Vancouver Island Trip - Day 3

It was raining pretty steadily when we got up on Sunday morning... October 20th.  We were a little slow and lazy in having breakfast and getting our stuff together.  Eventually we put on our rain gear and ventured out into the wet.  We took a drive down island on the old highway, and checked out the sights along the way.  Lots of small towns down there and we thought about some places that we might return to for some shooting.  We decided to venture inland into the trees and see if we could shelter ourselves a little from the steadily falling rain.  We ended up on the highway towards Port Alberni and stopped at MacMillan Provincial Park.  Cathedral Grove in the park is an old growth forest of Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir trees.  There is the usual west coast understory of ferns, mosses, maples and other small shrubs.

Rob had an umbrella but I wasn't smart enough to bring one along so I just got wet.  At one point Brad tried to help me out and held the umbrella while I was setting up.  It quickly became evident that we were just going to get really wet and that was all that was to it.  I had a rain jacket, hat and rubber boots but my backpack and all my camera gear was soaked.  My note pad got so saturated that the ink from the pen I had used to label the holder numbers and type of film washed completely away.  Even a pencil would barely write on the soggy, wet paper.  We hung out there in the woods for two or three hours and photographed until mid afternoon when the light began to fade.  I seem to recall that I set up the view camera four or five times and shot about a dozen sheets of film.  Once we packed up and left it was a drive of about an hour to get back to the rented house in Courtenay.  There we spread out all our camera gear to dry and it sort of looked like a used camera store.
We ended up cooking almost all of our evening meals at the house and only went out to a restaurant once during the entire trip.  The evening routine for the week consisted of my checking e-mails to see if there were any work issues to be addressed.  Then we made our evening meal and tidied up the dishes.  After supper we would visit and have a few beers. Both Brad and I brought our guitars along on this trip and almost every evening we sat up and played.  Brad has been playing for several years now and is a lot further along then I am.  Mostly because he seems to be able to dedicate a lot more time to practice.  With work and everything else going on in my life it seems I have very little time for music. 

Vancouver Island Trip - Day 2

Road conditions were pretty good for Brad and I on our Friday drive out to Vernon.  We hit a couple of minor construction delays but nothing serious.  There was a little snow up on Bow Pass but nothing worse than that.  On the morning of Saturday October 19th, we piled all our gear into my truck at Robs place, and the three of us hit the road.  Once again it was a pretty early start.  We fueled the truck, grabbed a coffee, and were on our way.  We cut across from Vernon to Kamloops on Highway 97C.  From there we headed west on the old Trans Canada to Cache Creek.  There we turned north and then cut across through Lillooet and Pemberton.  Brad's oldest daughter Lindsay is living in Pemberton and we were able to connect with her briefly so that she could say hello to her Dad.  They just saw each other a short time ago at Thanksgiving, so this was just a brief visit.   

I had never travelled this way before so the route was new to me.  It was very scenic and beautiful, but the highway was winding and torturous.  This made for some very slow driving.  After our brief visit with Lindsay we carried on down to Whistler and Squamish and made our way down the Sea to Sky Highway to Horseshoe Bay.  There we caught the ferry to Nanaimo.  The timing worked out pretty well and we only had to wait for about an hour.  Once we got to Nanaimo we made a quick stop for some groceries and beer and then continued on up island.  By the time we got further north to Courtenay it was already dark.  We off-loaded our gear into the house and got settled in.  We ordered some pizza and had it delivered to the house.  That night we just settled in and relaxed.  Two days of driving for Brad and I had worn us out and we looked forward to settling in to relax, unwind and explore.  Rob was luckier as he only had to endure one day of driving to get to our eventual destination.

Vancouver Island Trip - Day 1

I've gone on several extended trips with my friends Rob and Brad.  The first time we went it was just for a couple of days, hiking in Kananaskis.  Then we went to Utah twice... the first time in 2013, and then again in 2015.  Since early this summer we have been making plans for another trip together.  With the exchange rates being what they are at the moment... and the uncertain political environment south of the 49th, we decided to stay in Canada this year.  I booked a week at the Courtenay Beach House, out on Vancouver Island.  The girls and I stayed here back in the spring of 2016 and were really impressed with the place.  It is a large home, right on the beach in Courtenay, and is very central to a number of excellent locations nearby.

