a dark fringe of trees in the distance and a large never ending sky. Roslyn described standing in the middle of one of them as making you feel like a small prey animal. Fortunately for us (or maybe unfortunately!) we didn't see any predators around.

Coming into camp for the night we got a good walk up and down the ravine that is just before the Gunn Lake campsite. The actual camping area is raised up on a hill surrounded by thick brush and trees, so we weren't worried about water or wind! We started up a fire and set our tents up before having supper. We went to sleep fairly early again to get out of the wind and to try and get going early in the morning!

Waking up early, we enjoyed some time down near the water just poking around before heading out. The water was smooth as glass and there were some cool looking snails and bugs crawling about. We walked up and down the shore line for a bit just to see what was around.

The rest of the day passed pretty quickly. We were mainly walking through areas will tall stands of trees and the occasional beaver dam or marsh area with a raised trail. The scenery was still beautiful in a stark somewhat haunting way.

One moment of excitement happened just after lunch. We had just started down the trail when one of us noticed a dark black shape up ahead. It took us a couple seconds to realize is was a bear using the trail too! We shouted out the customary 'HEY BEAR' and the little black bear noticed us finally and sprinted off into the trees. After a couple minutes we headed out again and ended the last few hours without any more excitement (other than the normal I'm out hiking! excitement).