After a search and rescue event at the base all the volunteers go down to Boston Pizza for some drinks and food to socialize. At the same time two Monday nights ago a few of the volunteers were there planning their trip to Cape Breton to do a Traverse. After being curious as to their plan, they asked me if I would like to go, followed by a immediate yes.
We left on Friday so that we would have Saturday to get permits, and plan some of the logistics and prepare our packs for a Early Sunday morning depart on the trail. After stopping to eat at Mother Webbs in Antigonish we decided to stay at Jason's folks cabin Goshen. I was with Dave D. and Janine drinking beer and wine at a fire on the side of a huge beautiful lake. We swam in the grassy shallow waters under the cover of night with the leeches as Janine discovered. She had one larger leech and half a dozen, the side of a grain of rice on her toes.
The next morning was tough to rise from. Stopped at the Irving Big Stop in Aulds Cove to have some breakfast. Then proceeded to Cheticamp where we would apprehend the day passes and the permit to cross the highlands. We gave the warden our intended route and timeline and he handed us our permit.
Later that night we setup camp in Ingonish and waited for the arrival of Dave J. and Claire and we drank some more beer. We were not impressed with the Ingonish Campground or the Broad Cove Campground which we looked at first. The sites were not private and the place was busy. As well as being told to be quiet and the bright light that came on after dark and all of a sudden, for which Dave. D. took care of with a towel. I was already in bed at this point.
In the morning I expected to wake next to Dave J. and Claire in my tent but instead they were found outside under a tarp between two trees. They had arrived around one in the morning around the same time as the rain started to be steady as it was off and on all day on Saturday.
We packed and filled the cars. Moved one car to Mary Anne Falls in Ingonish then drove with everybody and all the gear to Benjie’s Lake near Cheticamp.
From here the adventure began. We had been warned of quicksand like terrain in the bogs, water everywhere, no trail to follow and a lot of fun. We had registered with the Warden as Experts in experience as our group contained five Search and Rescue volunteers. Of which, four were Medical First Responders, and three, including myself were trained in Swift Water Rescue with was not a priority at this time. The most experienced back-country traveller in the group of us was Dave Dunne. He took the lead of our primary navigator and our fearless leader. I was his second in command of navigating as it is always important to have a second independent navigation system as a fail safe mechanism, because there is little room for error in the wilderness.
We set off on a groomed trail which quickly we had to divert from. We were following a cut through the woods which had grown in. There was very little of a trail as we bushwhacked our way though. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful slow moving river [ picture ] following our first moose sighting. This is where I proceeded to slip and fall as I cut my hand on the rocks. Nothing major. This day was filled mostly with bushwhacking in the rain. We eventually came upon Caribou Barren. It was a bog about nine square kilometres in size. The cut we were trying to follow went straight across it and over a lake in the middle. We tried to follow it but without any luck. All we could do was hike along the edge of the bogs and try to walk between open sections by following the moose trails through the Tuckamore. It was a tough wet hike with another sighting of moose. This time a cow and calf. When we got to the edge of the lake in the bog after hundreds of meters of bushwhacking though thick shrubs/trees taller than us, we had decided to head to the nearest tree cover and setup camp. We were wet and the rain was still coming down. Tents went up, food was cooked and before we all went to sleep we hung the food high up a little ways from camp. We had been seeing bear poop constantly.
We had been warned of quicksand like mud. Much of the trail we were on was deep mud. The mud had a layer of grass on top. If you shook the grass with your feet the surrounding ground would ripple outward. We were falling through this up to our waists time after time. At one time Janine and Dave J. were both wearing yellow rain gear and were both in a row waist deep in the mud with their arms wailing helplessly and they were stuck. The rest of us laughed and laughed as we compared them to fire hydrants.
The rain was still coming down and the wind was strong. We torn down camp quickly and decided to feed ourselves brunch at an emergency shelter where we had planned to camp near for the first night.
After we had passed Caribou Barrens we came across a small river. Moving at a good pace, deep, but not too wide. It was decided we would jump it instead of going two kilometres out of the way. We tossed the packs over first then started jumping. Dave D. at 6'6” and I had the longest legs and had no problem jumping. We both stood ready to catch or pull the rest if anyone fell into the water. The jump was unsuccessful by Claire and Dave J. as they both dunked their feet into the water. When Janine attempted to jump she rolled on her ankle just as she made lift-off killing all her momentum. Dave D. and I pulled her quickly out of the waist deep water. I'm not even sure if she touched the bottom because we pulled her our so quickly. Our chief Medical Officer Dave Jerome wrapped her painful foot and we proceeded up the hill from the brook.
