Quadded Out To Mail

Yep, we figured "What the Heck", let's give it a go, and it was a blast.  There were a few spots that still had a lot of snow and we had to do a little pushing, but with chains on the tires we made it to the trucks in pretty decent time.  The snow was actually quite wet and dropped as soon as you came into contact with it.  Our travelling the trail will only help for the next time, especially the spots that we got down to the gravel, if only the sun would shine a little more.   The rain we got the last few days made a difference up high too, we were seeing bare peaks around us, and now they are all white again. We figure that next mail day we'll drive our little Toyota out with not too much problem.  Paul is itching to try it with the truck, he wants to go tomorrow, he has a new winch on it... if only we had tire chains for it too...

Springtime

I think that it is safe to say that spring has made it here.  We have been having quite nice +10 ish temperatures and the odd snow flurry but otherwise beautiful spring weather.  Paul and I took the quads out on Thursday to check how the road out was for travelling, other than with a sled.  We had all decided to opt out of the last mail day, thinking that we would give the trail another week to melt before trying it with quads.  Paul and I couldn't wait, so we gave it a go and got stuck quite a bit.  The other end of the lake got more snow than we did all winter and that is where there is still some accumulation.  If you get a tire off of our packed trail, the snow sucks you right in.  There is probably still 18 inches in some spots and here in the yard we have almost nothing, and it is only about 9 kms down the road!  Now that we have made a track through it though and if the sun shines on it, we may get a better result this week on mail day if we decide to go out. 
We did get some company on Friday, a friend came out from the valley.  He had to drive his truck on the road as far as he could and then unload his sled, besides the part of the trail that I just spoke off, he had to travel the lake too in order to make it here. 
Yesterday we took the kids on a hike and did they ever surprise us.  It started out as a hike along the creek that supplies us water, beautiful little creek and easy walking.  The trail started to gain quite a bit of elevation in a short time and we started to get into snow.  Since we were all in hiking shoes we veered off to find a not so snowy route.  We came into an opening and looked up, there above us was a straight shot right up to the top of the mountain that is right behind our cabin.  The reason it was such a nice path up was because it was an avalanche shoot, one that is south facing so all the snow was pretty much gone, and of course so were most of the trees and brush from past slides.  The kids took one look up there and wanted to go all the way up.  I, on the other hand thought there is no way that the kids will make it the whole way.  Well like I said, they never cease to surprise us, they were so excited to walk the whole way up a mountain, that they were like two little mountain goats, and made it up there in pretty good time.  Paul had Laney in a backpack and I brought up the rear with a backpack of provisions for our little mountaineers.  Once we got closer to the top it got pretty steep, but it didn't phase them, I on the other hand, had a problem.  I always knew that heights were not my favorite thing and this proved it, mountain goat I am not.  Well the effort was sure worth it, we got an eagle's eye view of our surroundings.  We could see the whole lake which is about 15 kms long, the spots on the lake that are opening up because of creeks flowing in, the whole mountain range to the south of us, the road to our gold claim to the west and everything in between.  It was quite amazing, we were all pretty proud of ourselves, no horsepower involved only human power. 
After a few days of play it was time for some spring work.  We have been working around the yard cleaning up a bit more and doing some maintenance that wasn't a priority in the fall.  On thing that was on all our lists, was to fix the steps down to the lake, or I should say rebuild them.  So today we tore out all the old material, cleaned up and brought in more logs to make a new set of stairs.  It should look pretty sharp once we are complete. 
Speaking of work, Sasha and I are trying our best to have her schooling pretty much done for the end of May.  I think that we should be on schedule, but these nice spring days sure do make it hard.  Come to think of it, we had such nice weather all winter long, that it has kind of been an issue the whole time we have been here.  So we have been taking school outside as much as we can, it makes it more enjoyable for both of us, and keeps the progress happening.  Good luck to us on finishing!

A Few Firsts

I have put over 2000 kms on my sled now, and it would be safe to say that the kids have logged that many kilometers too.  Anywhere that I went so did they, and we are not driving out of here with trucks yet, so they will log on even more.  We are at the in between stage that we figured would happen.  Where the quads get stuck on the breaking up trail, the sleds could easily still travel, but there are stretches where there is 100-600 meters of gravel.  So we are staying put and just waiting to see what happens, the nights are not freezing now and the snow in the yard is disappearing fast, it is just the parts of the packed trail in the shade that will  determine how long until we can get out the quads.  We were just thinking the other day how at first Delaney didn't even want to sit on the quad, she was very restless, and now she can do a 100km day and not bat an eye.  Of course you can bet if the sled is running and she's on it, that a sleep is involved too, so that helps. 
We celebrated Sasha's 7th birthday last week.  Actually she celebrated it a few times with different get togethers, but last week was her actual day and we spent it at Manson with some friends, one of whom shared the same birthday.  Usually when we get together like this we have a potluck meal, this time I brought something very out of the ordinary, at least for us.  Some of you may think I am becoming bushed but I think I can safely say no, just trying something new.  This trapping season after we caught our first lynx, we were asked by some of the locals if we ate it.  We hadn't and didn't even give it a thought, but apparently it is quite good cooked a few diferent ways.  And after we thought about it, Paul and I remembered some other trappers telling us the same thing.  So anyway, after Paul caught the second lynx of the season, he kept the edible portions of meat in the freezer and we figured that this would be as good of time as any to cook it up.  So I made a stirfry out of it, just as you would chicken and that's pretty much what it tasted like too.  The people we shared it with enjoyed it, some of them hadn't had it in quite a while, and others it was a first time for them too.  So there, now I can say I have eaten lynx.
We also spent a few days last week taking a Basic Fire Suppression Course.  Another first for me, I have never taken a course like this before.  Now Paul and I are certified to help assist in wildfire fighting if the need arises while we are here.  They are predicting that this year may be a doozy, since we came into the winter from a dry fall and having probably at least 4 feet less snow through the winter than normal.  Another factor is all the beetle kill trees in the area, or the "Red and Dead" as they are referred to, these trees can make for an even worse fire season.  So lets keep our fingers crossed that we won't need our newly acquired knowledge.       

