Overnight Adventure Training

[RichB]

Headed out on Tuesday for an overnight camping trip in the the wilds of northern Alberta. About a half hour north the Base has a group of cabins in a provincial park along the shore of Cold Lake at North Bay. About another 15-20 km along the road is the south border of the Air Weapons Range.

The cabin area was originally used as a base camp for the province and universities to do wildlife studies. When they wrapped up their studies the province reached an agreement with the Base to use it as a camping area.

This is the newest cabin, just fininshed in the spring. This was orignally the site of AETE's cabin (the unit I was with) until it got flooded out about 6 years ago. Groups of units are assigned a cabin to provide maintenance.

Looking east from the cabin. The far shore is in Saskatchewan.

Looking north along the beach. Water is high this year with the heavy snowfall in the winter and the rain this spring and summer.

Looking south along the beach.

All is right with the world, coffee is ready. The griddle is heating so I can cook breakfast.

Pelican patrol is forming up.

Pelican patrol line in action

Targets detected, converge.

Now back in civilization. Home is where the shower is.

Cheers,
RichB

 

[moon puppy]

Man you better make sure you got all your stuff with ya. Going back to the store would be a major trek. Guess the internet ain't so good up there.
Have fun Rich

 

[RichB]

Man you better make sure you got all your stuff with ya. Going back to the store would be a major trek. Guess the internet ain't so good up there.
Have fun Rich

Wireless is actually good out there. At night you can see the lights of Cold Lake to the southeast. It wasn't that long ago cell phones started working on the Range. Before then it was landlines, radios and sat phones.

Electricity is another story, there isn't any, unless you bring your own generator. But one one those chugging away kind of ruins the atmosphere. There are quiet hours from about 11pm to 8am. So its back to lanterns, flashlights and glow sticks. There are rumours of commercial power being run to the sites.

If you forget something, to quote Gunny Highway, "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome."

Cheers,
RichB