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GD Camp @ the island of Recluse
May 18, 19, 20 2001
Whitecourt Venturers
 

Day 1: May 18th
Once upon a time two people, specifically Derek and Greg, made a very bad decision. Fortunately this bad decision led to many profitable, rewarding (and all that jazz) experiences. So as the story goes, at about 6:30 PM on a very windy day with scattered showers (they seemed to follow you where ever you went), Derek and Greg decided to bike out to the island of recluse for another week-end of camping. Well the incredibly strong wind I mentioned happened to be a head-wind. Regardless the finely tuned yet lazy athletic machines managed to make it out to eagle river. I think the wind was so strong that it would have been faster to crawl to the river (better aerodynamics that way). So then Greg and Derek decided to sit in Vicki's "beast" for a while to wait for the rain to blow over. It didn't. Then exchanging farewells with Vicki, the two travelers plunged head first into the welcoming wilderness. After the short hike to our island, we realized that there had been visitors there since the last week-end. Namely these visitors were bears. Inconsiderate bears they were; they ripped the plastic on our lean-to and latrine apart. So Greg and Derek salvaged what they could, and combined the wholesomy goodness of two lean-to's into one. This proved to be very comfortable. Then, over a game of crib, Derek and Greg enjoyed a game of crib. Of course the winner was Derek. After that Derek and Greg went to stash their food up the bear pole, however they found that the rope had wedged itself into the tree, and would not be suitable at all. Then Greg found another tree and climbed up it to stash the food. After that Derek and Greg went to sleep in the superior lean-to.

Day 2: May 19th
The morning began with many unpleasantness, as Greg realized that they had woken up at 8:00am. How unacceptable. So Greg and Derek got up and proceeded with the details of breakfast. However Greg faced his first challenge (after getting out of bed) of the day, as he had forgotten his mess kit. This was not a good thing. Fortunately Rick had left his spoon at the camp a week before, so that took care of Greg's cutlery. Since Greg needed a bowl he remedied this by cutting a mountain dew bottle in half. So his problem was solved. Derek's story on the other hand was much more boring. Derek was prepared and so he pulled his plate and spoon out of his mess kit, and was good for go. After breakfast the Venturers decided that it would be most appropriate if they finally made a successful free-standing table. With superior team work, excellent judgements, precise measurements, superb craftsmanship, perseverance, hard work, and a coleman saw it was accomplished. And what a beauty she was. The table was nearly level, and could easily support all our culinary endeavors. Also it's mobility was excellent. Of course these Venturers weren't finished with their engineering projects yet. They decided that it would be good if another beam was added to their bridge. The highly motivated Venturers cut down a tree and moved it onto the bridge, within an hour. This was a considerable feat since just a week-end before, 10 people had a hard time doing the same thing in over an hour. Then Derek and Greg were hungry, so they ate, while playing crib of course. (Derek won) After that the Venturers choose to take the rest of the day easy, so they went on a leisurely stroll. At least they thought it was leisurely. In actuality, the Venturers hiked the 6 or so Km back to Whitecourt, on an abandoned road. Well the road was abandoned for a reason. You needed to cross a river and there was no bridge. Luckily however Derek had brought an extra t-shirt, so the Venturers crossed the river, and dried their feet. While crossing the river Greg had an amazing plan. He said we should sell water heaters to heat the river, because it was so cold. (Don't worry we only lost 2 toes each) So then as the hike continued, Greg and Derek were getting mighty bored, so they began to sing songs to entertain each other. This songs were nearly all featuring Twinkies or doughnuts, but used the melody of songs like O Christmas Tree, and You are my Sunshine. Well all this was well and good until they realized the song was making them more hungry and thirsty than they already were. This was not good, because Derek and Greg had not yet learned from previous experiences to bring food and water when they go hiking. Well finally the Venturers reached the Athabasca river, and headed back to eagle river along the highway. This trip was even more boring as they thought they would never get there. On small entertaining factor was weighing ourselves at the semi weigh scale. Greg and Derek make up 140 kg. Of course this may be off a tiny little bit, as the scale is not to precise. So upon arriving at camp, Greg and Derek fell on their beds and made the best showing of laziness one has ever seen. Unfortunately their stomachs needed food, so Greg cooked some great linguine Alfredo. This was enough to sustain their appetite through another game of crib, which Greg won by sheer luck. Next the Venturers tried their hand at dessert making. Well lets just say that hands aren't too skillful. They began with a can of hot cherries that smelled delicious, but this mixture was wrecked when dough was added. The dough made the pan overflow, and would burn on the bottom. Oh well you can't win them all. So the day was finished and Derek showed Greg up at another game of crib, and the food was put back in the bearpole.