If you just go for a paddle than you can stop thinking about wanting to go for a paddle.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

2016: Post 13 – Almost went for a paddle today

The forecast for this weekend is very good for kayaking and plans have been made to paddle on Sunday.   Last night I thought I might go for a paddle this morning as well, but when I woke up I decided to go for a walk in the woods instead.  

There is a spot that I plan to do an overnight hammock camping trip this summer and I wanted to go scope out the area for hanging possibilities.  Also, earlier this year I had purchased some poles for my Warbonnet Superfly hammock tarp and decided to bring the tarp and poles along to see how the poles would work out.  So I filled up my daypack with some gear, put on my hiking boots, grabbed my walking poles, and jumped in the car.

We had forty-nine centimetres of snow that fell Tuesday night and Wednesday.  Lot's of it has melted over the last couple days but there was still a good bit of it on the trail... 



There were fresh foot prints on the trail when I started but within no time the owner of them had turned back.  I knew once I reached the summit of the hill there would be much less snow to contend with and I pushed on.

There wasn't any wind to speak of and the water on this pond was very still...



Further along the trail I found another set of tracks that I recognized right away.  The tracks belonged to Stewart, but it has been quite some time since I have seen them...



There was one spot where I did lose the trail with all the snow that was around.  You'd think it would be impossible to lose a trial with sign's like this posted....



I trudged about a little bit and picked up the trail again.  After walking for nearly an hour, with a couple rest stops included, I was where I wanted to be...



The temperature was 0 Celsius when I left the car, but it was sunny and the snow in the tree branches was melting so much it was as if it was raining when I was in the trees...



I had taken my rain jacket with me in anticipation of needing it and had to pull it on to prevent myself from getting wet and chilled in the `rain` before I started setting up my tarp.



After I had my tarp set up I broke out the poles and added them.  The poles are used to lift out the sides of the tarp instead of using side tie-outs.



Lot's of extra room inside...



I was pleased with the pole set-up, but wished I would have brought my hammock along too... I could have set it up under the tarp and had myself a little snooze.  Oh well, no matter.  It was time to boil some water and have my breakfast of tea and banana bread.



I mucked about for a while after I finished breakfast, scoping out several locations to hang hammocks in the area.  I identified a couple more locations that would require little to no brush clearing.  

I dismantled my morning camp set-up and packed up.  My tarp was wet from the snow melting off the trees and, not wanting to get my pack contents wet, I put it into it's stuff sack and hung it on the outside of my pack.

I began my walk back after having a final look around to make sure all that was left were my footprints. I walked for a little way and then turned back to look at where I had just been...



It took a little less time to walk back to the car then it did to walk in since I now knew where all of the trail was. 

I was very pleased with my little walk in the woods this morning.  Now I just have to decide when the Great Newfoundland Hammock Hang of 2016 will take place...

3 comments:

  1. looks like a lovely spot Dean :)

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  2. looks good buddy! Sounds like I have to hurry up and get my Hammock set up figured out.

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  3. OK, I'll take a guess where this is ... Fort Amherst to Freshwater Bay??? Looks like you're spending Megan's inheritance with new cooking gear too! Nice post Dean. Sometimes its good to get out by yourself.

    Tony :-)

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