Training Log Archive: Bash

'Bent and I paddled kayaks on this grey morning.



We headed over to visit the rocky canoe campsite on Joe Lake where we got married, but unfortunately it was occupied so we couldn't go ashore. Even so, it's nice to be able to go back there every year - so many memories.



Autumn colours look fantastic on a cloudy day - really intense.

We were sitting outside the lodge when a parade of red canoes approached from the east. We hopped into a nearby canoe and headed across Little Joe Lake to say hi to Goose, Gosling and their gang. (Yeah, we're still speaking to them after yesterday.) We couldn't tempt them to join us for Sunday lunch at the lodge though - apparently they had Balderson cheese in their lunch bag.

It has become our annual tradition to park at the rail trail south of Arowhon Pines, then run to meet up with the Mizzy Lake Loop - a popular wildlife viewing trail in Algonquin Park. About halfway around this very scenic loop, I said to 'Bent, "This is really fun! Running on the rail trail felt like work, but this technical trail running feels awesome." About 60 seconds later, I twisted my frickin' ankle again. It felt like it crunched a notch or two farther than last weekend, but it was impossible to hear it over my scream. We stopped. I hobbled back and forth saying bad words. 'Bent gave me Advil. And then we continued on more slowly with me in the lead. It was still fun, but I was soooo disappointed at the setback. This might take awhile.

Around mid-afternoon, we headed off on a Wild Goose Chase. I mean that quite literally; our friend Goose was camping on Burnt Island Lake along with Gosling and several others. We are such devoted friends that we made the trip even though there were only heavy Grumman canoes left at the lodge, and we didn't want to disappoint them when we'd promised we would visit even though it meant some nasty portages for 'Bent's bad neck. Little did we know that our so-called "friends" had craftily selected a remote campsite at the far northeastern corner of the lake and hidden their red canoes in the forest so they couldn't be spotted from a distance. To make up for this, they are going to have to invite us over for dinner some time soon!! ;-) Instead we found these guys, who couldn't have left their red canoes in a more obvious location - thus convincing us that we were in the right spot until we had nearly pulled ashore by their campfire. Oh well, nice day for a paddle. (Portaging time included.)

'Bent and I headed up to Algonquin Park for our annual weekend at Arowhon Pines where we spent our wedding weekend. As with our wedding day, the weekend started with a ride on the Minnesing mountain bike trail.



It was a gorgeous day. The leaves were still a couple of days away from their peak.



Due to injuries and bike problems, it's been 3 years since we last rode Minnesing. A number of rocky areas in the first half of the trail have become very rough over the years as the soil has eroded. 'Bent described these long sections of trail as having rocks the size of pumpkins - sometimes surrounded by mud pits. This meant a lot of hike-a-bike for me, especially once I remembered (after a tweak) that quickly unclipping could wrench my sore ankle. It was hard work and not super-fun, since I'd rather be riding. 'Bent did better, since he doesn't have as far to fall off his recumbent bike. We didn't take many photos of the rocky areas because we were focused too hard on staying upright!

The second half of the trail is an old carriage road - lots of long, fun hills, both up and down, with more manageable loose rocks - let's call them baseball-sized. Awesome and fast!



We met two other couples along the way - a Turkish/Kazakh pair and two Germans. This was a continuing theme for the weekend, as the guests at our lodge included people from China, Germany and several other places. On our trail run, most people had an accent when they said hello. It's interesting to see that some people from other countries appreciate Canada's wild areas more than a lot of Canadian-born people do. It's not just Algonquin - I've often run into foreign hikers or paddlers in the Yukon, the Rockies and other amazing Canadian backcountry places that many native Canadians will never explore. Good for them!

And then on to Arowhon Pines to enjoy good food and Algonquin scenery.

Caledon Navigators mountain bike orienteering training night at Albion Hills. Fun course set by Rocky with nice new training controls. We got a good tour of some of the lesser-used areas of the park, and it got just dark enough that I could try my new light for the last half-hour - mostly to read the map, not to see the trail.

'Bent and I went around the score-O course in a similar loop, but often seemed to be approaching controls from different directions, so we saw a lot of each other. We both got all the controls, and I managed to get them a little faster. :-) Best of all, we were both beaten by Matthias Herzog, a 20-year-old novice orienteer who also cleaned up in the junior category at CN's MTB-O event in the spring. I was really happy about that!

Then we had an awesome bonfire with s'mores, hot chocolate, popcorn and excellent company. Thanks to Rocky for organizing a terrific training night, and to Goose for helping with course vetting until well past his bedtime on Tuesday.

Since there are no events coming up for awhile, I thought I'd give my twisted ankle a few days of complete rest with occasional icing. I'm sure the body part that went "crunch!" is still in there waiting to surprise me again, but it's down to mild pain and swelling with pale rainbow colours. It feels like the ankle is ready to start building strength again. The next few days will include some paddling, mountain biking and rocky trail running, so I'm hoping it's ready to hang in there for me.

Just booked a trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon! This has been on my Dad's "bucket list" for a long time, and there was a lucky cancellation, so we're taking him for his birthday. (Although actually we're going on 'Bent's birthday!) Dad wants to go down to Phantom Ranch by mule, and 'Bent and I will go on foot. I've been trying to find a date to arrange this for a couple of years - it's tough when bookings are made 13 months in advance, and very few cancellations pop up. Also, there aren't that many dates that work by the time you remove the really hot summer months, the ice-on-the-mule-trail winter months, my parents' vacation dates, our race dates, family holidays, etc., etc.

I can't remember another trip that was so complicated to book. When I've tried to pull it together in the past, I've been told 8 months in advance: "I'm sorry, ma'am, but all the vegetarian dinners are sold out." People, you've got eight whole months!! You couldn't add a few more vegetables to your shopping list?! But no, these national parks run a very, very tight ship. We will have to carry a dinner down for 'Bent if no vegetarians cancel before we go, because they are only able to serve 6 vegetarians each night at Phantom Ranch.

My favourite part of making the reservation was when the agent asked, "And how did you hear about us?" "Um, you're asking me how I heard about the GRAND CANYON?!!" "Yes, ma'am." Wow, I had to admit that I couldn't remember a time in my life when I *hadn't* heard of the Grand Canyon, so unfortunately I couldn't help him out. I mean *really*, are there actually people who say, "I read about it on the Internet"?