Cache Mania

Written by Don Alexander    

The next morning the gentle wakeup, thankfully, came much later than the day before.  The camp awakened slowly as the inhabitants came out in their own time.  There was much rejoicing as we had all survived, in one way or another, the day before and were no worse for wear.  The adventures were fresh in mind and the joy and camaraderie was abundant.  Sometime in the morning Team Goju had slipped away, I think it was with Kodiak Cacher, on an ATV to hunt down his derelict GPS.  When he returned it was with a heroes welcome, riding in standing up at the back of the ATV with the GPS raised high.  Everyone was cheering at the top of their lungs, so glad at the sight.  He also found my Gatorade and the note Res2100 had left the night before.  What a great way to end the dwindling time at camp.

We packed up and Rainbow, HikerT, Keith Watson and myself started the long trek home. This time I was in no hurry and was amazed at the condition of the road I’d blazed through just 2 days ago. We took our time and made 2 stops before hitting the road.  A cache and a beautiful lake on the north side on the way out, just past our “Low on gas” realization.  I must have been really tired as I somehow managed to leave my FABABOO stamp in the Springs Cache.  It was starting to wear out so I was due to make a new one anyway. (Update October 27 – New stamps made today)

When we got to the main road I looked at the GPS and saw a few caches to the north a bit.  Everyone was up for a cache or two as long as they were not 3+ on the terrain scale we joked.  We had a little road mapping problem getting to the first one then took a look at the next.  Forgotten Falls. Wow!  4 terrain!  The description made it look very appealing.  In spite of the terrain, we decided to make a go of it.  It was a SimplyRed & Kodiak Cacher cache that was out of this world and we were glad to have stopped.  While we were mucking around there we were joined by the Goju’s and Jefftrex and reminiscing started all over again.  If this was the only cache we did on the way home, I was going home completely satisfied!  The rest of the trip home was mostly uneventful.  We did stop by the Big Nickel before taking the long road home in the darkness.  I finally arrived home as the clock in the car struck midnight having completely missed Thanksgiving dinner.  While I was exhausted, my wife and I talked till about 3am catching up on each others adventures in the days that passed.  That was after a much needed shower of course.

The Geocaching Gods must have decided to make up for the downpour they threw at the GTA Geobash.  The weather couldn’t have been better and neither could the company.  Many thanks to Ralph and the local catchers for all the hard work and planning that made this event possible.  An adventure of a lifetime we won’t soon forget.

Tags: Fababoo, Ishpatina Ridge
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Written by Don Alexander    

There wasn’t much of a trail at first. It was overgrown, had marshy spots and rocks, but it was much better than what we’d gone through to get here today.  With a quick change of batteries, headlamp and GPS on the move, we were on our way towards the main ATV trail.    Ralph and I had a preplanned that if they made it to the crossroads they would take the Gatorade that I’d left the morning before and leave it with a note on the path so we’d know they were all right.  If they found the GPS lost in the morning it would be noted there too.  We found no sign of the bottle and assumed the worst, Res2100 and Hiker might still be out there bushwhacking.  Maybe we missed it?  There was nothing to do but keep on going, at the least to find someone that could let us know for sure.

We reached the COG camp and had a quick “We’re back and OK” passing through and found out that Lisdowney had left, taking another home to recover from an illness nearer to civilization.  Also, thankfully, that Res2100 and HikerT made it through safe and sound about 4 hours earlier.  This trip has been nothing short of surprises.  We forged on ahead to on the last stretch.  The long day kept wearing us down and we had to make a few stops before finally reaching the Sturgeon River.

With a few whistle blows we were greeted by an energetic Cisco’s jingling and barking across the river.  What a welcome sound that was!  It was almost as welcome as Roglatour’s “Holy smokes, you guys made it out!” as he crossed the river on his ATV to greet us.  There’s something to be said about Northern Hospitality as much as Southern.  Each of us was treated to an individual ride across the river and with that, our hike was complete.  We may not have been the first to complete it in a day but had an incredible adventure on that very same day that will be hard to top as far as caches or experiences go.

