Monday, May 9, 2011

Frontenac Hiking Trip #2

The 2nd trip to come to Frontenac Provincial Park came on a mission. This was the group that had signed up for the more challenging trip and although they were a bit worried when members of the 1st trip told them to turn back, they were ready and keen to go.

We started hiking and although the trails were quite wet, the group made excellent time getting to our 1st campsite on Little Clear Lake. The navigating was excellent and the group moved really well as a group. The campsite was in a gorgeous spot and everyone was excited to get set up. The tents went up quickly, as went the cooking tarps (as it rained a little) and out came the meals. Similar to the other group, some quickly learned the lesson of quality versus crappy firewood, but that didn't stop some excellent meals from being delivered. There was marinated steaks, brown rice with an amazing vegetable blend and sausage pizza panzerottis. This was all topped off with a beautiful red sky, which we all knew would bring good weather for the next day.

We were not disappointed, as the sky was blue in the morning and the sun quickly warmed everything up. This was good too, as some people stayed up a little late (actually very late) and it would take a lot of effort for some to make it through the hike on the 2nd day. Before we actually headed on the trail to go to our next campsite, we backtracked a little to check out one of the old mica mines hidden in the bush. Here we saw a few more deer, which put the count for the day at 6 and it was only 10 am. Once we returned and put our packs on to head to campsite #4, it was obvious some of the students would have a tough day as the energy levels were not very high. This is why we decided that after hiking for about an hour, that we would have an extended lunch and allow some of the students to take a quick nap to regain their energy for the more difficult part of the hike.

This seemed to help, as the afternoon was much better and students seemed to enjoy the twisty narrow trail and the amazing lookout overlooking Big Salmon Lake. We even found a big bird's nest right under the ledge of the cliff. As we got to camp and fires were going with dinners cooking, you could see that the energy had returned to the group and everyone was ready for a beautiful evening as the sun went down right on the opposite side of the lake from us. The evening was just as good, as the stars were just amazing.

Having been quite lucky with the weather, the bugs had made quite the appearance, although they were not mature enough to really start biting. Which was a good thing. Never the less, we got a good early start to avoid the bugs and to get back to the trail head. The last part of the trail, the group went back to business and covered in just over an hour. This also meant that we beat the bus to the parking lot and we decided to head up the road to meet it instead of sitting amongst the bugs. All in all, good trip with great weather and an enthusiastic group.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

The hiking trip to Frontenac Provincial Park was a lot of fun, we covered a lot of distance and went through some beautiful trails, I thought this trip was a great learning experience.

Throughout this trip I learnt many things, one of which is to pack light when going on a hiking trip, I only wore one outfit the whole time I was there and I had 5 extra articles of clothing that I packed but never wore so they were just useless weight. The things I enjoyed the most on this trip were the campfires we had at night, cooking are own meals and the lookout over the lake. The part I enjoyed the least was sleeping at night, it was very cold, thankfully are group had a tent just big enough to fit us all because originally we were going to use a tent twice the size of the one we ended of using, if we had used to bigger tent I think it would have been so cold none of us would have been able to sleep at all. Having the small tent also made it easy for us to put it up and take it down very quickly. If I were to do this trip again there would be a lot of things I would do differently, I would have distributed the weight in the bag more evenly because one of the people in my group ended up with a lot of extra weight, part of the reason might have been because they had a brought in a lot more equipment but either way we all used it and I don’t think it was fair for them that I carried less. I would have also helped with the dishes more often, I only helped with the dishes one breakfast and one dinner, I also would have helped with the fires more. I think that our group relied on other people to start and maintain the fires too much. I would have also helped the other groups who were not ready in the mornings more, both mornings I finished packing before it was time to go and I had a lot of time to help other people finish their packing so we could start hiking on time.

This hiking trip taught me that I am more capable to hike for longer amounts of time then I thought I was able to and I realized that I enjoy hiking a lot better at this time of year when the bugs aren’t biting yet and it’s not summer so it’s not 30 degrees while were hiking. If I were to do this trip again I would make sure to pack lighter and I would probably chose to hike for shorter amounts of time each day because for me after a couple hours of hiking I did not enjoy it as much, overall it was an amazing trip and if I were given the opportunity I would do it again.

kellyo said...

I've been looking forward to this trip for the whole semester, and it didn't disappoint! But there were some low points and high points, and I learned a lot.

I learned that hiking can be very hard, but I also learned that I am very capable of keeping up with the leaders of the group if I push myself. Self-motivation was the key to succeed on this trip! I learned that I definitely should have packed less because I ended up wearing the same thing both days and the same thing both nights. The rest was dead weight I didn't need to carry. The things I enjoyed the most on the trip were the campfires at night, bonding with everybody and the breathtaking lookout on the lake. We were also very fortunate with the weather because we were always dry. There's a huge difference between being cold and wet(trip 1)and being dry and warm(trip 2), and I feel bad for the people on trip 1 who were stuck with such bad weather. The thing I definitely enjoyed the least was sleeping(or trying to)at night. The first night it felt like I didn't sleep at all, and the second night wasn't much better. I was shivering so much that my body actually hurt at some points and I couldn't get used to the ground. If I were to do this trip again I would pack less clothing but also help out more around camp. Our group was very dependant on others to keep the fire going and to get fire wood. I'd also help out more with the dishes, because I only did them probably once. In the mornings our group was always ready to go on time but I then found myself standing around instead of always helping others pack up. Other people did so much for me and my group and I wish we could have repayed them better. Next time I'd also like to try leading the group on a hike to better my map and directional skills.

