Wilderness Adventures - Jan, Week 1/2012
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This
is about a remote area in west central British Columbia, Canada
called the West Chilcotin. Surrounded by numerous glacial mountain
ranges, alpine lakes teeming with wild Rainbow Trout, and full
of wildlife. Living here goes from no running water or electricity
to spacious log homes with all the conveniences and without
the smog!
If
you would like to see pictures of wildlife, mountains, lakes,
exciting snowmobiling, events and more, and read some great
contributed stories and ongoing blogs, just
go into Archives on the lower left side of this page.
Rolling over an image will give you its description.
Check out the Picture
of the Day.
| 05/01/2012
7:25
PM |
Thumper
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I wish you folks could hear the lake tonight.
If we ever get anything faster than our slow satellite
hookup, I would definitely like to upload more video and
sound to the blog, and lake sounds would be first. I do
have some that I posted a couple of years ago but it looks
like you have to download a Quicktime plugin to listen
to it so I need to do some new ones using Windows media
player, maybe. Having gone to a new computer is
one of the main reasons I haven't put more interactive
media on the blog in the last couple of years.
I have to learn a bunch of stuff all over again and I
haven't put the time into it. Although I think I might
have a decent grasp on the new camcorder I got for Christmas,
the software for editing movies seems to be pretty basic,
so I'll have to find something else that runs on Windows
7 before I can upload much of anything. But at least I
have my sound back now so I can hear stuff! Yay.....!!!!!
I digress. Back to the lake.
I don't know if it's because we have a growing moon,
but the lake started thumping and growling at about four
this afternoon and it hasn't stopped. It shouldn't
be because of a huge temperature variation. It dropped
to -8C or 17.6F last night but it didn't really go above
freezing by more than half a degree today so that shouldn't
do it. We did have a full day of sunshine and sometimes
that can make a real difference to the ice when it warms
up in the sun, and then cools quickly once the sun goes
down. I don't know the reason but we've been able to hear
the lake thumping from inside the house right through
dinner and with the television on.
We had a little go around with the weather here
yesterday. It started to sprinkle rain through
the night on Tuesday and continued to rain throughout
the day yesterday. Everything was sheer ice and highway
20 was closed for a few hours between Alexis Creek and
Tatla Lake because of freezing rain. The mail truck couldn't
make it through and I understand that there was at least
one accident because of the road conditions. Even though
the highways guys were pouring the sand to the roads,
I don't think it was doing much good.
We drove to Anahim Lake yesterday and the highway was
just a mess with ice, slush, sand, frost heaves and more
rain coming down. The main road into our place from
the highway was really slippery with rain on compact snow
that had turned to ice. Andy likes that because
then he can drift around the corners with the dually.
Not exactly a sports car but it's fun for him, I guess.
Walking anywhere was a nightmare and most people complained
that they couldn't even stand up in their driveways. I
know that we couldn't. Yesterday evening we started losing
television reception and when we turned on the outside
light, sure enough, you could see why. The rain
had turned to snow and it was driving in sideways over
the deck with all the attitude only a blizzard can bring
with it. A few minutes later, the wind dropped
and then big, fat, furry snowflakes started falling, but
fortunately it didn't last long. We ended up with less
than an inch of snow but it couldn't have arrived at a
more perfect time if it tried. That snow landing on top
of rain meant it just glued itself to the ice and then
froze there overnight. Voila! No more icy driveways, walkways,
or roads, although our deck was a little deadly
in places this morning and my truck doors are still frozen
up. But that snow frozen to the ice provides great
traction everywhere, thank heavens.
I don't know how much rain we got over that 24 hour period
because I didn't have a rain gauge out. You don't really
expect to have to have one out in the middle of winter,
so it's impossible to tell, but I think if it had come
in the form of snow, we would have been doing a lot of
shovelling.
It looks like we have a couple of more systems rolling
in from out in the Pacific, but from the radar map, we
may not see much from them. While we're much cooler than
we were last week, I think the milder temperatures might
return next week when some warm fronts come in. Suits
me! I know it's not great for snowmobiling or dog
sledding or skiing, but the longer this continues,
the shorter winter becomes. I know we'll get snow and
colder temps because we always do so I'm going to enjoy
this weird weather for as long as it's here. I just have
to duck the rocks the winter loving locals are throwing
at me. :-)
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| 02/01/2012
7:15
PM |
The 2011 New Year's Eve Ice Party
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Happy
New Year's, Everyone!
The Ice Party is over and done with for yet another year
and about time! Although it's nice to see that it's such
a success, it is a lot, of lot of work. While I start
cooking and freezing what I can, and we have our wood
cutting work party before Christmas, you can still count
the week between Christmas and New Year's as being shot
doing all the things that need doing.