With a short walk to camp, we found a few were still stirring, worried about us as much as we were worried about them. I was still worried about Rainbow, with the sacrifice she made in sleep gear and the icy cold temperatures and found Roglatour and his girlfriend had taken care of that too.   We talked a little by the fire and I went to bed falling asleep before my head hit the mattress.

Tags: Fababoo, Ishpatina Ridge
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Written by Don Alexander    

The sun had disappeared behind the ridge.  After a few pictures and a wee break we started our bushwhacking along the lake in the slowly dimming light.  Not far into the bush we came across a canoe.  We were wondering where Tomtec and Elf had stored their ride.  It was not just any canoe, it happened to be a TB too!  After a quick picture the bushwhacking continued.

We tried going over the rocks along the lakes edge for a bit while there was still a bit of light.  It seemed easy going as we didn’t have the same amount of branches to deal with.  What we did have were wet rocks and the odd tree trunk growing at a 45 towards the lake.  After about 50m the rocks became submersed and we were back to the brush again.  The darkness came very fast then and everyone donned their headlamps.  Even with the headlamps the going was rough, perhaps because of them.  I had a look at my inside thigh the next day after arriving home.  I must have always started with my right leg every time I went over a log.  The bruises were all on the left inside leg where the odd branch stub jammed.  The final count was around a dozen cigar sized bruises.  We started to find while plastic ribbons on route and realized that we’d found the actual trail of those that came before. Some trees had what looked like moss green spots on the trees.  Perhaps paint pellet markers of the trail?  Perhaps it was just a kind of old moss of the area?

The lack of sleep over the past few days, the endless branches coming out of nowhere and the exertion of the hike was starting to take its toll.  Mentally, the thought of how much more of this we needed to go through was very draining.  Rest stops became more frequent, rather than every hour it became every 1/2.  Many times we thought of Res2100 and HikerT as they went inland.  Had they made it through?  If anything happened along that ridge it would be harder for them to get help, though they did have a radio which we were lacking.

A spot marked on the GPS where the bones were supposed to be.  We did did a little search.  Not surprisingly, we didn’t come up with anything.  All the other points we had of previous finders was off by up to 100m or more so we kept going.  About 10 minutes later on route we found them.

Somewhere near the “dock” waypoint we came across some rubbish by a fallen log.  It included a bunch of metal duct tubing and a decaying lawn chair.  I didn’t think twice and opened up the chair for a welcome sit and the others used the log.  We though we heard something and everyone went quiet.  We did!  We whacked the short distance to the shore and saw lights out on the lake.

Tomtec, Elf and D.Banner were just getting back to their camp.  It was good to know that someone was on the lake, just in case. A few calls back and forth and they were made aware of our situation and tried to pass the info on to other groups at the other base camps much further away.  We continued on our trek staying close to the lake.

We met up with the three on an inlet marsh.  The catching up was a welcome relief from claustrophobic like conditions of the forest.  We were provided with a chance to fill up containers with water via the portable filter again, offered spare batteries just in case and I consented to borrowing a pair of gloves from Elf.  I don’t know why I did.  My hands weren’t that cold except when we stopped. Maybe it was a little bit of worry about how long we’d be out here.  We still hadn’t made it past Scarecrow Lake so there was much bushwhacking to go and it was supposed to get close to 0 degrees overnight.   Reluctantly, we parted ways and got back to our trek.

There were some logs to cross over to the south end of the marsh and we made a bit of a wrong turn following along a small peninsula.  Our GPS’s didn’t seem to be working properly.  Team Goju’s wonky one had done OK so far with only a few fiz outs and mucked screens.  I did a calibration and we checked and rechecked to sort out where we thought we should go.  Not long after, we took another break and I took a few pics with Elf’s gloves between my legs. (Reading that line over again you know Elf’s going to have something to say about that line!*) About half an hour after we left I realized that I didn’t have the gloves.  I’d been used to walking all day without gloves and they hadn’t been with me long enough to instinctively notice that they were gone and it was added to the growing list of things lost or forgotten.

