If You Go Out In The Woods Today...

Last night when the boys got back from checking traps - they told us to grab the cameras before it got dark - there we grizzly tracks up the road! Just under 5km up the road there is a little trail off the main road that leads to an old hunting camp, the bear had walked from that way, followed Tim and Paul's truck tracks in the snow for several kilometres (away from us, thankfully!), then veered south towards Dog Creek, on his way to a winter den, we presume (and hope!)

For all the years we have been coming out here, all we have seen for animals are squirrels, chipmunks, a moose, a caribou and the occasional black bear. Since a bit of snow has fallen, we see evidence that we are surrounded by a lot more animals than just that. The kind that have teeth... There are fresh lynx tracks nearby and wolf tracks up the road, along with the grizzly tracks we got to see yesterday. They were quite big too, the same size as a man's rubber boot! His claws poked into the snow between 4 and 5 inches ahead of his track. This was no small bear.

Although it is nice to see evidence of all the wildlife around us - I almost felt a little safer pretending they weren't there at all. Sometimes ignorance truly is bliss! The dogs barked for a long time last night, leaving me laying awake and wondering what they were barking at. We definitely live where the wild things are.

Grizzly Tracks!

Today in pictures...

The kids making snowballs this afternoon.


My Halloween crafts for the day.


Oven box and BBQ grill.


Bon Appetit!

BBQ - Mountain Style!

When we were packing up belongings to come here, there were a few things that had to be cut from the list. The BBQ was one of them. We have managed to improvise, though, and have been using the fire as an oven and a BBQ. A few years ago, Tim made me an oven box that is much the same size as a cardboard file box, with a lid and a rack inside for cooking items on, much the same you would in a conventional oven. We have baked cakes, roasts, hams, chickens and potatoes in it with great results. I even had to bake bread in it for our first month here because we had oven problems on the propane stove. Tonight - we roasted potatoes in the oven, and cooked steaks and garlic bread over the coals. Delicious! Did I mention that it snowed a few inches today?

This week I started Cohen's homeschooling program for Kindergarten. The lessons don't take too long and so far he is pretty interested in starting each morning. Each lesson has some calendar review, some phonics, math, and a craft. A teacher I am not, but thankfully everything is pretty well laid out for us.

This morning, the only other souls for miles and miles left the country. They were up here hunting and went back to North Vancouver to their daily grind. They were looking for moose, but I think they left empty handed. That must be quite a change to go from the peace and quiet of here to a big city like that!

We also had company stop by today and drop off some things for us they had picked up in Prince George. It was the local guide-outfitter whose trapline Tim and Paul are trapping on this winter. He was on his way out to close up his summer cabin for the season. He also left open one of his other cabins for Tim and Paul to spend the night in if their trapping days go too long up there in the winter. He put kindling in the stove, left them some chopped wood, and even set a match out so that everything was ready should the boys stop in and be cold. It is only about 25km away, but in the winter that can be a long way when you're travelling by snowmobile. Paul made a comment today to someone who originally came to this area in 1959, that it must have been nice to come out here when he was young, maybe have a girlfriend with him to spend the winter... His reply was, "No, it was just me, back then everything was hand operated!"

If anyone feels sorry for us out here, don't! The only thing we don't have near are family, friends, and takeout. We have been busy online shopping for Christmas gifts, and I will take that any day over a busy store! Tomorrow we will send in our first major grocery order, to be picked up Wednesday at Germansen Landing - I only hope the snow holds off any more until we are back! Heather and I sat down the other day and planned our menu for our little Halloween party, hence the grocery order. We will have meringue bones, witches' fingers, mummies, eyeball punch, tombstone cake, and just about every other thing you would see in the special Halloween publications at the check-out counter! We've just never taken the time to make them all before. The only thing we need to figure out now are costumes... That was something else that was cut from the list!

The kids in a cache across the lake

Is Rice a Good Insulator?

The front door of our cabin is homemade, about 40 years old, and very heavy. It has a heavy wooden latch that would give the biggest bear a run for his money. It is also, I have discovered this week, mostly full of rice, packed in there for future use, by mice. Many people have lived here over the years, but I think we are the first to 'mouse proof' the place. We haven't caught a single one since moving in. A previous resident must have wondered where their winter's supply of rice was disappearing to though. After giving the door a good shove to close it one day, rice rained out the bottom on to the floor. I will definitely take much more care when closing it from now on so as not to release any more of it's contents, because where mice have been, you know there's also bound to be, well, you know.

