Winter Outing Summary / Pictures
Backpacking Trip Summary / Pictures
Lake Placid Summary / Pictures
Canoe Trip Summary / Pictures
The TAMARACK IX Song

     On Monday, February 25, we packed too much gear into too few vehicles and drove a cramped 25 minutes to Red Fox Trail, where we were to be abandoned for the next 5 days. With a beautiful day and clean hair, we hiked in to the Steers' cabin, located on Smith lake. We dragged, with some frustration, our gear in on toboggans. We proceeded to set up camp with "go big or go home" in mind as we piled snow for our quinzhees. And so, with 7 degrees and no coats, "winter" camping began.

     First on the agenda was to explore the area so we took a brief hike up to Perch lake on our snowshoes. The Steers cabin provided quite the luxury while camping, coming equipped even with television (no we didn't use it). The next morning, huge snowflakes slowly drifted down, quickly turning to rain. Fortunately though, between drying in the Yates' cabin and the Tamarack Winter Olympics, no one really seemed to mind.

     The Tamarack Winter Olympics included the Biathlon, with badminton rackets no one could hit, Toboggan jumping, Graham winning by supermanning himself off the jump at the last possible second, and Firelighting, with several teams just struggling. Dinner that night proved to be an interesting challenge for a couple of groups. Incidents include a white-gas stove igniting, and a table bursting into flame due to improper use of a barbecue.

     The next day, after breakfast, we gathered in front of the cabin to begin our plane table mapping and lake study exercises. With ideal conditions of sun and temperatures just hovering at subzero, we left to our respective lakes to begin work. When lunch rolled around, those of us on Perch marched back to Smith lake to join the rest of the crew for campfires and food. That evening, after an afternoon of more mapping and lake studying, sleep came easily. Thursday morning, we were sent back to the lakes to finish up the mapping and lake studies. For some of us, finishing up meant quite a bit of work. In the end we prevailed, and had everything wrapped up in time for our last lunch back at the cabin. After lunch we hiked along the trail that led to the highway, and were sporadically sent into the bush one at a time for a 2-hour solo. Having had some time to ourselves, it was time for dinner. This saw the barbecue back in use, but with no fires this time. That night we gathered in the cabin for our campfire and a couple songs. Neil Watts and Marianna Horn visited and shared their Tamarack experiences and other thoughts.

     On Friday morning it was time to leave. Everyone being slightly more greasy, we hauled our gear back out to the highway where vehicles awaited to take us home.

     All in all, it was definitely a week to remember.

View pictures of our winter outing.

     We left the Mackenzie parking lot on the morning of Monday, May 6, 2002 at eight in the morning with high hopes of good weather and an excellent trip. The drive to the trailhead was uneventful, and after a short wait for the supervisors, we set off on our first day’s six-kilometer hike. A few clouds hung ominously in the sky, but nothing we were worried about. Our first hike en masse had us on a beautiful trail that would slowly degrade in the days to come. We were a little slow this day because people were still getting used to their packs, and that no weight had been eaten yet. We arrived at a beautiful campsite on Provoking Lake in the early afternoon and proceeded to set up our first camp of the trip. Dinner was a while away, so we amused ourselves by watching Megan brave the frigid water. Tired from our first day of hiking, sleep came easily that night.

     We woke up Tuesday morning to the unfortunate sound of rain drumming on our tents. However, the rain wasn’t too heavy, so we had no trouble getting packed up and on the trail. We now got our first taste of what the “real” trail would be. Rocks set in mud, with the occasional stream (either natural or rain-made) crossing or following the path. This slowed us considerably, but we were now traveling in our hiking groups of eight or so people with a leader per group. This allowed us to travel faster, compensating for the slightly worse trail. A seven kilometer hike meant that this day was not terribly strenuous, although the “break nazis” seemed to be a bit out of breath when they came into camp. Our campsite that night was on a bit of a point out into the lake, well within sight of our first camp. This was not because we had not hiked far enough, but because we took a slightly longer route than we could have. Everyone commented, but this is a hiking trip, so we had just been doing what we came to do. Several items were damp from the rain (which had let up around noon) that we were easily able to dry thanks to wind blowing off the lake. That night, we managed a fire down by the water, and everyone went to bed decently early.

     With a cold start Wednesday morning, we set off with steadily warming weather to our longest day of hiking yet. The beautiful weather we enjoyed, and the pair of moose seen by one group tempered the fact that this was by far the longest day so far. Our campsite that night was on Harness Lake, at the bottom of the long loop of the Highland trail. We arrived early enough that a few people were able to “enjoy” the water of the lake. Having become more accustomed to hiking, we were able to stay up a bit later than usual and enjoy a blazing fire, again by the water.

     Thursday morning we were greeted by blue skies. These, however, were quickly covered by some gray clouds that decided to break lightly open around mid-afternoon. For a brief period, the sky really let loose and soaked many people to the bone. Camp that afternoon was slow going up for two reasons. One, obviously was the rain. The other was that some Outward Bound kids had taken the campsite that we had on the first night, that we had been planning to use again. The rain eventually gave up, and we attempted to dry some things around a fire that had quickly been built thanks to the fast wood gathering by the class. With spirits a bit lower than usual, we went to bed with clouds still hanging over our heads.