On Friday October 18th, Brad met me at the shop.  We spotted his car in the yard and hit the road in my truck.  We got a pretty early start and were out of the city shortly after 7:00AM.  We traveled south and then west... through Rocky Mountain House, Nordegg, Saskatchewan Crossing and joined the Trans Canada Highway at Lake Louise.  From there we continued west through Field, Golden, Revelstoke and on to Sicamous.  There we turned south off the Trans Canada and headed down through Armstrong and Enderby and on to Vernon.  Rob used to live in Beaumont, south of Edmonton, but moved to Vernon shortly before our 2015 trip to Utah.  

We arrived in Vernon in the late afternoon, just as the fall light was fading.  We stayed at Robs place that Friday night.  Rob and his wife Monique put on a big spread for us with steaks, potatoes, corn, salad and grilled veggies.  We sat up for a while in the evening visiting and discussing our plans for the upcoming week.

It was nice to get back together again and rekindle the friendship and camaraderie that we had developed over our previous adventures.  Rob and Brad have known each other for around 30 years and I am the relative newcomer to this group.  Brad and I got stuck in Butte Montana for three days back in 2015 when the clutch dropped out of my truck on the way home from Utah.  Needless to say we spent a lot of time together there, waiting for the truck to be repaired.  We all hit it off nicely together and I really enjoy getting together with these guys.  This will definitely not be our last trip together and we hope to make it an annual event from now on.... or at least semi-annual....

Print Changeover at Mimi's Pub

Last week I changed over the prints at Mimi's Pub.  This has become a favorite hangout of ours and Margarit and I stop by at least once a week.  We have become friends with the owners and the staff and some of the regular clients.  This time around the print installation didn't go all that well.  I used some adhesive hangers just like last time, but already three of the prints have let go and fallen off the wall.  I think that perhaps I was not careful enough with the installation.  The glass has been broken out of three of the frames, but fortunately there was no damage to the prints.  I originally assembled these with rather costly non-glare high transparency glass, so this has become a rather costly error on my part.  Despite the challenges it is great to get my work on display again and this will be an ongoing venue for me...

Thanksgiving

It was a pretty quiet and laid back Thanksgiving weekend out at the cottage.  Margarit and the three girls went out on Friday evening.  I was too tired after the work week to drive into the dark so I stayed home on Friday and headed out early Saturday morning.  I picked up my Mom and brought her along for the weekend.

There was still some snow on the ground when we arrived, but most of what fell a week ago has now melted.  We made our Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday and had roast turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and vegetables.  Now that Anna and Helena have become vegetarians, we had to also have a few extra side dishes.

We took a couple of walks around the neighborhood and the girls rode around a bit on the ATV.  I did a few chores around the cottage including assembling a coffee table that I made and putting away a bunch of tools and supplies.  The wind blew a spruce down in the back of our property and I cut that up and salvaged a couple of logs.  I peeled these so that I can use them on the bunk bed I intend to build later this fall.

I checked my Radon gas detector and the long term average seems to be settling down at a safe level.  There was a short period of time earlier in the summer when the levels exceeded the safe limit, but it is the long term average that we are supposed to be concerned about.  That is now at 165.... and has been recording since the August long weekend.

Helena was outside playing in the snow and made some little snow people... and named two of them Phillip and Gloria.  They didn't last very long as the temperature was well above freezing on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon.  On Sunday evening Margarit, Hailey and Helena went back home to the city as Hailey had a work shift scheduled on Monday.  Anna and I stayed on Sunday night with my Mom.

It rained for a while on Sunday evening, eventually turning to snow, but didn't amount to a lot.  We packed up and headed for home on Monday in the early afternoon.  We saw a small herd of wild horses, and a cow moose with a calf on the way home.

Evening Visitor

Seems this guy wandered by a week ago on a rather cold and snowy evening out at the cottage.  We weren't there at the time but the game camera captured this shot...  We've seen foxes in the yard and around the subdivision few times over the past couple of years, but never a coyote.  The game camera has captured a shot of them every once in a while.  Since that big dump of snow a week ago, most of it has since melted.  Hopefully we get some more fall weather before it winters in for good.

War wounds

I finally got back out to a hockey game on Wednesday evening.  The team is six games in to the winter season, and this was only my second game.  Work and life in general have been so busy in recent weeks and I've had too many conflicts.  It was great to get back out to the rink.

The team now has a record of 3-3... but one of those victories was against a team that has since been moved out of our division.  So for the purpose of standings within our division we have a winning percentage of 0.400 based on a record of 2-3.  I played in both of the games we won so maybe I'm a good luck charm and need to get out more often.  Last winter we played in Division 8 and won the championship.  This year the league has moved us up to Division 7 and we are near the bottom of the standings so far.  