This trip was so much fun and a great learning experience. I bonded with everyone and learned a lot about them. The campsites were amazing and gave us a great view for some great pictures and memories. There's no denying that hiking can be extremely hard, physically and mentally, but it's also an amazing accomplishment. I'd definetly do a trip like this again!

OMGDoubleRainbow said...

The hiking trip to Frontenac Park was great! The trails were nice, the campsites were nice, and the whole trip was a fun challenge.

I learned a lot of important lessons on this trip too. How to organize my pack for good portability and what I bring, because you don't want to be carrying something you don't need. I also learned how to do a number of campsite chores, including purifying water. How to set your fire is important too, to make sure it can breathe, and that you have the necessary amount of wood. The most enjoyable part of the trip was getting around the fire and making supper. You got to be pretty hungry and tired by the end of the day. My least favorite part was sleeping at night. I found it to be cold, cramped, and uncomfortable. If I had to do something differently it would be to pack less clothes and accessories, and splurge on food. We ran short on food, forgetting some stuff in class, but we just always wanting something to snack on too, so next time I would pack more to eat. I would definitely do it again and am looking forward to next year's trip. We got lucky with the weather. The first group had terrible weather, and it wasn't looking good for us either, but the sun came out the second day and stayed for the rest of the trip. We split chores pretty evenly around camp, between firewood, cooking, purifying and tents. Hiking was tiring, but also enjoyable. We had quite a bit of time to hike, so we didn't have to push ourselves too hard, but we made good ground. The campsites were well placed, close together but not so close that groups were disrupting each other. On the second day, we went without our packs to a mine near our campsite. It had large caverns full of something that I forget the name of, but looked very cool. We also stopped at a lookout overlooking Big Salmon Lake, which had a spectacular view. The bugs were out, but weren't too bad as long as you kept moving or stayed by the fire.

Overall, it was a very pleasant experience. I learned a lot, got some exercise, and had fun with everybody.

boomer said...

The hiking trip to Frontenac Provincial Park was fun. I went on trip two, which had more distance to be covered. I thought the amount of time hiking would have been longer, but it was very nice to get to the camp site early, and both of the camp sites were very beautiful. This trip was different from the ones I have been on in the past, but it was still a great learning experience.

Through out the trips I have been on in the past the most effective way to pack was to have your clothes for at night and your clothes for the day, and this trip proved that this was the best way to pack yet again. On this hiking trip I didn’t only bring clothes for the day and clothes for at night, I brought more clothes than I should have making myself carry extra weight.

The things I enjoyed the most on this trip were the beautiful sights. Both of the campsites had amazing views, but the prettiest view would have been the lookout over the lake. The part I enjoyed the least was the bugs and how cold it got at night time. Luckily the bugs weren’t old enough to bite, but if they were it would have been much worse. I brought a summer sleeping bag on the hiking trip, thinking it would be warm, and my summer sleeping bag was much smaller and lighter than my winter sleeping bag.

Our group never did start or maintain our own fire. On the first night we used Mr. Brower’s fire because we were camping right beside him. On the second night we just used anyone’s fire that was available, and this was not fair to other groups. On the first night my group had some problems putting our bear bag up, so when we were done putting it up everyone was going to bed. I wish we had started putting our bear bag up earlier, but it wasn’t our fault that the wire to put your bear bag on was broken.

One of my favorite parts of the hiking trip was the food my group brought. We ate very well! My group brought too much food, but it ended well, because another group had forgotten most of their food so we shared our food with them. The first night we had calzones, and they were possibly one of the best things I have ever had! On the second day my group was supposed to have grilled cheese sandwiches, and we were supposed to make them at home. I forgot mine so I ended up having pita and an apple for lunch, not the best. On the last day for lunch we had chicken caesar wraps, and they were amazing!

On the hiking trip I learned that I enjoy hiking. I liked how it didn’t rain on the trip, and it was great that it was cool, not like when it is 30 degrees out and you are dying of heat. If I were to do this trip again I would bring fewer clothes, remember to bring my lunch, I would probably still bring my summer sleeping bag and I would not bring fruit salad because it is very heavy and takes up a lot of room. Overall it was an amazing trip and I would definitely do it again!

MCarter said...

Camping is one of the things that I love to do the most, so our hiking trip to Frontenac Park was a lot of fun for me. Overall, I found our hiking trip to be a great experience. All of our planning and preparing paid off to make a very enjoyable three days. One of the problems we experienced during the trip was food related. We had prepared a great menu during our planning stages but we forgot several things the day we left, such as our sausages and bread. That was our biggest mistake and is definitely something I will remember for next time. That was my least enjoyable part of the trip.

The thing I enjoyed the most about the trip was the amazing weather we were lucky enough to have. The tent we used was my tent from home. When we first assembled the tent at school we noticed that it was missing pegs, we made sure to solve this problem before we left and during the trip, the tent remained dry and warm.

Fire building was a problem for us. We were not very persistent in collecting firewood and we had trouble maintaining it. When I packed my bag I made sure to be prepared for everything. Packing a bug net was possibly the best idea I had. While others were constantly swatting bugs, I was perfectly fine. The hiking aspect of the trip was tiring and fun at once. My pack was well secured so I felt no pain from it. I did end up with blisters on my feet; however, I made sure to take care of them quickly so they did not get worse. Overall this trip was a lot of fun for me. This is the kind of thing that I really enjoy and I would certainly do something like this again in a heartbeat.

nightHawk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ryder said...

