Break has come to an end.

Let me be the first to tell you that the last week and a half has been very very nice.  I really enjoyed sleeping in every morning and playing outside on the nice and not so nice days.

I feel I accomplished a lot over break with a new bwcacast episode being shot, five episdoes edited up, some snowshowing on the lake with Erin, and some skating at the outdoor hockey rink in cook.

We went to a couple of movies “Yes Man” and “Marley and Me”.  Both were fun movies.  Erin and I unfortunetly got the gigles at the end of Marley and Me when there were people in the theater that were so caught up in the movie that they were actually sobbing.  Let me tell you its not good to get the giggles in a “quiet” theater surrounded by very upset people.  Luckliy we were able to control ourselves enough to not cause a scene.  The movie was a little sad, but man… Its a movie folks, its not your dog.  🙂

I am hoping that the new year of work will go by as quickly as the last few months.  I am ready for another summer of adventures.  If you haven’t heard, we booked tickets for Austraila in June.  I can’t wait for the trip.  Its going to be a ton of fun traveling the Great Ocean Road with Erin for three weeks.

I have also strated planning trips into the BWCAW.  I need to get some dates from people that will be going with to see what will work out best entry permit dates.

For now I have another few months with students and teachers to focus on.

I hope everyone has a nice January.

Snowshoeing and Editing

Erin and I took off to shoot our first winter episode for BWCACAST.com.  I was planning on heading out to Hegman Lake on Wednesday (New Years Eve Day) because the weather forecast showed a sunny day.  Well Tuesday morning Erin got up before me and checked the weather.  She came back and woke me up suggesting we go then instead of Wednesday and that the weather was supposed to clear up for the day.

With this sudden change of plans I hopped out of bed and started rummaging around the house collecting all the gear we would need for the little adventure.  I was planning on pulling all the gear together that evening, so we were a bit unprepared.  I dug around in the closet and pulled out my cook stove, fuel, nested cook kit, and backpack.  Along with the basics we added some extra layers, face protectors (for the wind) and some extra mittens.  Erin not only got some hot water in a thermos, but also made some tasty egg sandwiches to get some nice warm food in our bellies before we headed out in the cold.

We threw our gear in the car and headed down the road.  We got about half way down Raps road (the road we live on) and I realized I had forgotten a headlamp and tp.  The headlamp in case we were out into the evening hours, and the tp is pretty self explanatory.  So we turned around to retrieve the much needed supplies.

Once on the road we made it to Ely around noon where we stopped at Will Stegers shop so I could buy a pair of mukluks.  With my new purchase freshly sprayed water sealant we headed down the Echo trail.  We pulled into the Hegman lake entry point a little after 1:00 PM.  We hopped out of the car and donned our snowshoes.  I got the video camera out and on the tripod and we started down the trail.

It was great that Erin got me motivated to go that day because as soon as we were on the trail, the skies cleared up and it was nothing but sunshine and blue skies for the rest of our trip.  Erin is great to shoot shows with, she is patient during all the retakes, and the time consuming shots that require us to set up the camera, walk by it, then go back and retrieve it.  She also gives pointers on different shots to get and what might enhance my on the spot dialogs I have with the camera.

It took us a little over two hours to snowshoe the 2.4 miles out to the pictographs and back.  We were able make it back to the car before the sun went down.  It really was a perfect day to be out in the woods.  On the car ride back we called up Erin’s mom and had her fire up the sauna.  So we swung by her place and relaxed in the sauna and visited for a couple hours.

With this newly shot footage and some time to actually get some editing done, I spent the last couple days hammering away at new episodes for BWCACAST.  I had already edited up a couple of shows last week, and released one of them the day we were out shooting our winter episode at Hegman.  All in all I now have 5 shows that are newly edited.  So if your a fan of the show here is what you have to look forward to in the coming months.

Exploring Kifes Lower Arm – Released Tuesday December Dec. 30th

Leaving Knife Lake – Jan 13

Lakes 1-2-3-4 – Jan 27

Hiking the Angleworm Trail – Feb 10

Snowshoeing into Hegman – Feb 24

Along with editing today I did catch part of the Winter Classic.  It was really cool to watch Detroit and Chicago play on the outdoor rink.  I am not surprised the venue was sold out in less than an hour and that tickets were being scalped for over a $1,000.

About halfway through the second period, Jesse and I went out snowshoeing to slim chance the same place Erin and I had gone to on Sunday.  Jesse and I went further up the trail back to a little slough.  Well I was following Jesse across a bit of ice and happened to break through.  The snowshoes I was using weren’t as big so they didn’t displace my weight as much and through the ice I went.  Luckily I only went in up to my calves.  My mukluks did a phenomenal job of keeping my feet dry. I hopped out as soon as I could and used a bunch of dry snow to wick away the water on my mukluks and snow pants.  After that was taken care of Jesse and I continued to explore round the area where we flushed a grouse and a couple of deer.  After hiking around we hopped back on our trail and headed home.

Snowshoeing on Vermilion

It was an amazingly sunny day out today.  This afternoon I donned Jim’s mukluks and snowshoes and Erin and I headed out across the lake.  The snow was crunchy on top sounding like glass shattering on each step.  We got a little ways from the house and looked back to see our tracks in the snow.  This is one of my favorite things about snowshoeing.  You can really see your progress with just a glance over your shoulder.

We continued down the lake towards Black Bay.  We weren’t planning on going all the way there.  We really didn’t have a goal in mind, but were kinda thinking about checking out a trail called “Slim Chance” which we usually get to by boat in the summer and fall.  On our way It was fun to see the relatively untouched snow covering the lake in front of us.

We continued down the lake enjoying the frosted trees everywhere and the snow covered docks.  Its kinda nice here in the winter it gives you the feeling that you are the only ones on the lake.  Most of the houses are summer use only.

We did make our way out to Slim Chance and hopped onto the trail.  Erin snapped this photo of me heading up the trail.  It was a little up hill, but the snowshoes did their job of keeping us on top of the snow.

We continued down the trail stepping over fallen trees and actually crawling under one.  Erin got a little tripped up stepping over one.  The cool thing is it doesn’t even look like she fell, it looks more like she is posing for a photo in the snow.

Along the trail there was a tree with a huge shelf fungus stuck to its side.  I’ve seen a lot of these, but not many this big.  I didn’t touch it, but if you do touch the bottom with your bare fingers it will stain the fungus where ever you touch it.  You can essentially write on them with just a finger.

Once we were on the trail it was really cool to look up through the trees above watching the blue sky shine through.  It really is a very different atmosphere between summer and winter.

After a little hike up the trail we headed back home before we were too sweaty and cold.  The hike back went just fine.  There were a few spots where we sunk through the top layer of snow into the slush below.  We were quick to hop a head and attempt to soak up the remaining water with dry snow.

We came home to a warm fire in the wood stove.  The mukluks performed greatly, but they are a bit small for me.  I might run over to Ely and pick up a pair for myself.  I love my bunny boots, but they are a bit heavy for long hiking trips.  The mukluks are nice, light, and warm.  You can check them out at www.mukluks.com.

I am hoping to head out to Hegman Lake this week.  Hegman is where the painted rocks are that we did for one of our first BWCACAST shows.  I am hoping to basically shoot it again, but this time in the winter.  It is supposed to be sunny on Wednesday.  That’s the proposed day for the trip.

I am also thinking about driving up to Atikokan Ontario this week to shoot a show for bwcacast on the Souris River Canoe.  They make very nice canoes and its a very small business.  I think it’d be fun to show a behind the scene look on how their boats are made.