Friday

Sabine and me, we start a 1:00am with our Chrysler LeBaron in Waterloo, heading to Sudbury. The streets are swept empty. The speedometer indicates a speed 10 % to low, easing, but we go fast, we even pass all the trucks, that normally overtake even if oneself is already 20 km/h to fast. However, a coffee from Tim Horton's has still an effect on my (as I normally don' drink coffee). So as Sabine wakes up we are only 50 km away from Sudbury. We are here again in the very early morning hours, about 5:30am, only four and a half hours, a new record. In Robs apartment we have breakfast and eat the muesli buns we brought along. The Vroni, Rob, Sabine and me, we start off. The 100km to the park office at George Lake just rush by, only a train crosses our way suddenly. First I believe to see a herd of moose (o.k. they are no herd animals), but then the red blinking lights warn me about the crossing.

At 7:30am, about 100m away from the park office, it starts to rain. We are lucky, the park ranger just opens the office as we arrive. He looks at us bewildered as we tell him that we are going to manage the 100 km trail in just three days. He tells us, that he can remember people doing the same but it seems not to be the norm.

We book our campsites this way, that we have 33 km for the first day, 27 km for the second day including the most difficult part of the trail and 40 km for the third day. We park the car and - it is still raining - put on our rain gear. We have tried to reduce the weight of our backpacks to a minimum, but they are still heavy.

We start off the trail at the eastern part of George Lake Campground, where we get confronted with steep, slippery rocks. The trail is covered with leaves for the most part, on one hand it looks marvellous, on the other hand it is really dangerous, because they cover mad holes and slippery rocks. The wet leaves themselves contribute to the danger to slip. Nevertheless - the trail runs through a amazing hotchpotch of rocks, lakes, coloured leaves and trees and a light fog. Are mood is barely spoiled by the rain and frequent breaks for snack cheer us up. At this time we are already soaked with water, the water runs down the rain pants, dripping into the shoes, which are soaked anyway from stepping into big leaves-covered mud holes.

After we left George Lake behind the trail runs on along a portage, at which end we have to balance across a dam made out of mouldy, old tree trunks. It is getting significantly steeper, we pass Kidney Lake walking on naked rock, the trail only marked by some rock piles.

The trail winds its way up the next hill, finally it is more like climbing than hiking. Half way we pass a natural cave, which has been used as a hideout according to the traces left from a fire. We reach a certain elevation on which the trail stays for another 1,5 km. Then it runs down in a sharp drop to Little Superior Lake. As we climb down we can foresee what's coming next; on the other side is a hill of similar altitude. We pass Proulx Lake and Shingwak Lake, then we notice that it had stopped raining, but everything is still soaked and therefore clearly weighing much more than otherwise.

On the following portage we miss the right turning und so we go on to Kakakise Lake.

A scenic view, but we have to go back half a kilometer, that sucks. We make headway slower and slower and long for to reach the campsite. Finally we make it, 6:00pm, just in time to have enough daylight to collect some fire wood, pitch up the tents and take a bath in the Lake.

We dry our cloth at the fire, but I mean it too well with my socks and roast them a bit too much. My hiking boots get burned a little, too, what the heck, they are dry. Our mood is rising as we are sitting around the fire, drinking hot chocolate and polish off some pasta with cheese sauce. At this time - it is 8pm - I'm up for 36 hours now and I drop into my sleeping bag, dog-tired.

Saturday

The next morning I wake up at 7:00am and thus have slept for 1 hours. I really feel fit, the others too, only Sabine is struggling with some digestion problems, which harassed her the day before. breakfast is cheering us up, but as we put down the tents it starts raining again. Moreover we find out, that we have been on the wrong campsite (H46), about 4,5 km away from the one we booked (H38). That means that today, where the most difficult part of the trail is coming up, we have to catch with the kilometers we lost yesterday.

The beginning 5 km are almost leisurely, we first have a break shortly before we reach another portage.

As snack we have a super special nut mix. One only should be able to stop nibble. By the way, the portage is the same we hiked during our Silver Peak tour two weeks ago. After trail and portage split up again another hill has to be climbed. A hiker we met on the portage, told us, to take a look back from time to time. As we reach the elevation between David and Boundary Lake, we know why:

The view back offers a great panorama over bright-coloured trees with Silver Peak in the background. We have a short break to enjoy the scenic view, but after only five minutes it is getting cold, the moisture is our cloth, one has to go on in order to stay warm.

We have our lunch break shortly before we leave behind to Hill, we have sandwiches with lettuce and cheese followed by another helping of our nut mix.

