We're just getting started

So we are on our way!

This is the time we spend just looking out the window and mussing about
with what gear we've brought or those last minute touch ups to make
sure your ready to go once th train stops. It's a little ways a way so
there's no real pressure that you've only got a few minutes to get
things ready, its just that it feels like you only do. When you take
your peeks out from the moving train you kinda look about hoping to
catch a wink of something that will tell you that your doing the right
thing, what is unknown will soon be clearly in front of you and what
happens once we're out, happens.

Our trip consists of stops along the tracks to pick up other passengers
in their remote locations along the rail line, so there's always
something interesting happening to keep your thoughts bumping. As a
matter of fact!, so bumping that you could even overshoot your target
spot! Well, Jim, if you remember Jim, the conductor comes to a leap and
bound to the front of the train to claim " You've gone past Nitro!"
Donny, the engineer says the opposite " no no, it's just up ahead we
just passed the small creek before Nitro..." and so, Sid and Bill
now muffled by the thoughts are looking for the very same thing
everyone else of our group is, Where the heck is Nitro?! Things get a
little Topsy turvy as the two who decided to make sure the engineer knew
his surroundings got caught up in a little bit of a story and so
the call came to Stop. Better to stop and figure out where we are
before we either go too far or not far enough.

We all pile out of the train now wondering if this is Nitro creek or was
it up ahead or back a bit where Jim first commented on it. As things go,
the best time you could have used a GPS was not at the front of the
train but rather at the back in the cargo area being turned on to find
out our first way-point or point at which we start. Sooner than later we
realized that we were not at Nitro creek at all and a little further
scouting and GPS work proved that we had overshot Nitro by about 5 Km or
3.6 miles ( the train still uses mileage this way in Canada today).
What to do you do, 10 people sitting on the tracks and the Budd Car
has gone. We could have went to the nearby Spanish river and made a trip
of it or we could wander ahead to see what we can make of the
surrounding area for a group of 26 people or you can take your licks and
know that we have to go back 5 Km before we can even start out on Nitro
creek. What would you do?

I guess things worked out because we decided to turn back and go the 5
Km to start our trip. The good thing to this was the snow conditions;
since the area had rains the month prior we had a shallow layer of snow
and ice right near the tracks. This was good or otherwise we would not
have had the option to camp at Nitro at all. The 5K away day would be a
fitting name to the time we spent hauling our gear and extra gear we
were hoping to have left at the tracks and retrieved later on in the
week when the other arrivals were coming, but, you take your time and
rest when you need to and be glad that the day is sunny the temp is cool
but nice and sooner or more likely later, you'll get there. It's not a
race to the end just a part of the time you spend out there and the
effort you need to do to accomplish the goal. In the theme of Operation
Nitro we just spent the better part of our beginning with a 5K primer
to get us started before the real show began.

Taking the better part of 3 hours or more once we the section of Nitro
that crosses under the train tracks, our journey takes on a new set of
obstacles. The trek near the rails was in its own way fun, I think we
all had one leg shorter than the other!, ( considering the slope for
the land away from the tracks) and I'm sure that extra sled and gear
wasn't all it was cracked up to be when we had to carry it along with
our normal loads. Anyway, the sleds slide down the slope away from the
train tracks and we need to bushwhack to find a route through and up a
ways into the bush. We're tired now and Tony's not doing the greatest
when the last call for "Train!" had him spin about and he possibly
pulled his Ham string. Not a good thought when we just starting, but he
takes things slow we decide that the best thing to do is to tromp
through the bush and make a packed trail for our sleds and gear to move
a little easier into the bush.

I decided that since one of the extra sled is part way in the bush and a
few others have already carried it along the tracks, I'd take some of
the burden off and start hauling it through the partially packed trail.
It is a hard go , you've got to put your back leg muscles into it to get
the sled to move in and out of the bush and those little areas where the
land falls and rises in bumps are a bit of a chore too. It can tire you
out pretty quickly, up, down, side to side and there is no set course to
make your journey easier, you just need to plug away and go as far as
you can then rest. Cliff is behind me and he takes the reigns for a
little bit too so between the two of us things do go smoother and you
trade off when the other gets worn out.

There's one part of this trek in the bush where we have to come down off
a shelf. It's approximately a 12 ft drop so things get kinda interesting
when your sled and gear weigh as much as you and its finding its own
path down pulling you with it. I wish there was a camera there when I
later went and dropped my gear down this shelf area. I was skiing down
it and holding onto my sled like a cowboy on a bull. It was quite
exhilarating! Maybe even a little Woohoo! was let out to exclaim the joy
of taming the slope. There was definitely a smile from ear to ear and
the event was a little pick me up to the days journey.

We made it into the bush about 1Km and the time is now getting on in the
day, about 3:30pm so it's time to set up for the night and look no
further ahead. We've got a few things to do and dark won't be long
before we need our things in order. Firewood is needed, the tent must be
set and we need to both eat and drink for it's been a long time since
7:00am this morning to be without food and our carried water is now gone
and we need to boil snow to replenish and rehydrate.

The night comes without too much to worry about, we eat our quick meal
of Beef Bourguinon and set our beds with the warmth of the Fire inside
our camps wood stove. Tony and Rick join in to huddle near the heat
after they have readied a place for them for the night. They have
decided to share Ricks tarp for the night and will make their own camps
when another day comes.

A spirit or two has been drunk in toast to the days journey and we all
share in moments that passed along the way and talk about what might
come on our next day and what our plan will be for tomorrow and for the
other arrivals of campers who will be coming in later on during our
stay. See, no one but The conductor, the engineer and us, knows that we
were let out in the wrong spot and the only folks who know where we've
gone because of it is us. It could make for a rough trip for some of the
those folks who were concerned about the travel and their physical
abilities, as well, there are to be two young boys in with a later crew
and going 5Km plus the trail into the bush might just be too much. For
now, we decide that we'll say no more of what we are going to to, we'll
just eat and drink and rest to decide those details tomorrow or the next
day.

Chapter 3.
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