We had a good turn out on for a work party on the Wednesday
before New Year's and again on Thursday with everyone
pitching in and lending a hand. It was a little disconcerting
to Andy and me to arrive a little early on Thursday and
see at least half the Christmas trees we had packed into
the snow banks fallen over onto the ice. We had
a warm day and terrible winds the night after we had put
them in the snow bank. It would seem the snow hadn't frozen
in around the trees enough before the wind came up and
they fell over. I went home and got buckets of hot water
and we got most of the trees back up and packed into the
snow before anyone else arrived for the work bee. It meant
the trees wouldn't have time to set up before putting
lights on them but the ladies on that chore did a wonderful
job and not a single tree fell over while they decorated.
That night it dropped to -22C or -8F with no wind
so I guarantee those trees were well frozen in by the
next morning!
The big push was on with a lot of stuff needing to be
done on New Year's Eve day itself but unfortunately, I
guess no one realized that. Basically it was Andy and
me on a dead run for most of the day with Leah and Richard
there off and on as much as they could be with the babies
needing attention, and not much of anyone else. Finally,
Leah rousted John and Clint out of the nearby cabin long
enough to light the Swiss Candles at five because Andy
was busy with extension cords and the generator and I
had to leave. If I didn't get home and get everything
cooked or heated up to take out on the ice for six, no
one was going to have any food to eat. As it was,
it all worked out by some miracle, though I'm not sure
how. I think it was nearly ten before I got to
sit down at a bonfire, making it nearly 12 hours going
steady, and just as long for Andy.
The fireworks were a great success, thanks to Richard
and Leah. There's a donation box up at the store to help
pay for them so if anyone is so inclined, every little
bit helps.
I didn't get a chance to count people until after the
early fireworks were over and quite a few had already
left when I did do a rough count, and there were still
nearly 150 people there. Judging by how much the crowd
thinned out and how many I saw leaving when I ran up to
the post office for more water for hot chocolate at 9:30,
there were at least 200 people and more likely
250 people on the ice at any one time before the fireworks
at 8:30. It's almost impossible to get an accurate
count on just how many people attend the New Year's Party
in total because the crowd changes constantly. You have
kids and families early on with a good mix of middle to
older folks who are replaced by young people, snowmobilers
and late night party groups from around eleven on.
We had a real beauty of a skating rink this year that
the guys really had to work over for several days in a
row to get smooth. Until it got quite late, every time
I looked over there were loads of kids skating on the
ice or playing hockey. We also had a great curling
rink that got used all night with the rocks Len made this
year again. We tried to carry the rocks over from
last year but they had just dried out too much out on
the ice until we could get them into the lake after ice
off last spring. They never did reabsorb enough water
to keep them from cracking apart and most of the rocks
lost their bark so that meant making new ones. Thanks
to Len for doing that. I know it's a heck of a job trying
to grind down and prepare fresh aspen rounds so that they
make a great rock, but he accomplished it.
We had lots of Swiss Candles this year and nearly all
of them burned great. Periodically, I went around and
lit fresh ones so we had good torch light nearly all night
long, but I admit to only relighting the ice candles part
of the night. I think I quit going around and replacing
the candles somewhere around midnight once the skaters
had all left the rink and by then, the guys on the
curling rink could have cared less if they had light to
see by.
We had four bonfires with lots of dry wood and so for
a change, they were burning well, although I had to start
them at three in the afternoon just to make sure they
were going good by the time people started to arrive.
For some reason or other, fires take a long time to get
going out on the ice and for the life of me, I can't figure
out why. I've backed up the times that I start the bonfires
but this was the first year that they actually got going
well in time and I still had to work at it. I think it
must be the ice. Maybe the air above the ice is just too
cold and it takes a long time to warm it up enough to
where the fires will really get going. At least
they finally did and after midnight, they were getting
pretty tricky to stand next to as well. The ice
always melts out around the base of a fire and eventually
the ice around the fire slopes into it and there's enough
water lying on that smoothed ice to guarantee wetness
if you slide into the fire. A few people slid in including
myself, although that was at about five in the morning
when I was trying to kick the last of the embers into
the center of the fire. Standing on one leg on a
slippery slope and kicking logs with the other pretty
much guarantees a dunking. Thank heavens everyone
else had gone so I could go home finally, and dry out.
I was pretty pleased with the night. My only disappointment
was with the temperature. For two weeks prior to the party
we had enjoyed mild temperatures, including at night,
and very little snow. The day after th party it was warm
and today was a remarkably balmy day with sun shining,
no wind, and snow melting everywhere. But the day
of the party was a whole different animal and was I ever
PO'd about it! I think everyone else was too.
