Hiking up "The Crack"

We woke up at the crack of noon this day. Could be because we stayed up so late. Could be because it was cold and over cast and kind of gloomy out. This did not matter to us though. We were excited to soon be hiking up "The Crack" that we had heard so much about from the other campers and park staff. There were even T-shirts in the park office that said something like "I survived The Crack". We didn't buy one though because they were way over priced (something like $34.99 each....ouch!) 

Our campsite neighbours and fellow raccoon battlers were packing up and leaving and a new campsite neighbour was waiting in the wings. I heard him say to his daughters "Make sure that you pick everything up. Remember to always leave the place cleaner than you found it".  I smiled and told him that our family had the exact same motto for when we are camping too. Then we said good bye to our new friends and wished them luck on their future camping adventures. 
 
We cooked breakfast, packed a bit of a lunch, made sure everything was tidied up and secure at the camp site and then jumped in the car. Unfortunately the entrance to the trail is a 7 km drive down the road for the park and we were warned that there was no sign indicating that it was there. You had to already know where it is (we had gotten directions from the park office). 

Finally we arrived and hopped out of the car and went over to examine the trail sign at the foot of the trail. 
The Crack is a 6 km hike over difficult terrain and should take roughly 4 hrs. By this time it was 3 pm and we were going to take it slow so that we could take pictures and enjoy the scenery. I estimated that we would be back around 7 or 7:30 pm. The Crack is the beginning of the 78 km La Cloche trail and there was a warning sign that this trail does not loop around. So if you didn't turn around and come back the way you came once you got to The Crack then you were going to be on your way for the 7 - 10 day hike! 

Hiding up in the top of the sign was another big ole Orb Weaver spider. They seem to be fairly common to this campground (however the Daddy Long Legs were even more plentiful). 

The trail started off very wide and nicely groomed. You could drive an ATV down this trail. We said to each other "If this is how the path is going to be the whole way then this should be easy!" 

Some areas were a bit boggy and others had nice little meadows. There was one real pretty meadow that had a fallen tree stump right in the middle of it which kind of looked like moose antlers or something. 

One plant that we saw and don't often see was some Doll's Eyes. These white berries are poisonous, so if you find some don't eat them. 

Eventually the trail went down a bit of an incline and opened up on to a marshy area that had a great view. 

There was a quaint little winding foot bridge to allow you to cross over the marsh.

We stopped here for a bit and pulled out the binoculars. In the distance we could see some beaver lodges and a duck swimming away from us. 

Waterlilies were floating in the water. 

The shores were lined with Pearly Everlasting flowers (also known as Anaphalis ). 

 It was very peaceful and serene. We stayed until another set of hikers came up behind us. They were quite a bit noisier and they kind of broke the spell. We waited until they passed us and then we carried on leaving the bridge behind us. 

As we went along we met more and more people going the opposite direction. We said hello and talked to just about every one of them and asked them what to expect up ahead. Most of them were coming back from the 80 km hike and had been out on the trail for days. 

We passed by a very steep, very rocky portage and we were glad that we were only hiking and not portaging. It looked like an avalanche of rocks had come tumbling down the hill and you were expected to climb it with a canoe on your head. 

We chuckled at the portage sign because it reminded us of of the" Four On The Floor" show we used to watch many years ago with the "Mr. Canoe Head" skits. 

At the bottom of one of the portages, by the side of the lake, we met a nice couple that showed us their detailed map of the La Cloche trial. Their version had all the back country campsites listed on it. So we were able to see how far apart each site was. Our version just gave a rough idea of where the trail went but that was about it. 

Every time we came to a lake or a marshy area I kept hoping to see a turtle or something interesting. But the best I could find was a little frog that was playing "Where's Waldo".

The farther along the trail you went the more increasingly difficult the terrain became. About a little more than half way we came to an incredibly steep hill of rock. We looked up and thought we must be nearing the end because it was starting to look more like a rock climbing expedition. 

And to top it all off, near the very top were massive amounts of tangled roots all over the place. The roots were almost preferable because at least it was something you could hold on to while you made the climb. 

