Field Trips

[daveedoe]

Its nice when our kids want to do things they did when they were kids. My daughter 35 years old now wants to do so much we did when she was young. At that time hiking was not so much fun for her as I remember but she remembers it as being fun. My grand kids here the stories and want to do the same, they do enjoy it.

 

Great pictures! WOW that slide must have been huge! Would have loved to have seen that wave from above. I hope no one was injured or killed. 

 

I just checked out that slide on google earth, that was a massive slide! Looks like it started at around 3000 ft elevation and the lake level looks to be in the 700 ft elevation, sorry should have done meters.

 

thanks

Edited July 1, 2015 by daveedoe

[BigTreeWalker]

Sounds like an interesting trip BC. I like doing research with my son who is now in his thirties and still enjoys being out with dad.

That looks like it was an impressive slide. Years ago I remember seeing the Hope slide, another huge one that did somewhat the same thing with a tsunami.

[BC witness]

daveedoe, having been a schoolkid in the fifties, I'm more comfortable in miles, yards, and feet myself. I thought the switch to metric was a really stupid idea, at te time, and still think it was a huge boondoggle, but of course our Quebecois Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, convinced the govt that it would increase trade with Europe, though our biggest trading partner was, and still is, our friends south of the 49th parallel - that would be you. ;-)

 

BTW, the Hope slide is a 45 min. drive east of me, and I drive through there about a dozen times every year. Unfortunately, that one took numerous lives, but could have been much worse, as it occurred at a quiet travel time, so traffic on the highway through there was very light. Much of that valley has greened up since then, so the damage to the valley floor is no longer as obvious, but the huge scar on the mountainside is still awe inspiring.

 

I'm delighted to hear that you both get out afield with your adult children, I always enjoy going hiking/hunting/camping with my boys, and daughter, and it makes you feel like you must have done something right in raising them to love the outdoors.

[daveedoe]

 One time I was flying from Vancouver to Regina and I flew over the hope slide. The hope slide was impressive from the air the runout was incredible. The recent slide in Oso washington reminded me of that slide.

That was before the 911 it was a beautiful day and the pilots let the passengers come to the cockpit to see their views. 

 

I'm not sure now if what we flew over was the Hope slide or Franks slide? Maybe it was Franks slide.

Edited July 1, 2015 by daveedoe

[daveedoe]

This past saturday my wife and I drove up near Indian Heaven west side to see how the huckleberries were doing this year. We figured with the record heat and very low rain fall this past year the berries might be early. There were some berries to be had but the bushes were sparse pickings. We had to work and move about to find good berries. It may be to early or the weather has effected this years crop. We will be going back to get more through September. 

A couple of things I thought odd. When we arrived and started picking after a couple minutes I heard what sounded like a definate tree knock. Only one and just a quick knock. I asked my wife "did you hear that? sounded like a tree knock" she said " sounds like people talking". I did not hear anyone talking. There was some people about 1/4 mile away but other than that we did not see any people. I then found what looked like a very large heel impression in some dirt. It looked like the heel had collapsed into a rodent hole, I looked near for more prints but nothing more than disturbed dirt but no definite prints.

The heel would have been very large if it was a heel print. I wear a size 13 and i took off my shoe and compared it to the print there would have been about a half to an inch space around my size 13. Might have just been a hole that looked like a heel print but it was interesting.

I also herd a grouse making what i call the bloop bloop real quiet over and over as I got closer to where it was, never did see it.

Sorry I had left the camera in the other car so no pictures this time. All in all it was a nice day up in the hills with a few interesting finds and sounds.

 

One picture of the huckleberry pie I just took out of the oven, I love these field trips!

Edited August 3, 2015 by daveedoe

[norseman]

yum

[BigTreeWalker]

That pie looks good! Indian Heaven is one of my favorite areas. It's only about 10 miles south of the last bone stack we found. Little Goose campground on the east side is where I heard the loud whistles in the middle of the night. Still don't know what they were. When that women got lost up there last week they were using night vision in aircraft to search for her. Wonder if they saw anything unusual during their night searches? ;-)

http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/aug/02/woman-found-after-she-went-missing-near-trout-lake/

[BC witness]

I'm way behind in updates here.

