Shoal Lake is close to Lake of the Woods, at the border of Ontario and Manitoba.  It is a large lake and the first day we were able to get fairly close to the property using ice roads.  (I must admit I was a little leary to drive my truck out there, despite knowing the ice was plenty thick.)

Photo: Bjorn putting up the first post of the job.

Due to a few "mishaps" with the Bearcat snowmobiles (which are meant for work), we had to use Bjorn's new baby, the Crossfire.  The first day was rough on it because the wind had sculpted the surface of the snow into a rough, bumpy terrain.  This meant, not only was it a rough ride, but the snow was so hard there was no powder to cool the machine down.  We had to go slow and stop occasionally to spin up some snow to cool it.

Photo:  The Crossfire with ice fog on the horizon of Shoal Lake

Although, it was terrible conditions for the snowmobile, it was awesome for claim staking: no snow in the trees, beautiful sunny day, and a good crust for easy snowshoeing.  If only staking were always this great!  This is only the first day, unfortunately the next day, the weather changed all that...

Photo:  Jess in an open ash swamp - see the eagle's nest above and to the left of my head.  (In the summer this flooded swamp would be a real pain to walk around!)

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