Lusk caves Sept 2008

We headed up to Lusk caves in September. One hell of an adventure! I made the mistake of following my GPS at first which took me up some road the RCMP closes off because the Prime Minister's cottage is up there or some such thing (thanks Steve!!!) , but after 30 minutes of back-tracking around some lakes, we arrived at the parking lot.

I had heard that there was a 5 or 6 KM hike to the base of the hill the caves are set in so I had the bright idea to bring our bikes so we could make it easier on the kids. You point yourself at the water and head right, following the beaches and a small set of trails. It seemed like a great idea until we hit the first rock cliff (8 foot drop that comes up pretty quickly) , and after that portage there were a few other stops and starts. I have my 8 year old on a "come along" bike attached to my rear seat post and I have my 4 year old in a child seat in front of me, plus a back-pack or two and my camera bag. It was.... heavy... And hard to bike up hills.

Eventually we hit the base of the hill near the caves and we decided to eat lunch, but the you couldn't open your mouth and stuff in food faster than it took a big cloud of bugs to zoom down your pie hole. We packed up lunch and decided to eat it at the mouth of the cave 15 minutes later. Surprising in the middle of the forest, there were no bugs! We rolled up our pants, stowed some gear and headed in. You get your feet wet the whole time, because the cave is sharing real estate with a small river-type thing. Some of the water is still, some of it is gushing pretty fast. It was great fun!

When we came out of the first chambers my wife thought that was it, but I said "No, check it out! it continues!!" So we attempted to penetrate the second set. That was the one with the big torrent of rushing water, so we ended up coming back. We'll save that for another day (or I'll come back with the guys! and do that one!).

On the way out some deer walked out into the road in front of us. This is after all, Gatineau Park and these guys love to stop traffic