More of today...

Our beautiful view today!

The kids jumping off a big rock at "Big Rock Meadow"

Some pics from our trip today...

Our claim cabin where we mine for gold in the summer.

Family pic!

Wolverine tracks on the way up to the top of the mountain. The kids and I had walked across here while Tim brought the snowmobiles safely across a bit of a sidehill area - an avalanche chute.

It was very bright up there - we're all squinting! Top of the mountain family pic.

We're Still Here!

No - whatever roared at Tim through the trees has not gotten us... Tim went back a few days later on the nearby logging road to see if whatever it was had left any tracks, but he did not find any. It is possible that whatever it was had woken up near there and didn't have to cross the road to leave a trail, or maybe Tim's bushed!

We have been having beautiful warm weather here. Lots of snowy days were in the forecast but that has changed and we are enjoying sun. The only drawback to the warm weather is that it deteriorates the condition of the 25km of trail we need to go on to get to the main road. If the temperatures drop below freezing at night the soft trail turns to ice and travelling on that with the snowmobiles can lead to the runners heating up. Travelling back in late afternoon/early evening is usually not a problem as the snow has softened by then. We also have the option of using the quads if the morning is cold because the trail is packed enough that they will not break through. Getting home on them though could be a problem after the day warms up - so we are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place right now!

For all intents and purposes, spring is here now. All that remains is waiting for the snow to melt. The ice will not leave the lake until late May/early June though. It was strange driving home late last night with the snowmobiles and seeing moths flying around! We spent a very enjoyable mail day out yesterday visiting at the homes of friends and enjoying all sorts of homemade goodies along the way. Heather and I (for Paul and Tim) are making a home-brew beer kit that the boys received for Christmas. We have the help of a local lady who is an expert at this - we are doing it right at her house. For 4 mail days in a row we will go through all the steps, the last being bottling.

The boys have pulled the two trucks out here that we kept at the lake and have been tinkering the past few days. We should start placing bets when we can drive out of here with them. The snow is melting fast though - each day there is more of the yard showing and as I look out the window right now to Mount Germansen, parts of the ridge are now exposed that have been covered with snow most of the winter. I think Heather and I would both agree that spring fever has set in... I know we won't be here to enjoy it, but I am going to clean out the flower bed here and start some flowers for it. It just wouldn't feel like spring for me if I wasn't doing some landscape improvements of some sort!

The kids with their new "mini kites"

We went out for mail day yesterday and had a great visit with friends from the valley. We can now get around a little easier as we have left our truck parked at the trailhead - so we only need to make it that far now on snowmobiles (about 25km). The primary (and just recently found - secondary) clutch went on Tim's trapping snowmobile so it has been sent out with Paul to see if it is re-buildable. It did it's job though and lasted as long as it needed to - it had about 4800km put on it this winter!

We were sitting around the cabin the other night when a bright flash of light filled the room, in the time it took Tim and I to ask each other what that was - we heard the thunder. Yes, we had thunder and lightning in mid-March during a snowstorm. Very strange.

We had another strange occurrence today while we were sitting down to lunch. The dogs started to bark and so we looked out the window on to the lake to see a snowmobile zipping by... A little strange for us in the middle of nowhere. He didn't stop though - just kept right on going! And no, we're not bushed... yet.

Tim went up the road today to take down the remaining squirrel snares. He and Cohen were just past the end of the lake, removing the snare and pole, when Tim heard a roar through the trees. He couldn't see anything when he looked. Tim is not much of one for drama, he brushes most things off with a logical explanation, but whatever this was scared him enough to get Cohen back on the snowmobile and out of there in a hurry. A grizzly? Possibly. Tracks will tell the story though if we are up the road any time soon. There is/was one denned up that way - his were the tracks we took pictures of last year and posted on here. Maybe his winter slumber is done and he woke up on the wrong side of the den...

The kids had fun last night when we got home going through a parcel received from the outside. It was almost like Christmas in March! Thank you!

We also want to send a big hello from the mountains to Mrs. Gunn's Grade 2 class. Keep up the good work guys!

In like a lamb - so will it be out like a lion?

March greeted us with warm weather, in fact we were above zero around that time for about a two week period, so we wonder if March will leave us with the mountain snow we have been so patiently been waiting for. We have had a very mild winter with little snowfall, which, if we were on the "outside" would be considered a bonus. We came to live in the mountains, however, with visions of snowstorms that would dump a few feet overnight - which normally happens up here, but not this year... It has been snowing all day though - the longest time it has snowed since the end of November, when we received the majority of our snowfall.