The hiking trip to Frontenac Provincial Park was an amazing experience, with great trails and beautiful sites. The weather was phenomenal and the campsites had beautiful lake side views perfect for star watching. I chose the harder trip for all those reasons and to have 3 days of a fun challenge.

Day 1 started out with the lovely greeting of trip one people telling us to turn around and get back on the bus. It was a little cloudy with on and off drizzle but that wasn’t stopping us from starting off strong. The hiking trip taught me very quickly that it was a lot of exercise forcing me and many others to layer down. After reaching our destination of campsite #9 in very good time we all started with putting up our tents very fast. My group had a little trouble once we opened up the tent bag, seeing as how the group before us had left the door open with garbage in it and stuffed the tent in the bag with their feet. This forced our group to have a change of plans fitting 5 people in another group’s tent and having Jack step up and sleep in the gross tent. The fire didn’t take long to start and neither did the cooking. Everyone ate pretty well giving us good energy in the evening where most of us talked around the fire and made smores. That night was very rough seeing as how we got to bed very late due to some unneeded chatter (T.A.)

Day 2 started off with beautiful blue ski and sun. But my body didn’t feel that way with almost no energy and still very tired. Getting out of the tent around 6:30 am to the sight of 3 white tailed deer on a ridge behind our tent. Had a good breakfast with eggs, bacon and a bagel replenishing some of my body’s energy. We didn’t start hiking right away, instead we started with a detour to an old mica mine where we saw an old mine engine car (now used for animal poop) and a beaver dam. Apparently beautiful conditions mean lots of bugs. Getting back to the camp and starting the hike was a very slow process seeing as how everyone was quite exhausted. We stayed at a slow pace till lunch where we took extra-long letting many people (including myself) take a nap. I also didn’t feel the best either. The afternoon felt much better and our stop at the big salmon lake look out was very breath taking, at which I spotted a huge bird nest under a cliff ledge. After the look out, everyone stayed strong and we made it the campsite #4 nice and early giving us enough time to set up and get everything ready before supper time. It was a little harder to find wood but we got the fire going and everyone ate very well. The breeze kept everyone nice and refreshed and lead to a great evening of chatting and star watching on the lake shore. Trying not to repeat our mistake from the night before we all got to bed at a better more decent time.

The morning of day 3 I felt great. The fire situation was a little rough and was really hard to keep the fire going for cooking but in the end everyone ate and was ready to hike to the end. Getting there in just over an hour, the hike went well, minus the part where I smashed my head on a tree and where my sleeping bag almost fell off the face of a cliff (Melissa rescue.) But the hike was extra nice with my company of Brie, Melissa and Marc. We ended up getting to the pickup area before the bus and decided to meet up with it farther down the road.

The trip turned out to be amazing with lots of great memories with lots of great people. There’s no doubt in my mind as to if I would be willing to do that wonderful trip again. I learned a lot about health and safety and outdoor cooking and about the people around me. It was so far the best part of outdoor education and I’m glad I choose trip 2.

nightHawk said...

The hiking trip to Frontenac Park was a great experience. Though at times it was a bit of a challenge, it ended up teaching us a lot and being a great experience.

The trip taught me alot, most importantly to triple check that you have everything before you leave. Our group ended up losing almost half our food, which was left in the school fridge. One of the groups really helped us; because they had packed too much food they offered us their extras, seeing that we didn’t have much food to live off of for three days.

Though we didn’t pack much to eat, supper was still the best time of the day. We’d start our fire and start making our supper. Though we didn’t have much food, everything was really delicious and a bit filling. The high light was our first supper, as we marinated steaks and cooked them up just the way we liked them!

The hiking part of the trip wasn’t that bad, though the second day we ended up taking some long breaks that were hard to get out of. I found that the packs weren’t that heavy and we kept a pretty fast pace. Throughout the hike we stopped to see some really beautiful look outs that showed us just how beautiful Frontenac park is.

The thing that I learned was that I need to make that I need to make sure I'm collecting dead wood and nothing green. After spending almost an hour sawing out logs for the fire, we were really disappointed when they just wouldn't light. We eventually had to send people to collect smaller logs just to try and keep the fire going.

Though the experience was tough, I feel it was a great experience that taught me a lot. If I had the opportunity to go on another hike I would definitely take it in a heartbeat.

Karleigh7 said...

I really enjoyed our trip to Frontenac Provincial Park; it was a lot of fun! The trails were great and the park was beautiful. I chose to go on the more challenging trip. I wasn’t sure at first if I was going to be able to do all the hiking but by the end of the trip I felt a huge sense of accomplishment.
We were extremely lucky with the weather we had. The day we arrived it was drizzling and quite cloudy. The other group said that they had horrible weather and were freezing cold the whole time. Luckily for us the first day wasn’t too bad. It was about a 2 ½ hour hike to our first site on Little Clear Lake. The trails were a little wet from the rain the days before but weren’t too bad. Everyone did very well hiking considering it was the first time a lot of us had hiked with quite a large amount of weight on our backs. We made it to the first sight in good time and we all set up our tents and started making our supper. On day 1 we had sausage on a bun and a delicious vegetable salad. We pre-cooked everything but it still took us a while because our fire wasn’t quite hot enough for cooking so it took a little longer to cook everything up. On the next day we waited until we were sure the fire was ready. I helped with getting the wood for the fire in the morning because I knew that if we waited until the morning no one will want to go out searching for wood so early in the morning.
The first night was a long one. It took us a while to fall asleep because of not being used to the hard ground and also because of some loud noises coming from the boy’s tent. We also had an encounter with a “bear” that night. So the next morning you could tell everyone was quite exhausted. We started our hike by backtracking to mica mine before heading to our next campsite. It was a beautiful hike on a beautiful day which means the mosquitos were out in full force. They weren’t biting yet which was good but they were definitely annoying! At the old mine we saw an old mine engine car and a beaver dam. We then started on our way to the next campsite. Everyone was extremely exhausted so we took an extended lunch so we could take a nap and get some energy back. It definitely paid off. Everyone stepped up the pace and had a lot more energy. We made another stop at a cliff overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful view. Soon after we made it to the camp and set up for the night. We learned what was needed to do and how long it was going to take us from the night before. Therefore it didn’t take us as long as it did the night before to set up. That night we made delicious spaghetti. The stars were beautiful and the wind coming of the water kept the mosquitos away.

