Forest Bathing

 Yes, the Scotland Saga will continue eventually. In the meantime..

42 hours in the Haliburton Forest

Tanker and I had both booked Friday off work to drive up, hoping to arrive by 2pm to help with registration. Unfortunately, we got off to a late start due to some cat-related drama, and didn't arrive until about 4:30pm. A quick stop at the Boiler Room and office to check in and get our key, then into the forest itself.

East Road

By half past five, we'd finally arrived at our destination for the evening - Merle's delightful little cabins on beautiful Clear Lake.

Which looked extra inviting on a hot, sunny afternoon

We arrived just in time to say hello to everyone - Merle, Helen, Paul, Erv - before they headed off to base camp for the 100 mile dinner at 6pm. Since I'd be unable to eat anything there, we'd declined our invitation; we had other plans instead.

..just as soon as I could stop being mesmerized by the way the sun shone through this knot in Merle's brand new outhouse

A quick change, and then off we went..

In absolutely perfect conditions

..and with amazing company

We paddled over to the south side of the lake, which I hadn't previously explored - it was my third time out in one of Merle's kayaks, but I'd only ever seen the north shore up close before.

The light was beautiful

Just the best way to spend an evening

As we made our way, slowly and lazily, toward the far (west) end of the lake, the breeze dropped completely and left us with glassy calm.

A far cry from my first experience on Clear Lake!

We returned to the dock - after about 5km of relaxing lily dipping - just as the sun gleamed its last over the treeline.

We couldn't have timed it better

We'd been told that the water was lovely and warm - the lake is quite shallow, after all - so we decided to go for a bit of a wade after tucking the boats away.

..in my new Haliburton Forest hat, no less

Tank brought a tall blonde for company in the water

We splashed around a bit, then climbed back out and dried off as the evening began to deepen.

While far milder than any other night I've spent in the forest, it was definitely time for some warm, dry clothes!

The others returned to the cabins around 8pm, just as I was beginning to cook dinner on the gas stove in the cabin and Tanker was lighting the fire.

..where we spent the rest of the evening, chatting with our friends.

We did go for a bit of a walk out to the East Road and back, just so I could get my silly step goal for the day (1,047 straight days of at least 5,000 steps as of then), and then it was time to turn in - somehow it was already past 11:30pm by the time we climbed the ladder to our lofty accommodations.

It might be a bit awkward to get to, but it always gives us a wonderful night's sleep

In the morning - a little later than usual, due to a change in the direction runners would be heading out (that meant a longer stretch before they'd reach our aid station) - we rose to a bit of mist on the lake and beautiful blue skies overhead.

I will never tire of coming to Clear Lake

Merle cooked up bacon and pulled a load of hard boiled eggs from the fridge, toasting bagels for everyone else and then turning the stove over to me to toast some GF bread I'd brought to slather with a couple of packets of jam. All this was washed down with Tanker's amazing camp coffee from our family-sized percolator pot.

No better way to start a day

By 7:45am it was time to bid the little cabins goodbye for another year.

Just a wonderful place - we're so grateful that Merle invites us!

Into our car and off toward Marsh Lake as the sun began to climb.

Seconds after I took this shot, a mama black bear and her three cubs came hurtling across the road in front of us!

We arrived at the hunt camp and walked over to AS2 - our home for the next 30 hours, give or take. We got to work getting the forest buffet set out for the runners, whom we expected to start arriving by 9am or so.

Merle under the giant new tent surveying the spread

Single servings in easy to grab formats of sweet and salty treats

We also got the ultra staple ready to go - pickles and pickle juice shots. After we set them out, I thought they could use a little something to advertise them, so I went to work with a sharpie and a paper plate.

Not particularly accurate, but it gave some folks some laughs, which was the whole point!

All day long we filled cups, replenished snacks, topped up bottles, and shouted encouragement at runners coming through. The sun crested the sky, producing more heat than I've ever experienced in the Haliburton forest - I was actually down to shorts and a t-shirt, and still sweating!

The AS2 crew for 2022!

By 3pm it seemed like there was a bit of a lull in the stream - the 26k runners (for whom we were the turn-around point) were all done, the 50k runners had all come through for both of their visits, and it was just a spread-out straggle of 50 milers and 100 milers making their way around the 40km loop course. So, I got myself changed, and shirked my duties for awhile.

Because when the trails are this pretty, I only know one way to behave..

..besides, I needed to break in my new hat!

It was HOT out there, and I struggled a bit with the climbs while absolutely pouring sweat. I was also trying to be careful not to trip and fall: we'd seen a lot of dirt-covered runners come through who'd obviously done a close-up inspection of the trail conditions, and I didn't want to hurt myself and be unable to help other people through the night.

It's a wee bit technical out there, though.

7km of trotting and trudging through the hot, humid air brought me at last to my destination - AS1, where I found Agnes, Jamie, Julie & Nancy all serving up joy and snacks on Blue Lake Road!

Wheeeeee!

I pulled in just as Julie was pulling a load of pepperoni pizza out of the toaster oven to set on the tables, which she kindly offered to me - of course, I had to decline (#FoodAllergiesSuck), but when she offered me a cup of her famous 100 mile soup I couldn't accept quickly enough! She said it would just be a few more minutes to properly warm up, but I was in no great rush to leave. 

I helped myself to a couple of corn chips and a snack bar I'd brought with me, and tried to stay out of the way of the real runners coming through

Soon enough, I was handed a cup full of steaming goodness!

