Sven booked some time off work and we got to go on a 5- day trip this time; Tuesday evening through to Sunday afternoon.
Was just the two of us up there during the week, Patmores came in on Friday afternoon.
Sven did a great RV Project and I got my table back.
Wednesday dawned rainy and dull, so a good day to rearrange the furniture right?
Took out the couch cushion, moved the dog crate to sit on top of couch frame. Ran to Boyle and picked up some lumber – built a shelf unit beside dog crate and voila!
MUCH more efficient use of the space, and I am very happy to have a table again.
Thursday and most of Friday we dedicated to restocking our wood pile. We have not been out much this season so it was time to start getting ready for Fall.
Saturday dawned clear and relatively mild…..relative to the blistering temperatures soaring over 30 degrees recently. Am I complaining about that? Actually, yes. I have concluded that Summer is actually my LEAST favorite season. Guess I am getting too old to enjoy that much heat, and besides, you can’t hunt in August. Though I have to admit the heat is still better than all the rain we’ve had again this year.
So the Toft Patmore Team decided that we were finally tired of running up and down Bear Shit Alley all summer, and we decided to break trail to Hope Lake Road. And so we did! Pretty rough going in some spots, but two chainsaws and four determined people persevered.
We started at the trailhead just before the end of Bearshit Alley and essentially built a bridge over the swampland that Mr. Beaver created.
We came out here and had lunch, Patricia dubbed the area Twin Lakes. Very pretty place to camp out.
We bushwhacked our way through more of Mr. Beaver’s landscape, and came out on Hope Lake Road. Success! For a while anyway.
We built this long long bridge here:
Got stuck many many times…
Finally broke out into this field here. Same field where Sven shot at coyote last season; this is Calf Moose Trail and it connects (well, connected) to Bear Shit Alley.
Alas, not this year.
We walked in a ways, but the swamp just getting bigger and we knew we wouldn’t make it through that.
So we jinked down the trail where we lost the coyote last year, but did not get far. Too many hazards hiding in the grass, in the form of stumps the beaver left behind to ambush us by popping tires and wreaking havoc on our machines. By this time, we were nearing 5 pm and were Tired Trail Blazers.
The way back is ALWAYS faster, right? It took us 6 HOURS to get to Turnaround Point, and 55 MINUTES to get back to the Trailhead. Figures.
But hey, now we can hunt Hope Lake Road! And with no one else being on it this summer, should pretty much be a game sanctuary by now.
Sunday, of course, wood splitting chore to complete. Winter is coming, and we are ready!
Full Photo (and Video) Gallery HERE
Leave a Reply