We planned to follow as much of the original couple’s rough trail until it turned into the cliffs.  Of those cliffs we didn’t really know much.  From there we planned to continue along the ridge at the same elevation and skirt the south end in hopes of avoiding the cliffs in the black of night.

The night wore on and it was getting close to midnight.  The stops were even more frequent and the rest’s longer.  Knowing that bears frequented these part and seeing bear dung on the hike up in the morning, it was always at the top of our minds.  We forced ourselves to not rest as long as we wished, not wanting to be caught by some animal unaware.  Following the plan, we went past where others had gone, continuing on to the southwest of the cliffs.  When we cut across heading towards where the couple had left their bikes we came to a major roadblock.

Rather than looking UP 50ft cliffs toward the ridge we were looking at a sharp cliffs DOWN!  On further inspection and a brighter flashlight, not only were the cliffs going down, after about 40-50m from the base of the cliffs it went up about 100m on the other side!  We were on the cusp of a valley with cliffs on either side rather than a gentle slope around the ridge!  Back to square one and with the knowledge that Bears tend to make holes in cliffs into dens, worries were at an all time high.

We had no reason to believe that the edge we were on didn’t continue south and couldn’t see far enough to know for sure.  After thinking things over we decided to backtrack and see if we could find the way the couple had gone to get over the cliffs.  Somewhere in our backtracking we made it to the valley below and worked our way to the cliffs on the other side.    Once there, we saw what looked like a way up the cliffs and started to climb.  After about 20m we came to a 60degree dirt/moss covered slope.  That itself didn’t seem too bad so I volunteered to give it a try.  Initially the top of the slope looked like it flattened out at the top.  A closer look with a brighter flashlight revealed another roadblock.  It met a cliff that went straight up with no top in sight.  It was back to the drawing board, again.

Down to the valley floor we went, now following the cliffs edge, not knowing where we would come out or if there was a bear waiting around the corner.  We continued along, bushwhacking, making as much noise as possible.  After what seemed like an eternity we finally found the stream on the other side of the ridge.  A real trail at last!

Tags: Fababoo, Ishpatina Ridge
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Written by Don Alexander    

After the group shots, Team Goju had a few more that they needed to take.  Having carried a costume all the way to the top, understandably you’d want to make sure you got SOME shots with it.  Res2100, wisely, wanted to get as much hiking done while the daylight was still out so we decided to split the remaining group of 6 hikers (Res2100, HikerT, Jefftrex, Team Goju x2 and myself) up again.  As Team Goju’s GPS was wonky at the best of times I decided to wait it for a bit longer and go with them even though it might mean missing out on the first to do the ridge and back in a day.  Having been through so much with them today it was an easy decision and I have absolutely no regrets.  Jefftrex and I borrowed a water filer/pump from Tomtec and went with Res2100 and HikerT down to Dick Lake.  There we parted ways and didn’t see Res2100 or HikerT again till the following morning.  We filled up our camel packs using the filter while we waited for the Team Goju.  When they arrived, they did some filling too.  I started checking out the many pockets in my vest while we were waiting and found a nice surprise.  I’d brought a bag of 2-bite brownies along for the car trip and forgot all about them.  They were a welcome treat for everyone and it wasn’t long before they were devoured.

Down the trail we went.  It wasn’t like you’re average trail.  There were many rocky bumps along the way, the odd bit of bushwhacking along the side of one of the lakes and marshes.  We lost the trail briefly near the marsh at the middle before finding it again.  Luckily, we heard tales of how people made it up.  The most important one being the many stories of how people took a marshy route and found out after that there was a few logs across the marsh hidden about 15m away.  We were able to get across without getting wet or going barefoot.  The sun was starting to set and the lakes above Scarecrow were like glass.  We couldn’t help stopping for a few minutes rest at each of the lakes.  Besides, this downhill was playing havoc on my knees so the stops were very welcome on my end.