Today we are trying our hand at yogurt making - Heather with a yogurt starter we received from a friend, and I am trying it from scratch, using acidophilus capsules instead. We will compare the two when they are all done. They weren't thickening much off the bat so they may have to sit overnight before we can cool them and add any sweetening and flavors. It was very easy to do so if it works, this may become something I would do regularly. All it cost was just over a cup of powdered milk and a couple capsules of acidophilus. We also received some sourdough starter from one of the ladies in the valley last week so tonight I will get the bread started and be able to bake it tomorrow. That should go nice with some soup for lunch!

Tim went up today to remove the wolf traps from around the moose the wolves killed. There are a few reasons he did this. One, a trap was set off just a few days after putting them there, possibly by a wolf because they had been back and if a wolf set it off that would be enough incentive for them to abandon the kill entirely. Two, when he went to check it the other day there was a golden eagle feeding on it (and many ravens!) and he did not want to accidentally catch an eagle in one of the traps. Third - the boys were cautioned - and thankfully - that a grizzly could claim the kill at this time of year as they are coming out of their dens. A friend from the valley told us that she has seen grizzlies in the river flats below their house in March. That could be a dangerous situation and one I am sure the guys would want to avoid at all costs.

We had a fun mail day last week - since the end of the line for us was when our trail met the road which this time of year is ice and exposed gravel - not passable with snowmobiles. Everyone from up the valley met us for a weenie roast at our little "halfway camp" on the side of the road. It was great fun and nice to get to visit with everyone. For anyone not from the area to come upon that and see so many people gathered on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere would have been a bit of a shock!

Beautiful snowmobiling just over an hour out the back door!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

Make lemonade! The water coming down from the spring has frozen somewhere along the way in the pipe underground - so we had to find a new way to do laundry! The hose to fill the washing machine is siphoning directly from the spring. Paul and Tim lifted the washing machine into the frame Paul built for it on one of the trail drags. When we are not doing laundry it will be stored in the heated fur shack to keep the pump from freezing inside it. The water froze in the hose coming down from the spring just as it was time to fill the washer for my final load - so that one goes undone for now. We will have to pick warm days to do the laundry on - there should be lots of those in the forecast if the last two weeks are any indication - we have been above zero every day! This was a fun way to do laundry and kept the kids busy in a new place to play. I think I'll bring a lawn chair up next time, maybe a hot chocolate with some Bailey's and a book - sounds almost spa-like - doesn't it? We had visitors out from Germansen Landing today - such a nice surprise! We were asked today if there has been anything at all unexpected in our time here. I can honestly say I never thought this year would see us doing laundry on the side of the road! We take it all in stride though - I see this as a fairly minor hiccup along the way. I also just noticed some squirrel tails sticking out the back of my snowmobile... We are a little more redneck out here than usual!

Mother Nature Can Be Cruel...

We heard through the grapevine that a fellow that had been out this way yesterday came up on about 9 wolves trying to take down a moose just 4km up the trail. Tim went up and followed the trail today that the cow had left in the snow. The wolves did succeed - she had walked about 300m out into the bush before they found her again. I have heard about wolf kills in many books, but to actually see one was a real eye opener. The wolves are back almost as if on schedule. They (whether it is one or two or more packs) seem to frequent this area once every 3 to 4 weeks. Maybe time we will get to hear them howl - hopefully they don't get as close as they did the last time they were by. The moose should keep them busy for a few days yet...

Saturday morning update... Tim heard the wolves howling just after 7:00 this morning. I went for a walk out on the lake to see if I could hear them again. What I did see though was one set of wolf tracks next to where I had walked last night. It was early enough that the snow was still soft enough to leave their imprint. We had the noisy generator running last night so it might have came close by then.

Things have been pretty routine here - we are contending with the warm weather - it is really not as welcome as you might think! The warm weather has made our beautifully groomed trail very hard packed. The sleds run a risk of overheating on this so we decided not to chance it and go for mail this week. Luckily, friends from Germansen decided to come for a visit so they brought out mail and much appreciated fresh eggs. There are no great amounts of snow in the forecast, but we could use a pretty good dump to put the trail in good condition again. We have received our "less than 1cm" as forecasted today already.

I have finally hooked up our Sirius satellite radio in the cabin and I am loving the clear, commercial free music that doesn't cut in and out with the sun or cloud, a light breeze, or a squirrel changing trees a mile away. The most reliable station we get is 890CJDC out of Dawson Creek which is where my parents live near so it is nice to hear what is going on there. We have though, tuned in Nome, Alaska and a station out of Washington. We also get 790 CFCW, 800 Penticton, INEWS 880, St. Paul, Drumheller plus more stations speaking Mandarin and Punjabi than you would think there would be out there! There was also a station that sounded like it was coming from the Vatican... It was definitely Italian with a "message." I don't know if it is possible but I think I may have also tuned in a station from Russia one night...

