Wednesday, July 16/2014

Refreshment break

Jace and Kim drove out from Saskatoon today to get away from the daily stresses of life.  It was time to,  take some time and play!!  Too often we are consumed with what we should or should not do and forget that it is OK to have some fun.  Thankfully Kim put her foot down and told Jace that it was time to drive up here and have some "Ma and Pa" time and relax for a day.  We had a blast and it was well worth it!!

Cleaning off the tires

We headed down into The Block" and of course the first thing on the agenda was to play in the waters of Deer Lake under the guise of cleaning the tires.   Ok Jace, we all know you like the water!!

Lots of smoke in the air from fires burning fires in North West Territories

We had planned for a long ride today and the weather was great although smoke from raging forest fires in the NWTs had drifted down making it rather hazy.

Nasty Ass water 

Of course there is always mud and some challenging water holes along the way to five corners and today was no different.  While most of these holes can be avoided....yes, I said avoided, that was not meant to be today.

There is no going around for Jace

There is no going around for these idiots and Jace was the first to get stuck, having to get off his  machine and push!!  John thought he may need the winch but I guess when you have your chest waders on, it is OK to get off and push!!

Kimmy

Kimmy chose to go around this particular muddy spot and together, her and I waited for Jace to extricate himself from the mud.  Once that was done, we continued down the trail to five corners with out incident although we did pass a most gorgeous tiger lily supporting three blooms.  Once we made our refreshment stop, I made Kim walk back down the trail for a photo of it in all its glory.  Wow, I love the wild flowers we have here in our province.

A three blossom stem - Tiger Lily

John actually posted two pics of this Tiger Lily but I somehow managed to delete one - not sure how I did that but it did cause a rather nasty word to come out of my mouth.  Shit, Oh Dear,  I guess I do have "happy" fingers!!

At Five Corners

Trail to Whiskey Jump

We continued down the trail, speeding down to whiskey jump where, if you are going fast enough can "get some air" as you travel down the trail.  Since I was on behind Casey, it is safe to say that we Did Not "catch any air"!!    He actually is a very courteous driver!!

Headed to the old bridge

We headed over to the old bridge so that we could access trails that would eventually lead us to the Big River Grid Road.   The old bridge has been washed out for a few years but we heard that there was an easy way through the river so off we went to check it out.

We arrived at the river and found it had easy accessibility to the other side so we were good to go.  We took several pics here and I noticed the many shades of green that this area offered.  It truly is an awesome forest.

With the river crossing behind us, we continued down the trail.  John and I have not been on this particular trail for a few years and it was good the see that it really had not changed too much.  It still offered a few challenging spots but nothing we couldn't handle.  The trail eventually spit us out into the clear cut logging area and we stopped just before the grid road access.   Of course there were a few more wild flowers around and I did have to stop and get some pics.

Another awesome flower

A pretty moth

Jace stuck up to his ass at Chute Lake

We accessed the grid and then had to drive at least 16K to access the trail that would lead us back towards home.   Of course driving the grid that many miles at a good speed, did not take very long and we were soon headed over to McRobb Lake.   Of course we had to check out "the wet way" home and Jace found himself stuck up to his eyeballs near Chute Lake.   This was a great big FAIL and it took a while to get him unstuck..  It took two winches to finally convince the muskeg to let go of its prize!!

Needing the winch

Casey and John helping Jace get out of the muskeg

Once freed from the "skeg" we continued on and eventually made it to another water crossing near Harry Piche's Cabin.  This water crossing was real low considering there have been times when it was over the racks and flowing like a banshee!!  Today, it was an easy cross and a good place to have a refreshment.

Big smiles - back on the sandy trails near Hooker Lake

Eventually, we hooked up to Lilac Trail (one of my favs) and then to the open field by the actual lilac bush.  It was getting late and and mosquitoes where voracious.  Man, the buzzing in the air was incessant and one could certainly understand just how horrible it would be to be lost in this forest and die of exposure.  Thank heavens for 40 deet!!
Soon, it was time for the final leg home and we arrived back in the yard around 10:00 p.m.  The dogs were happy to see us and it was time for supper.   I think steak is on the menu for tonight.  Mmmmm
All in all, it was a good day, spent with family and enjoying the out doors.   Can it get any better than this?   I think not.