15 yrs in the sticks

K and I had the most excruciating but best experience ever!

      We did a hike-in camping trip for one night at Tee Harbour. It was a total of 22km round trip after hiking to the top of the giant. We hiked 6.5 k into the site and dropped off our stuff and set up. We left on a thursday, didn't pay the parking fee, and began to hike. The way there seemed very short. After setting up we were pumped. We made it to the top of the giant and danced our silly little hearts out.. I thought K was going to die trying to find the edge. We ate a lot, took a nap and finally, headed back to camp.

    We went to the "beach" and napped in the sand for a bit while listening to the only station that was reachable -- our favourite -- the country station!!!!!!!!!! After finishing a bottle of wine, we had a nice bonfire and were exhausted so headed to bed (even after the naps on the beach, rocks, and hammock). For the first hour, it was impossible to sleep. I got spooked by a loud noise in the bush. It was a buck. I went outside and chased the buck out of our campsite like a crazy woman. It continued to come back until the buck and I had a 1v1 with rocks as weapons. When I look back I have no idea why I wanted it out of our campsite?? It wasn't harming us?.. anyway, that happened. But it was a warm night but damp. In the morning, I awoke to the buck standing outside our tent :-).
     The hike back to my car was the worst ever. It felt like it took 2 days. We came back on Friday and everyone seemed to be heading out so we looked (and smelled) very grungy! We were joking around that we had been out in the wilderness for 15 years. Every corner we turned we had crossed our fingers it was the Sea Lion bridge. When we finally got to it I ran ahead with arms open yelling "FINALLY 15 YEARS AND WE ARE OUT! KALI THEY REBUILT THE BRIDGE!" Just my luck there was a guy fishing off the bridge when I got to it.
When we hit the sign that it was 0.7 km to the parking lot I was so desperate I began counting my steps to see how close we were. When we got to my car I had a 30$ parking fine. I felt really accomplished after this trip.

Packing list:

•  lantern              
•  hammock
•  sleeping bag
•  tent
•  pillow
•  food
•  flashlight
•  towel
•  knife
•  bearspray
•  speaker
•  radio
•  lip balm
•  bug spray
•  sun tan lotion
•  sanitizer
•  water filter system
•  water bottle
• lighter, matches, flint
• spork
• camera
• sunglasses
• rope
• pot
• axe
• hat
• first aid kit
• socks

HO

1 hour and 45 minutes later we made it to a secret spot. I will not release the name at this time because many humans are stealing our spots lately.
What bothers me is they act like they have discovered it. NO i was there 89 weeks ago you didn't discover this place it's actually very popular!
Or, they do this thing where they go to a city park and call it an adventure; well you should probably leave your house more often if thats an adventure.
An adventure is when you go into the unknown with fear. The adventure brings you adrenaline and happiness in the end.
*****
back on track, WE FOUND AN AWESOME WATERFALL :)
saw some ppl on the way out on a rough dirt road and talked to them.. too much logging happening, theres no such thing as trees in some areas out there!
also found a potential camping/kayaking spot (booyah!)

Made a cool vid, found a geocache, took some pics, climbed some cliffs

Flat Tires and Sleeping Bags

WE GOT A FLAT TIRE AT THE BORDER.
My car sounded like a helicopter it was terrifying.
Pros:
got taffy taffy
didn't have to pay duty??
stopped at lil trouty bay
Cons:
didn't get to go on intended hike
sat there for 2 hours
stressful
boring

Anyways, we went to Little Trout Bay bc it is a must for every season! Very beautiful as always

The Descent is the Worst Part

        Today we tried a hiking trail near the Pigeon River Border Crossing. This one was very fun! It starts out with a wooden boardwalk and it is a very well-maintained trail. It takes us in a zig-zag up a steep hill at the end to an amazing lookout! It's called Finger Point because of the shape of the final ascent. Not sure why I didn't bask in the beauty of this location, I only stayed up there for 10 minutes. I felt tight on time because K had to work but that 4 km hike only took us about 1 hour total. It was a really nice day and a little challenging with snow still on the trail. K fell and will probably have a bruise on her knee from this day, it is very slippery going down any hills of this hike in winter!!!! I would recommend this hike in winter or summer though, the lookout is unbelievable!

I hope to come back here so I can enjoy it more, I always seem to be in a rush on hikes and although I appreciate every second of them sometimes I wish I took it all in. 

We are planning to complete all the trails at this hiking spot within one day. This includes: high falls, middle falls, and The Lookout.

3rd Time's a Charm

We've decided we will go to Little Trout Bay once a season. It's nice in any season, even in -40 degree weather. The ice today wasn't fully frozen so we couldn't walk across like we had planned. This is the first time I have used my GoPro on our hikes and it worked great!! I will bring it on all of our adventures now! 

Anyway, here are the GoPro photos in 1080p wideview. Most were taken on time-lapse I cannot wait until warmer weather to continue with these adventures!! I miss those sweaty hiking days. 

Numb

SPLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 S and K came kayaking today. S is another very close friend of mine.
She is a hardcore kayaker and it was lots of fun. We went back to Little Trout Bay; what a beautiful day!
It was so serene and we are going to return back in the summer to have a picnic there (mostly just wine)..
The weather was super nice and there are these very high cliffs pictured in front of us below, it was a cool new experience. We went along the shores of Lake Superior and turned around at one point. Of course, right when we began our way back, the wind picked up. The waves were so choppy and the wind was freezing!!! My entire body was numb by the end; but, it was definitely worth it.

S and I starting our voyage.