Within a short time we had found the cut again and had a flat, open trail to walk along. And in no time we say the shelter. It was a pleasant sight as the rain was still pouring. The shelter was dilapidated and small but was a very dry roof for us to have our brunch. We set off again for a full day of hiking. We were aiming to get to a campsite, but if a cabin existed as we were told if may not, we would stay there as we were all very wet and had a lot of gear to dry out. The trail we picked back up after the bog was fairly follow-able. There was a very fine line between rivers and the trail. We had to bushwhack up a river through shrubs and hope that we were still on a “trail”.
We had planned on going to White Hill. This was the highest point in Nova Scotia at 533 meters. We had a great look at the hill and decided it was not wise to go to the peak because the tuckamore we would have to bushwhack would take way to much time off our trip for which we were already behind schedule.
About ninety-five percent of the hiking at this point was in at least ankle deep water. Hiking was strong the the path was open and deep in water. The gps informed us that we were near the cabin. We were all very pleased at the sight of a fairly large cabin with a chimney.
On the door inside was a note to a lost subject informing him of supplies in the cabin and to stay there until he gets picked up the following morning. There had been a search for him in April when we had tried to cross the park on snow shoes and ran out of steam. Dave D. was one of the searchers dropped in with a Helicopter to find the subject.
The cabin was great. [ picture ] We filled up our water from the trail and treated it for cooking and drinking. I fired up the stove, we hung our clothes and boots and were warm, with our food and booze. Together we had Vodka, Rum, Whisky, Red Wine, and Sambuca and we celebrated the distance and feats we had so far not realizing the dangerous challenges ahead. Overnight we saw lightning and the rain increased as it poured and poured.
We had a great breakfast in the morning as we put on our warm dry clothing. The second we were on the trail our boots filled with water and pants soaked to our knees. This was our last leg and we were hoping for an easy going trail to pull us out of the woods in daylight. The trail was consistent and there was only one small section to bushwhack followed to what would be the most challenging obstacle any of us had every encountered.
The river was fast, deep, flooded, and several meters wide. Impossible to swim, jump, or walk across. We split into two teams and decided to hike up the river in each way incase there was a pool or narrow/wide spot where crossing would be safer. We found nothing and evaluated our gear and what we could do with it. We had two ropes, one throw bag and one real beaner. Dave D. was our strongest person and our actually fearless leader. He took two hiking poles and the end of two ropes and I held the other end of the ropes as Dave D. begun his forge in a shallow part of the river. He slowly went into the river. He was unsteady, and constantly being hammered with water. His legs and arms were shaking and he had his back to the water and tried not to get pushed forward, by holding onto the poles in front of him. He slipped a couple times and looked like he was struggling for his life as he made his way through the eddie to the other side. We had Dave J. Down river with the throw bag ready to catch Dave D. when he goes in. With great success and luck Dave D. made it to the other side.
From there we put the line up and were able to send the bags across the river, one at a time. [ picture ] All done with two people down river with the throw bag in the case that somebody slips and lands in the water. For the four of us to cross we moved the line to a different part of the river were we think it was slower. The depth was completely unknown. Dave J. was the first to cross and I was down river with the throw bag. Each person was independent on the line and had to pull themselves across. Dave J. tested it out first and as soon as he was in the eddie he feet were pulled up off the bottom and he was hanging on for his life. He got turned around and was put on the wrong side of the rope by the water. His cross was successful and the throw bag then went to Dave J. on the other side so the rest of us could cross. It then became apparent how stressed Dave D. was with this as this was a dangerous task. We had no pdf's, helmets, or anything more than one throw bag down river. He was the most experienced and therefor had the bulk of responsibility to the group. After seeing how Dave J. crossed and how much pressure the water put on him we had to instead wrap our arms around the rope instead of just hold onto it. The girls crossed and I was last and we all made it over successfully and very wet. I was greeted by hugs and cheers as the fantastic five had been successful in the crossing. We cut the rope to prevent any inexperienced travellers from attempting the crossing. We only lost one Nalgene bottle and one whistle in the crossing. Had we not had a throw bag and Swift Water Rescue training, we would not have been able to risk the crossing.
At this point almost all of our gear was soaked and we had no more rope to attempt a second crossing. We came upon some more rivers that needed extreme caution but were easily forged without a tension diagonal system.
We had lunch at another shelter which was located near the end of a day hike from Mary Anne Falls. From here the terrain was still inches deep in water, but the trail was apparent and easy walking. We came across two bridges that were washed out [ picture ] and one moose greeted us. We were walking fast as we could smell the finale in the air. A moose greeted us as our journey ws about to end. The second I saw the gate at the end of the trail my knees emitted pain, and my body begun to shutdown and ache. It was a glorious moment to have finished such a journey which was the longest and most intense hike most of us had ever done.
We all packed into the little car with our gear and headed to the Hotel in Cheticamp. We ate loads of food and drank tons of beer as we celebrated our feat. The next day we hiked the Skyline Trail before the drive back to the city.
Day after the hike. The Skyline Trail was our cool down hike back in Cheticamp.
