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Wow, we're half way done and yet we're just close to our destination!!

Again, this is the adventure of the journey, not the finish line, there's no goal
since the part between our life and death ends up looking like a dash on
our funeral stones.....

Today the plan is... to move. Yes, unlike others who may be thinking twice
before they take down their tarp, we're actually planning on moving to our next
and last location. The plan is to have a little food in us before we
continue on and eat we do. The times we sit to eat, you'd think we came just to
eat like Kings or Hobbits ( little people from the books by Tolkien) I much
prefer to have our meals like we do. A course of breakfast, second
breakfast and to end the day, a dinner or more accurate, a feast of merryment.

So yes, to go on about our move; we of course need to re pack our sleds
and stuff all the necessary things we have already used back into those little
nooks and crannies in which we stuffed our gear. As for Sid and I , we haven't got
too much in the tent to worry about just sleeping gear and bedding. Now,
Bill and Mike S. the two Pack Rats, they have got some work ahead of them! Gear
everywhere, things strewn about the tent like they have been there
for weeks and not days. It is fun to banter amongst ourselves on the condition of
which we're living, Sid and I are fairly neat when it comes to surrounding
yourselves in your possessions and well, Bill and Mike just enjoy keeping them
near them. The good thing about moving is Bill won't be able to hide his gear
around the corners of the tent anymore until we get to our new home location.
Mike's just as bad but I like to get Bill going and Sid helps with the
verbal jabs. ( wink! remember we're here to have fun too! )

As the sled grows in height the gear is loaded in and strapped down as taught as
could be. We're nearing time to depart. Everyone at the camp is bustling
with last minute things to check and adjust before we head on the
trail we took yesterday. It's a last push to start since our gear
is on the bottom of the hill we need to help each other up the hill with their
sleds to get going, afterward, we should be able to stay on the trail with its
small ups and downs and meandering sway for the sleds to follow. We stop on Nitro
Creek for a small break of water and to wipe the sweat off our brows and
a picture or two. It's cold out but the sun is shining and we have time
today to go as fast as we need to, our muscles are tired and there's
parts of the body still aching that you
didn't know existed before this whole trip started. Sid has the lead on our
journey forward followed by myself, Bill, then Mike and we stop to make sure
each
has passed the bad sections of the trip before we continue on, as well,
we help each other when there's a need to help get up the hills and
tricky spots. I'd like to think we've come together, we have helped each other,
and we've bonded because of it.

Our trip leads to a little rise in the creek ( or fall, depending on which way
your going) to a clearing area, possibly our destination. Early arrivals to our
bunch have already been scouting the area. There's some deadwood in here
which is what the hot tenter's are looking for but there's another rise
past this clearing to another spot which has been looked at as a good
prospect by Rick. It proved to be a better location for the additional tent groups
expected to arrive tomorrow and then more people a few days from now so
the decision to setup here is followed by
scouting the area for a location for each tent. Scouting is done by the group for
the group and by the individual for the cold tenter or igloo builder.
We've come to the spot, now we must get our gear apart to get those things we need
to rebuild our home.

A hot tent setup is typically by using 7 poles or lengths of tree's to
accommodate: the ridge pole, front A frame, Back A frame and the two side poles
for the roof. Our first setup used ropes and that setup was lacking in
it's usefulness for a long stay out in the woods. Poles are our first
priority once we've established a tent location and I take to the axe and the
first suitable tree of desired length with a felling axe. I too enjoy the fell of
a tree which leads over all to my comfort by becoming the wood for a fire
or the base needed to support our home in the woods. I get excited when
I'm hauling a tree through the bush. There's work to do this and I enjoy
the labour. Soon after Sid has his chainsaw out and active to take the
remainder of poles necessary.
I settle in on cleaning off any burrs and notches to clean off the pole
from any sharp points that may rub against the tent material and end up ripping
the fabric. That's not a good thing so, it's best to do a good job on
the main ridge pole which the tarp will hang over to form our roof.

Once the number of poles reaches 7, we have enough to get started. The ridge pole
ties into a main tree and then a pair of poles are tied together to act
as scissors to hold up the front of the tent. The two back poles rest on
top of the ridge pole to help stretch out the main roof of the tent and
then the two side poles are strapped from the front scissors to the back to hold
the tarp which sits over the main ridge pole. The tent itself is tied
under the ridge pole to have that little air gap to shed rain or snow from the
main tent. Actually, the night before we did not have a tarp over the top our tent
and when it started snowing that night, we had a little bit of a rain
inside the tent. We quickly recovered by stoking the fire and putting the tarp
material over the tent in the middle of the night while it seemed the rest of the
camp
was sleeping. I'll show a figure with this part of the trip to show how we
basically set up a hot tent in the winter. (figure 1a.) Hey the first I've ever
done!!

We're not done yet, we have just started with the shelter, now we need water and
warmth since we brought food, we do not need to worry about this until
dinner tonight. However, we've been know to also bring snacks, which don't count
as a meal, they just tie you over until
one of the two meals. ( wink!) As we came into the area, there was a large dead
tree still standing just away from the camps so we take to the gear and
bring a sled to haul wood back into camp for the two hot tents. It comes
down with a crash into the clearing and blocks are first cut and then
quartered from there, then we can haul the wood up to the camps to be
further split it to a suitable size for the wood stove.

Others take off back down the creek to a spot where gurgling was heard and using a
spud create a spot where we will be able to get water instead of melting
snow. Its a good spot but the bucket we brought which worked well last year are
too big. Bill has a plastic coffee container with handles built into the
container and leaving that at the water hole helps everyone bail their
water needs into the bucket they have brought.

Now we're complete! Food, water, warmth and shelter. Lloyd is still building the
igloo and he's making progress, but its not going to be complete tonight,
he'll make do with what he has and tarp over the remainder to sleep
in it. The name of his new creation is a targloo.
Not quite tarp and not quite igloo.

Rick and Tony take to the detail to create the dunny, the commode, the thunderbox,
the loo, the outhouse, well..... you know the part in which we we
all be able to share in a place to do your business in relative comfort.
The thunderbox comes complete with a toilet seat, but soon you will
realize that's not the place to sit! There's a better spot but I'll leave
that to another day, another moment, better served with a little
laughter.

I know we've skipped into the evening already but just doing the simple things
does take its time and tole on your body. We have done enough
for the day with the major things and some time is spent on making our sleeping
area at a good height and the rest of the tent floor near the
stove and entrance is cleared of any accumulated snow to create a decent
footing area and entrance into the tent space. The tent is officially dubbed home
and I brought a bird house to complete the comforts of home.

The night comes and the banter tent celebrates heartily with a meal, drinks,
desserts and chatter of the events taken place and the
plans for tomorrows new arrivals. I can't recall every detail but I believe this
was the day we slept twice! The first time was in the wee hours of the
morning and now it's just before midnight, so we must be exhausted. We
usually outlast the camp, which we did, even though the night was early, for a
bunch of banter boys.

Chapter 4.(not yet completed)
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