Karleigh7 said...

The last day everyone was ready to get on the bus to go home. We set off around 9:30-10:00 back towards the park office. The bugs weren’t quite as bad that day which made for a pleasurable hike back. We were quite tired stopping every 15-20 minutes taking a break. It only took us 1 ½ hours to make it back. We beat the bus back so we decided to keep walking and meet it half way.
The thing that didn’t go so well was the packing. The first day my pack was packed very well I barely felt it on me. I made sure to place the heavier things close to my back and the light things and the stuff I would need access to during the hike on the top. But on the 2nd and 3rd day my packing wasn’t as great. I didn’t plan out my packing like I did before. I ended up just pilling everything into my bag. That wasn’t a very good idea because my back felt a lot heavier than the day before even though I lost food weight. I also had to carry the food shelter because nobody else wanted to carry it. That made my back even heavier. Next time I would definitely pack my bag properly so my back wouldn’t have been so sore. I also over-packed. I really wore the same pants and shirt for the entire trip so the rest of my clothing was just dead weight. Next time I know not to pack as many shirts and pants as before. I am glad that I packed under armour (wicking layer) because the mornings and nights were cool and when I got hot I could just take a layer off.
I had an amazing time on this trip! It was nice to have a bonding experience with all my classmates and have lots of memories. If I had a chance to do it all again I would do it in a heartbeat!

Michaela said...

On May 4-6th 2011, a group of us ventured out to Frontenac Park where we camped and hiked for three days straight. Camping is one of my favorite moments in the summer that I always look forward to it. So this trip was very exciting for me. The stars were phenomenal, the view was breath taking, and the memories we made will last with me forever and I would love to try it again.

The first day of the trip we met up with the other group. It was drizzling and wet. They had told us about all the exciting things they had seen and accomplished. They also mentioned how tired and exhausted they were. We only then realized what we had gotten ourselves into; as our hike was supposed to be even longer than theirs was. It was then time to begin and we all exhausted within first 15 minutes. Our bags were stuffed and heavy, our layers were extremely warm and we needed lots of water. We powered through and made it to campsite 9 in only 2 ½ hours. We set up camp, got a fire started and began to cook our rice and sausages. Then, when the day finally came to an end, we headed off to bed. Note to self; get some more sleep the first night, since we didn’t get to sleep until midnight and were up at 7am ready for a full day of hiking.

The next morning, the sky was clear and it looked like the day would be warm and delightful. We packed up and headed off to our next campsite. We stopped throughout the way to visit a mine and an hour break for lunch. We then continued on to our next destination, the lookout. The view was amazing and unforgettable. You could see the entire lake, the green trees covering the beautiful area and the smell of the fresh non-polluted air. Everyone wanted to stay and look around longer but we thought it would be better to head for campsite 4 and get everything set up. We arrived in no time, set up everything and had our supper. That night I will never forget the bright sunset and the sound of the echo across the lake.

As the final day came, everyone just wanted to get home and sleep. So, we headed off as quickly as possible. We were all exhausted and tired and did our best to keep going. We accomplished that goal and made it back alive and well. Some things that I would change next time is not to over pack, carry less useless weight, drink more water and have fun whatever the weather.

Self motivation and perseverance were the keys to this trip. It kept you going and without any doubt, but it also taught me different things throughout the trip. It helped me learn important things about myself and different techniques on this trip like even though my brain is telling me im finished, I can keep persevering, technique wise, hanging food to keep away from the animals and as well knowing you can always find something to do in the wilderness. What I enjoyed the most was being with my friends and getting to see all the amazing sights that are around us and things that we take for granted. My least favorite part was the bugs. Mosquitoes swarmed us throughout the second and third day. They didn’t leave us alone for any moment in time. I can’t wait for more exciting experiences in Outdoor Ed and if the opportunity comes around, I will do in a heartbeat. Thanks to Mr. Brouwer for taking us on this thrilling expedition.

MadiStew said...

Throughout our three-day hike through the beautiful Frontenac Provincial Park, I learned to never take some things for granted again, like a heavy backpack, for example. It was one of the best experiences that I've ever had and the weather was perfect.

One of my groups downfalls was to bring two containers of fruit salad. We hadn't realized how much it weighed and, although it tasted delicious, we probably could've gone without it. Another error was that we made extra room in one pack for the tent by adding the extra items, including the fruit salad, in another pack. Unfortunately, we took out too much stuff and our smallest group member was stuck carrying the heaviest pack on the longest leg of the trip. For the following days, we made sure the packs were even.

Our food on the trip was great, but we had almost too much and therefore had to give away leftovers to other hungry groups. My favorite meal was the sausage calzones on the first night. Although some were burnt a little bit, they tasted great anyways.

Some of the highlights of the trip was on the second day when we stopped for over an hour for lunch and basked in the sun. Another great moment was when most of the group sat by the motionless lake and looked at the stars in the night sky.

