In an effort to have an adventure during “spring break” here in Canada, it was decided that cross country skiing and sleeping in a wood stove-heated ski shack away from civilization would be the way to do it. 

Erin and I drove the smart car to Duck Mountain, 4 hours from Saskatoon on the provincial border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and parked in the Batka Lake parking lot at the ski trail head. We then each hoisted 35 lb. of gear onto our backs and cross country skied 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) into the woods to the Moose Lake Ski Shelter, where we slept for 2 nights.

We skied 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) on our second day there, then chopped wood for 1.5 hours before it got dark. I had called the park office at 9 am (Right when they opened) to request that somebody bring wood out, because we’d be sleeping there that night and were low on wood. So 20 KM of skiing later, we get back and find no new wood. I was….frustrated by this . I called them and find out that nobody would be bringing us wood and that they recommend either skiing out or getting to work on collecting whatever we could find.

So I found a dead tree and chopped it down with an axe. Then I dragged it over to the cabin    0.2 KM away and sawed it up with a pocket chain saw into logs, and then split each log into quarters that would fit inside the wood burning stove. Erin also gathered extra logs kindling to use. The pocket chainsaw is amazing, but exhausting. it’s basically a chainsaw chain that you connect to little handles on each side. We both were tired out by using it after a full day of skiing, so we traded back and forth with the saw. In order to use it, I had to prop up the wood on the stairs, put the chain underneath it and work it back and forth cutting from bottom to top. We’re talking a 9 inch across piece of wood that I cut through with this pocket chainsaw. the chop down, dragging, cutting, and splitting of this tree and the other gathered wood took 1.5 hours. It was good that we got back to the cabin with lots of daylight. 

If purchasing a pocket chainsaw interests you, and I HIGHLY recommend it after this situation, check it out at: http://www.epcamps.com/Pocket_Chain_Saw.html

So our 3rd day, we packed up our gear and skied the 5 km back to the parking lot, and found a dead car. The cold had sapped all energy. We then got out the cell phone to call Canadian Automotive Association (like AAA in the USA), and found a dead cell phone battery. We then walked over to the main road to Duck Mountain ski hill or back to the park office. Our choices consisted of either an 8 KM (5 miles) walk to the ski hill or about 5 km (3.1 miles) to the main road and then another 3 km (1.8 miles) to the park office. We elected to walk to the ski hill and hopefully catch a ride. I made a bet with Erin that we would walk the entire 8 kilometers without seeing a single car, and that if I were right, she’d have to buy all you can eat sushi at New Island Sushi in Saskatoon. Agreeing on the bet, we set off. 

It was -20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) outside, but sunny. However, over every hill, the wind hit us hard in the face. It was, in my opinion, somewhat miserable and I remember saying, at the height of my frustration, “I hope the Christians are wrong about this concept of heaven and hell, because I will undoubtedly be back on this road, walking for all of eternity, because surely I am hellbound,” or something equally hyperbolic.

Onward through boreal forest, up hills, down hills, around corners, NO CARS or signs of humanity. 

7 km into the 8 km walk, a car pulls up and drives us the rest of the way. I lost the bet and owe Erin an all you can eat sushi dinner, which we are going for tonight.

At the ski hill, the tow driver from Kamsack (20 kilometers from the ski hill) refused to drive out to help us because we weren’t at the car, and he’d have to go way past the car to pick us up. He also made excuses about not being able to tow a smart car, etc. The staff at the ski hill had some entertaining comments about the tow driver, and mostly made their derogatory comments because he was “not from around here.” It was still funny, and the guy did abandon us for his own laziness. In the end, two guys drove from Canora, 62 km away, to help us. 

It took us an hour to charge the car battery because it was so incredibly frozen. We finally got the car started and it took 20 minutes until it sounded like normal because the oil was so sludgy and the battery was so dead. 

We got out of the woods at 11 am and didn’t get on the road until 4:30 or so. It was a roughly 5 hour “adventure” from the end of skiing to actually driving the car off the parking lot, with 8 kilometers of walking, 3 hours of waiting (and eating hamburgers), and then an hour to get the car going.

It was rewarding, educational, frustrating at times, pretty fun, but I have, indeed, declared today, “a day of rest.” I believe it is deserved.