I have given up my rye bread making career almost as fast as it started. What I wound up with were loaves that could have passed for bricks. I will write my aunt for a recipe - she has offered her sourdough starter recipe and I will see if she has one for rye bread too. I might hurt someone with the ones I have been turning out!

In a BC Trapper's Association magazine I was reading recently, there was an article about Fisher Stoves, particularly the "Baby Bear" model. Apparently this particular stove is much sought after among BCTA members for trap cabins. It is small, easily modified, and puts out good heat. Fisher Stoves were originally built in the US during the Arab Oil Embargo as an alternative way to heat your home. There are models called the Baby Bear, Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Grandma Bear and Grandpa Bear (that makes me want to go to A&W!). In the cabin we are in here is the Mama Bear, identical to the Baby Bear, just bigger and it can definitely cook us out of here if we let it! I hope I didn't bore your socks off with this - it was interesting to me. I like to know all I can about my surroundings - including the fixtures in them!

The back of the cabin we are living in after Tim, Kent and Rolf tore the old "lean-to" addition off the back. The floor of the current addition is already started. The roof of the old addition is in the foreground with the tarpaper and moss on it.

Kent and Rolf lending a (much appreciated!!) hand in the building of the addition.

What the inside of our cabin looked like when I got here after Tim had brought out two truck and trailer loads of stuff we would need for the year. Everything is taped and well sealed because at this point the packrats, mice and squirrels still haven't accepted that they were about to be evicted!

Some glimpses from last fall...

The whole side of Nola's face swollen from a run in with a wasp nest while we were picking huckleberries.

Quite possibly the most perfect loaves I have ever made!

Feeding the whiskeyjacks - they have become quite tame and the ones at our claim cabin come out as soon as Tim, the "whiskeyjack whisperer" arrives with treats for them when checking traps.

(no worries - she was only "posing" without a helmet - not driving)

Trapping Season Ends Today... For the Most Part

Marten, Weasel and Wolverine (count 163, count 2 and count 4 respectively...) season ends today - Lynx (count 2) ended February 15. There are a few that remain open anywhere from March 15th to May 31 - but none that we are really trapping - Squirrel, Otter, Beaver, Black Bear and Wolf. Any that are not mentioned are not abundant in the area. Tim and Paul are out collecting traps and boxes - it will be a long day! The trapline is 215km round trip - so even split up - it still means a great distance!

The owner of the trapline has only ever trapped with a dog team - can you imagine travelling those distances? He speaks very fondly though of those times and it sounds like it was quite enjoyable. The distances he travelled, and others we know that used to use dog team, are amazing. Of course it was not all done in one day and would have been broken up over several days - but I still think that would be quite a feat. Another thing that was mentioned was how much work keeping a dog team is, that it really is a full time job. The amounts of food needed to feed a team for a winter are also very large. Books I have read had the owners feeding the dogs 5 pounds a day each during working times (dried fish, moose, caribou - even cooked rice and oatmeal when meat was not abundant). We really do have it easy! It is amazing that back when people travelled by foot and by dog team - that nothing stopped them. If a trail needed to be made into somewhere for easy passage - one was made. Nowadays people pull up on a quad or snowmobile and if it isn't accessible with a machine under them - they turn around. This is a good thing, though - if not - there would be a lot of useless destruction of forests, etc.

The "caribou people" are in the area starting today. I am hoping we will hear about where they are and what their numbers are like. My kids are just wanting to see the helicopter! They fly low enough that they can get a good look at it.

It is a strange time if year here. It feels warm enough that it almost seems like spring is coming, yet we know from the calendar that there is still a long way to go! Tim was here last June when the ice went off the lake and there was still a lot of snow around - so we know how long it is capable of staying. We are told by the locals that this is an exceptionally bad year for lack of snowfall. I hope that Mother Nature makes up for it in the next few months! As far as we can see into the forecast right now though - there is nothing but warm weather and the only precipitation called for is rain, and yes it rains even up here in the winter! I am hoping for one of those movie portrayed blizzards where the wind picks up and howls all night long and it snows for days! It is OK to hope for that at the lake - no one has to drive out and if we do have to go anywhere - the more snow, the better for the snowmobiles!