 

From the August long weekend:

 

Our group (6 guys) spent July 31 thru Aug 3rd at the upper end of a creek that feeds the east side of Harrison Lake, here in BC. We were up till 12 or 1 AM every night, and I , being an old guy with a weak bladder, got up a few more times each night. The only action we had was nightly visits to within 100 yards of camp by bears, leaving fresh scat daily, and a deer that strolled by my tent at 3AM in the light of the full moon. I heard it coming, as I'd just got back in the sack after a trip out for a pee, and I lay still and watched her pass within 6 feet of my tent. We found no evidence of Sasquatch on this outing, but there was a report (by a 9 year old girl on an ATV trip) within 5 km of that road last week. I visit the trail the sighting was on several times each week, lately, and haven't seen anything myself yet, other than loads of bear crap. How can I tell if it's Sasquatch scat, anyway? That would probably look very similar, if they're eating the same type of food.

When most of the group left to check the area out each day, both on foot, and on the logging trails in 4x4s, there was always an armed member in camp, keeping watch that the bears didn't come in and shred the camp.

While we were on the east shore, a forest fire broke out across the lake, on the west side, caused by some idiot lighting a camp fire during a posted fire ban, during the driest summer we've had in decades. It burned for over 2 weeks, actually is still smoldering in places as of today's trip out the east side, and has charred a strip of mountainside about 5 miles long by a mile wide. We plan on searching the burnt area for tracks, as soon as the Forestry Services allows public access to the site.

 

Pics

Upper left - kitchen area

 

Upper right - start of fire on the west lakeshore

 

Lower left - Martin Mars water bomber doing a drop on the fire

 

Lower right - tents across the creek from the kitchen, for bear safety

Edited October 13, 2015 by BC witness

[BC witness]

From this weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving)

 

I met up with Thomas and Jason (Magni couldn't make it) at Tim Hortons for coffee at 0700, and we headed east on Hwy 1 shortly after. We arrived at our target area by 0800, under partly sunny skies, though the drive up the Fraser Valley had been dark and threatening rain. We parked our 2 trucks off the logging road, at a trailhead, and set off along the bank of the spawning creek that feeds a tributary of the Fraser River. We were met by the odour of rotting fish, and could see the spawners in the water, some dead, others still battling the current to get to the spawning beds. We found dead fish on the trail, dragged up there by bears, gulls, eagles, and other wildlife, but there's so much leaf litter on the ground, that it was impossible to find any distinct tracks. Large groups of gulls were drifting in the shallow eddies near shore, feasting on the carcasses. Our trail took us a couple of km upstream, to a large beaver pond, and by then the sun had disappeared, and the rain started, so we retraced our steps to the trucks, and called it a day, with no sign of Sasquatch, or any other wildlife, other than birds. I was back home in time for a nice lunch of left over turkey with my family.

 

Here's a link to a video interview shot today on the hike by Jason for Thomas' utube channel: 

https://youtu.be/Q9nOVrj_7RI

 

Pics, left to right, top to bottom:

 

The ex soldiers, still in step ;-)

 

Narrow trail through the trees

 

Bright mushroom - no, I didn't try it!!!

 

Dead spawners on the bank, a couple of tired ones in the water,

hidden in the ripples upper right in the pic

 

A little fall colour

 

Raindrops on the beaver pond at our turn around point

Edited October 13, 2015 by BC witness

[Bodhi]

Thanks for posting these BC. I enjoy your updates very much!!

[BigTreeWalker]

BC, Thanks. Been missing your updates.

[daveedoe]

Thanks BC, been wondering what you'd been up to, thanks again for the update

[ShadowBorn]

BC

Any luck with that fish on the ground? Beautiful pictures though. We use to us the can mackerel or salmon and punch holes though the cans so that it would reeked the forest. We would hang the cans across two trees far enough apart to keep the bears and other animals away. I would love to hike in stuff like that.

[daveedoe]

Had the day off so I ventured into the Columbia Gorge and up the Wind River and Trout Creek. Not much to report, I spent some time looking for tracks and any bones I could find. Nothing no tracks or bones. There was a lot of big trailers and fifth wheel trailer heading into the hills, I figured must be hunters. It was a very  nice day. I did get a few great pictures though. I hope to get out more this winter.

 

I am heading to Aberdeen for the week end maybe I can find something in the coast range.

forest around Trout Creek

 

 

Trout Creek

 

The Gorge near Stevenson Washington

 

 

 

[ShadowBorn]

Daveedoe

 

Do you usually find prints in these areas or is it a miss and go kinda of thing ? This is great land where if one does get lost in might not mind , It is beautiful.  Great sun rise and sunset views. Thanks Makes looking for this creature not a bad thing.