Overcast , foggy, damp, & drizzly skies met 10 Gonzos at Tim's meeting place in Lr. Sackville this Easter Monday. Our planned hike into Cape Split did not look to promising. But a Gonzo event is never cancelled, coming from the wise words of the SunGod. Actually eleven Gonzos met at 8Am at Tim's but one Gonzo (Norman Stalker Stein) who decided to return home do to the wet weather.

So the following group headed to the Valley in 4 vehicles. Rocking Ronnie Jeppesen, Jerome Geezer Bruhm, Bruce Sungod Duffy, and myself Wayne Pack it in & out Banks. along will Bruce's dog Lewis. Second vehicle contained Ross Scrounger Mitchell, & son Grant, along with Bruce Dipper Murphy and his daughter Sophie. The third vehicle contained mostly dogs, except for Gordon Viking & Nancy Warnica.

We all headed off, & disappeared in the fog. The depressing weather lasted until we reached St. Croix, when the fog & drizzle disappeared & the skies lighten up a bit. Traveling across the dike land into Canning we begin to pick up the fog again. Soon all three vehicles turned into the trail head parking lot. The dogs were set free from their confinement, to their joy. With Day packs on we all started off, following three Mountain Bikers that left ahead of us.

Those who have hiked Cape Split before, are well familiar that the beginning of this trail is quite muddy. After a long weekend of rain, this only compounded the muddy sections. We begin to spread out throughout the trail. Actually everyone overdressed, and now stops were made to shed some of the heavier clothing, as it was getting quite warm in the woods. The trek out to the Split, was dreary, fogy, with limited visibility. The woods were silent, except for beads of water gathering on the limbs above, and dropping down on the dead leaves from last fall, and now & again a lonely woodpecker could be heard as it searched for food along our trail.

After one & half hours we reached out destination, we couldn't see the Bay for the fog and even the gulls were hard to spot nesting on the one of the pillars of earth.

We nestled down out of the wind, and began unloading our stuffed packs for lunch. Rocking Ronnie spent tedious time trying to start a bond fire with wet wood. His patience wouldn't let him give up until he had a blaze a going. Hot dogs came out from every where to surround the fire, and become roasted brown & charcoal. Jerome & I lit up our stoves like pro's & enjoyed a hot coup of soup & sandwiches with oodles of tea to wash Nancy's cake down that she so willinging passed around for the second time. Ron toasted his ham & cheese sandwich over the fire, with quite a made up contraction of a stick.

Patiently the dogs sit around us, trying to pick out the best lunch to beg for. They staked out Ross & his son Grant as they were indulging in large smoked meat sandwiches. After finishing lunch, and packing up our packs, as there was nothing to view, we headed back out the same uninteresting trail that we arrived from. Hiking out became the same routine as hiking in. We made it back to the car 3 minutes quicker than on the way in, and we never got rained on, or even wet from the ever persistent fog, that surrounded us.

A clean up of the dogs took overall preference before getting in the cars. We headed back to the city, with a quick stop at Tim's in Wolfville, and for some gas. And now our annual Easter Monday Hike was over for another year, and a good time was had by all. In conclusion, you cannot judge early morning Halifax weather, what you might find 60 miles away. The End .

Wayne