I realized the value of packing light and I will definitely learn from my mistakes if I ever get another chance to go on a hike. This trip has inspired me to start getting outside and my family even wants to go on a hike next summer.

alpine14 said...

The hiking trip to Frontenac Provincial Park was a blast! At the very beginning I was nervous because when we were dropped off, the first group told us about their wet and cold adventure. Our group soon came to realize that our trip was going to be quite different than the first group’s trip. Our trip was mainly sunny, warm (maybe even a bit too warm), and beautiful. I think I can speak for all of us when I say it was a tremendous adventure.
It started off a little rocky when hiking for ten minutes felt like we’d been hiking for an hour. I wasn’t used to hiking while carrying a heavy load, but I soon realized that it’s an awful lot harder than hiking for a couple hours one day. Even though it started off hard, the scenery was spectacular. At our first stop, a couple of us had hiked up a big rock with a view over a river. In the distance we were able to see a beaver swimming and the ripples it was leaving in the water. The scene was truly picturesque.
We continued hiking, though with a few too many stops at the beginning, until we reached our destination with perfect timing. Our groups chose our platforms and set up camp. We set up our tent with ease and decided to put one of my tarps (I brought two) inside our tent on the ground. This added an extra layer of insulation. We quickly collected firewood though when I went to break the firewood I had collected into pieces, I realized it was still quite wet inside. It was good there most people collected fire wood so that we had enough. I made sure that I didn’t make the same mistake the second night.
The evening consisted of eating our sausages and salad (which was delicious), sitting around the fire with friends and cooking smores. We talked for hours until we decided to head in for the night to have enough energy for our long hike the next day. I easily drifted to sleep but woke up abruptly when I heard something coming from our vestibule. I heard something breathing heavily, saw that it was on its hands and knees and left the vestibule without using the zipper. I instantly became terrified. At the time (roughly 3 o’clock in the morning), I thought that we had a bear in our vestibule. I instantly woke up Karleigh and hold her what I thought I had seen. I told her we had to pretend we were sleeping even though I was still terrified. I hoped it would just go away and leave us alone. The only thing going through my head was: How are we going to get out of here? Can we rip the tent fast enough? What should I do? What did the movie we watched in outdoor education say we should do? As these thoughts were going through my head, Karleigh turned to Michaela and the two of them soon came to realize that Melissa was gone; that Melissa was my “bear encounter”.

alpine14 said...

(Part 2)

When I woke up the next morning, everyone was asking me about my “bear encounter”. I didn’t even care that everyone knew. The only thing that I kept thinking about was: What if it had been a bear? I still can’t stop thinking about it. Before the trip, I was worried that I might see a bear. My mom even went out and bought me a bear bell. I guess buying me a bear bell made her feel better about her daughter going hiking in the woods. Packing up took us longer than we had hoped but we were on the trails and heading, without our bags, to an old mica mining area. It was truly an amazing sight. It was a steep climb to the mines but worth every bit of it. After the mines, we retrieved our bags and headed towards campsite #4, where we would spend Thursday night. On the way to that day’s site, we stopped at the most beautiful lookout I have ever seen. I was nervous being so close to the edge, so I stayed far away. From this lookout, we could see Little Salmon Lake and we could almost see campsite #4. We could feel the wind, which refreshed us on this warm, beautiful day.
One thing that I would change, though I don’t have that capacity, would be how warm it was. The first day was the perfect temperature; barely any bugs but still warm enough that you only needed one thin layer. The temperature from the second day brought out many bugs, though the bugs were young so they weren’t actually biting. They were little pests that would swarm around your body while you were hiking, though they were even worse when we would stop for breaks. I was very glad that I had bought a bug net for my face. This way I wasn’t trying to shoo the little pests away with my hands.
We arrived at camp with even more time to set up than the first day. It was extremely windy so we decided to set up a wind shelter. This worked effectively, but the wind died down at night so there wasn’t really a point to it. This night was as fun as the first the spaghetti my group ate was amazing. We made a bit too much but it worked out perfectly because another group didn’t have enough food so we gave them our leftovers. This was good because I hate wasting food. Whenever I waste food I think of all the families who can’t afford to eat properly and I feel horrible for wasting perfectly good food.
Thursday night, I had a great, bear-free sleep. Friday morning we took longer than planned, again, but we took less time than the first morning. This extra time helped us to get to the parking lot before the bus had arrived. The people in the front of the group decided we should keep going so that we wouldn’t get swarmed by the bugs. I would have rather stayed to wait there because I was very tired and I had a bug net. We kept walking though, and I fell asleep as soon as I sat down on the bus.
This trip was an unforgettable experience. It was filled with memorable, funny and beautiful moments. There were parts here and there that could have gone more smoothly or differently but all in all, this was a trip that I will never forget.

amy.perras said...

Our three days hiking trip to Frontenac Provincial Park was very fun. Before we started hiking I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to make it the three days. But with some struggle the first day I made it through the three days and had lots of fun! I also learned a lot of things that would help me if I were to do this kind of trip again.
One of the very first things I learned on this trip was to pack light. Unfortunately I learned that the hard way. I got stuck carrying all the food and a volunteered to take one f the group’s food tarps, so my bag ended up being unbearably heavy. I was not in a very good mood for the whole first day because my back hurt a lot from carrying all that weight. Although once I got some food in me I felt much better. My group’s dinner didn’t turn out the way we had planned but it was still really good. Another thing that I learned the first day was to make sure we find a place to hang the bear bag before it gets dark. We spent a long time trying to put our bag up in the dark and we ended up missing out on the campfire.
The hike on the second day was probably my favourite out of all of the hikes. It was maybe a bit to hot and there were a lot of bugs but I still enjoyed it. I think I would have rather gone to the look out then the mines, but they were still pretty awesome. I also think our lunch break was a bit too long and it was hard to get going after we had stopped for that long. The look out just before we got to our campsite was beautiful and it was defiantly worth seeing. I preferred the second campsite as opposed to the first because everyone was closer together. My group made another really good dinner and this time we got to stay out for the campfire. My favourite part of the second night was we went to the end of our campsite end the sky was clear and we could see all the starts, it was really pretty. The last thing I learn was that I needed to bring better sleeping clothes because I was really cold during both nights.
Over all I had a really good time and I would do the trip again, just with a lighter load next time!