We took a day trip on the quads yesterday on a nearby logging road, just to see where it went, because we really have nothing more pressing to do! On this trip I was early "shopping" for Christmas trees. I found some nice ones, Times Square, eat your heart out! I didn't think until we returned here though, that by the time Christmas rolls around, the 5 foot tree I picked out will be covered by 8 to 10 feet of snow.

We also quadded over to the other side of the lake, where I have never been before. We stopped in the campground and made a "mountain pie" pizza lunch using our campfire cookers and washed it all down with hot chocolate. We explored some old cabins on the other side of the lake as well. There are 4 over there in total, one trap line cabin that the boys can seek refuge in if they ever need to while trapping (pictured below, notice the pack rat nest on the shelf in the upper left...) he can help keep them warm. Two cabins built on the same site where a lady I met earlier this year lived for about 15 years with her husband starting in the 1970's. The final cabin is owned by the family who "pioneered" this area in the 1930's, by building the current road in to where they were mining. The place is called "Toad Hall." The areas surrounding the cabins on that side of the lake are littered with hundreds of downed trees, some over a foot across at the butt. About 10 years ago - a freak windstorm blew down the mountain on the south side of the lake, uprooting huge trees, it carried on across the west side of the lake knocking down a bunch of trees in the campground there. A friend of ours, Doug, that had been camped there just days before, came back not long after to find many trees criss-crossed where his truck and camper had sat. Luckily no one was there at the time, and all that remains is the mess of trees now. Many have been cleaned up by campers using them for firewood.

The white speck in the middle is where we live!

Four Star Trapline Accommodations

Home Again, Home Again...

We got back here a few days ago from our trip to "the outside." The purpose of our trip was to restock on groceries, visit family and get our fill of restaurant food. We spent two days shopping, and bought so much we had to build stock racks on the truck to fit it all in and get it safely back here. We did look a little redneck... We visited good friends and went to the Keg (Thank you!!), had some good homecooked breakfasts from Grandma, and delicious Chinese food that we had been craving for two months. We also, as we had promised the kids, had lunch at Playland. Hopefully our debit cards have cooled by the next time we go out!

Now, back here with everything unloaded, we are getting ready for winter. The last few days have been spent getting wood. That is a chore I truly don't mind, it's enjoyable and free exercise at the same time! The boys have started trapping, it is fall beaver season right now and other than that - I don't know a whole bunch about it! I expect to learn lots over the coming winter though. Some of what they are doing looks familiar, as my Grandpa trapped when I was growing up. Cohen came in last night after dark and I didn't notice until this morning that he had left a beaver tail on the counter. I'm not brave enough to move it, and Tim is away for a few hours. I tried to slide it under the paper towel so it was out of the way, but it was really rubbery and stayed put. So, there it sits with a paper towel over it until Tim comes back. Hopefully I don't see too many more "presents" like that over the winter. Cohen won't move it, he wants to keep it. For what, I'm not sure...

Tomorrow we will take the truck out and park it at Germansen Landing for the winter. We have to do this if we want to go anywhere in the middle of winter, because once the snow flies, we are snowed in. Our only way out is to snowmobile around 40km to the truck and drive out the rest of the way. In the winter we only have one major trip planned "out" so far, our only other trips will be every week or two to snowmobile out for mail and any groceries we have ordered.

There are many hunters in right now, the lake road is quite busy when they are in here. Tim and Paul were setting beaver traps in the creek yesterday and had to duck when one group drove by. You don't know how well their eyesight is and it would be a shame to be mistaken for a moose or caribou, so for safety reasons, they stayed well hidden until the truck was down the road.

I think it will take a little getting used to having to go outside to the "facilities" in the cold. thankfully we were prepared and have a styrofoam insulation "seat." It makes quite a difference! Well, on that note, it's almost lunch and I should go feed the kids. Until next time...

Last Night's Sunset

Our home for the year

Grizzly we saw on our trip out

Living Room

Kitchen/Dining Room