Things were going well. we had finally all got up to Pickle Lake and were doing changeovers there so we could carry on up the Winter Roads and I had just got back from a slightly hairy Poplar Hill run. There is a nasty hill there. What was the next run? A Big Trout,one of the longest Ontario runs we do.
This was my first run of the year which wasn't solo. Good job for Gerry, my running buddy.
We cracked on fairly early as they were due to close the Ashweig Road that afternoon so they could move 2 wide loads up through to Kingfisher lake so we wanted to get ahead of them. We got into the landing area at the start of the road and had a quick walkaround. I had a boxvan and Gerry had a stepdeck, then we set off. I had travelled this road last year but it was a first for Gerry so I had the lead.
This stretch has a lot of ice bridges and 5 lakes. Ice bridges are created over rivers and creeks by putting trees in the creek then pumping water onto them to freeze. It works really well. Sadly, there had been a snowstorm pass through the day before and there were a few drifts to confuse things. 20 ks in we came to a bridge with some damage to the edge. I shouted out to Gerry to keep a bit to the left and scooted over it and around the corner.
I asked if he was over and he said that he had a problem. This is what I saw when I had backed up.
Ahh!!
I got out to furthur investigate.
So we got shovelling, then I backed mine up to flatten a path through the snow and muskeg, hitched the strap to it and let rip. I made sure Gerry stayed outside for a time.
I just kept backing up and booting it forward. We made between 3" and a foot each time, and shovelled in between tugs. Eventually we got it sitting in the creek itself.
And I yanked some more and it started to climb out.
We got it out in a little under 4 hours!! The only damage was a broken off foglight!!
This is the trench he left behind. It looked like he had just forded the creek instead of using the bridge.
I tell you what, the Ice Roads really do teach you that there is very little you can't cope with.
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