a DeVelOping crisis come. But that would have meant a long, hot a bit of fresh water. (Our water bottles had run
Heather, Monique and I (all good friends), hike retracing our steps. dry an hour before.)
decided to go for a long Sunday hike. None of “Look, we’re probably still on top of the It was late afternoon by the time the rain
us had any commitments that day, except for main ridge,” I reasoned with my companions. stopped. I had my cell phone and a signal, so
me; I was invited to an early evening birthday “We’ve just gone a bit too far west. All we I called my sister’s home, knowing everyone
party for a niece. That gave us plenty of time need do is go down the ridge and find the trail would be gathered there for the birthday
to forego the shorter (and well-marked) at the base, which will lead us back to the party. After explaining that we were lost in
Gatineau trails for a more demanding outing– vehicle. It’ll take less time than tramping all the Gatineaus, but confident about finding
something less congested with people. the way back that other way.” our way out, I added, “We’ll call when we’re
We agreed to choose a trail in a nearby area, Having never been on this trail, my on the road.” With these words, I hung up and
several kilometres west of the Lusk Falls Trails. companions had no reason to disagree, so we Heather, Monique and I continued walking.
Heather and Monique had not done this hike headed slowly down the hill. Another beaver pond appeared in our path.
before, so they relied on me for guidance. At What did we meet at the bottom? Not a Rather than taking time to skirt around it, we
about 11am on Sunday, we parked our car at wide, inviting trail, only thick brush. Nothing decided to cross a narrow stream emptying
the base of the Eardley Escarpment. looked familiar to me. into the pond. After checking the stream
After putting water, juice, fruit and cookies We were lost, but I felt no panic. All we bottom for hardness, we sloshed across. The
in our day packs—enough for a three to four needed to do, I believed, was to head either water rose to our waists. Soon we met another
hour hike—we set off climbing. As it was a west or south; either direction would lead us pond, and once more we forged our way
eventually to a major across a stream, getting wet to our chests.
"Heather, in much pain and
road. It was still early Holding our day packs over our heads out of
afternoon and we had the water, we looked like infantry, minus the
discomfort, began to shiver . . ."
plenty of time. In the guns. To buoy everyone’s spirits I called out
few hours we had been cheerfully, “This is just like being in ’Nam.”
very warm day, we were dressed in shorts, hiking, our feet had covered a lot of ground, By now we were completely out of drinking
T-shirts and good hiking boots. but it wouldn’t take long to get back to the water and quite thirsty. After considering the
The heat made the climb difficult, so we took vehicle. dangers of drinking untreated water in beaver
our time and made several stops. Because we territory (i.e. giardia), we drank greedily from
were burning so much energy, I suggested we frOm baD tO much wOrse a warm, discoloured stream.
go to a restaurant on Sparks Street after the Our trip was not going well, but very soon It was getting very dark. I tried my cell
hike to replace the hundreds of calories the it got much worse. First, we encountered a phone, but couldn’t get a signal. Discouraged,
climb was expending. “Great idea!” Heather series of beaver ponds and small lakes. No we continued walking through very rough and
and Monique cheered enthusiastically. longer were we able to walk in a straight line, dense bush, but soon decided that it was too
We followed the trail at the top of the ridge, but instead were forced to weave around dangerous to continue.
heading westward, and eventually came to a them. This added considerably to our effort
large beaver pond. Here we stopped at a rock and discomfort. Then, we ran into a real shelter is Vital
outcropping, opened our packs and soaked up problem – a leg injury. “We need to find some high and dry
the quiet serenity. While picking her way around water ground to spend the night on,” someone said.
Soon we consumed our small lunches obstacles, Heather took a wrong step that We made our way up an incline (sometimes
and water, packed up and resumed our hike. caused her knee to lock up. Although she scrambling on all fours) to the top of a hill
At this point the trail branched off in several could hobble along at a slow pace with with a small clearing about 20 metres long.
directions. Continuing along what appeared great difficulty, she could no longer bend The spongy moss covering the site would
to be the main trail, we looked for a pathway her knee. Naturally, this slowed our pace have made for excellent bedding, but it was
that would take us back down the ridge to even further. Where earlier we had covered too damp. Because the exposed rock was dry,
our vehicle. Because none appeared, we several kilometres in an hour, now we crawled we chose this as our bed.
continued. along at less than one kilometre an hour. The temperature, which had hovered around
Doubt rose in my mind, but I pushed it aside A very small lake (100 metres across) and 30 degrees Celsius during the day, had now
thinking, “No problem. We’ll just continue associated swamp took us nearly an hour to begun to drop. A cool breeze that penetrated
walking and look for another turnoff.” pass because of the uneven shoreline, boggy our damp clothing made us feel miserable.
terrain, thick bush, lack of trail and Heather’s Heather, in much pain and discomfort, began
pressing On injury. to shiver. Soon her teeth were chattering like
Eventually the pathway petered out, then And did I mention the horrendous clouds a typewriter. Was this the first symptom of
disappeared entirely. We looked to no avail for of biting insects that continually assaulted hypothermia, we wondered? “Let’s find some
tree markings that had appeared sporadically us? Up on the ridge we had encountered shelter,” I said, “something to protect us from
along the trail. We couldn’t even find tramped almost no insects, but stumbling through the cold and bugs.” While Monique tended to
down vegetation or exposed soil that would swampy ground we met squadrons of hungry Heather, I broke a number of leafy branches
indicate a trail. deer flies, mosquitoes and black flies. Then a off nearby trees and formed a thick blanket
Of course, at this point we should have thundershower stuck. It swept the skies clear of branches over the two. This offered some
turned around and gone back the way we had of bugs for a short while, and provided us with warmth and relief.
www.OttawaOutdoors.ca OTTAWA >> SUMMER/FALL 2008 15
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