Just as we were saying "Just think ...we are going to have to climb back down this somehow later on" along came two guys not walking, not climbing, but literally running down the side of this very steep hill.  As they zipped on past us I was just picturing a mass of tangled broken bones at the bottom of the hill if they were to at all lose their footing.  We stepped aside and got out of their way. Later on we met up with some other hikers who told us that those two that had been running had actually started the 80 km trail at about 6 a.m. that morning and had finished the entire trail in one day. Actually we calculated that they finished the entire 80 km trail in about 12 hrs!!  They were the talk of the park. Even the next day you could hear other campers still talking about them. 

As we got near the top of the steep hill with the tangled mass of roots we stopped to take a quick break and sat down. Along came another family of 3 and one of the women in that group said "I am so glad to see that I am not the only one that needs a break on this trail once in awhile!" (Most other people seemed to be taking the trail rather quickly and I wondered if any of them were even taking the time to enjoy themselves and see what interesting things were around them, like this tree that had fallen down but had completely twisted right around before it did; almost like a giant had taken it between it's thumb and forefinger and twirled it around or something). 

The farther along you go the more confusing the trail becomes. Some of the markers are missing and instead they have large piles of rocks to guide you along your way. At one point the red markers disappeared altogether and I thought we had arrived at our destination. But Heather said "nope, we are not there yet". I was tired and ready to turn around by this point. But we persevered and I am glad we did. Eventually we saw "The Crack" in the distance. 

Getting to the top of "The Crack" though.....well, let's just say that it was more like rock climbing than hiking. I was glad we weren't carrying back packs and it made the other climbs we had done on this trail up to this point look like child's play. 

But it was all worth it. The view at the top was absolutely breath taking. I imagine at sunset it is even more gorgeous. You could see for miles and miles around. So far in fact that you could see multiple lakes at one time. 

We sat for a little bit and ate a snack and caught our breath. We laughed and shouted " I'm on Crack!" 
 The bears that Heather wanted to see were no where to be found. The only one to join us up here in this remote little corner of the world was just a little chipmunk. 

By this time it was about 5:45 pm and you could see the rain clouds starting to come in. The wind had picked up quite a bit since we were so high up without a whole lot of trees for shelter and it was starting to feel cold up there. I  had visions of us being stuck on very steep slippery rocks in a down pour and with  night time setting in, getting lost in the woods somewhere.  I did not want to have to be rescued by the park rangers from a crumpled heap at the bottom of the hill somewhere.  

So we made the trek back down the mountain side and we picked up our pace a little for the way back.  We at least wanted to make it to the tree line and into the woods before it started raining. 

Once we got past the rock climb portion of "The Crack" the way down was actually much easier than I thought it would be. It wasn't long before we were back to the wooded part of the trail again. 

Even though we had picked up the pace again we were still able to enjoy the sights around us. Heather pointed out what she calls a "Love Knot" in one of the trees. 

We were making good time and it hadn't even begun to rain yet. We only had a about a half a kilometer left to go and we were talking and laughing and having a great time. All of a sudden Heather stopped dead in her tracks and whispered under her breath "Bear!" . Then she said it quietly again " Bear, bear, bear!"  I looked where she was looking and sure enough there were not one but two bears! They were in a little meadow just off to the side of the trail and were only about  25 or 30 feet away from us. One was only a cub and the other was not much older...maybe a yearling. 

We quickly realized that with bears that young, there is most likely a momma bear around somewhere. So we remembered to make some noise so that we didn't take them by surprise and we began to walk past them. heather had an empty plastic water bottle in her hand so she squeezed it in her hands to make crinkling noises. The little cub stood up on it's back legs to see what it was and when it saw us it started to go farther away from us. The older one just looked up from what ever it was doing (maybe hunting for frogs or berries or something) stared for a second and then went back to what it was doing. It didn't seem to care at all that we were there. 

We did not stick around long to see how long they would tolerate us being in their space. Keeping an eye behind us to make sure they didn't start coming after us, we just kept walking. 

It wasn't long before we made it back to the parking lot and were on or way back to the campsite. 
It was about 7 p.m by the time we got back. It took us about 2 1/2 hrs to go up to The Crack and only about 1 1/2 hrs to come back. 

Once again just as we started supper it began to rain. It got to the point where no whenever Heather and I are together and it starts raining we say "Oh, it must be supper time!"

Once again our friends the raccoons were back. But this time there was nothing for them to eat so their visit was short lived.  We played a game of Settlers Of Catan and then called it a night. Our feet and muscles were very achy from all the exercise we got that day and sleep came quickly and easily. It had been a really great day .