Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Mark made a tasty, high energy egg bake for breakfast. Afterwards, we slowly begin to get things ready to head out.

I had built my own UV resistant UHMWPE toboggan over the past off season. Also, I had Dan at Cooke Custom Sewing make me a connover bag for the top of my toboggan. So I was anxious to see how these items would perform.

There was only about 6-8 inches of snow on the ground, and even less out on the lake. That, coupled with the fact that there was already a trail across Round lake, made the decision not to wear snowshoes a no brainer.

A noticeable breeze nipped at any exposed areas as we made our way across the lake to our first, and hopefully only, overland trek. Soon we were at the portage trail to Missing Link Lake. Nothing overly steep, but it does slowly climb most of the way going in this direction. At about the mid point of the trail there was a sizable ice dam to negotiate.

Icicles hung precariously from many of the rock ledges too. It was awfully scenic but, the ice on the trail made it challenging to get through safely. Fortunately the only mishap was when Mark broke through a weak spot getting his foot wet. After getting past this area it was mostly a matter of tracing the toboggans along the twisting, turning trail. And, we all had a couple of minor incidents - momentarily losing the trail.

The middle site on Missing Link lake was our target site, and fortunately it was open. (Although Shawn & John headed further south down the lake to check out that site before fully committing.)

Our chosen site climbed up out of the lake to a nice (though incredibly exposed) fire grate area. A little further up the rock knob afforded a commanding scenic view of Missing Link lake. While this setup would appear to be ideal for summer usage, for more protection from the elements, we decided to move our kitchen area back under the rock knob into the woods a bit.

John, Mark & Shawn began leveling off an area for our shelter and designing a kitchen area. Meanwhile, I hiked down the southwest shoreline to find some firewood & later punched several holes for water & some possible fishing.

Soon things were starting to come together. With most of the major immediate tasks completed, Mark began preparing a broccoli - cheddar soup & polish for supper.

After supper we each kicked back a bit and relaxed, indulging in several warm drinks before turning in for the night.

Round Lake, Missing Link Lake