The kids got to have a "treat" (they think) that they haven't had in a long while - store bought bread. There was some left over from the snowmobile trip that the guys had brought in, and grilled cheeses made on it yesterday brought rave reviews! There were also grapes and bananas brought in that have been treated like candy. We have more candy stashed than we can stash fresh fruit - so now that becomes the treat. Isn't that strange...

Right now Tim and Paul and some family and friends are at their yearly snowmobiling weekend up our claim cabin. Every year there are breakdowns and this year is no different... Or is it? Yesterday after Tim's brother broke down, Tim was able to come here and take parts off of his trapping snowmobile to fix it. Today after Paul's friend broke down, they were able to come here and trade in the one with the problem for another. All the boys also had a home cooked meal here before they left Wednesday night and showed up to a warm cabin after driving on a groomed trail to get there. Normally they show up to their drop off point late in the day, and break trail to a cold cabin, some years arriving after midnight after problems on the 46km trail. There has also never been the option of spare parts and spare snowmobiles around!

We also try to let everyone understand how remote we are - this hardly seemed so when our guests met us on the road on mail day. We had snowmobiled out to our "halfway camp" where our trail meets the main road. We have a firepit and some benches there to have a quick lunch before we continue on to mail. This week one of our friends from up the road came for a visit at our "camp" and then chauffered us to get our mail and eggs. We thought when we got back to the "camp" we would have to wait a while for the snowmobilers to show up - but they were already there waiting for us. Other friends, expecting we would have a long wait came down to visit us and then the guy taking the mail out joined the party too. We hardly felt remote that day with 4 extra people to visit with there!

Heather and I and some of the local ladies are starting to plan a powderpuff run out here. Just a day snowmobile trip around here. Just for fun. There are lots of laughs to be had when everyone is together.

I was also thinking about packing up a few books and going up to the claim cabin by myself for a few days as a mini holiday. Now that trapping season is almost over there will be more time to do things like that. We will also take a family trip up there for a few days and tour around in the backcountry a bit. There are so many places around here to see this winter and time is flying way too fast so we had better make the time. I guess that is a good sign - time flies when you're having fun!

The Wolves Are At Our Door...

Not the proverbial ones, real ones. Last Wednesday when everyone went out for mail, Nola and I stayed behind to relax. We went for a little walk around the cabins and I found that the wolves have been to our beach just below the cabins. If you know us and have been here for a visit - you will know that is close - too close! The dogs didn't even bark - it must have been in the middle of the night on Tuesday and they slept through it! I noticed on my walk last Thursday that a wolverine was behind the cabin a couple hundred feet. It had walked down the main road a ways then turned down the trail that comes to the back of our cabin. Before it got too close it turned off into the bush again. The dogs did spend some time barking on Wednesday while everyone was gone for mail so it is possible that is when the wolverine wandered through. It is one of my favorite things out here to go out for a walk after a fresh snow and see what critters have wandered through. The wolves seemed to have moved on for now though, Tim and Paul went for a drive east of here on the snowmobiles and saw a moose kill that will occupy them for a while.

I am also honored to share that Heather and I have had our blogs featured in a publication put out by the Edmonton Journal. It went out on Monday, February 8. We received our copies in the mail today and it was so exciting to see our print "IN PRINT." It was also exciting to see pictures I took as a part of the article as well. For anyone who reads this as a result of the "Country Asides" article - we have one correction - we are from just outside Grande Prairie, Alberta, not Bonnyville. It was so neat to read from a paper how our dream has played out over the last several years.

We left yesterday and took the newly reopened trail out to friends who live at the end of it. We stayed the night there and had a great visit. We have spent a few days working - and this is hard work - snowshoeing in thigh deep snow ahead of the guys to break trail for them as they are cutting, then doubling back behind them to clean up the limbs they cut and the downfall they cut out of the way. The guys have the hard job too of sawing snow laden limbs from trees and getting "dumped" on all too often. Heather and Paul worked very hard on the trail while we were out at the end of January. Even though it is very hard work, I am glad that we got back in time to help out with it. It was very rewarding to drive through a near 40 year old trail in country we have never seen before and enjoy all the new scenery. I don't know how I will go back to driving a vehicle on roads to get where we need to go. I much prefer driving a snowmobile on trails to reach our destination now.

The Things You Stumble Across...

When Tim was out checking traps Monday he noticed something he had not seen before. There is a marten set at the end of a logging road, and about 15 feet from it is a brushpile. He noticed when re-setting the box that there is a hole in the brush pile, surrounded by ice. A bear den! A little scary that he had been there many times before and not noticed. With the lack of snow and the warm weather, the bit of snow covering the hole must have been melted away by the bear's breath inside. I know I won't be going back there! He figures it is a black bear den as he has been by there many times with a noisy snowmobile and not disturbed it. When he was on his way out of there, he went off the trail a bit and got stuck - he said he was a little nervous when he had to turn his back on the "hole" to get himself out.

