Saturday, July 29/2017

The trail to Hunter Lake

Today arrived bright and shiny and we were all looking forward to an awesome day travelling to Hunter Lake.  The quads had been loaded yesterday so we were pretty much ready to go.  We ate breakfast, packed the coolers, climbed into the truck and headed down the North Road.  We were on our way.....

Beverage

We arrived at the trail head and unloaded the quads.  That in itself was a bit of an adventure as Gary and Dave started shouting at each other when Gary's quad was being unloaded off the truck.  Of course the two of them can't hear as well as they wished they could and that didn't help matters. Once the quad got safely to the ground (like I knew it would) tempers settled and we were off on our adventure.
Jeff (Dave's brother) and his girlfriend Amanda drove out from Saskatoon to join us for the ride so we had an extra quad for today's ride.  I was riding with Shirley in the Terex side by side and John had taken my two up quad for today's ride.

Jeff and Amanda

Our first beverage stop was at a couple of hunting cabins about a mile down the trail.  There were several trees down across the trail and on Shirley's and my way back to the main trail, we managed to catch the end of one of them and tried to pierce the gas tank with the end of it.  I saw what was happening and yelled for Shirley to "stop, stop, stop" before we did too much damage.   I got out and stood on the tree so that the side by side could get over it without any real, nasty damage.   We did manage to dent the plastic though but nothing serious.

Shirley tipped the quad

Not ten minutes down the trail, Shirley hit a stump and the kick back from the steering took us up the embankment and before we knew it, we were over on our side.  It was a slow motion tip but neither Shirley nor I were wearing our seatbelts (and yes, we know better!!).  Shirley immediately curled up into a little ball keeping her arms and legs inside the side by side and I tried holding on to my side not really wanting to fall on top of Shirley.  Of course this was a dream and before I knew it, I was on top of Shirley.  Man,  I think we just tipped this damn thing over!!
We both managed to crawl out of the side by side and surveyed the damage.  Dave and Gary were behind us and they checked to make sure we were ok and once that was checked, proceeded to get the damn machine back on its wheels.
Shirley's right shoulder was sore and she had a few bruises on her arms.  I had a huge bruise on my left leg along with an ugly scratch that was bleeding and I smacked my left shoulder on the steering wheel on the way down to my rather soft landing on Shirley!!  No wonder her right shoulder was sore, I had landed my big ass right on top of her!!
While Shirley and I assessed our damages, Dave and Gary managed to use a snatch block and a tree to winch the quad back onto its wheels.   We decided that there was no crying on the trail as neither one of us was dead and we had no broken bones so we were good!!  Bruises will eventually go away.
Once the quad was checked out and deemed still usable, I took the steering wheel as Shirley was "gun shy" by this time.  First the damn downed tree that tried to pierce the gas tank, and now the tip over.  It was just too much for her to deal with.
It was about 5 minutes down the trail when I hit a hidden stump and both Shirley and I were thrown forward as a result.  It was then that I hit my forearm on the steering wheel and gave myself yet another goddamn bruise.  This one was a beauty too!!
God damn stumps!!  Who the hell cleans out a trail and only cuts the downed trees wide enough for a quad and not a side by side.  I would love to kick that person's ass right about now.
I must say, that side by side is one tough vehicle as it was still drivable.  I had not dented the rim or busted the axle so we were still good to go.  Holy Buckets.....this trail hates us!!
I realized that we would have to be very careful for the rest of the trail if we were to survive!!
We managed to catch up to the rest of the group and told our stories and showed our bruises off. They were getting pretty ugly by this time that is for sure!!
The trail itself was actually pretty amazing and we were enjoying the scenery despite our rather dubious start.  It was slow going but be eventually did make it to  Hunter Lake.
This lake had not been fished for several years as a plow wind (which was responsible for all the downed trees) had made the trail virtually impossible until some good Samaritan took his chain saw and sawed his way down the five mile trail to the lake.  Unfortunately, he opened it for a quad and not a side by side and by the time we took the trail, the tall grasses and forest flora had covered the sawed off tree trunks making them virtually invisible until you actually hit them, coming to a dead stop and smashing your arm into the steering wheel!!  Jeez!!
Of course the gong show continued and it was not all Shirley and I suppling the entertainment.
Kelly had to get into the act as well.  Unfortunately, only John saw her high diving act but they were both laughing when we arrived at the edge of the lake.
Apparently John was the first to arrive at the lake with Kelly close behind.  The actual shore was not all that big and the quads had to be moved around and backed up in such a way to ensure that all the quads could park at the edge of the lake.
John got his quad backed up and Kelly was in the process of coming down the little decline to the water's edge all the while "snapchatting" the trail in front of her.  She was not watching where she was driving and ended up hitting a rather deep beaver run that was leading into the lake.  Upon hitting this, the quad tipped forward from the momentum from the decline.  The quad had every intention of tipping into the lake but John was standing close enough to the quad and was able to grab the back of it thus keeping it from tipping into the lake.  This was a very good thing as Kelly, who was still taking video for snap chat flew off the quad and landed in the lake all the while catching the whole thing on video!!  Had John not been able to hold the quad, it would have flipped over onto Kelly and that could have been quite ugly!!  Fortunately, she was fine - wet - but fine and it was all on video!!  Good Grief....this trail really does have a hate on for us!!
See what inattention causes......God, and we are all old enough to know better.  I'm pretty sure we would be giving the kids grief for not paying attention and here we are, acting like a bunch of idiots.  Didn't anyone tell us that we are old and do not recover as well as we used to!!

Hunter Lake

Believe it or not, we all eventually arrived at the lake's edge and were once again struck by the beauty of our Northern Forest.  There were a pair of loons swimming on the lake and they let us know that they did not appreciate our disturbance.  Their signature call is lovely and often described as haunting and yet,  I will never tire of hearing it.

Refreshment break.  Lord only knows,,,,,we needed it!!

Thanks for the ride Shirley - beauty bruise

more bruises

By far the best bruise ever and I couldn't even blame Shirley for this one!!

It was soon time to head back to the trucks and the trail awaited.  It was going to be a slow trek home as I was determined to get there in one piece and by not damaging the side by side any further!!  I did manage to clip the edge of a downed tree in a rather deep water hole and finished off the one plastic fender "thing" but,  Dave assured me that it was quite fixable and completely removed it at the next stop.  We did manage to make it back to the trucks all in one piece!!  I was never so glad to see the end of a trail as I was that day!!  The soreness and stiffness was setting in and all I wanted to do was get into the recliner and whine for the rest of the night!!

Loading up for the ride home

Kelly wiping a little dirt off

Another great ride

We were blessed with an awesome sunset on the ride home and that really soothed the soul.  What a great ending to what could have been a rather ugly day.  All is well.
We got home and John got busy cooking supper.  It was ribs and bbq'd cabbage tonight and it was so darn good that I almost forgot how sore and stiff I was.   I can only imagine how awful Shirley felt after I fell on her and all her aches and pains were rearing their ugly heads - as were mine!!   Holy Buckets.......we are too old for this nonsense - But - Life is still Good!!

Kelly, all showered up and ready to eat