The day before the party was really warm and it was quite
pleasant working out on the ice that day, but that night
the mercury just plummeted. It was the coldest we had
seen in well over a month at -22C. The cold should have
meant at least it would dawn clear and sunny as the weathermen
had forecast which would mean it would warm up again during
the day. Not so. Heavy cloud moved in before the sun came
up and it held that cold down all day. The temperature
climbed ever so slowly and I kept looking at the faint
glow where the sun was supposed to be, pleading to the
weather Gods, “Please, please, please, come
out for even just an hour!” By late afternoon
the temperature had climbed to -8 and the sun finally
came out but only just before sundown. Too late to do
much good and since it was clearing off, it meant it was
going to start dropping again. It did, but fortunately
the warm front that was being called for must have been
slowly moving in because fortunately, it didn't get much
colder than -12C or 10.4F for most of the night and it
was still only around -14C when I climbed into bed at
about 5:30 in the morning. Still, a number of
people left earlier than they might normally have just
because they were chilled. After just three hours out
on the ice, if you're just standing around talking, you're
probably going to get cold, especially if you don't have
the proper foot gear on.
The highlight of the party this year was the ice
bar with its new shooter additions. Someone on
ice cutting detail suggested cutting huge wedges of ice
with drink chutes cut into them on the diagonal. The ice
bar was done and Eileen was wielding the chainsaw so she
did a fine job of cutting the wedges (in yellow, top right
photo) which were then welded to the top of the ice bar
with a blow torch. Then narrow chutes were cut into the
wedges with the chainsaw and factory tested. The one shooter
chute worked great but the other one had a bit of a wow
in it. Maria tested that one, ended up with a face
full of beer that had done the luge down the wonky chute
and as a result, smelled like a brewery for the rest of
the afternoon. You wouldn't believe the scientific
engineering, consultation, and fine carving with a Leatherman
that went into that shooter wedge to fix it, but after
considerable time, energy, study and advice, more factory
testing determined it to be fit for use. Did I try it?
Nope. First of all, you had to do the limbo in order to
get under the bottom of the shooter chute and I don't
think I could get down that low without either getting
liquor up my nose, (not appealing) or falling down on
the ice. (Also not appealing.) In fact, I'm not
too sure how a lot of those six foot tall guys got under
it but I'm sure there was a lot of falling down
under it later on. It would have been much better to put
a big block of ice on the bar under it and then weld the
wedge of ice on top of it. But I had asked for an Inukshuk
(I got a mini one but it was still cool) so by the time
the shooters were being built it was late afternoon, everyone
was tired, it was getting dark, and everyone was more
eager for testing than they were for esthetics. Besides,
it worked if you were either very short or very nimble,
so what did it matter? :-)
JANUARY 03/2011
I didn't get this blog uplast night so I'll add a quick
blurb for today as well.
It's kind of a dull day in paradise today, which
is just dandy with me. It's cloudy with a breeze
but it never dropped below freezing last night and it's
already a couple of degrees above today. Not nearly as
gorgeous as yesterday with sunshine and at least plus
5C temperatures, but I'll take it! I don't know of anyone
that wasn't dreading this winter after long range forecasters
said another La Nina was building and we could expect
a long winter with higher than normal precipitation and
colder than normal temperatures. Yech! Three years
running of that kind of thing just didn't seem fair.
But so far, the weathermen have been wrong. (Geez....
How could that possibly be?) Other than that cold snap
in November, the weather has been glorious. We probably
only have about eight or ten inches of snow in the woods
but where the sun can reach it, it varies from bare patches
on our lawn to just a few inches. We were getting the
odd little snows but we've also gotten rain which really
takes the snow down. You can drive anywhere on the
lake and the lack of snow on it means we have good ice
this year. Clear as a bell and 15” thick
pretty much everywhere in the bay. I'm not sure what it
is out on the Main Arm but it shouldn't be much less than
that and might be more. It didn't get as much snow on
it earlier on in the way the bay did because it froze
several weeks later.
We have a really interesting pressure ridge out between
the point and the big island that no one has ever seen
before and it's high enough that you definitely would
not want to hit it with a snowmobile. One night a few
weeks ago folks at the south end of the lake heard a huge
boom and one of them even called us to see if someone's
house had blown up or was on fire. We couldn't see flames
anywhere we looked so figured all was well. We hadn't
heard anything but the television was on and our house
is pretty sound proof. It was only a day or so later
that I noticed the pressure ridge so I wonder if that's
what made the noise so many people heard. We haven't
had a chance to get out there and take a look at it yet
but I was talking to a friend yesterday and she said it
was something else! Ted Hlokoff sent me some photos of
it so I'll post them here if I have the room.
This
is the start of a new week so you'll find December's blogs
at December
Week Two..
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Anahim
Lake Highway cam looking West.
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The purpose of this web site is to draw attention to a
remote area of west central British Columbia. It is a
beautiful area that relies heavily on tourism. The search
engines don't know much about the West Chilcotin, Anahim
Lake, Nimpo Lake or any of the other small communities
in the region and I hope to change that! Even as large
as this site will eventually be, there just isn't enough
room or time in the day to fully describe this incredible
country but I am going to try scraping away at the tip
of the iceberg, so join me!
Follow
the links, and see what the West Chilcotin is really like!
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