Wow, guys, so much to respond to! It will have to wait until later; I just have time for a quick post now to let you guys know I survived.
The hike was fantastic, and I expect to have feeling back in my feet any day now!
Beautiful weather throughout, no bugs, lots of wonderful wildlife, the Georgian Bay scenery continues to be one of the most stunning places on the planet, no major injuries, lots of photos, fantastic campfires, etc.
We hiked an average of 13k a day, totalling 77k over 6 days. Some hikes were as short as 5 hours, some as long as 7. In general, the tougher the terrain, the shorter the hike. And some of that terrain was insane! My feet hurt the entire time, of course, but that was all, although I did bash the heck out of both my knees on two different falls. By the end of the longest two hikes, 20k and 18k, I was starting to lose my sweet disposition! Of course, at the end of each day, we still had to find firewood, get water from the bay, treat the water, set up our tent, find the food we want to eat, start and maintain the fire (really, one of the most fun parts, except that I have an old eye virus that leaves me very susceptible to pain from smoke), eat, clean dishes, hang the dry bags away from camp to keep bears away from the tent, etc. But at least we could look at the stars and water while we did it!
I am taking a rest day today (just walking to and from work), will do a strength split tomorrow, then will do a run on Wednesday. I'm really looking forward to seeing how I do running. Hiking on that kind of terrain really builds both strength and endurance for the lower body. I think I lost some weight over the week, but I may have made up for it already!
I'll try to post pictures later and catch up with all of you soon.
