2008 Ottawa Magical Mystery Tour

The Camp

We pulled into the Wolf Den at Oxtongue Lake to see BJ Warkentin suiting up, about to head out on a search-and-rescue operation for us. We were the next-to-last (I think) bike to arrive and had been on The Road for around two hours and forty-five minutes, three hours since seeing Richard. For the other riders who had made it to the trench and turned back, it wasn't hard to imagine we'd gotten really stuck — what would we have done if the bike had toppled into that first chasm?

BJ was the only other rider who had traversed The Road in its entirety, alone on a dual-sport bike that was suited to the task. Everyone else had chosen wisely and been comfortably at camp for quite a while. Mixed emotions arose: satisfaction for having accomplished the feat but a sense of foolishness for having even tried.

Since this has already been quite a long tale, I won't write much more about that night. Suffice to say, it was an excellent ending to a satisfyingly challenging day. We settled in to the cabin to enjoy good food and even better company, swapping stories until weariness overcame us.

Despite being in an unfamiliar bed, we slept very, very well.

Next up: The Return Home