Only few hundred meters later - we savour the panorama with Boundary Lake once more - a fox appears and prowls curiously around us. For some minutes he scents then he gets bored and disappears again. In contrast we could have watches the fox the whole day.

The trail leads us further through evergreens, along steeps until the treetops clear up and give view on the foggy Little Mountain Lake.

Another sharp drop down to the lake approaches us and as we get there we have to accept, that on the other side we have to climb up again, this time it is like mountaineering. The ascent is arduous, many slippery slabs are to be conquered, but the view back from the top pays back all the afford.

Shortly before the campsite we took a bearing on we have the same game again: steep downwards, until the knees hurt, then up on the other side. But then it is done. At 6:30pm we reach H22, a site high above a small lake without a name. It is getting dark already as we pitch up the tents and look for fire wood. We find a place that is sheltered from the wind where we lit a fire. Once more we have to dry our stuff. In the last two days in the wet boots blisters developed on the feet, but a cozy hang-around-the=fire lets forget all of the trouble. As we begin to cook it is already dark again and we have to spoon the rice out of Sabine's backpack where the packing dissolved due to the rain. Now we don't even have to wait the short five minutes which are recommended, one has to take a look a the positive things in life. After a serving of Mexican-spiced rice and a hot chocolate (yaw, once more ;-)) we feel comfortable again and even the shower that hits us during our meal can not really disturb us. On the contrary we glad to be somewhere in the wilderness, an area where we might meet somebody, but maybe don't catch sight of anybody in three days. We go to sleep soon and agree to get up early the next day to hike the remaining 40 km in daylight.

Sunday

At 7:00am we get up, have a quick breakfast, pitch down the tents and leave without further ado.

After we got down from the hill passing a small, narrow canyon the steepest climb of the trail begins.

From the top we have a breath-taking view onto Threenarrows Lake, whose shoreline we are going to follow the next hours. returning to the elevation of the lakes we mastered the most mountainous part of the trail. Now it is only 35 km of relatively easy hike. The trail leads us through mixed woods again, marvellously coloured trees all over.

Corridors of single color wrap us up. And suddenly - totally unexpected - the sun appears and drenches the already yellow-coloured forest in a golden light.

From time to time the trail leads us near enough to Threenarrows Lake and every time another amazing view discloses to us. We have a break and relax for some minutes in the sunlight.

On our further way we bump into a snake, but although the sun is out it is to cold for the animal to move quickly.

At the very southern tip of Threenarrows Lake it flows into the Kirk Creek.

At this point a commemorative plaque was erected, that tells us, that the Killarney Park was founded in the 1920s primarily for hunters and anglers. A wooden bridge spans across the creek, but we could have balanced across the old tree trunk as well ;-)

It follows what is described as the steepest portage of the park an as a fact, we wouldn't to carry a canoe on this track. Our backpacks are already difficult to carry, but to take along a canoe on the 1,3 km long portage wouldn't be fun at all. Finally we reach the point at which we returned two weeks ago. It motivates us, we take a bearing on our goal once more. We decide to finish the nut mix and then to do the final spurt.

But many part of the following kilometers I can hardly remember, the others feel the same. And so the remaining route stretches itself tremendously until we pass the clearing, which we liked that much two weeks ago.

The last kilometer won't end. As we cross the small wooden bridge at the Chikanishing River, that leads us right to the George Lake Campground, we begin to cheer! We made it, even in daylight.

In return nobody of us can walk properly anymore, meanwhile the blisters are busted and hurt with every step we take. But that can't do anything about our euphoria, all the more as we are sitting in the car again, heading to Sudbury. Hunger is going to torture us and so we decide to let us spoil at Pizza-Hut. The others guests must have a weird picture: we crawl into the restaurant, all of looking dirty all over after three days outdoor, exhausted but excited at the same time. The two vast pizzas we finish off easily, not to mention the side orders.

Some time later we have enough and drive to Robs apartment, where we take a refreshing shower and have a nice, cool beer (simultaneously ;-)). Sabine and I, we agree to have some hours of rest before we make our way back to Waterloo. A second beer helps to fall asleep. At 4:00am we start, Vroni already went home and we already said good-bye to Rob prior to our getting a bit of shut-eye. we sneak out of the house, fill up gas and get some coffee at Tim Horton's. We reach Waterloo 9:00am, to late to go to sleep, we enjoy a serving of cream of wheat with apple sauce, then we dive into the normal and sobering daily study routine, which will keep us on our toes the following days. But the next weekend is coming soon.......