I will tell you about one of the unusual and most memorable trips. In early April, a friend of our family invited us to join her to celebrate her birthday. Unfortunately, my wife did not feel well at that moment, so my daughter and I went. Gathered a great company of seasoned hikers and like-minded people.
The gathering place was chosen 70 km north of the city, near the Orekhovo railway station - a proven place with a pleasant pine forest. Using my own car would make things easier, but I don't own the car; we used the subway to get to the station, and two hours later - about one in the afternoon - we were there.
This is how the landscape looks in the area of Orekhovo station. it was warm, the snow was melting, but there was still enough snow in the forest for all our fun.
It would be necessary to say a few words about the equipment, but in fact, nothing special. There was no overnight stay, so just warm clothes, a camera with spare batteries, some dried apples and a chocolate bar as snacks for the child. I also carried in my backpack 2 liters of red wine and some selected spices for making mulled wine, but more on that below.
Important items of equipment (as well as food) were taken with them by other participants in our joint trip. After we met, we redistributed the load and went deeper into the forest in search of a suitable nice place. A heavy cauldron was added to my backpack with a camera and wine, so the "photo" option was temporarily unavailable :)
Soon we found the right place - on the shore of a small nameless lake, still frozen in ice. (The ice was strong, and allowed fearlessly to walk on it). This is what our camp looked like.
By the way! it certainly was not a virgin place - but a time-tested parking lot. Naturally, many people before us have already appreciated this place, and we found numerous traces of other tourists. There were also dry pine trees sawn into logs, and a forgotten thermometer for a bath (!) ...
... but the most remarkable sign was that one of the Christmas trees was decorated with New Year's toys, and I even found one New Year's ball covered with snow, apparently it was blown away by the wind. Definitely, someone came to the forest to celebrate the coming of the New Year 2022, in this very place. Nice!
It was already lunch time ... and before moving on to the main entertainment program, it was necessary to feed the team - especially its children's part. We had four children with us, including my daughter, and another teenager.
Accordingly, for the speedy preparation of lunch, it was necessary to: a) search for firewood, b) create a fire, c) cooperation of all participants in the campaign. Everyone took part, especially the children. My daughter loves to make fires and has long been accustomed to collecting firewood and "feeding" the fire ... but this is a topic for a separate post, another time.
Anyway, I also collected some firewood and now had time to take pictures.
We started making a fire.
One of the company brought in a cast-iron stove in his car... ehehe, I would not call it "portable", but sure thing we did move it from his car to the forest, it was possible... but without a car, carry such a stove from home right on your shoulders? nooooo way! I still cannot consider its a good idea to go into the forest carrying your stove. Although of course I admit it allows you to use the fire much more efficiently.
Another piece of equipment that you will definitely need if you are hiking with a dozen or more people is a large cauldron to prepare a lot of food for everyone at once.
We made a giant scrambled egg! In fact, it was not enough for all the participants...
... but most importantly, we fed all the kidz and now were ready for a more interesting part of the trip.
Oh sorry -- I have not yet introduced you the 'author' - the organizer of the event. This is a friend of our family and her children. And dont ask me how old is she, it's not that important, let's leave it behind the scenes. 😎
Why guns, you ask, and what do these wires mean? Ok, our main event was a team war game, and the bonfire and food and the winter forest (despite the month of April, hehe) were all just decorations for the game.
We rented laser tag guns. Without going into details, I will say that these guns do not shoot with paint balls, but with “light” - you need to hit the sensors mounted on the enemy’s head ... while the computer analyzes what is happening and reports the results of the shot through the speakers mounted on the gun (you may notice said speakers in the photo on the right -- its located near the gun's muzzle).
These are messages like "you or the enemy is wounded", "killed". If you are killed, you are out of the current game. There are different options for the game with reviving yourself ('extra lifes'), base defense, and so on.
I will not delve into unnecessary details, just note we played for several hours, tried different options, and of course we were happy & tired by the end. In between rounds, I put the gun down to take some pictures. I'm a little sorry that... should have taken more photos and shot less, hehe. Plus, I wasn't a very good shooter. I have a weak respiratory system and therefore low endurance.
This teenager turned out, judging by his personal score, to be the best shooter ... due to him (to some extent) our team have lost it... and also due to me, as I was a weak shooter and besides that was distracted by the art of photography. But the score means nothing, and the fun means everything!
Oh, and this is my babygirl! It was her first outing with the Lazertag fun, needless to say she enjoyed this trip so much!
...and thats me. I am not a fan of selfies but asked my friend to capture this memorable stuff. Sadly she is worse photographer (at least with DSLR) than me as a sharpshooter ;)))
Already shared this photo in the blockchain but I guess there is no crime to add it again to a new post (we may consider it as a 'work in progress" -- I developed the story and added a new photos to illustrate it). I did not take any doubles of our camp, with this pile of guns stocked, as the folks are getting the dinner.
For lunch, the cauldron provided us a fried chicken wings - and here we really had to work hard, make 8 or 10 takes, as it was impossible to fry everything at once ...
Should I round up on this tasty note?... Hm.... actually, in the evening there was one even more teasing note....
Do you remember 2 liters of red wine and spices that I mentioned in the very beginning of my story? (actually, 2.5 liters to be precise). @millycf1976 probably would recognize my can with a stock of spices 😜 looks familiar, isnt it?
Receipe notes. Cheap ordinary dry red wine is a must component. Obviously. You may add pretty various spices, my usual set includes: cloves, ginger, orange peels, lemon, apple slices, cinnamon sticks (necessarily sticks! ground cinnamon will not work), cardamom, star anise and sugar. More different spices in the final bouqiet is the better! A spoonful or two of cognac added to the final product is also a good idea. NB. If possible, it is better to replace sugar with honey, but that is not always possible in the hiking conditions. And, depending on the situation, a little (or a lot!) of black pepper greatly improves the warming and healing properties of the drink, it is especially important when someone is freezing or not feeling well and needs to be warmed up. As you can see in the photo below, this edition of mulled wine had enough pepper.
De-li-ci-ous! I am a master of mulled wine brewing, can say it without any hesitation or boasting. Its just it's just a statement of fact!
Mulled wine at the end of such a busy and interesting day, in the forest, among the snow, is a wonderful and indispensable thing for tired people. It is much better than vodka or whiskey! However... one good thing have no objections about another good thing, right?... anyway, soon there was no spare wine left in the can, we consumed it all pretty momentarily!
Soon after that it was time to go back to the train station. Unfortunately, we had some restrictions due to the trains curriculum. Still, tremendous amount of fun! My babygirl was very impressed and very happy, and still cant stop talking about more travels in the future!
| location: | Karelia, Russia | April 2022 | natural light |
| camera/lens: | Canon 5D | 16-35mm 2.8L | raw-conv |
| f/2.8 | t 1/125 | ISO 125 | -- |
So... this was not our first trip together, and I really hope it will not be the last either, I am sure you will see her in my other blogs. Huge thank you for walking me, and all the nice comments you leave me -- next time!
PS. Join new 'Outdoors and more' community created by @galenkp -- here are the posting guides. (Btw this was going to be my post for the first contest, but I missed the deadline). Anyway, thanks to @meesterboom and @tarazkp for supporting this nice initiative -- and look forward for more.
