Announcement Return to Old Baldy 2025 07 11

 Return to Old Baldy

Just trying to give everybody lots of notice. The date will be Friday August 22nd. Rain date Saturday the 23rd. Meet at the bank at 9am. Travel to Laurentian Lodge. Boat ride to the trail head. Return to Laurentian Lodge about 1:30ish. Then lunch at the lodge. Boat ride is $20 each person. The hike is medium difficulty . Long way to the top.

Elliot Lake falls 2025 07 10

 

A beautiful blue sky greeted us for our hike along the Bob Stirling Trail.

Recent heavy rains gave us many mud puddles to test our balance.

We started at the end of the ski trail We were not discouraged by the height or ruggedness of the hills on our way to the warming hut overlooking Mink Lake. 

A discussion at our lunch led to our decision to continue on the same trail instead of climbing down to the Elliot Lake Falls by way of the Red Briffett Trail and Lookout. That detour will be left for a day in September. 

After lunch we continued on the Ski Trail down the hill  to the bridge near a cabin at the 3.8 km mark.

Our group was less chatty on the homebound trail. We kept up a good pace through the hike. We waded our way through mud puddles., tackled the tall grass sections , and stomped the rest of the way.

Red elderberries, ghost pipes, rose twisted stalk , Indian Cucumber, raspberries, among mushrooms  grew along the trail. 

Our hike by the numbers:

563, 972, 184 mosquitos

4 hours in time 

12 km in length

6 hikers in our group.

All this added up to a soggy, good time!! 

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Sheriff Lake area 2025 07 08

 Many ox eye daisies,  mullein, blue weed, hawk weed, asters among many other plants.

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Washington SD to Esten beach 2025 07 05

 Saturday, July 5th

David led 4 from Washington snow dump to Esten beach. Sunny, warm breezy day.. Mossssies not too bad.

Beach break, then along the coast to Crystal lake, past that and on to Angel.. then after a false start, we found the woodpecker system and back to the parking..

lots of wildflowers, red and yellow hawkweed, vetch, daisy, blackberry, trefoil, heal all, blue bell lily, and more.

frogs in ponds, toads on the trail, the odd squirrel, woodpecker, robin, sparrow,

getting warmer as the day wore on.

2 new hikers, Danni and Steve, Sue swept..

3 hours, about 8 k I figure.

Bolger mtn 2025 07 03

 We were joined this morning with a soon to be new member ( Steve) who has recently moved to Elliot Lake. After a 40 min drive north we parked at the trailhead and started our accent. Once at the lake we stopped for a break and some pics and a bit of chatter then on to the real climb. We reached the summit approx 2hrs after our start and we lazed around in an almost bug free environment with a gentle breeze and beautiful blue/cloudy sky. After the traditional cheese was handed out we realized that this hike had no "Hiker Chicks" and a moment of silence was observed in their honor, lol... after our break we made it back down to the lake safe and sound then continued on to the vehicles. Thanks to all who supported the hike and to Don for sweeping

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Scavenger hunt 2025 07 02

 A great big thank you to Nikki, Dianne, Rosemary, Donna, Ginette, and Emily who all helped make the Scavenger Hunt at Spruce Beach a huge success.  And thank you to our muscle and movers, Walter and Don.  The tent, banner and signs all held up even as the wind picked up in the afternoon.  The kids, and many of the parents shared a fun experience with family and friends, after which they could choose a gift or some treats that were on offer.  We even received a few items back that weren't on the list, the snail being the most interesting.  A fun time was had by all, kids and volunteers alike.

Thank you again to the great team of hard workers and to the last minute replacements that came forward; you are truly appreciated. 

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Street dance thank you 2025 06 29

 Don and Renee, on behalf of The Social Committee would like to thank the volunteers that came out to the Street Dance on Friday evening.  After a very wet morning we were happy to arrive at a dry venue and only experienced a few minutes of sprinkles as Kim Mitchell took the stage.  It was a fantastic night and a great success.  Thank you to Dianne, Janie, Tim, Dave Adam’s, Twyla, and a recent new member Linda who kept up with Janie and Dianne dancing while they put wrist bands the hundreds of attendees.  On patrol was Nikki, Sue, Ginette and Don.  Staying on until about midnight for clean-up were Janie, Nikki, Maret, Emily, Don and myself.

Everyone did a fantastic job as we listened to the great music.  Way to support our community Coureurs de Bois.

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Little Quirk Lake 2025 06 27

 Fern-tastic Hike to Little Quirk Lake

Only one hardy soul showed up this morning - the radar indicated the
rain was ending  so the hike goes on.  Oh the greenery, so much
different than 2 months ago.  The trail was in good shape, but there
were a few new blow downs.  The walking stick was useful to smack the
ferns and trees to get the water off them.  A 2nd set of socks was
changed into at the lunch / fishing break.  The return trip was a quick
50 minutes.  No fish were harmed during this hike.  Did not get back to
the car until 1pm.

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CANCELLED

 Today's 10am hike is CANCELLED

HIKER CHICK BBQ

 I would like to invite all LADY hikers to my place for a BBQ and fire on Friday at 5:00.  42 Colwill Dr.   There are a lot of new members  and we’d love to get to know you ladies.  All you need to bring is a beverage of your choice.   Please let me know if you can attend.   Ruth