Sunday, June 22/2014 - Monday, July 7/ 2014

I am working full time (and more) these past few weeks so there has not been a lot of time for jumping on the quads and heading out to the great Northern Forest and the many trails we live so close to.    We managed to get one ride in and that one saw Gary join John, Casey and myself.
We headed down into The Block' and Lilac trail - always one of my favourite rides.

With the many rainstorms that we have been experiencing lately, it was nice to finally get a few days of sunshine and today was great as far as the weather went.
Once we hit "the block" we took a short detour to Heart Lake to check out the sights and sounds there and I was surprised to see that Cliff had finally recovered "the bedroom" to his house boat that is docked here at Heart Lake.   The "bedroom" had been docked way across the lake for over a year and was accessible only by boat so,  that was real nice when he wanted to spend some actual "quiet time" in the forest.

The lake was awesome and I did note that Mr. Beaver was building a new lodge and has been rather busy with that.

We left Heart Lake behind and hooked up to Lilac Trail.  Again, one of my favourite trails.  With the lilacs being so late this year, I was not able to see the signature lilac bush (that sits majestically at the entrance to this trail) in bloom this year.   I have seen it in the past and it is beautiful.

There was however this rose bush climbing a tree at one of the few homestead sites along the trail.  The aroma of roses floating in the air along this trail was incredible and one I soon will not forget.
Eventually Lilac Trail gave way to the main trail to Hooker Lake.  It was on this trail that we came across a few other quadding folks that we knew and stopped to have a quick chat.
It was at this point that the water had claimed the trail and we had to traverse this area rather slowly hoping that there were no hidden trees or holes to stop us!!   There has never been this kind of water here at this particular spot on the trail.  What used to be the "T" junction was now a huge pond.  I am sure the woodland creatures were not too happy with losing this kind of real estate to the water lovers!!

We traversed the water without incident and were soon enjoying a refreshment at Hooker Lake.  Again, it was quiet and peaceful but Mr. Squirrel was not too impressed with us invading his sanctuary and chattered to us all the while we were there.   The loons on the lake said hello as well.   Man, there is something about the call of the loon that reminds you of "wilderness".

From Hooker Lake we started towards home.  Of course I had to stop a few times for my flower pictures (the guys have stopped complaining about my numerous stops) and a photo op of me in the old truck box,  Then, it was down the trail to the snowmobile shelter at Five Corners.

Marie in the old truck box

At the shelter we encountered a little bunny rabbit who was definitely not very fearful of us as he hung around for quite a while checking out the quads and us.  He provided us some amusing entertainment before he eventually hopped away and carried on with his business.
From the shelter, we accessed the return trail which led us through several mud puddles and eventually back to the start of Lilac Trail.   We had done a large loop today and remained totally unscathed!!
Once we climbed out of the Block, we accessed one final trail….. Three Mile.   Guaranteed to provide excitement and perhaps get you stuck up to you knees and things!!   Gary is always up for a challenge and none of us were disappointed.    With John in the lead and Gary riding second. Casey and I were dragging the tail.   We got to the "challenging" spot on the trail and John and Gary flew thorough the part of the trail I refer to as "the highway" without any difficulty.  Casey and I managed to get stuck twice and needed to winch our way out.  I of course, blame that on the other two as they dug up the trail for us!!
Eventually we did catch up to the John and Gary.  Casey took the lead from there and of course didn't know how to avoid the upcoming nonsense and headed left when he should have stayed right.  LOL
Again, we found ourselves stuck and needing the winch.   John, who knew to stay right followed us and eventually all three of us got stuck!!   What a gong show!!   We weren't horribly stuck and we all got out without much difficulty but,  by that time,  we were all covered in mud.   There were smiles on the guys faces so all was good.  They enjoyed this part of the trail the best…. Me, not so much!!
The only good thing about going this way is that at the end of this trail, we are only 3 miles from town so it is an easy trip home.   Another great day comes to an end here in Northern Saskatchewan.

The baby crows are growing!!   Noisy little buggers though!!