ZandZibar said...

Trip 2 to Frontenac was a great experience! It was fun, had it's fair share of challenges and I have learned a lot from it. As we all know trip 2 was the harder of the pair and I was up for the challenge as were many others.

The first day started of with meeting the tired and battered group one, which weren't very encouraging, telling us to get the heck back on the bus and go to school. We just thought they were a little whiny. We started hiking after getting packed at the trail head we set off! We then arrived at our campsite. Set up had it's fair share of challenges. The other groups tent was wet and muddy on the inside due to misuse from the last group. So we all squeezed in my groups tent unfortunately one of the members of the other group had to sleep solo in the wet tent. Fire was being maintained well the first night everyone was pitching in gathering wood making for an easy dinner. My cooking partner was a little hard to work with. Then as it got dark we all prepared for bed but me and 2 others weren't ready for bed so we hung around the fire and collected more wood for the morning. Soon after we were ready for bed but unfortunately the girls were not, with there constant screaming. So we yelled at them to be quiet which got us a well deserved talking to from Mr.Brower.

Day 2 started of fairly efficient before we knew we were packed and ready to go. We took a little detour to check out the mica mine Then we were on our way to the next site. We took a long break for lunch as many of us were tired due to lack of sleep from the night before. We then got moving again and arrived the cluster. We set up and decided to use the same sleeping configurations. This when the fire situation started going down hill. Less and less people were helping collect and the supply was quickly diminishing. We got dinner together then we hung our food and just sat around the fire for the rest of the night and people settled down when it came time to sleep.

The next morning started with no firewood and no one wanted to collect so we would stand around the fire watching it die and not doing anything about it made it harder to prepare breakfast. We then got packed up and were on our way. We struggled to get to our pick up point as we were very tired and getting on the bus felt great, looking back on what we had just accomplished.

I enjoyed our look outs, talking around the fire with classmates. I didn't pack anything I didn't use because I changed close everyday it felt nice to have fresh clothes on.

I didn't like the fire situation on day 2 as well as next time I will pick a better cooking group!I did lack a bug net and proper footwear.

I really enjoyed this trip and would defiantly do it over a big thanks to Mr. Brower and his helpers for the wonderful trip.

Steven said...

The hiking trip o Frontenac Park was an amazing experience. This is the trip I have been waiting for the whole semester and I had a great time.

The first day we started by getting off the bus to be greeted by a haggard, tired and negative group 1 that kind of lowered my hopes for this trip. We started after a quick snack and lunch after we had packed our stuff. The weather was holding out, but just barely, it had started to drizzle and there was a low overcast. The hiking didn't take very long and we arrived at campsite #9 and start5ed putting up our tents and choosing our spots. My group, Jack Ryder and myself, opened our tent to find it filled with garbage, which wasn't too bad, but the real problem was the state the previous group left it in. The tent door was wide open and absolutely drenched, this changed our plans and we only had 1 person sleeping in our tent, which was Jack, while Ryder and I crammed into Al's tent. Ryder and i waited for everyone else to finish cooking before we started our dinner, which was an amazing chicken and rice dinner. The night was an interesting one to say the least after a few in our tent thought talking was a better idea than sleeping.

The second day my group got up at 6 to start the fire and start cleaning the campsite to get ready for breakfast. Breakfast was a hearty meal of eggs, a lot of bacon and bagels that got me up and ready to go. Instead of hiking right away we went to an old mine near by. It was a beautiful day unfortunately that meant a lot of bugs to deal with. After that we started hiking till lunch, when we took an extended break to catch up on some much needed sleep. When we continued, I was ready to go and get to the next campsite, So Josh Drew and I led the group, trying to get to the next point. When we made it to the lookout we took another break to marvel at such a breathtaking sight. After wards we continued and made it to campsite #4. We immediately started the tents and dinner, which was a pasta and sausage.

On the third day we were ready to hike to the end and finish a very interesting and fun filled trip. We made very good time and beat the bus halfway down the trail and made our way home.

This trip was amazing; I enjoyed every second of it and would do it again any time. I am very glad I chose trip #2 and can’t wait to do it again.

Steven said...

The hiking trip o Frontenac Park was an amazing experience. This is the trip I have been waiting for the whole semester and I had a great time.

The first day we started by getting off the bus to be greeted by a haggard, tired and negative group 1 that kind of lowered my hopes for this trip. We started after a quick snack and lunch after we had packed our stuff. The weather was holding out, but just barely, it had started to drizzle and there was a low overcast. The hiking didn't take very long and we arrived at campsite #9 and start5ed putting up our tents and choosing our spots. My group, Jack Ryder and myself, opened our tent to find it filled with garbage, which wasn't too bad, but the real problem was the state the previous group left it in. The tent door was wide open and absolutely drenched, this changed our plans and we only had 1 person sleeping in our tent, which was Jack, while Ryder and I crammed into Al's tent. Ryder and i waited for everyone else to finish cooking before we started our dinner, which was an amazing chicken and rice dinner. The night was an interesting one to say the least after a few in our tent thought talking was a better idea than sleeping.

