We leave for CC2007 today!

Well.....all our new methods and equipment will be put to the test tommorow morning, but we leave for Mattawa in a couple of hours! We will stay the night at the Welcome Inn and I am sure visit McCools for a drink or two!

I wish I could say my back is in better shape, but it's not and I am more then a little nervous about how it may effect our trip. Last year my back was much worse and it was brutal dealing with the pain on out first day out. I guess I just don't want a repeat of that. Either way, I can deal with the discomfort....I am in Algonquin after all!

Things we hope will make our Trip from Brent to Robinson Lake a little easier this year:

1. Bent Paddles- I tried mine out on my solo trip ( Trip report still to come...) , but this will be the first time Gerry has used his. I am looking forward to trying them out with both of us using them...mostly 'cause I was told that we will "rocket" accross the water.
2. Yoke Pads- These are awesome and should make those long portages more managable
3. Lighter Load- We packed much smarter this year and are mostly bringing what we need and a few luxery items. That goes for food too.
4. Experience- Last year was our first time and it showed. We wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what we were doing, so I expect that it should only take us about 12 hours to get to robinson...maybe less?
5. Water shoes- I bought these cheap running shoe type water shoes, so I can keep my comfy hikers dry.
6. Water Proof Digital Camera- My camera this year is a light, shock proof and WATER PROOF camera. In the past I have always been a little nervous about pulling the digi cam out while out on the water... no worries anymore! It's also lite and only needs one battery instead of the 12 AA's my old one uesed. It has a 2 gig memory, so I plan on taking some video as well.
   
7. Amingo Pro Water Filter- I already fell in love with it on my solo trip, but can't wait for Gerry to try it out. Last year we used a hand pumped MSR filter and it was good, but took forever! It needed to be cleaned after filter only a liter of water or it jammed. Gerry ended up pumping most of the water and by the end of it I could tell he wanted to chuck it! This year all we have to do is scoop up the water and let gravity filter it. It does about a liter a minute! Not only will it make camp life easier, but it is also about a quarter the weight of the MSR.

Well that's it for now! We leave in about 2 hours and I want to spend a little more time with the kids, so wish us luck ( NO Tornados this time would be nice...) and I will report it all when I return next week!

Lastly, I just wanted to say a word of thanks to all of you that read this blog. I know I am not the greatest writter and that my spelling and grammar are far from perfect, but I love Algonquin and this place gives me a place to share that passion with all of you that feel the same way about the park. Thank you all!