Busy on the Bowron

Feb. 28, 2010



People are coming and people are going. Hope it is not too busy in the few cabins that are out there. Party number 1 just came back today -- Sorry we missed you Nic & Paul, but thank-you for leaving the little update on the lake conditions on our door! Nic & Paul wrote (clarifications in brackets are mine);


"We had an excellent trip down to McLeary Lake. Excellent ice on Isaac (Lake). Walked in cleats pretty much from Lynx (Creek) down (to McLeary Lake). Ice OK but not as great at Lynx Creek. McLeary had a tongue of about 75m of ice at west edge (I am assuming this is width of ice along the edge of the lake). Otherwise big leads (open water channels) from Issac (River) and Cariboo (River). It was warm so we did not try (to go any further). But best approach (if we did try to go further along the Cariboo River) would have been from the cabin across. You could also cross the river, mid-calf, from east to west or visa versa, about 300m above log jam, ie: where rock in middle of river and about 100m up or down (I am assuming that the water in the river is low as it currently is in the Bowron River). Cabins are in good order."



Feb. 27th saw party number 2 consisting of 4 men and two dogs head out in our first drenching rain fall of the year! Hope they brought rain gear!!! Even though it is not supposed to rain in Feb. As far as weather... well we have been having lots! Three days ago .5 cm of fresh snow; two days ago bright sunshine caused a melt that formed puddles of water on the lake ice; one day ago started with 2cm of fresh snow and ended with 5mm of rain, forming even bigger puddles of water on the lake ice; today just cloudy and warm. The lake ice is still very solid at about 12 to 14 inches thick, but the top of the ice is slippery and wet!

Growling Ice

Feb. 19, 2010

Walking along the ice this morning, so quiet and peaceful. Charley (the dog) was running ahead. He stopped to explore a ridge of ice and then all of sudden he exploded! We knew something was up. I didn't get video footage of Charley's antics but I did get footage of what came next. Turn the volume up, this is really something!!

Feb. 20, 2010

Lake conditions have been icy. Weather is a bit cooler, overnight temps are about - 2 to -5 (celius). Daytime -1 to about +2. No fresh snow, but lots of sunshine today. Saw two kick sleds head out across Bowron Lake today. Perfect conditions for kicksledding and skating! The Prince George group that were out on the East side came in yesterday, but another group from Victoria headed out today.

Oh woe's my finger!!

Feb. 17th 2010.


We were out milling this afternoon. Dick operates one side of the sawmill (canterman and sawyer) I operate the other (lowly lumber piler). Dick was setting the dogs and the logs being covered with ice and snow, he was really ramming them down good. He felt his glove snag on the tip of the dog, but he was too late. He rammed the dog into the log, taking his gloved hand with it. We are pretty sure he missed the bone, but he split his finger wide open. Them dogs do bite! After a "Dr. Sandy" treatment... and I think I did a pretty good job, we had to cut the finger right off the glove and slit it open before he could fit it back on his hand. Then we went out to finish the deck before his hand got too painful. By the time we finished the deck I could tell he was in pain, but being the stubborn ole man that he is; as I sit and type, he is still out there nailing all the newly sawn lumber to the back wall of his mill. I offered to stay and help, but apparently fussing over him and bitching that he should "call it quits for the day", isn't what he considers 'help'. Fortunately it was his left hand... him being a left handed man and all....
(picture: Dick milling lumber on a better day, using the sawmill to build the mill house. Oct 2009)

This morning we walked to the Kibbee Lake Portage to check out the conditions. It appears that there may be a party of skiers out on the East Side right now, as two cars are parked at the end of the road. The snow was nice with a hard crust, we didn't break through at all. We actually wore our ice cleats to help secure our footing, especially along the plowed road, which was a sheet of ice. The Portage trail had a thin layer of hard packed snow with some icy patches. We continued through the bush down to the campground finding lots of bare ground under the trees. Then we headed down to Bowron Lake to get home by crossing the Lake. The surface of the Lake has refrozen... again. Yesterday we had rain and warm weather and spider holes began to appear. Today the spider holes are healed up (hope Dicks finger heals up as fast!!), the rain and melt water that was on top of the ice are solid again. The ice was nice, kind of pebbly, just right for curling. As we walked we talked about how easy it would be to go to the river cabin right now. You could walk all the way (using ice cleats of course) and bushwacking along the right side near the base of Sugar Loaf, hence staying away from the Bowron River, would probably be a snap.

Winter Sking

Feb. 15, 2010 -- It is winter sking time, as indicated by all the inquiries I am receiving about the condition of the lakes. Instead of answering the same questions over and over again, I decided to try my hand at 'blogging'. Please be patient with me, I still live in the past, so this is all new to me! I hope my blog site will progress, eventually, into something that might interest readers.

Living at Bowron Lake gives me a unique and up-front opportunity to know the conditions, and having lived here for the past 20 years, affords me a good understanding of how things work in the area. Right now everyone is interested in the ice conditions. Lets start with a quick summary of the winter so far.

Dec. 3rd saw Bowron Lake freeze up with a good solid freeze. It was weeks before we had any amount of snow so the ice stayed good and clear. Sometimes a heavy snowfall after freeze up results in layers of slush and rotten ice, but that didn't happen this year. Small bits of snow fell throughout Dec. until we had a nice layer of over 40 cm by the end of Dec. Then it started to melt... by the 11th of Jan we had bare ground and watery ice (layer of water on top of the lake ice). Things spruced up again and by the 4th of Feb we had a new level of 14cm of snow, then winter slowly warmed up again. Yesterday, Feb 14th, saw 3 to 4 inches of water on top of a beautifully solid base ice. It rained all last night! This morning, Feb. 15th, after reaching a jarring -2.5 last night, the lake made an attempt to freeze up again. During our walk on the lake we kept crunching through the thin top layer of ice into the 3 inches of water underneath. Definately insulated gumboot and ice cleat weather!

The past week night time temps have been reaching -3 or -4, and daytime temps are +6 and +7. Looking out the window, the ice is grey and wet again and it is sunny and warm. If you are planning a trip out on the lake chain, anytime soon, I would advise that you bring every kind of transportation mode possible. Skis, snowshoes, ice cleats, insulated rubber boots. You can always leave gear behind in the car after accessing the conditions when you arrive. From the conditions on Bowron Lake (which is the lake I see out my window) I can assume that the ice on the other lakes will probably be good and solid, but wet! Some parts of the portages will probably be bare of snow and the rivers will most probably be open. I don't expect that anyone could attempt the full circuit at this time, so plan on spending a few days on one side or the other and then coming back the way you came.

For interests sake I would like to direct you to my website at http://www.bowronlake.com/ where I have two winter trip reports from a couple of years ago (on my winter page). It is interesting because the trips were made within weeks of each other and one group was able to make the full circuit while the other group had to turn back. The Bowron Lake circuit is always unpredictable and you never know what conditions you will get from day to day. Last of all, I would love to hear from others who have traveled the chain during the winter, their experiences, suggestions, ideas. Any little bit will certainly help future winter travelers with their plans to keep safe and comfortable in the back country wilderness conditions. Thanks.

Disclaimer: I or anyone who posts a item here, do not assume any responsiblity for any occurances or bad luck encountered in the Bowron area from anyone using any information published here.