Bull Moose Running...

Tracks in the snow..... the big Bull moose burst threw the bush across from our cabin... running ..... 75 feet behind two wolves pushed their way out of the snow onto the lake and starting following at a lope. They are parallel to the Moose track and heading him off. We followed the sign until it headed across the lake...
We were out all day long making trail and when we got home at dusk.... the tracks in the snow showed three more wolves had followed the first two and were tracking down the action...
hoping that the first two had keep that moose running. Once they can get a moose to run...it is their game.

A Good Day Trapping

Big Lynx Tracks in the snow and three Marten from 7 sets. This is up Walkers Valley where we are just reopenning the line.

Mountain Goats...a hearty bunch

Look at the sunlight hitting the right of centre....then look at the grey streak just above it heading up to the top .....beleive me....because I have binoculars... there are seven Mountain goats grazing on the wind swept side of the hill, all in a row like cows behind the hay truck. (They are at the 1500 metre level but will go right up to the 1800 top..... We see this mountain from our cabin but this picture is from the other side.... Walker's Valley. Last year at this time I counted 40 Mountain Goats on Feb 6..... but it was a very heavy snow fall year. Walker's Valley had 15 feet on the ground at 600 metres by April. We never saw the big herd again. We don't know what happened.

Fresh Tomatoes, Real Milk, Green Broccoli!!!!!

Parts, fuel, mail , books, whole grain for making flour, fresh veggies, and the pilot stayed and visited for 3 hours.....It was a great day.

Wolf looks but leaves Marten alone

The Wolf was sure curious.....right under the hanging Marten and must have been nudging it with it's nose. The Marten was only 4 feet off the ground. All around the tree where track and it had left a pee spot. It must have wanted that dead Marten but was very concerned over the metal .... there was no sign of Marten being pulled alot.

Walkers' Valley First Beaver Pond

The old stored Marten boxes are still where we left them... the bears have not been tempted which makes us happy. (We have 50 new upside-down Marten boxes which we really like ....but have been hesitant about leaving them out (because of all the work making them) ...after the season is over. ) The creek that was frozen over last year is wide open. We had to build a bridge. The snow level last year here was 12' and is now only 5 ' at the same time of year.

'

Lake Air Strip

The overflow became real bad ...even the Scandic 800 "Miss Piggy" couldn't move in it... Bryan had too pack about 1/5th of the 1 km strip by snowshoe. That was 3 days ago. Today it looks firm and solid. Weather is suppose to get good in the next few days so hopefully Chris will fly our parts in along with some fresh veggies etc.
In the last 3 days we've been able to make it up to the first beaver ponds in Walkers' Valley (2 km) Snow is 5 feet deep there requiring lots of packing the trail with snowshoes on any steep hill or bad corner. Miss Piggy is a good machine though....she climbs up on top of the snow and packs it down. The Tundra 550 long track has a harder time doing that, so in these conditions of first laying the trail she gets to stay home. My little Tundra 300 is a great follower.

Lost Satellite connection

Thank goodness we have a signal finder....but there are poor instructions!!!

A Short Story....about 3 seconds to be precise --- by Bryan

As I was coming down to a tight spot on the trail with lots of brush on each side and deep snow and several big trees on each side of the trail , I noticed very fresh moose tracks. In fact the trail was pounded with moose tracks and I thought "Oh Shit" and started to slow down.
When I got to the bottom and started to make the corner I was face to face with a cow/calf moose pair approximately 35 feet away. The instant she seen me, she came straight at me, ears back, hair layed down, squeenty eyed, and I don't know how but she only looked 4 feet tall. Instinct told me to sacrifice the skidoo....I gunned it and bailed!!!! This must have confused her ...maybe because there was suddenly two of us because she veered off enough on the narrow trail and thankfully on the other side I bailed off of. Stomping one of the skis as she went by the skidoo as I heard a loud clack.
In the beginning of the 3 rd second....I'm trying to climb back on the skidoo and the calf is trying to decide if he will follow his mother, but I couldn't wait for his decision because she's now behind me and he's in front of me ... so I chase him up the trail 50 yards to the next marten set while looking over my shoulder and thankfully she never chased me and he left the trail.
NOW THIS IS THE ROUTE I HAVE TO RETURN ON....after finishing checking the trapline trail.
They were again on the trail on the way home so there was alot of hollering and reviving up the skidoo, putting the reverse beeper on. Eventually they left the trail. We've often talked about having a gun on the skidoo encase of seeing Wolves, but in my opinion not even the Lone Ranger or Roy Roger would have got a shot off.
This all happened in less than 3 seconds.... maybe 7 seconds since I saw tracks til calf left trail.
Was there ever any time to be scared?....no. I've been around range cows lots and it's much the same.