Tonight we played against a team called the Bruins.  We won the game by a score of 6-3, which moved the Bruins down into last place.  They were a young, fast team and we quickly fell behind by a score of 2-0.  But we battled back and were ahead 6-2 with only a minute left when they got a late goal to make is look a little more respectable.  Despite being really rusty, I felt OK out on the ice.  Unfortunately I was on the ice for the first two goals against.  But then later I was on for three of our goals, and got an assist on one of them.  I think I probably should have been credited with the second assist on another goal, but the officials missed it.

About half way into the game I was defending when one of their defensemen stepped into a slap shot out by the blue line.  I was down in the slot, just below the hash marks and the shot hit me square in the shins.  I felt it through my shin pads, and knew I would have a heck of a bruise.  After the game I discovered that the shot had split my shin open and my pads and socks were soaked with blood.  It kept leaking for quite a while, and probably could have used a couple of stitches.  There was no way that I was going to wait at a hospital for that so I went home, had a shower, and taped it up before going to bed.

I'll miss our next game as I will be away on a trip out to Vancouver Island with my friends Rob and Brad.  But after that I hope to make it out to the rink on a more regular basis... including a tournament that we signed up for in Banff in November.

Peeling Logs

A couple of weeks ago I collected some spruce logs around my property.  Mostly these were from small trees that had blown down during some storms in the spring.  I plan on using these to make a bunkbed for the girls bedroom.  These logs have been riding around in the back of my truck out for a couple of weeks now.  Last weekend, when I was out at the cottage, I peeled them all.  I used the sawbuck that I previously made for cutting firewood.  My small hatchet chopped off all the branches and then I used a drawknife to peel the bark.  It peeled fairly easily as most of the logs were still fairly green and wet.  It was a beautiful fall afternoon and the temperature got up to about +18C.  Now I have to season these logs for a while and let them dry out, before I can start cutting and notching them to make bed posts.  Yet another project to add to my list...!

Exploring Backroads

After shooting the aspen grove near Saunders I headed to the north on a logging road.  This road leaves the David Thompson highway between Saunders and Nordegg and heads to the north on the back side of Coliseum Mountain and Baldy Peak.  I followed the road for about 15km before eventually turning around and heading back home.  There is a complex not far down the road that seems rather out of place and unusual.  It was occupied, so I did not drive in but it is perhaps the old young offenders camp that once used to operate out here.  Now it seems to be privately owned.

The area has been heavily logged with some older cutblocks and some very recent ones.  I got as far a bridge over a small river.  I'm not sure if this was the Nordegg river or perhaps one of its' tributaries.  A very nice area and well worth returning to at some point in the future.  For now I just took a few snapshots, included below....

Aspen Grove

There is a beautiful grove of old growth aspen trees on the slopes of the North Saskatchewan valley not far from the old Saunders townsite.  We saw it when we hiked in to the steel span bridge with Chris and Connie earlier in the summer.  I drove out here one evening earlier in the fall and tried to photograph the trunks at that time.  It is a rather steep slope, with an open understory, and some very large aspen trees.  

On my way back to the cottage after exploring the Saunders Cemetery I stopped here again to photograph with my view camera.  It had been rather dull and overcast all day, but occasionally the sun briefly poked out from the clouds and taunted me.  I think morning light would probably be best here but the early afternoon light on this day, was better than my previous attempt in evening light.  The understory was in fall color, and the glorious leaves of some of the aspens lower down on the slope were visible in my compositions.
I took a number of photographs here with my view camera and will share the results of my efforts in a future post, once I have processed and scanned the film.

More Game Camera Photos

Here's a few more photos captured by my Game Camera out at Nordegg.  Pulled the memory card and downloaded these... all taken through September and into October.  Mostly just more of the same but I always find it interesting what has been wandering around.  I put a salt block back out a week ago as all summer long the deer kept coming by on almost a daily basis.  Once winter sets in and the bears are settled in for their big nap, I'll start putting out some oats again....
A couple weeks back I got some photos of a white tailed doe with some fresh wounds.  Caught her again, this time with the nasty wound healed up a bit.  Looks as though she escaped an attack from a cougar, or maybe a bear...  Hopefully it didn't weaken her too much and she makes it through the winter.  I'll do my part and start feeding them soon...  The bucks have been starting to get into the spirit of the season and have begun jousting... wish I could have witnessed that first hand...

Saunders

The town of Saunders no longer exists.  Once there was a coal mine there, and it operated from 1913 to 1954.  It is on the ridge up above the North Saskatchewan River, to the east of Nordegg.  Today it is a popular camping area and canoe launch point.  Lots of ATV riders camp in the area and ride the old rail line.  