Will Run For Soup

When I'd filled my belly with this delicious ambrosia (and a small cup of cola for good measure), I realized it was 5pm and I should make my way back before the sun began to descend and things got dark - I hadn't brought a light with me, and it had taken almost 90mins for me to cover the distance on my way out. I thanked everyone for their good cheer and promised to bring their love back with me to AS2, then beat it out of there. I even ran up the hill to the turning onto The Pass!

..which then put on a show for me!

I came to the bridge on Redstone Vista, and had to take a few moments to check out something I'd seen on the way out.

If you look carefully, you can just spot the ceramic piggy at the near end

I hadn't been on this section of the trail since 2018, and it seems that in the intervening years someone has come along and decorated the stream bank by this bridge with a variety of gnomes.

'sup gnomies?

Then it was time to make tracks. I'm not sure if it was the soup, the cola, or if the trail is truly a bit easier in the counter-clockwise direction from AS1 to AS2, but I was felt like I was running much more confidently and walking a bit less on my return trip.

My money's on the soup - that stuff is magic!

The sun was on the decline, but the heat was relentless, even though I was on one of the most consistently shaded parts of the course.

..which is not to say there weren't a few gaps in the tree cover here and there.

I was back to AS2 by 6:25pm, having had several 50 milers and 100 milers come through in the other direction as I made my return journey.

I felt a bit bad that I hadn't been there to help out as they came through, though I have complete confidence in the rest of the team

I did take an extra little lap down to the Marsh Lake observatory for a quick peek, partly just to get a bit of extra distance in to make 15km for my total round trip.

Y'see, there was a Garmin badge for a 15km run in September..

I got changed out of my absolutely soaked running kit and into some clothes just as the sun departed, readying myself for a night outdoors in the forest. Fortunately we'd have a roaring fire to keep us warm, lit by Tanker around quarter past seven.

This was just the beginning - it would get so much bigger!

Dinner had also been delivered for the volunteers while I was out prancing around in the woods, so with most of the 50 milers now having come through for the second and final time, and only the sporadic line of 100 milers left, I was able to sit by the fire and stuff my face with chicken and veggies as the light faded.

No-one else seemed much interested in the carrots, cauliflower and broccoli - I was only too happy to eat their share!

Not long after I finished up dinner, we had a whole group show up - a reciprocal visit from our AS1 friends!

Back row: Baldish, Helen, Agnes (from AS1), Lori, Julie (from AS1), Merle, Tank, and Nancy (from AS1) - myself and Paul in front

Most of the rest of the evening was spent 'round the fire, jumping up occasionally as a runner would come through.

The AS1 crew still hanging out in the background - they'd left Jamie and the kids in charge

I went to try to nap from about 10:30pm to just after midnight, but wasn't really able to get any sleep - I couldn't seem to get comfortable, which is unusual as I'm generally quite happy sleeping in the tilted-back passenger seat of our car.

Nighttime at AS2

I gave up and wandered back over to the AS from the hunt camp where we were parked, then Tanker headed off for a nap from 1am to 5am while whoever was awake enough hung out and helped out runners. We had a few DNFs through the night, and were grateful for the new shuttle van picking them up to return them to base - in prior years one of us would have to drive them out, which sometimes left us a bit short of hands in the night.

The harvest moon shone down from above before it, too, sank below the treeline

The male and then female winners of the 100 mile race came through in the darkness, and Krista - the female leader - laughed herself silly at Pickle Rick, asking if she could have it once the race was over.

Official course photographer David Sweeney had quite liked him as well, snapping this shot

The night wore on, and I got a bit sleepy as we'd have an hour go by with no-one coming through. Yawning quite a bit, I tried for another nap around 5:30am after Tanker returned, but was only able to doze fitfully. I got up around 6:35am to go for a walk down to have a look at Marsh Lake at dawn, and was delighted I'd done so.

The mist on the water at daybreak is one of my favourite things about volunteering at Hali

I wandered down further to the bridge over the outflow of Marsh Lake, as it's a truly beautiful spot.

No mist, but no worries

I spotted a bunch of divots dug out of the gravel road at the bridge, with lots of white debris around them. It took me a minute to work out what I was looking at..

Can you guess what this is?

The white bits almost looked like the remains of white balloons, but only the size of ping pong balls - it finally dawned on me (coincidentally just as the sun began to peek above the horizon) that they were turtle egg shells, and the pits were the now-abandoned nests.

There were at least 5 nests, and the remains of dozens of eggs

The sun climbed higher as I made my way back to the AS again, and I didn't see a single soul while I walked despite being directly on the course. There were only a handful of runners remaining, and by 8:30am the last of our wood had been chucked on the fire.

Still plenty of heat coming off that coal bed, though!

By 9:30am Merle declared that he and some of the other folks who did not have a ~5hr drive ahead of them could handle the last few 100 milers yet to come through, and sent Tanker and I on our way. We'd already dropped the tents and packed up most of the supplies, divvying out any surplus food and drinks to whomever wanted them. We hugged our friends and bade them safe ways home, then headed to base camp to return our key. We were able to get a hug in on Race Director Teagan at base camp, and then were on the road by 11am.

While we weren't able to hang around until the awards at 3pm, I did make a point of delivering Pickle Rick to Teagan before we left, and she said she'd leave it with the awards. I was able to see in David Sweeney's photos later that it was delivered to Krista with her medal and paddle, and the laugher I see on her face as she received it makes me so very happy!

I'm not much of an artist, but I'm grateful my silly drawing could bring some joy!

We got home without any difficulties a little before 4pm, exhausted but grateful for another wonderful weekend in the woods.

Thank you Haliburton, and thank you Merle!

Now we're off for a little more selfish adventure in the forest next week - I'll tell you all about it when we get home!