We have been very excited for the opportunity to do a trip with Dave and Kielyn of Lure of The North in February. This would be our first big adventure this Spring.
It all started several years ago when we were gearing up to watch Season 7 of Alone. (For those that haven't seen the show, it's a reality TV show where 10 contestants are dropped in remote areas with no food, a few essential items and cameras to film their life in the wilderness. The person who lasts the longest is award a big cash prize.) At the start of Season 7, I was checking out the contestant bios for Alone on the History Channel website and found Kielyn from Espanola, Ontario. Contestants come from all over the world, so having someone from Ontario is rare and was worth investigating. I read about Kielyn and it mentioned her husband Dave - I check the last name - Marrone - **SUDDEN REALIZATION** I taught Dave - one of my best students ever! Turns out that Kielyn was a superstar on the show. After watching Season 7, we drew the conclusion that Team Dave and Kielyn were obviously something special.
Dave greeted us with about 13 other campers at noon the parking area. The Base Camp is their off-grid home south of Espanola and a 8 km walk on trails and an old mining road from the highway. After gear prep, dinner and a night at the base camp we loaded our toboggans, put on show shoes and hoisted the toboggan tumps over our shoulders at 9 am on Sunday morning and the trek began.
Our group consisted of 9 people in total -
- Dave our amazing guide.
- Jaime a Colonel in the Army who had some experience with LOTN before and was a good mentor for us all
- Vladimir - a recent immigrant from Ukraine who lives in Alberta with his wife and daughter
- William - a young guy who works to support "whistle blowers" in the US.
- Carone - an educator from Wolfe Island
- Jim - a retired teacher from Madison Wisconsin and his partner
- Sandra - a recently retired psychologist.
Over the next week we got to know each other very well as we trekked and shared the space of 2 small tents for just about everything. Typically each day started at 6 am with packing our gear, cooking and eating breakfast then packing the tents, stoves, all the group gear onto our toboggans. Once packed, Sandra brilliantly lead a short yoga session then it was "tumps on" by 9 am. We'd hike across lakes, maneuver over portages (usually with 2 pulling one sled over the hills and riding on the down hills!). We'd stop on the way for snack and lunch (hot soup and warm sandwiches) and arrive early afternoon at the next site to set up camp. Dinner was served around 5:30 and after we'd play a game (mostly Skull King) and then lights out. The first night most of us were in bed by 7pm - we got a little more accustomed to the routine and stayed up till after 9 on night 5!
Kie was masterful at designing so many different and tasty meals for us! Each day's food was packed in a duffle and the cook simply had to follow the directions. To give you some idea, Paul cooked Split Pea Soup with melted cheesy bread for dinner and rice pudding for breakfast. Gayle made burritos for dinner and "Harvesters Breakfast" (Mashed Potatoes, Bacon, Cheese - a big bowl of yum!).
Dave was an excellent guide and taught so much - tree identification, wood cutting, wood splitting, camp setup, take down and cooking. Our group was an awesome team and worked so well to get the camp tasks done efficiently. Gayle and Sandra had to became outstanding wood splitters when Will, Vladimir and I hauled back 4 big trees that needed to be processed!
Dave and Kie are very special people who really made us all feel like members of their family. They took such good care of us, told great stories, adjusted to the needs of the group and planned a fantastic trip for us. We are so grateful for the time we spent with them and our amazing group!
We'll have a few more posts about our trek and camp life coming soon.