Arriving at the boat launch area we noticed many of the trees were burned out in a wide area as we approached the water.  Our guess is that it might have been some sort of controlled burning to promote some new growth in the area which was evident on closer inspection.  With the sun disappearing over the horizon we didn’t spend too much time there and started to follow the main bushwhack route along the lake.

Tags: Fababoo, Ishpatina Ridge
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Written by Don Alexander    

Our arrival at the peak was 1:03pm.  We had made it but were concerned for the other members from the group that we split off from.  There were scattered reports of trouble with the other group of hikers and Team Goju was on the horn in an instant to find out the situation.  While one member had reached his personal limits, the others were going to continue towards the top.  This event was a challenge no matter how you decided to attempt it and everyone that made an attempt should be very proud to have pushed themselves to their limits.

At the top we were greeted by many cachers that I knew already and few that I didn’t.  Everyone wore a bright smile.  I decided to take a break by the fire and break out my lunch, another M.R.E. Meal Kit that went down really well.  After that I checked out the signed wood block, the TB’s/coins and the logs of others that had come before us that were on small bits of paper in water bottles.  Then it was time for me to do my thing.

When deciding to come on this trip I wanted to do something different.  Something unexpected and probably hadn’t been done before.  One of my favorite earth caches was the sand dunes at Jockeys Ridge in North Carolina and the best activity to do on that ridge was fly a kite.  It made some sort of weird sense to me to do the same thing here, on this ridge.  When Crystal Dawns asked if I was going to fly it off the tower I said “sounds good!”  The only problem…I’m very, VERY scared of heights.  I’m sure you’ve heard of the glass floor at the CN Tower down in Toronto.  It’s a thick floor where you can look down and see all the way down to the ground.  Well I can’t stand on it.  I can barely make it to the edge of the carpet and I get the willies.  Bushwhacking to the top was NOTHING compare to this.  I tied the kite to me and started to climb the ladder only to come to a big gap.  That was tough.  You had to reach up and then try to get a grip high enough so that you could get a foot up to the bottom rung.  I think I made it with a knee rather than a foot but I really didn’t care to remember at that time.  From there it was one step at a time, VERY slowly, concentrating on the awesome view that was getting better with every step.

I finally reached the hatch I didn’t know what to do.  There’s no way I’m going to be able to get up there!  I felt around with one hand and managed to find a handle towards the middle of the platform.  If it hadn’t been there I probably would have come right back down.  With it firmly in grip I made it through the opening, slowly rising to my feet.  The willies were rampant and I couldn’t get the nerve to get close to the edge.  Now to the task was at hand.  I concentrated on getting it ready and that made being up there a little easier.  Once ready I let it fly, well, it fell at first.  It wasn’t very windy so it was a challenge at first.  With more line out and some tugging, the kite caught a drift and slowly climbed.  I’d done it!  YAY!  Now thoughts started to turn to “How am I going to get down from here!”?  I snapped a few picks and think I might have got a bit of video before the battery ran out in the Camcorder before reeling in the kite.  Now I had to figure out how to get the heck down.  But wait!  There are others on the way up!  Willies, willies WILLIES!

By the time Tomtec and Team Goju made it up I was a little more comfortable with the situation.  At least the tower stopped feeling like it was in an earthquake caused by their climbing!  A few more pictures and I was ready to make my way back down.  It was a little easier going down and faster too.  Many of the cachers had already started their decent down to Scarecrow Lake and we were about to as well.  I couldn’t leave a stone unturned and made a mad dash for the “Alt Peak” and the actual coordinates that were listed on the cache page.  The first half was mainly clear then it got nasty.  I found the other peak and took a picture and a reading from the small mound sticking up higher than the rest.  Then it was off to the Event waypoint.  They turned out to be on the side of the ridge surrounded with dense trees.  I made it back to the tower just in time for some cool group shots on the tower.

>>  Part 5: The Trail to the Boat Launch

Tags: Fababoo, Ishpatina Ridge
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