The Backcountry Adventure

Well the weekend began at the basecamp which was located at Little Elbow Campground. We got all packed up and prepared for the hike up to Mount Romulus Campground about 15km up the trail.

We sent the kids up before us in groups of three or four and headed up behind them. I was definitely the slowest so this was my view for most of the trail :)

We made really good time and reached the campground just after noon. We lazed around for a few minutes but then got busy setting up the tents... then all three of us adults CRASHED for a few hours while the kids all made lunch... we finally got up just before five and made our lunch.

The rest of Saturday was pretty relaxing. The kids pretty much hung out and played cards, when it began to get dark this deer came right up beside our warrant officer's campsite and posed for a few pictures until. Flight Officer Davies decided he was going to try to sneak up to it and "ride the deer"... the deer ran off pretty quickly :)

On Saturday morning we planned to hike up the trail to the tombstone campsite but this proved to be impossible since the pass was snowed in. The snow was about knee deep and would require snow shoes and a bunch of other equiptment we just didn't have. We decided to stick it out at the Mount Romulus Campsite and began a few activities to keep the kids busy.

Flight Officer Davies ran an activity with the kids. They were all different parts of a plane and ran thru a fun little scenario.

A couple were gunners, a few were engines, and of course we had a pilot and navigator aboard our plane.

It was hilarious to watch the kids acting out the parts and playing out the simulation.

Unfortunatly for this poor little engine... he was hit during the flight and the pilot was forced to pull the fire extinguisher :)

After the fun the kids were sent out on a navigation assignment. We sent the kids ahead and about twenty minutes later us adults started to hike down the route to see how everything was going. I decided I didn't really want to hike back up the hill so after 2-3km I yelled to the boys that I was heading back to camp and headed back up the trail.

When I got back to the campsite I decided to attempt making a fire. I almost chopped off my foot once but was able to chop a bit of kindling and was pretty happy when I was successful at getting a good roaring fire started!

After I was done that I went for a bit of a walk and took some scenery pictures around the campsite.

The kids were also sent out on "reconnaissance" missions to scout out the area and see if there was an alternate route to take back on Monday. They were sent out in small groups once again adn were told to take notes while they walked the route.

We then had them come back and create a model of the area they scouted out using rocks, branches, and pretty much anything else they wanted for landmarks.

They were all very creative and were able to give the Major all the information he needed to make a plan for Sunday. There was one area of the alternate route that was flooded out but the kids figured that we would be able to make a stone bridge if all 15 of us worked at it in about 15 minutes so the plan was to do just that and to take the river route back to basecamp in the morning.

Plans kind of changed when we woke up to THIS!

It had snowed all night and we had quite a bit on the ground... worst still there was still a ton of snow falling. We needed to pack up and get out of there as fast as we could since the snow was already piled up to at least our ankles and the longer we waited to get on the trail the heavier and thicker the snow would be.

The scenery on the way back looked more like THIS :(

There was more downhill than uphill on the way back but the snow made it a pretty rough trail. I could feel my pack get heavier and heavier as we went along since heavy wet snow piled up on the pack and on me. When we stopped to re-gather and break I would shake my pack off and could feel the weight lift off the pack.

As you can see we all looked a little bit tired for the hike home.

We kept up a 4-5km pace back to basecamp and got back at about 11:30am. It was great to be done the hike and to be back at basecamp.

The next hour and a half was probably my toughest part of the trip because I had stupidly worn almost all of my clothes back. My outer rain/wind jacket and my fleece hoodie were soaked from the snow, and my undershirt and t-shirt were soaked from sweating during the hike. With the snow still falling, and the wind blowing it was COLD!

The Major made us all change out of our wet clothes into whatever dry stuff we had but I did not have much dry clothes left at all. The last hour and a bit were spent in a very thin t-shirt and a long sleeve shirt - I don't think I have ever been so cold in my entire life. Everyone was very very happy when the bus showed up to get us a little bit earlier than expected!

It was really nice to get home ")

Help :(

So I have "agreed" to go on the senior cadet backcountry hiking/camping trip. I can't really say that I am being forced to because I could just say no and refuse but if I chose to do that then there will be no female adult going and that will mean that none of our senior female cadets could go and that's just not fair to the kids - so I am going.

We are going to Don Getty Provincial Park in Kananaskis and we will be hiking the Elbow Loop Trail over three days. The trail is 42km and has an elevation of 2100feet . From what I read on the internet most of the incline is over a 7.2km stretch which from the sounds of it is going to be the most brutal... if I drop dead on the trip I am suspecting that it will be right there... on the other hand the other officer's at cadets are trying to convince me that it is not a steep hill, just a little incline - but I don't really know whether I should believe them or not :(

I packed my bag tonight and with all the crap I have to lug along there is not very much room AT ALL for anything else so I just shoved in the bare minimums and took out the extra shirts and pants and shit I was planning to take. Everyone else is just taking one extra shirt and pants so that one set can dry out if need be so I did the same but also included a long sleeve shirt and a fleece hoodie. I don't have rain gear but I have three garbage bags so hopefully that will do. After I got the bag packed I went and weighed myself with the pack and the pack weights in at exactly 38lbs.

