YOUNG AND INVINCIBLE
In retrospect the best strategy might have been to break trail first and then come back for the toboggans. It would have been a lot easier to pull the toboggans on a packed trail, but we didn’t consider this at the time. We headed into the bush staying more or less parallel to the creek.
This was incredibly tough-going. There was no trail to follow. Not only was the snow deep, but it lay on top of the brush and bushes making it harder to get through. We frequently changed positions so that one person did not get too exhausted breaking trail.
There were lots of deadfalls. We couldn’t always get around them so that meant going over them. Pulling those toboggans became a nightmare. The harness dug into my shoulders, the sweat ran down my back, and snow would frequently break loose from branches and cascade down over me.
When you struggle like we did, your focus narrows and becomes internal – you loose perspective. It is your struggle against the elements. I was not one with nature anymore, as I had felt when I had been sitting on the wanigan out on the lake. I struggled against nature and that was a hopeless battle.
With the predominant philosophy that we humans are separate from nature, we think that it is nature we have to fight. This is of course wrong. We are a part of nature and our struggle is with ourselves. It was a psychological struggle where I pushed myself, exerted myself to the limit.
When the toboggan got caught by a tree or deadfall, I just yanked harder instead of going back to free the toboggan. When a clump of snow fell on me and some went down my back I got irritated. I was tired and frustrated. I was fighting nature. There was no point in getting mad, in losing my temper; it would only use up precious energy.
But we were young and invincible. We did not stop to make a fire, rest, have a cup of tea and then proceed refreshed. No, we just kept going, step for step, slowly ploughing through the snow. We said little to each other. When we finally broke out into the open, we were too exhausted to rejoice. We were now on Obabika but so what, we still had a long way to go and the snow was still heavy to plough through.
We had a bit of pemmican and then continued. There was a point of land a ways down the lake where we had camped before on canoe trips. We headed for it. The going was now steady, but still tough – we were getting exhausted. The sun was low in the sky when we finally got to the point of land where we would camp for the night.
The ritual of making camp was old-hat to us by now. We got out the saw and axe and set about cutting poles, collecting fir boughs and clearing the snow so we could build a lean-to. We set the trail stove up in the middle of the opening of the lean-to and tied the stove pipe to the ridge pole.
By the time we had a fire going we could have collapsed. Had it not been for our intense hunger and thirst, we probably could have fallen asleep on the spot. We had a simple meal of rice and added a soup mix. This we ate with some more pemmican. Then we had tea, lots of tea.
It was getting dark now.
“Let’s just look at the map,” I said. “I wonder how far we have come.”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
“Twelve kilometres, is that all!” I said with a sinking feeling.
“At this rate it will take us forever,” Hap added.
We were too tired to discuss anything and crawled into our sleeping bags early.
I had a good sleep that night. Nothing like being exhausted!