During Easter break, a group of friends and I ventured a trip to Northern Ontario to check out a 100 acre tract of land bordering the Crown Land wilderness that was bought unseen by my friend Rich an avid hunter that I knew from grad school. We were a party of five.
consisting of three science teachers including myself, a medical researcher, and a nurse, eager to get a chance to camp and see the natural wilderness of this part of Canada. We were traveling in Rich’s Ford pickup with a camper on back, piled to the roof with camping gear and supplies to last a week. The party consisted of Rich, a chemistry teacher, Beth, his girlfriend, who was a field biologist, Jim, a medical researcher, and his wife, JoAnn, a nurse, and myself, a science teacher at the time. There was enough space for two of us in the back with three sitting in the truck cabin.

Rich did most of the driving the first day, as we made it to the Canadian border. near Buffalo, NewYork. Then we took turns. Towards the evening of the second day, we found the right road that would get us as near to his tract of land as was possible, the rest of the way we would have to trek in about 3 foot of snow still in the heavy woods using snow shoes, which we were smart enough to bring along. The snow was coming down the whole day we were driving on this road to no where. The Ford 4 wheel drive was struggling through until all of a sudden , we plowed into a large snow bank and came to an abrupt stop, which threw every one forward. I was in the back of the truck sitting up with Jim, when we hit, we both slid on our butts into all the packed equipment that was jammed in the front of the camper. Jim had a soft impact into some back packs I smashed into a metal bucket and half -crushed it with my back. I had a heavy coat on, so that helped to absorb some of the impact, but my back got bruised, but i kept that to myself.

The truck was stuck and we all got out to do our best to free it, but to no avail. Meanwhile Jim remembered seeing a house back a ways that had a tractor in the farm building. Most of the farm houses we seen along the road seemed abandoned. He thought he saw smoke coming from the chimney from the farmhouse. So we sent him back to get help and soon enough we heard the wonderful sound of a large tractor engine heading our way. It was a Russian built tractor with huge dual wheels on the back. It made short work of freeing the truck, we had come to the end of the road as far it was plowed . Rick was driving when we hit , an easy mistake to make when every thing looks like white. We all met Mr Cowell, the only one living this far down at the end of the road. He invited us to spend the night at his house and meet his Native American wife and his 2 kids. We slept on the floor of his house in our sleeping bags that night after sharing some of our food supplies with him and drinking his hot coffee. I slept near the window and couldn’t help noticing from the glow of his fireplace, the outside thermometer- it read minus 30 degrees F! The next day we all had breakfast of cereal and eggs and got to talking with our host. He told us that he trained the Canadian Military in survival skills of living in the woods in Winter. He also told us to be very cautious about frost bite and its symptoms which can sneak up on you. Now this was April in Northern Ontario with 3 to 4 foot of snow still in the woods and more coming down each day. He also loaned us a large tobogganing sled in which to carry in our supplies. I knew it was going to an interesting adventure and hoped we were all prepared for it.