What a Sight!

On Friday Paul took a trip aross the lake to climb a mountain that we have admired all year.  He took the sled as far as he could and then he made the rest of the way on foot.  Being a little too much for the kids to tackle, we stayed back and watched with the spotting scope.  One thing that we didn't see that he did was the view and a Mountain Goat.  We are hoping that as the snow melts, we will be able to pick the goat out amongst the rocks with our spotting scope from the yard.

Yesterday we went out to enjoy a hike and the spring day and we caught a glimpse of a lynx ahead of us.  We were walking on the old road that follows the lake and we spotted it ahead of us.  It came down from the upper road and walked along the lake for about 50 ft and  then heard us and took off up to the higher new road again.  We hiked up there and saw his tracks take off into the bush.  Sorry no picture for this one, but I'll remember it for sure, as this was the first lynx I've ever seen alive in the wild.

Catching Up

If you will, let me go back about 4 weeks and catch up on what we've been up to around here. 
In the later part of March Paul, the kids and I went out to Prince George to bring in the remainder of the furs that we have for sale this trapping season.  We had a few other errands to run and some "fun" time planned for the kids at the area swimming pools. On our drive out there we got to experience spring.  The roads were pretty dry and there was next to no snow left.  When we got to Prince the people were actually wearing flip flops, and there we were still wearing long johns and winter boots!  So after a few unexpected and surprise visits at our hotel room from family members, we did all we had to do in town and got ready to head back.  One thing that every trip out includes, is a grocery trip to stock up on fresh produce.  So usually the morning before leaving I go out and buy all that our coolers can carry of unripe produce, I buy unripe so that I know it will make the trip back in here.
Back at the lake we were and are very much still having winter, just last mail day we went out (still with snowmobiles) and parts of the trail had 3-4 inches of fresh snow.  The weather changed in March from leaving our calm winter days behind to bringing us lots of wind and a little bit of everything that mother nature has to offer.  We have had snow, sleet, sun, and even thunder and lightening one night a few weeks back.  But lately the sun tries to shine, the south facing banks are bare, our nightly temperatures are around -13 and we are warming up to +10 or so during the day.  Our trail is most of the time frozen rock hard when we travel it, with the daily sunshine making any fresh snow disappear and leaving the hardpack there.  Paul and his dad put bolts through our skiis, they work by cutting through the surface ice and spraying snow back to the track.  Makes quite a difference with the heating up problems and has made travelling the trail better.  The few times that the trail wasn't frozen, it was melting and getting a little soft.  But not quadding material for us yet, we don't want to tear up the trail in the soft spots and leave the ruts to freeze, ending up with a rough trail.  So for now we'll keep on sledding until we see some sure signs of break-up here. 
The cool nights are good for our deep freezes.  We are not having to run the generator for them too much yet, so that is good.  We are trying to get down to just one freezer each, which shouldn't be a problem since our stockpiles of food we brought in are getting down.  One thing we still use the generator for on a weekly basis is for laundry.  We brought in a normal plain jane washer that we used to have in our cabin before we had a problem with frozen water.  Our water line from the spring about 450 ft up the hill froze off somewhere about a month back, that means we now haul water to the cabin and have made our laundry services portable.  Think Drag Queen turns Laundry Maid.  Paul rigged up one of the drags to haul the generator and the washing machine and he now hauls the unit up the hill and does the laundry directly at the water source.  Siffening the water with a hose directly to the washer.  And just so you know, all our detergents and cleaners we use here are all environmentaly friendly. 

So this option provided the kids with another form of entertainment too, Sasha and Aron take turns delivering the finished laundry down the hill to the cabin by GT.  They also haul water that way too, but they have learned to be heavy on the breaks because the load behind them can be very heavy.  Paul enjoys it too.

Finally!!

On Good Friday my parents came in for a visit over this long weekend.  The weather had been very snowy with quite low cloud cover and yesterday was no different.  At lunch it started to break and Sasha spotted some dark figures on the ice across the lake.  We all went scrambling for cameras. binoculars and spotting scopes, all the while trying to be as quiet as we could, so that we did not scare off whatever it was over there.  Within a few moments we got everything together and saw that a few caribou had finally arrived.  There were only five in this small group and we did wonder if more did cross through the poor conditions and we just didn't see them.  So we watched as they walked along the far shore for a moment, then they started across the lake right toward us.  We had the wind in our favor and tried to get the kids to stand as motionless as possible.  We were able to get a few pictures taken before the next squall moved in.  They ended up walking about 3/4 of the way across the lake directly toward us, then made a 1/4 turn and walked parallel to the shore until we could not see them any longer due to the snowfall.  We are definitely keeping our eyes to the lake now, hoping more caribou will come our way.

Also since mom and dad were in, we tried some fishing on the other side of the lake where Olson Creek comes in and actually dad and Paul are still there.  Here are some pictures of this morning.

 

It looks bad, but the ice is a thick where I am standing as anywhere else on the lake, which is over 24 inches.  Nothing so far, but one darned trout jumped in the open water by the creek while we were standing there fishing.  From my experience that is usually not a good sign for catching.