I know this will probably be the most challenging thing I have EVER agreed to do - and my most uncomfortable kind of challenge because it is going to be physical... and while I shouldn't... I usually avoid physical challenges at all costs. I am kind of scared shitless but I imagine it will feel great once it is over and other than feeling like I am dying I know that it will be a really great time with the kids and if nothing else I will have the memories... just please fucking pray for me and wish me luck!

Mom's Day

When you have a mother
who cares so much for you
that anything you want
comes before her desires
When you have a mother
who is so understanding that
no matter what is bothering you
she can make you smile
When you have a mother
who is so strong that
no matter what obstacles she faces
she is always confident in front of you
When you have a mother
who actively pursues her goals in life
but includes you in all her goals
you are very lucky indeed
Having a mother like this
makes it easy to grow up
into a loving, strong adult
Thank you for
being this kind
of wonderful mother

-Poem by Susan Polis Schutz

This poem pretty much sums up my mom for you. I hope she has a great day today and everyday because if anyone in the world deserves it... it's her!

I was able to go over and spend some time with her tonight while we watched the Survivor Finale, and my little brother Kent prepared dinner for mother's day so it was all really nice :)

The Worst Wakeup EVER

So on Friday morning I woke up to my very worst nightmare! It was about 7:30 in the morning when I woke up to this strange buzzing noise - a loud buzzing noise. I looked up and there was this Bee-Bird smashing into the window above my head and buzzing away crazily. My heart almost stopped! I grabbed the covers and got completed under the blankets not knowing what to do next.

Sounds kind of silly but believe me I do have my reasons for being so petrified! I am pretty allergic to bees. The first time I found this out was when I was about fifteen my first year as a staff cadet in Penhold. It was at one of the graduation inspections for the kids. I remember I got stung but it was a parade so I couldn't really move or anything. All of a sudden my heart was racing quite a bit and I passed out... next thing I know I woke up at the medical building and they gave me an epipen and told me that I was allergic to bee stings.

I was lucky for a few years because I am pretty smart around bees. Instead of freaking out and swatting at them I just sneak away quietly and slowly... because I KNOW that it is only when the bee gets freaked out that it attacks you! The next time I remember being stung was when my godson Avery was almost one (he is 13 now), we had been at sikome lake all day and I was getting Ave out of his baby seat when all of a sudden I was stung by not one but TWO bees. I had a panic attack and off to the hospital I went again.

So here I am in my worst nightmare stuck under the covers. The only thing I could think of to do as call for the cats hoping that they would attack the strangely large loud creature above my head and give me a chance to escape.

Only little Benji came but the plan worked and I snuck out of the bed and out of the room while Ben attacked and distracted the bee!

I got upstairs and my hands were all shaky and my knees were jelly... I so didn't want to but knew that I had to go back down and kill the damb bee... because I really cannot live with a bee in my bedroom!

I went down and peaked around the bedroom door. Benji was still swatting away at the window so I crept into the room. I looked down and there was the bee-bird thing crawling across the floor... in crawled up to a pillow that was on the floor and then up ONTO the pillow... I'm not kidding this was an very large bee. It then did the strangest thing that I have ever seen... it started to like open and close it's back... then rolled onto it's back. I started to really panic because I started to wonder if it was giving birth or something! Then I started to wonder if maybe it was dying because it looked kind of like a fly does when you spray it with bug spray... I spotted a plastic bag in the corner of the room so I crawled over to it and then back over to the bee. I quickly put a section of the bag over the bee and the fucking thing came to life!

Now I was really scared because it was freaking out and buzzing flat under a plastic bag squished on top of it with a pillow under it... and it was pissed! I tried to suffocate the damb thing but with the pillow under it, it just was not going to happen... I started to really panic because the bee was kind of making progress breaking thru the bag (my hands were on both sides of the bag pressing down keeping it pinned to the pillow at this point) and I knew that if it broke thru I was in trouble!

I got my knee up to where my left hand was pinning down the bag and got my knee on the bag so I could reach for a hard cover book. I took the spine of the book and tried to crush the bee under the bag... but it WOULD NOT WORK because the damb bee was on a PILLOW!!!

By a miracle in his struggle and just before he broke the bag the bee finally wiggled himself in between two folds in the bag so there was plastic bag under him and above him... I got the bag rolled up with the bee stuck inside and raced upstairs to the backdoor... I got the backdoor open and flung the bag outside slamming the door behind me. It was like 8:45 at this point!

I went back downstairs to get dressed and thought I heard a buzz by the window... I snuck over and slowly peeked in between two blinds... sure enought there was another bee in the window sill... I guess that Benji really was swatting one when I came in but not the one that was on the floor! I almost cried but it looked like it was moving slow so I took that same book, placed in sideways in the sill... and dropped in quickly crashing the final bee without much of a fight!

I told my story to a few of the mentors on the youth advisory committee this weekend and one said that maybe there is a nest somewhere in the house... now I am not sure if I can even return and sleep in that room! I tell you one thing though- if they move in... I'm moving out!