Sunday, June 10/2012

It is still raining today when I get up but kids are determined to get John and I out onto the trails.  Today, we will take the jeep and stay dry.
I have to work night shift again tonight so must be back in time to rest up, get dressed and head out.
We load up the vehicles and head to the trails.  Not surprising, they are extremely muddy and the water holes are deep.  Oh I am so glad we are in the jeep.  The mud and wet do not seem to bother the boys at all!!
We head down 8 mile trail towards the gun range at Chitek Lake and I see one of the largest wolf prints ever.  Of course I have to stop and take a picture of it!!  Oh,  such a stark reminder that this is indeed a living, thriving forest.
When we stop for refreshments (I am back to vitamin water!!) we see two deer and I was quick enough to get a few pics of them while they were standing just down the trail watching us.  I bet they did not expect to see a couple of trail riders out and about today.  They were curious and were not in any real hurry to move on so we were able to watch then for a while.
As we continued down the trail, a logging operation has once again managed to obliterate the trail so it took us a while to pick our way through all the mess to eventually find the trail again.  It is a god thing that John has some sort of trail sense and sense of direction because I was totally lost and completely turned around!!  It was a good thing I am not the navigator!!
We eventually hit the Huard Lake trail and made it up to Vimy where the little creek was flowing even faster than a few days ago when we were here with Dave and Shirley.  Man, a little bit of rain sure makes a difference here in the forest.  The only good thing about this is now our forest is no longer at as big a risk for forest fires.
Continuing on, we crossed the grid and entered another trail that would eventually bring us back to the grid and then home.  It was decided that John and I would come home and Casey and Dylan would do one more trail then meet us back at the bus.
Before we hit the grid, Casey's quad once more broke a CV joint and that finished his fun.  He had to cancel the final trail and head back to the bus.  He is a sad panda and is now having to admit that perhaps those huge fancy tires he has put-on the quad are more trouble that they are worth - Hard lessons to learn when you don't listen to someone who knows.  Perhaps Kijiji will soon have an advertisement for some tires!!

Heading out to the trail

Gun Club Road 

Looks muddy

Large Wolf track

Beverage

Dylan and Casey

He's watching us watch him

Taking shelter from the rain

Tree down

Going around

Back on the trail

Lots of water

rain drops on the strawberry leaves

These rain drops looked like tiny jewels sitting on these tamarack needles.

Huard Lake

Huard Lake

Had to use the winch

Casey

Back at the bus, I am so tired but can't seem to rest.  Oh, how I hate working nights!!  Casey and Dylan soon head back to Saskatoon with his quad in the back and I head to work.  John and Hogan are the only ones that truly get to relax and that is so unfair!!  I hope they both suffer insomnia tonight!!