Heli-Rescue on La Cloche Silhouette 80km Trail - Part 2 of 2 -

[@caradeluna5609]

You two are amazing!! What a great video. Thank you so much for recording it… I’ve thought of doing La Cloche many times… now I know I’m not going to. 😆 😆. But I loved watching your adventure ❤

[@TheHealthyHiker]

I get it - sometimes more intel spurs our interest on, and other times, it shuts it down! I'm grateful that you watched, and so happy it helped you make a decision (either way) about this trail.

[@heyitssiobhan]

LOL at the fireball 😂well deserved. That looked so hard 🙌🏼

[@TheHealthyHiker]

It was VERY firey, being first thing in the morning!

[@jamiedietrich3058]

I'm glad the emergency system worked out so well for you and that all is well.

[@TheHealthyHiker]

We were too!

[@dancynadventures]

@@TheHealthyHiker one more question. Do you have to connect your garmin to your phone via blue tooth or does it do it automatically? I just got mine and tried it out on a local trip. It had a hard time with sending check ins due to low gps signal. And I noticed my phone was not connected. How does that work?

[@TheHealthyHiker]

@@dancynadventures Ah - yes, you have to "pair" it with your phone when you're in wifi before you leave home. Make sure you're outside though, with a clear view of the sky, for a clear signal. You download the Earthmate app, and it's a breeze to use when you're out on trail. Low GPS signal should not impede transmissions. Clear view of the sky (no tree canopy) is key. There are lots of youtube videos showing how to set up, so I suggest you watch those. Happy Trails!

[@sylviagrantins]

I'm so happy I met you in the park in June.... Very fun!

[@TheHealthyHiker]

@@sylviagrantins Sylviaaaaaaa!!! It was great to meet you too!!

[@TheHealthyHiker]

@@sylviagrantins …and of course, thank you SO much for your congratulatory gifts ~ what an amazing surprise upon arriving at our campsite that night!

[@suecopping3153]

Hiked the crack with my dog (Blue Heeler) he danced up the rocks... but want to do the full trail... I was thinking it looks harder than "the crack" but you said this is one of the harder parts so that gives me hope! Great video and beautiful pics.

[@TheHealthyHiker]

What's hard about it, is you are doing MULTIPLE ascents and descents all day long, most days. The rock beyond The Crack is different too...it's not break away boulders like in The Crack. It's smoother, and often with soil, roots, and pine needles, nevermind, possibly wet, making the surface VERY challenging with every step. But, you know what? If you've done The Crack and you feel the rest of the trail calling, I say, GO FOR IT!!

[@stuartbyrnes]

I was out about a week after you. The beaver damn at lumsden lake had given way and washed out the bridge, that was a fun crossing. I went to H8 on the first day, then sprained my ankle twice on the second. It took me 10hours to go 10k to H19 on a sprained ankle and 33C heat. I could barely walk across camp in the morning. I called in a rescue, and they pulled me out around 2pm.

[@TheHealthyHiker]

@@stuartbyrnes aw, crap! You made a valiant effort, my hiking friend - heal well, you’re going to need that ankle nice and strong for next year!

[@BushcraftNFun]

Me and my friend both in our early 60's did the La Cloche trail. It is a difficult, technical trail and exhausting but so worth it. We did it in 7 days too. Fantastic views, especially in the early fall when we went with the trees starting to change. How do you like your Osprey Ultralight pack? Does it compare to the Aura for comfort and load distribution?

[@TheHealthyHiker]

Thanks for watching! Love my new Osprey - feels like it was custom made for me - the best feature of any pack is that you feel like it's not there (except for the weight!), as in, all pressure is very evenly distributed.

[@musingwithreba9667]

I want to do the La Cloche but don't have any friends who are willing to do it with me. I don't know if I want to do it solo. And now I'm moving to Newfoundland in a couple of weeks, I probably won't get to it. But the ECT...definitely going to give that a go! I hope your friend's injury was not too severe. I am curious to know if Ornge charged for the evac? I saw when Dixie got evac'd down in the USA and she got a bill for $50+ I think it was. Luckily she has the Garmin SOS insurance, so they covered most of it, but it took about a year! I have a Zoleo, they don't offer the insurance so I'm thinking of switching to Garmin.

[@TheHealthyHiker]

@musingwithreba9667 I also watched that Dixie rescue with great interest! Verrry different here in Canada - thankfully! ORNGE is totally covered by OHIP. They have to take you to the nearest hospital, which, in this case, was Sudbury. Fortinately, it was just a soft tissue injury, and healed up quickly without further hiking. I wouldn't do La Cloche solo either! Watch out in October for my vlog from the ECT - I'm doing it in September!

[@musingwithreba9667]

@@TheHealthyHiker awesome! If you need a ride, my new place is only about an hour from the northern terminus 😁

[@Ticatsfanx351]

Hey there! Great video, I was wondering if I could ask a few questions. Did the extraction end up costing anything? What was the injury in the end? Did they offer any other mode of extraction besides helicopter? I just got back from la cloche where i injured both knees but decided to push on.

[@TheHealthyHiker]

I'm so sorry you came out of that beautiful loop injured. FYI, my "bad knee" (torn meniscus amd rthritis)was a mess by the time I finished it too - so many ascents and descents! No cost. It was OHIP covered. She had a soft tissue strain. She could go uphill, but it was killing her to go down, and she was slowed by the pain to .5km/hr. No way she could push on. She recovered gently, and is back to hiking in more comfortable terrain.

[@Ticatsfanx351]

@@TheHealthyHiker Thats great to hear. I definitely considered pulling out, but was a little too stubborn as I was at the halfway point. Good news is physio says no tears, just beat up. I developed a strategy of walking backwards on the downhills and almost paddling along with a big walking stick. Worked quite well to manage the pain. No real regrets, a real exercise in will power and beautiful solitude.

[@dancynadventures]

Would you ditch the poles if you did it again with the amount of hands and feet climbing you had to do? Did they get in the way?

[@TheHealthyHiker]

@@dancynadventures not at all (but a valid and good question, which I can appreciate!) What you don’t see is the hours of ascent and descent kms, when the poles were crucial to my strength and stability, such that I couldn’t record, as 2 hands on the poles was an absolutely crucial method.

[@jackpalmer6253]

Just so we are clear. Relative to all the possible hikes one can do in Canada, this is extremely front country, and it doesn't even remotely rank in difficulty, let alone rank as "one of the two most difficult back country hiking trails in Canada."

[@TheHealthyHiker]

Edited description to "Ontario", not Canada! :) (The other most difficult in Ontario is Superior). But, to be fair, in the realm of "Backcountry TRAILS", not backcountry routes, where you are way-finding via orienteering methods on little to no trail, or alpine rock climbing routes, which are a different outdoor adventure sport entirely, with ropes and picks etc, this one is tough. It is about 50% scrambling, with technical ascents and descents. Even the higher altitude trails, and the very wet n'wild coastal trails in Western Canada are mostly WALKING hiking trails. I'm just saying this is a top-level of difficulty HIKING trail. When you have to carry harness, ropes, ice axe, crampons, mountaineering boots, and wear a helmet, you're not in "hiking Kansas anymore". That would be mountaineering, and that's a whoooole new ballgame. This opinion is not just based on my experience, but formed with the input a wide array of hikers who have weighed in on this trail, after hiking extensively across other Canadian trails. And just by way of definition, front country camping is also known as "car camping" or "campground camping", and that's another whooole different ballgame as well. May I ask, have you hiked La Cloche?