Proof that Heather and I really are here. You would never guess by the few, ok, no pictures of us on our cameras! This is us cutting trail on Sunday - no Superbowl for us!

In lieu of a downward shot of prettily painted toenails in the sand - here are my wool sock, pac boot and snowshoe clad feet. This is a little more suited to my lifestyle anyways!

Update On The Wolves...

We spent yesterday breaking trail through to friends that live north of Germansen Landing. It is a trail that he used to use his dogsled on in the 1970's. The trail was well "blazed" but had grown up with alders and had many trees fall across it over the years. Paul had snowshoed ahead yesterday while we were on the trail and met up with the other fellow's snowshoe tracks, so we knew we were close. Today just after lunch the group that was working on the trail from the other end punched through the last section of trees and arrived here at 1:40. One of these days we will take the trail from this end and go for a visit. They got back to us tonight - the total driving time is about one hour on the snowmobiles and about 19 miles one way.

Last night after getting home, right around supper, our big dog, Rocky, barked a bark like we had never heard before. He has a "someone is here/walking by" bark, a "coyotes are howling" bark, and a "Bear!!" bark. Last night we heard for the first time his "wolves are a little too close for my liking" bark. Cohen was worried so he went upstairs and "fired" a few times out the window with his pop gun. Tim went and locked the dogs in the shop because they were pretty excited.

This morning when Tim left to check traps he saw how close the wolves had been - at the top of the driveway! They marked the area pretty good and we are not sure how long they stayed, but they continued on east above the cabins and the dogs have been calm all day. I just want to hear them howl - from far off - I don't know if I want them that close to where we are for the sake of the dogs. It looks like we may have to keep the dogs locked up while we are away from the cabin.

A Day In The Life...

The most common question we answer from family and friends is "What do you do all day???" The answer is this: "Lots!"

We don't usually set an alarm clock, so the day starts when we are ready to wake up. We go to bed fairly early, so morning comes anywhere from 4:30am (for Tim on some mornings!) to about 8:00. After we are up - we have breakfast. If Tim has to wait for us to get up, he usually reads. After breakfast, on an ideal morning, the dishes would be done right away, otherwise they might sit until after lunch - remember I have to heat water - sometimes melt snow - to wash them!

After breakfast, we do school. We usually do that 3 or 4 mornings a week and it takes about 2 hours. After school I usually go for a walk and then it is time to make lunch. Tim spends this time outside puttering around. There never seems to be a shortage of things to do out there. The kids also head outside after school for about an hour before lunch. Sometime throughout the day we also split wood to fill the box inside the cabin.

After lunch the kids play outside and I usually use this time to do something I need to do inside like bake or clean up, or even just read a magazine. On a well planned day, supper is started mid afternoon or so, and the rest of the time is spent working on that recessed with some time spent outside. Although we have gained some daylight here in the last few weeks, up until now we had to turn the lantern on around 4:00 to finish supper. After supper, the dishes are done and the kids play with Dad. At bedtime (usually between 8:00 and 9:00pm) the kids are read a story (or 2 or 3...) or we make up stories, each child taking turns adding to it. Last night Nola's character in her story was "Princess Flying Rockstar" and she drove a pink dirtbike, and was being chased by wolves or bears (vivid imagination!)

On a day where the guys are checking traps, they are gone from about 8:00am until nearly suppertime. On these days after school is done the kids usually watch a movie (using the generator or battery backup on the laptop) and I get a break. Checking traps takes two days of the week up (changed to one starting today.) The days they are checking traps are usually saved for baking as well. Each day after checking traps is spent in the shop skinning and stretching the animals. One day a week, weather permitting, (always a Wednesday) is spent going out for mail and visiting. We are travelling by snowmobile right now so everything takes a little extra time. We also spend one or more days of the week doing something like getting wood, or taking a little side trip with the snowmobiles.

We also get asked a lot if we eat our meals with Heather and Paul. Not all, of course, as we each have our own houses, but we do share quite a few, either wiener roasts in the yard or on the trail, there also seems to be a birthday or other special occasion that we share each month. We also play games pretty often like Crib, Joker's Wild, or the favorite right now - Mexican Train. On these nights we often throw together snacks and finger foods so we don't have to cut our game short.

There seems to be little time leftover for crafts and hobbies, of which I brought a lot of supplies for and have spent next to no time using.

As you can see - it doesn't take long to burn through a week - and the weeks are going way too fast in my opinion...