     We woke up on Friday, rather surprised to still be dry. It had decided not to rain on us during the night, and also held off as we packed up and hiked out. After a brief wait, and some games of “friends catch”, the drivers pulled in to the parking lot and we were off again on our way home.

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Lake Placid Summary

     On the morning of May 20, 2002, the Tamarack class crammed itself and its gear into 2 party vans and 3 extra vehicles, and pulled out of the parking lot at 7:30 am for the five (or so) hour drive to Lake Placid, New York. Upon arrival at our campsite, we threw up our tents, several of which were massive, and got ourselves accustomed to being in camp once again. A short hike up Mount Jo provided a view of the entire area, letting us know some of what was to come.

     Tuesday morning saw the class split into its three activity groups who headed off to do either hiking, biking, or rock climbing. Hiking that day proved to be a bit of an adventure, when Gary Sage lost his footing on some rocks and banged his knee. Gary toughed it out for about a kilometer and a half to a ranger cabin about nine kilometers away from camp. The plan was for him to wait for the swelling to go down and then try to hike out (with the help of Tim and Ranger Steve), but he ended up being air lifted to the hospital. The extent of his injury was not to become apparent until he reached the hospital, where we learned that had he kept walking, his injury could have become much more serious.

     Rock climbing, first of all, definitely did not require extra insurance, and was probably the safest of the three activities. This was entirely thanks to the guides at Rock and River, who made sure we knew what we were doing before we went off. Mountain biking was interesting as well. Only one bike was damaged.

     Thursday night saw the class out on the town, most of us eating dinner at a pizza place called Eer’s. We then hit the movies, with most people going to see the controversial new Star Wars film. Friday morning saw us packed up and on the road by 10:00. We stopped in Cornwall for lunch, and then made the last leg of the trip home.

View pictures of our Lake Placid trip.

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Canoe Trip Summary

     We rose bright and early the morning of Sunday June the 9^th in anticipation of our biggest and most challenging trip. As the convoy pulled out of the parking lot, a few clouds hung lightly in the sky. The drive down was a cakewalk until we hit “Red Squirrel Road”. Huge ruts in the road prevented cars from going through with any speed, and we even had to do a makeshift repair job on one particularly massive hole. We eventually reached the parking lot, and hauled our gear the 600m down to the beach.

     After eating a quick lunch, we were off. That day provided our introduction to the portages that we would become ever so used to. The bugs were killers, and we soon learned the value of having good bug repellant. By the time we reached camp that night around 6:30, huge dark clouds had gathered in the sky. These clouds chose to break open later on that evening, giving us our first dose of the next three days. Day 2 was spent doing the usual paddling and portaging. This time though, we were doing it in a steady rain that didn’t let up all day. Camp that night was a bit of a fight to find sites, but we managed. The group that came after us however, had to really stretch their imaginations. We were camped by Center Falls, which was beautiful, but not appreciated due to the rain. The next day brought more rain, paddling and portages, and another tight campsite where some people resorted to moving up cliffs to get good tent sites. Once again we were camped by a beautiful waterfall, “Bridal Veil Falls”, but once again it did not go fully appreciated.

     Day 4 was a godsend. That morning, the sun swept across the trees as it rose, cheering everyone. The day proved to be just as good with not a cloud in the sky, giving us a perfect chance to dry our sodden gear. However, we then reached the dreaded four-kilometer portage. I think we all learned a lesson in teamwork and determination getting across that thing. Camp that night followed a short paddle, and everyone was dead tired, and retired early. Day 5 dawned without a cloud in the sky and once again treated us nicely. Being able to lie back in the canoe with the sun on your face was heaven. Our camp that night was on Lake Obabika, where we would spend the next night also. The beautiful weather allowed many of us to dip into the water for a little swim.

     The next day dawned for all of us at around 8:00, giving us a little extra sleep. We carried our canoes up to Shishkong Lake, a sacred lake to the natives of the area, and paddled it for the morning. After lunch, we all split up to do our solos, which was a high point of the trip for most.

     Saturday morning came with the sound of rain hitting the tents. This was not a heartening sound. After retrieving the canoes, we reached a nasty portage. By nasty, I mean there was mud up to our waists in some places and many people got stuck to the point where they couldn’t get themselves out of the mud. After this, the rest of the day was a cakewalk. We got to camp early enough that we ate lunch there.

     That night was our final campfire. Many unprepared groups managed to invent hilarious skits and games on the spot. Particularly memorable were the gangsta’s Marc and Graham, and Scott’s robust mushrooms. The staff eventually went to bed, but the rest of us stayed up to reminisce more about the program. Tears were shed. Sunday saw all of us both excited and sad. Excited because it was raining and we would finally be able to go home and be warm, but sad because it felt like we were leaving something special behind.

     Temagami proved to be an experience that none of us will ever forget.

View pictures of our canoe trip.

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