The second day my group got up at 6 to start the fire and start cleaning the campsite to get ready for breakfast. Breakfast was a hearty meal of eggs, a lot of bacon and bagels that got me up and ready to go. Instead of hiking right away we went to an old mine near by. It was a beautiful day unfortunately that meant a lot of bugs to deal with. After that we started hiking till lunch, when we took an extended break to catch up on some much needed sleep. When we continued, I was ready to go and get to the next campsite, So Josh Drew and I led the group, trying to get to the next point. When we made it to the lookout we took another break to marvel at such a breathtaking sight. After wards we continued and made it to campsite #4. We immediately started the tents and dinner, which was a pasta and sausage.

On the third day we were ready to hike to the end and finish a very interesting and fun filled trip. We made very good time and beat the bus halfway down the trail and made our way home.

This trip was amazing; I enjoyed every second of it and would do it again any time. I am very glad I chose trip #2 and can’t wait to do it again.

brieski said...

Outdoor Ed PAD20 Hiking Trip #2 Reflection
My outdoor ED hiking trip was certainly one to remember. It was one of the best three days I have ever experienced! I will never forget it, because I made so many memories. We started off our trip at the second parking lot at Frontenac Park. When we met up with the other trip (#1), we got an interesting response. We heard all the stories, in about 5 minutes. How it was cold, rainy, and everyone was miserable the second night. The bugs were biting them, and they didn’t enjoy themselves. I’ll admit I was a weary of what was in store, but literally 30 minutes after trip #1 got on the bus, and we began hiking, the weather couldn’t have been better.



There were almost no bugs on the first day, and there was a comfortable breeze all the way through. My bag was very well packed, and balanced. I was pleasantly surprised, about how a well packed bag, that’s balanced and placed on your back properly, can really make an enjoyable hike. At one point on the trip (the last 30 minutes), one of the class members bag was really starting to weigh her down. She had mentioned nothing until the one point when we needed a break. I offered to switch packs with her for the last 30 minutes because she was carrying the cooking tarp, and said it was much heavier. As soon as I but the bag on, I was shocked. The difference in weight was unbelievable, and my pack even had some of our cooking gear, a lot of food, and pots and pans in it. The two bags probably weighed close to the same amount, but because hers was unbalanced, it made hiking so much more difficult. I was so surprised she went through the whole day with it, and didn’t say anything. She was a real trooper

brieski said...

When we got to our first camp site, our group was really efficient .We got there, and it started to rain so we wanted to move quickly. We had our tent pitched and tarp over our picnic table within the first 15 minutes. We gathered fire wood, and started to make arrangements for dinner. We worked well, and as a team. We had about 4 cooking groups under one tarp and we all helped each other. Some groups weren’t well prepared so we shared whatever they were lacking. After dinner one group member from another cooking group was doing dishes and noticed one of our cooking groups pots weren’t cleaned, she offered to do it for us. I found just little things like that were what really made an enjoyable trip. After our meal we cleaned up and began hanging our food. Everyone got their gear together, when a couple of the boys wanted to go for a swim.

These were the only two brave boys that felt the need to jump in the freezing lake during the first week of May. Just as everyone expected, it was freezing, and their little adventure came to an end. After we cleaned up and hung our food, we sat down and enjoyed the camp fire for the rest of the evening. One of our group members, had to use the outhouse. Sh was in there and began screaming. She ran out of the outhouse, so quickly, but too b followed by a bird! Apparently a black bird was in the toilet and when she walked in she startled it, making it fly out. It was so funny! But everyone was weary of the outhouses after that. I really enjoyed the first day, I have to say the only downfall would have been the blisters I accumulated. It was my own fault to begin with, the day before I decided it was a good time to start breaking in my new ariat riding boots. I developed hot spots but thought if I put a blister pad on it, I should be good to go. I was wrong. I had one blister, and felt the other developing. We all went to sleep that night at a reasonable hour. I wasn’t too cold, but I found that when I woke up I was a little chilly, again, my fault. I left my thermarest on the bus, so a lot of my body heat escaped into the ground.

brieski said...

Everyone woke up bright and early the next day. We were pretty efficient; we woke up and began our routine. We made breakfast, cleaned up, packed our gear and we were set for our day. We started hiking and decided to take a detour, to a near by mine. We left our bags on the trail, and began walking without our packs. It was really neat to see an old steam boiler too! Along the way there was a pile of old mica, which was also really interesting to see. We hiked back, and picked up our gear. At this point the black flies were awful. The were immature and weren’t biting yet, but they were in your face all the time. The would fly in your nose, mouth, eyes, you name it. They made it quite tedious for a while.

On this day, I had the tent. It made my pack much heavier, but it was well balanced so I was okay. The weather was so beautiful! It was warm and there was a slight breeze which after a while, took care of the bugs. We hiked up and didn’t quite make it to our campsite that we were going to eat lunch at, so Mr. Brouwer let us stop at a cluster of rocks, just above a lake. We filled up our water bottles, purified it, and enjoyed a nice long break. I took off my boots to check and see how my blisters were doing, I noticed one of them had gotten much bigger, and the other one began to develop under the blister pad. I thought I was best to tough it out and just take care of them when we got to our campsite. After a nice nap, and lunch we continued on our hike.