PART 2

We all filed out of his house that morning, he gave some helpful hints in how to locate Rich's boundary lines. He warned us again about frostbite and the possibility of bears coming out of hibernation. The snow had a good ice crust on it, so we didn't need to use the snow shoes that morning as we got back in the truck and drove down to the end of the road. This time Rich was a bit more careful not to crash into the same snow pile we hit the day before.Jim and I shared the cramped quarters of the back of the truck camper again being able to see the territory we were traversing a little better than the day before. There were these desolate snow covered fields on both sides of the road a few abandoned farm houses and in the back we could see heavily forested hills full of Jackpine. At last we piled out and started organizing the supplies and camping gear for our "Winter" adventure in the wilds. The sled was loaded with food supplies and a large tarp to build a lean to. Our back packs carried other odds and ends, clothing and rolled sleeping bags. All of us had one. Beth and Rich were out front blazing the snowy trail. Joann and jim followed, pulling the toboggan, and I was at the end checking for anything that might fall off the sled. Occasional the sled would get stuck as we were moving up on a high ridge and I would push as they pulled. It's always good to get high when your moving through unknown territory. I tied small red ribbons along the way to mark the trail. Rich's property bordered Crown Land a vast widerness of thick woods, lakes and ponds all frozen over and some interesting rocky cliffs. All Canadian Government land for as far as the eye could see. When we went down slopes I tied a rope to the back of the sled to act as brake, so it wouldn,t advance too quickly on the pullers. It also served to stabilize the sled form going sideways. The job became more difficult when we encountered obstacles that we could get around. Then we had to lift the whole sled and carry it. This was a tedious task at times when our legs started breaking through the ice crust and getting stuck in the deep snow and we had to start using the snowshoes which we were just getting used to. Along the way we would come to a clearing where we could see a large frozen muskeag. about 100 feet down.There was no human habitation anywhere to be seen. All that was few miles back. We were in the wilds of Canada and it was exciting, that we might be treading on ground where no human had gone before.Along the way we saw plenty of moose scats and the tracts of a few snow shoehares. Virtually no bird life to be seen. After trekking a few miles we found a large rocky outcrop, with a gradual slope, this was the beginning of Rich's land. There we made the decision to set up camp. We were faced with the formidable task of digging out a hole about a 16 by 16 foot of 3 to 4 feet of heavy snow. We only had 2 shovels so we took turns , some of us shoveling while others foraged for pine boughs for the sleeping bags, and wood for the camp fire. We could not set up tents, even though we brought them, but, rather we would set up a large lean to for shelter. But we still had many hours to go before that could happen with all the snow we had to move out. After an exhausting 3 hours of moving tons of snow, where before we were in snow up to our waists, we began setting up the large lean to shelter. Everyone was getting powerful hungry, so we let Beth and Joann get a camp fire started and cook our meal. It wasn't long before we began smelling the aroma of soup and bread. We all sat around the logs we had gathered and enjoyed the hot soup that warmed our innards. We finally had a chance to rest and feel good about what we accomplished so far. Then we had some friendly chat and did a little bit of exploring. Our camp looked mighty nice in that wilderness environment and the sky was starting to cloud up. Towards the evening a light snow was falling. Cosmic crystals from heaven, it actually was a beautiful scene as we looked out to the ridge across from us. As we unpacked our stuf ,we discovered that we had left a few items behind in the truck. I volunteered to go back to fetch them. I would have to move quickly because evening was descending on us. I put the snow shoes and headed out, occasionally turning around to observe features in the trail. Downed trees, boulders, whatever, because I knew there would be less light on the return journey. The path the sled left was still available to me, so I made good time to the truck, but then got slowed down considerably as I fumbled with all the duffle bags that were in the truck looking for all the items on my list. The snow was coming down harder and I better get moving or I may not find my way back to camp. Thinking that the temperature might be subzero got me moving. I was using my snow shoe tracks for my compass, but soon, they were disappearing in the falling snow. I hastened my pace as much as I could but I was getting tired with the heavy burden on my back and the awkwardness of the snowshoes. then, suddenly something startled the hell out of me. I t looked like a moving mound of snow. It darted quickly to side before I almost walked on it. It was a large snowshoe hare. As I watched it vanish in into the brush, I caught my breath, and stood transfixed somehow by the silvery haze of the incredible scenery I was gazing out at. An vast desolate frozen landscape for as far as the eye could see. For a few moments, that semed like an eternity, I experienced a profound silence, standing there in a trance-like state. It was absolute silence. It was a sublime feeling of peace of being alone with the ALONE as though I was the only consciouness in the whole universe. That felt sense of stillness I have never encountered since. I managed to find my way back to camp and was relieved to see my friends sitting before a large bon fire. But deep in my inner thiughts that night I knew that experience had transformed me and i would never be the same.