Oh May. You are jammed packed with action – it’s hard to keep up.

Two weekends ago was the Eco-Endurance Challenge – an exciting and challenging eco-adventure hosted outside Halifax, Nova Scotia. The E2C is physically and mentally demanding, with an event area of more than 100 km2 of thick forests, wet bogs, fast flowing streams and miles of backwoods trails and cart tracks.

It’s a 24-hour event (from noon to noon) and I have done it with my mom (and sister Jill / cousin Kathleen / and mom’s hiking friend Alice) more times than I can count. You use your map and compass and have only a few hours prior to the start to decide a POA. What’s cool is there are all sorts of teams including trail runners, orienteers, mountain bikers, military, SAR, competitive, recreational, young, old and even a few dogs.

Here are some pictures from this year – we had great success. Success being measured for us not by winning, but by surviving… finding every checkpoint we searched for, no epic fails (unlike 2013) and injury free.  With my excellent search and rescue skills, I managed to find some old, older and really old pictures from past years. As I was once reminded… “it’s not a fashion show out there”!

2015: (cancelled because we had TOO MUCH SNOW)

2014: Jill, Alice, Mom and I had a great year. It was wet but we did well. We heard coyotes and persevered.  2013: Jill, Alice, Mom and I had an epic fail. This happens when you get so lost that you are actually no longer on your map. We literally kissed the trail when we found it.  2012: Alice, Mom and I on the go2011: My cousin Kathleen joined us one year – she was such a treat to have I can’t recall how many years it goes back for me but here are some more shots from other years.

2007:2006: 2005: This was the wettest and worst weather ever. It poured all night and we stopped at 2:30 am

Trust me, it is truly an adventure! I strongly encourage you to polish up on your compass skills and meet us out in the woods next year. After all, it’s for a good cause – Halifax Ground Search and Rescue. So If you do get lost, they’re great to have handy!