After a little more time, we got too the lookout. It was absolutely breathtaking. You had a clear view of the lake, and everything around it. It was so high up; the lake seemed so far down beneath us. We continued hiking and made it to our last campsite. My heels were hurting, due to my blisters, so I helped my group set up camp as quickly as possible so I could take care of them. I took some of my first aid supplies and looked at my blisters. I had two of THE biggest blisters I’ve ever gotten on each heel, and I’ve had a couple bad ones over the years. I took off the blister pad on one of my heels, and the blister had already popped. I tried taking the blister pad off my other heel but I just wouldn’t come off. I had already popped that blister ( in retrospect I wish I hadn’t), but no matter how hard I pulled it just wouldn’t come off. I had to go see Mr.Brouwer who couldn’t get it off either, but cut most of the blister pad off and just left the little bit that was still bonded to my heel, to come off on its own. He gave me mole skin for each of my heels, and it made, day three much more enjoyable.

brieski said...

After my blister fiasco was taken care of, our group made dinner. We cleaned up and hung our food. The weather was still pristine, and the last evenings campfire, was so much fun. We all got a goods night sleep. After being slightly over tired from the night before, we learnt our lesson and went to bed at a reasonable hour. On the last morning, we ate breakfast, cleaned up and packed our gear. We were all running a little behind schedule.
We started hiking on the third day. The weather was still gorgeous as ever. We stayed on the trail, and made it too the bus. We ended up meeting up with it on the road, Everyone was so tired from the trip, that no one even had the energy to make lunch. 3 out of my 4 group members napped most of the way home. The trip was fantastic, and I could not have asked for it to go any better! I really enjoyed myself, and I am so excited to be in outdoor ED in grade 11!

Unknown said...

For the hiking trip to Frontenac park i chose to join the second group of fellow students. Out of the two the 2nd trip was the harder one which covered more distance, i believed i was ready for the challenge and great learning experience.

On day one we met the others and realized how wet they were from the trip because of their gear, they said it was hard and although that was the easier trip it did not Demotivate me at all. As we started to get going the group stuck together but had constant breaks. We covered distance well and by the time we knew it we were at camp right off of beautiful little clear lake. Students still full of energy, were excited to get tents up and settle down for some food. On our platform we had shared with another group but we came across a problem, a group from trip one had left their tent drenched and filled with garbage, we welcomed them to share our tent because we had more than enough room and didn’t want anyone negative on the trip, i learnt being negative would make others negative and generate less work. Supper was great we let our steaks marinate for about 15 minutes then we cooked, it was very appetizing after a day of hiking. We had stayed up and even got some firewood but It was finally time for bed, it was a tight squeeze but I'm sure more comfortable then it would have been for the other group.

In the morning it was easier than expected to wake up, it took some time but eventually everyone had eaten and packed everything needed for another day of hiking. With a quick garbage check we were set off to camp #4 on the map. As the day passed on it became very warm. The group decided to do some extra distance and visit the old mines. I was already getting hungry and wanted to snack. The mica mines were interesting to me, just to think how old these were. It was very hot when Mr.Brouwer called for lunch time up top on a rocky hill with a slight breeze. A lesson well learned on this trip was to double check equipment because our group had forgotten some food, we went without lunch on day 2. without the food i was just determined to get to camp #4. although i wanted to push forward everyone was a little tired from the previous night and day so we all had a nap to regain the energy.

Along these trails were very scenic and rough terrain, let it be rocky, flat, steep etc. We covered a lot of land types. We eventually came upon a look-out sight over watching big salmon lake, the end of this cliff could have taken someones life with a slip but it was worth the pictures, it was high up and beautiful watching the sparkling water effect from the warm sun. Finally at the campsite a few including me were considering a nice swim after a warm day but this campsite was windy and cooled us down quickly. Everyone worked together to set up tents, stoves, food, fire, dishes and i had even climbed a tree to set up a tarp for less wind. It was an interesting day and a really nice night. It was late before we got to bed but there were nice stars filling the sky and even echoes across the lake if u were to yell, that was fun.

Very quickly in the morning we covered the distance and got there before the bus had, we decided to walk and meet up with it. Now even though bus seats aren’t the most comfortable, they felt great at the time. I had fallen asleep and so did others, the ride felt longer than it was, but i was still excited to go home and have a nice meal made for myself. Overall this definitely set amazing standards for my first hiking trip, with challenging routes and beautiful scenery you get a sense of accomplishment, especially for the distance you can cover. I would go on another trip in a second and cant wait for more trips to come.

Mr.Brouwer said...

The frontenac provincial park Ontario hiking trip was great fun. On this trip we were able to try out different things that we learnt in class, for example, starting a fire, boil water on an open flame and respecting the environment by taking nothing but pictures leaving nothing but footprints.

The first day was exciting but energy draining when we got to our first camping spot was really beatuful it was a relief that we were finally there. We started setting up for the night. That’s when we found out we had the wrong fly for our tent another group that had a bigger tent that let us sleep with them. There wasn’t enough room in the other groups’ tent so 2 of us still had to sleep in the tent missing the fly. The next task for me was collecting fire wood, that was how dinner was being cooked and I wanted to eat. The next morning we were late getting up which put us behind schedule. Our first stop to an old mining sight, it was interesting to see. I was thrilled when we stopped for lunch because all the hiking really wore me out, I was in need of a little snooze, which is exactly what I did. When we finally reached the second camping location it was on the water and very peaceful, and it was day one all over again but with a more tired group.
Our group was a very successful on this camping trip, I learned a lot about spending time in the wilderness and I hope to do it again in the years to come. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to many.

By Jack Kinsella.