Overflow....BIGTIME

Yicks, Overflow.
As I watched from the dock with Binoculars it was obvious it was horrible out there on the strip. Dirty brown slush was flying in big shuts off too each side of the Scandic 800. I could hardly see Bryan or the sled. (Later after getting back, Bryan said it was covering his glasses and he couldn't see, so he took them off and then the ice slush was hitting his eyeballs.) He was only able to make 3 complete runs. He said it will have to be done a little at a time. The 14" of snow we just got has pushed the ice down and water has come up from the cracks & holes. Bryan said in some places there is 1 foot of slush under the snow on the ice. It could be weeks before the Beaver can fly in safely. Once the snow is compacted it needs to freeze.

It Can Really Snow Here!!!!!

The Taku River can get total snow fall levels of 20 to 30 feet a winter. And this place is close behind. At 2" an hour it adds up fast. Just checking the 7 day forcast and snow is all it sees coming. This will push the ice down on the lake causing overflow. We will repack the air strip out on the lake today. The Scandic 800 Super Wide Track is the machine for this. I will also be contacting the owners of the big lodge here to get a crew ready to fly in to help shovel off the big roof as soon as the Beaver can fly in. This lodge was not built with heavy snow load in mind. (first pic is of Island)

Dolly Varden spawning

The Dolly Varden have been spawning on the lake shore for 3 weeks now. Even in -20 C they can keep the lake open with all their activity. Their fines are now outlined with a bright white and yellow and their bellies are a bright orange showing off their emerald green backs. They are next in line to colourful like an Eastern Brook Trout. The largest one we've caught so far has been 30" long. (Catch & Release)

Flight in cancelled

The de Havilland Beaver is still in it's new hanger in Atlin, all loaded with our supplies....but the weather is too poor to fly in today, so each day from now on we will call at 9:30 a.m. and give a weather update. It is not a problem except that Chris did some shopping for fresh veggies etc. The two little stores in Atlin are really good about taking our fresh produce back for credit. They know that safety comes first. Also Chris had to warm the motor up....and now has to keep waiting. But that is the way it goes out here. Coming in and going out is never on a schedule.
Because it is -2 today we are trying to get the outside gray water pipe unfrozen with small fires on the surface of the ground.

Snowshoes are a must now

This is the 3 day of reopenning Walker's Valley Trail, (named after an old Wolverine who just walks...never does the two step - who has successfully taken and eatten quite a few of our marten). Without snowshoes you sink out of sight. These are called Lynx Paws and are made in Prince George. Fallers use them and they are a must for making trail. They are not travellers, just real good worker snowshoes.

Bears and Trees

When these claw marks where first made they would have been alot bigger but the tree bark has grown around them. Below are stripped trees. In the spring when the sap is flowing in the fir and Balsam the Griz and Black Bear strip the bark up off the tree and with their teeth eat the inner layer. Sometimes the tree dies and sometimes not. They have their favourite areas to do this in.... we sometimes see stripped trees everywhere you look.

Wolves again

I skidooed out towards the lake and there they were.... two big black wolves about 300 feet off shore. I thought briefly of howling ....but I had no gun. At a quick walk/run I returned back on my route to where Bryan was filling the tobagan with fire wood. "There are wolves on the lake" off we went.... but by the time we were on shore again they were on the opposite side of the lake, and soon vanished on the Bucket Trail. I howled and howled but they did not reply.

WELL....It probably started with New Years Eve

We had a great old time.... drinking, dancing, etc, etc, etc. Didn't make it up to midnight but pretty close... It was -29 that night. The next morning we slept in and then relaxed during the day....never having the generator on and circulation the heat.... By evening it was still -29 C .....and when we went to make supper all our plumbing was frozen. GREAT FUN!!!!!!! So that is what we have been doing in our spare time since then. Checking the trap lines during the day and working on getting our house back in order in the evening.
So far we have the water running again, but the grey water still has to be hauled out in slop buckets. And Bryan's outhouse in being used by both of us.
All the lines in the house are empty of water now but the big grey water pipe going outside is frozen solid. We are going to light a big fire on top of it the first mild day which is suppose to be Wednesday. (-7 C)
Today when we went to work on Walkers trail .... we came upon a big pack of wolf tracks.... they had just eatten a moose because all their scatt was full of moose hair. They used our old skidoo trail along the lake....giving our traps a look but that was all. We don't have any wolf snares out.