Visitors

This week we had a few visitors and I must say that I definitely look forward to them, even if they only pull into the yard for a few minutes.  I guess it makes me feel more like home and not a visitor here myself.
Our first was not actually a visitor, but more like a roaming neighbor.  The guys came back from a day of checking beaver traps and had seen tracks from a very large grizzly.  He came out from a trail in the bush onto the road about 4-5 kms from our cabin.  The grizzly then followed the truck tracks in the snow, ( in the opposite direction of the cabins) for probably 4 kms and then veered off back into the bush.  This was not a small animal either, his hind pad tracks measured near 9 inches and then there were toes and claws beyond that!
Second was a Parks and Rec officer that stopped by on wednesday.  He had heard we were out here and new quite a lot about us.  He of course, came out to remind us of the rules, since we are in a provincial park.  So far so good, no tickets are being issued as of yet!
But one interesting thing that he mentioned is that we will have visitors of another kind come December, a migrating caribou herd.  He even gave us an exact date to watch out for them since they are that predictable. We will definitely be waiting and watching for those visitors.
Another visitor(s) we sometimes get are Larry and Ingie.  This is who Paul and Tim are signed up to trap with.  They or usually he, are just passing through on their way to Mason Creek or from Twenty Mile, where they also have a cabin.  Larry is proving to be quite the mentor to the guys, teaching and telling them a little more each time we see him about all he knows of the area and his trapping experiences.  From what I have heard, he has spent a lot of time in these parts and a lot of winters eating nothing but a diet of rice, beans, flour and lard.  It makes me very thankful for the variety of food that we were able to bring in with us.  Not to mention the fact that he himself, went to Costco for us on his last trip to Prince George, that was nice.
Now that the snow has started, 7 inches today, and more in the forcast, we also expect to start getting visitors from "town", Germansen Landing.  Most of the people we know and have met are quite happy to have a reason to come out to the lake in the winter via snowmobile.  We are quite looking forward to it, so that we can provide the hospitality to them that they show to us.  So let the snow fly!
The trappers have now got a total of 12 beaver, and will soon start to but out the marten and fisher boxes.  Marten boxes are plywood boxes about 6x6x10, the fisher are a little larger, with one open end that the trap goes into and the other end has a mesh backing.  This enables the animal to smell the bait that is inside.  They will first start by putting them out at the desired locations so that the animals get used to them.  Then probably later in November actually start after these fur bearing animals and others.  This way winter will have set in and the animals will have a better coat.  The trappers were actually going to start on the day they saw the grizzly tracks, good thing they didn't because he would have torn down every one he came across and ate the bait!  Would have been a very poor start!

Still Quadding

The weather here has still been fall like, rainy, sunny and still only a little cool.  We took advantage of the nice weather and went quadding yesterday.  We took a logging road just a few kilometers past our driveway, the map told us that it should loop around the Gebhardt arm of Germansen Lake and that it did, taking us up in elevation and giving us the oportunity to see the Germansen range that surrounds us.  From there we drove down to the lake and had lunch at Rainbow Cove campsite, there was one fisherman coming off the lake with no fish.  That has been our case lately too, no fish. 
We then went to the south side of the lake to explore some old cabins that can see from our side.  There are three sets, the first being abandoned now except for the pack rats, the second is apparently leased out to some people and looks like it is used often.  Then the third is owned by a family that has a lot of history in this area, the Tates.  Years ago a lady by the name of Ma Tate ran a mining operation up here.  One of her decendants has told us that she spent more than she was able to make.  But she was a woman of business it seems, as she had quite a number of men working under her and you can still see the remnants of their operation. 
After exploring the cabins, we continued on the trail, trying to link this one we were on to one that is directly south of our cabins, along Olsen Creek.  No luck though, it was grown in too much for the quads and turned into a foot trail.  This trek will have to be done later with no kids and more powersaws.
After returning home, Paul crossed the lake and tried hiking up along the Olsen Creek trail from our direction, he did make it in part of the way.  He`ll try again later with Tim, apparenty there are remnants of a mining operation up that way too.  I`ll let you know when we succeed on that trail.
We are now at seven beaver, checking the traps later today.

The Start of Trapping

Well the trapping season is officially upon us in BC, with the fall Beaver now open.  Paul and Tim met up with Larry a few weeks back, the man whose line they are signing up to trap on.  With the freeze up of the lake and creeks fast approaching, the guys wanted to start trapping them asap.  So far so good, they have had a few beaver in their traps from the lake.  Today they went out and set 10 traps on Twenty Mile Creek which is between here and the claim.  Tomorrow we will see what that will bring us.  Some may say why trap these beaver at all?  Well, on Twenty Mile they have been starting to damn the culverts that we and many others drive across when we travel the road.  If this was left alone, the water would definitely wash out the road in the spring and that would be it.  Because this road was originally built for logging purposes it would not be rebuilt.  Some say just blow away the damn, but that will not stop the problem either because the beaver will just keep building it back up.  They will probably trap beaver for about a week, then they should have about all they will harvest for this year.  Next they will start putting out marten boxes in November.
We also cleaned up the helipad the other day.  This was an existing pad that was a little overgrown, so we now have it ready if ever we need it.

To the Outside and Back

We returned on Saturday from our first trip out.  We had planned on doing it this weekend, but a family funeral moved it up a bit.  Our initial trip planned was for gathering last minute supplies before winter, stuff we simply forgot or the things that we just didn't bring enough of. 
When we returned we came home to snow, not lots but some ground was covered.  Then a few days after our return we woke up to 8+ C weather and most of the snow is now gone, even up high. 
Our days since have been spent unpacking and getting ready for winter.  Paul cut down a few trees the other day, they were a little larger than we were expecting.  We could only fit 5 or 6 of the blocks from the butt end in the box of the little toyota truck.  Needless to say we have a  good start on our wood pile.
We also have gone fishing, we need to wait for a calm day, since any bit of a breeze makes it quite chilly on the lake, we came home with 2 Rainbows, now the kids are hooked!  It seems to be quite consistant, everytime you go out you'll come back with some trout.
Sasha and I have started school too, she is quite anxious to learn this makes it easy on me,  We are moving along quite nicely now and getting into a routine there. 
We had our first mail day yesterday, quite a bit slower than most.  Everyone of course knows who we are, they are all glad to see kids around again, I guess at one time there where 30 or more in the area, now they have all grown up and gone.  One fellow we met had a very strong resemblance to Mr. Clause, I have never seen Aron's eyes so big when the man asked him if he has been good this year.  They have seen him in malls at Christmas, but I guess this was more real because we are closer to the north pole now.  (That's what the kids think anyway, that we are closer and will be one of his first stops! 
T & M will be back tomorrow from their trip out, I'm sure their trip was very much enjoyed as they have been in here for 2  months.  We are now ready for our longest stint, 3 months to Christmas and after that we will come out again.