Leaving Winnipeg, we snaked our way North on roads that progressively narrowed with each turn. From four lane highway to two lane highway, we eventually endedup on a gravel road barely wide enough for my car - well Maria's car actually - we weren't sure mine would make the long haul North.

It was a relief to leave the sprawl of Winnipeg behind us and as we drove, I could feel the influence of human kind lessen and wilderness take over. At some point, we passed our first granite outcrop of the Canadian Shield a massive geological formation that diagnols over most of northern Canada. This is the home of the boreal forest, or tiaga, the world's largest land ecosystem stretching through Alaska, Siberia and Scandanavia. To survive here plants and animals must endure some of the greatest range of temperatures (summer to winter) on the planet.

We managed to unpack the car and repack the sleds in about a half an hour and were then out on the lake and skiing. Despite focusing on Fat Biking for the past year, it felt like no time had passed since my last sled pulling expedition.

If you look at our DeLorme inReach tracking you can see we are starting at the narrow waist of the lake. Directly acrosss from our put in is a long island and we made good time getting to its shore where we then turned South