Further Info

*If you need directions, further descriptions, or locations of any of my adventures please feel free to email me! Tbayhiker@gmail.com

Partridge Attack 911

A partridge almost attacked K today and it was glorious. She was standing on these rocks and I'm taking photographs of her and suddenly my heart stops because I hear the loudest walking in the bush and all I could think is oh my god a bear is about to eat her.. So I set my car alarm off and the loud walking came closer and as my heart sank I slowly walk over and it was a partridge (thank God).

Anyway.. we travelled to Little Trout Bay Conservation Area today and tried to find a ridge overlooking this bay but the trail was all grown in (so, there was no trail OR markers..) and we heard gunshots so we were sketched out a bit.
We ended up sitting at the conservation area for a bit taking in the (surprisingly) warm fall weather! This lake was like a mirror and the fall colours were exuberant. I had such a lovely time.

Fiji The Island Adventure

WE WENT TO FIJI!!!!!!!!

This place is awesome. One of my favourites for sure!

After a 2 hour hike we made it to these awesome lookouts! I was astonished! K and I were both speechless there were no words for the beauty of this adventure.

This is only about a 45 min drive from Tbay (30 if you're fast like me) and it's located at Mink Mountain Resorts. COME HERE LIKE BEST EVER PLACE!!!

I might give this to my friend for her bday next year - it's her 19th she has no idea I'm writing about her that's why I refer to her as K.
THEREFORE, plz no one tell her I am doing this

Grounded

I forgot to mention something. When we go on our adventures, no one knows where we are. We have gotten in trouble for this; therefore, we always tell someone where we are going now (sometimes).

In the middle of nowhere, with no service, I guess it is dangerous.

Robin in the Rain

SO today my intention was to go to Carp River Road and explore this mountain but I got too lazy looking for it so K and I took a ride to Hazelwood Lake Conservation Area!!! (Yes, I know, LAME and known) But, we ended up finding this large hill and it turned out to be a really good day. At least, I enjoyed myself. There was no huge view or waterfall but I had lots of fun! It was super muddy and it looked like people were doing construction throughout this hill. But, this hill went on forever. We went as high as we could (until our calves fell off basically) and got some neat shots!

I couldn't think of a title for this one

       The first abandoned adventure I decided to invest in was an abandoned house on Hacquoil Road in Thunder Bay. It was for a school project and I didn't dare to even go in. This home is very simple to find and is on the left after turning onto Hacquoil Rd. Google map this road and you'll have no problem. I heard it's pretty scary on the inside and awesome to explore.

Cranky & Lost

            I was very cranky today.  K and I took a ride to Dorion to find a pinnacle. I only recently found out what a pinnacle was. It's a tall skinny rock structure. It's supposed to be super neat. We were told to follow an orange-marked trail and when we got there on this scorching day, we couldn't find it. K took her SUV up this road and I honestly thought we weren't going to make it. These rocks going up this hill are terrible. It's sketchy and steep. Anyway, determined to find this pinnacle on the side of a cliff we walked up and down the road and it was the most tiring experience (mentally & physically).

I was getting frustrated. Finally, we changed our minds. We found a new destination nearby. Wolf River Falls! Although all I did was whine and complain on the ride to the falls, it ended up being so majestic. I need to go back for a picnic!!!!!

This experience is never EVER forgotten and we will never stop bringing up how cranky I was this day. One of my most memorable days. I was also late for work today because I forgot what time I worked at! OOPS

Note: We went back to the original pinnacle the next weekend. A TBayTel worker was up at the parking spot. He looked at us funny but we continued our journey. Walking with a compass and map, we had no clue where we were going. There is no marked trail here. We heard a bang noise in the bush that had random repeating intervals and I said  "Hello?" and no one answered. This noise was so unnatural we had to turn around and have never gone back since. Guys, I'm seriously telling the truth when I say: I have never been more terrified in my life.

Echo

                After hours of research, K and I decided to visit a tunnel we found online. It was just past Kakabeka. After hours of searching, we couldn't find it. Pissed off, we turned around and went home.

We returned the next weekend extremely determined to get to this tunnel. We took my car this time. I don't remember the exact directions to this tunnel but the road isn't too bad. Having passed the tunnel the first time, we were on steep sharp rocks in a small township.
We finally found the tunnel and really embraced it. It was huge!!!!!!
So worth the trip! This tunnel is quite popular but we were unaware of it at the time. This was my very first tunnel and would go back in a heartbeat! It is truly amazing.


This tunnel used to be where a train passed through until the tracks were removed. This is Flett Tunnel.

The Sound of Silence

              I'm not sure if my best friend will ever see this blog so I will refer to her as K.    

   Today we travelled around looking for more places. Pulling into a random road off of Highway 61, and we sunroof-surfed. K stood out my sunroof and you know those really cheesy infinite moments in movies? This was one of them. Ha! But seriously, the adrenaline rush was insane and I wasn't even the one out the sunroof!!

Losing my H-Card

Hiking was always a passion of mine but, I could never find anyone to hike with. Finally when I did, we went on our first hike. We parked at Paintball Mountain over the James Street Swing Bridge and began hiking up a large steep road. Of course it had rained the day before so we were essentially hiking up a stream. We got to the top to an amazing view (and a sigh of relief). The old chairlift still remained there and you can see a great extent of Thunder Bay.

This hike was of great importance to me because it was a step up from my usual Tree Farm walks; it got me addicted.



Sitting at the top of Mount McKay was the moment my adventure high began.

This is the view of the road; which, doesn't look very steep in this photo. But the grassy area at the top has a stellar view, trust me.

This photo was taken May 10th, 2013.

This was 8 days before my best friend's birthday.

The Beginning

This blog is intended for fellow adventurers in the Thunder Bay area. I am passionate about anything outdoors and I will be posting my stories along the way.