We were out there earlier in the summer with our friends Chris and Connie and hiked in to the old steel span bridge near the townsite.  We also poked around a little and found the site of some of the old mine works... though there are no structures remaining.  At that time we also tried to find the old cemetery... without any luck.

I headed out to Nordegg on Friday and actually bailed out of work early... around lunch time... so I could get out there by mid afternoon.  I was meeting with the guy that sold me our security cameras.  Now that we have an internet connection he was coming out to set up our cameras so that in addition to recording, we can also monitor them remotely.  Between this, the weather station that I hooked up this past summer, and the smart thermostat that I installed last weekend, technology has really advanced things for me...  I feel like I've moved right on up into the 90's now..!

On Saturday I went out for a drive with my big camera and headed over to Saunders.  Unlike earlier in the summer, there was hardly anyone around.  One trailer was camped in the old townsite, and a couple of vehicles drove by, but that was about it for the three or four hours I spent there.

I wandered down some quad trails below the old townsite and eventually came to a bluff above the North Saskatchewan river.  There was a nice view from here of "The Gap" in the Brazeau range where the river exits the front ranges.  There were memorial markers here for a number former residents of the town.  I followed the trail along the bluff and eventually came upon the cemetery that we had been searching for earlier.  

The sign on the gate said it was the Saunders Baby Cemetery, but there were a few adults buried here as well.  There weren't a lot of graves here at all, considering the size of the town that once existed nearby.  I think there were about a half dozen children's graves, and two or three adults.  A rather eeire place out in the middle of the bush, particularly in the gloomy, overcast light that I experienced on this day.  Not sure if there is a second cemetery somewhere or if this is the only one that served the town.  It was some distance from the current road and not easily found unless you knew where to look.  Fortunately there was a sign at the old townsite that identified the location of a few of the things that were once in the area.  It indicates a second trestle bridge on the old rail line and one day I'll have to go looking for that.  I'm told all the old wood trestles are gone, but would like to check that out for myself.

Early Snow... again

In September of 2017 we got a big dump of wet snow out at Nordegg.  It fell on the last day of summer, and messed up the construction schedule for the cottage.  At the time the framers were just putting up the roof trusses, and I was supposed to head out with my friends Rob and Brad to do the electrical rough in.  That's all water under the bridge now as the cottage eventually got closed in and the electrical work eventually was completed.

In September of 2018 we also got an early snow.  That one even resulted in some accumulation back home in Edmonton.  As I recall we got as much or more snow in the city, as we did out at the cottage.

For the third year in a row we were hit with a September snow out in Nordegg.  This year it held off until near the end of the month.  I understand that it started on the evening of Thursday the 26th.  It melted off on Friday during the day but then heavy accumulation started on Friday evening.

I headed out from the city on Saturday morning.  There was only the odd skiff of snow here and there and few flakes coming down, as I made my way out.  The highways were dry and bare most of the way out to the cottage.  By the time I got to Saunders ridge there was some snow cover in the ditches.  When I got to Harlech, it was snowing, there was significant snow in the ditches and the highway was partly covered.

There had probably been about 5 inches of snow at the cottage, but by the time I arrived around noon, it had settled a bit to about 3 to 4 inches.

I got a fire going in the cottage, unpacked a few supplies, and set to work.  I disconnected the old thermostat, and with clear wiring instructions from my friend Rob, set about installing the new one.  I got it all hooked up and working, including the installation of the APP on my phone.  This now allows me to monitor the temperature in the cottage remotely.

I brought along some aluminum panels for the outside landings.  One of my staff cut these for me on the CNC router at the shop.  I had the aluminum powder coated black and that was completed on Friday.  I brought them along and screwed them to the wood posts of the landings.  They look pretty sharp if I do say so myself... particularly the black color against all the fresh white snow. 

On Sunday morning when I got up, it was snowing heavily again, and another couple of inches came down.  I just puttered around on a few more chores at the cottage.  I made sure the thermostat was working properly.  I brought in a bunch of firewood... so that we have dry wood next time we come out.  By about 2:30 in the afternoon I packed up and headed for home.  The highway was actually in a little better shape than it was coming out on Saturday morning.  By the time I got to the east side of Saunders ridge, the snow accumulation was considerably less.  By Rocky Mountain House there was only a skiff and the highway was dry.  It was a cool, misterable, overcast day and the temperature only got up to a couple of degrees above zero.  But, by the time I got back to the city in the late afternoon, it was just wet, and everything was still green.  Perhaps there is some hope for a little more fall weather before we get into winter for good....