Writing about June, July and Aug all in one post is not what I expected but the summer of 2010, tho quieter then normal, has been just as demanding, and computer 'play' time was at a high premium. So here are a few thoughts from over the summer months all in one, very late post.
June -- New parents are fun to watch. Most seem to be as befuddled as Elmer Fudd. Going one way, then another, not really knowing where to turn, what to do... but all of a sudden instinct kickes in and they seem to get the gist of what is what. Our new mother (and father) started out just like that. At first they couldn't seem to get their 'bird-brains' together. They worked on three separate mud-daubber homes before finally deciding which one to complete. They build their one - and two half - nests under the eve of our balcony, right outside the restaurant windows where they entertained dinners for weeks. At first we thought they weren't ever going to get around to 'sitting'... but finally they did... and what a brood they hatched!!
At first all we could see were two harried parents continually foraging and poking food into the top of the nest. Within days, wide yellow beaks began reaching out to grab the food before the parents even got stopped. Then before we knew it there were bodies hanging out every which way. Six fat, fuzzy, downy balls all crammed into one tiny nest. Beaks and butts circled around the edge hanging on for dear life. Every once in a while one would go into 'Copter' mode, wildly flapping its tiny wings, strengthening them for what instinct dictated was about to come. Meanwhile the rest couched, squaked, slipped and grabbed to prevent themselves from being flung out. After weeks of gut-giggling antics the time finally arrived. One at a time they began falling out of the nest. Some fell to the ground and flapped wildly beating the head high grass, before getting air. Others flapped from the onset and found themselves flying... then crash landing into the nearest bush. Mom and dad chirped crazily, swooping to coach the new aviators. Too soon, the nest was empty... the family grown and gone... and the window at last, was clear of 'bird smear'... for this year.
July -- busy, busy, busy -- all I remember is the continual flow of people, old friends, new acquaintances and busy days.
Aug -- Fire month!! If you listened to the Weather Channel, they reported that B.C. was burning up. Unfortunately that stopped alot of visitors from coming into the Cariboo area -- and more unfortunately it was a prime time to come because the area was very so nice and quiet. A real rarity in the heart of the summer season!! In most places the elevations were so high that the smoke didn't effect them much. In the valley though, we did have about 10 to 14 days were the Bowron lakes were 'smoked' in. There were big fires around Nazko and Williams Lake and add to this a small fire iat the south end of the park, resulted in views that were definately not at their best. Although small, the fire in the south part of Bowron Park did get somewhat close to a few camping areas, so B.C. Parks closed the area to all Paddling traffic for a while. I can't blame those who cancelled their paddling trips during that unfortunate event, even I would not want to paddle all the way to the bottom of Isaac Lake, just to have to turn back and face those three portages again!! No way, Jose!!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Ice off -- for real!!
Just one day after my last post, on April 16th, 2010, the large ice floe at the south end of the lake, which didn't look so large when it finally appeared around the point, floated into the north end of Bowron Lake. The winds pushed and ground it against the northwest shore of the lake where it slowly disintegrated, and by 5pm the lake was ice free! We even jumped into the boat (the next morning) to make sure. So 'my' proclaimed ice off date is entered in my record books as April 16th, 2010. How does this relate to the records I have? It's a bit earlier then the mean average which works out to be May 1st. (This comes from 47 entries recorded by various people between the years of 1932 and 2010 (78 years), so there is a lot missing here.) For the record the earliest ice off event for Bowron Lake (that I have) occured on April 2, 1991, and the latest ice off event occured May 20, 2008.
To date (April 20, 2010) Bowron Lake is ice free, Kibbee is nearly ice free (still a bit along the edges), Spectacle still has lots of ice on it, Indianpoint and beyond have not been checked but are most probably still frozen. Isaac Lake traditionally clears off 2 weeks after Bowron Lake, so that brings us to the 30th of April. At this point the park personnel (and I) expect that the Lakes will all be clear in plenty of time for the Parks opening on May 15, 2010.
Lots of birds are back; robins, blackbirds, mergansers, canadian geese, eagles, plovers. The ravens are nesting, the starlings are ripping out the wire and nesting under our eves... AGAIN!! and the mosquitos have appeared! (yes I can enter them under birds because they are certainly big enough!) We have seen a few moose on the road, otters and beavers are in the river and squirrels are running rampant everywhere. No bear sitings yet. The water has only risen slightly, 5 cm in the last week (measured at the Bowron River Bridge), but there is still lots of snow in the mountains yet to melt. Tourists and strange cars are beginning to appear driving up and down the road... spring has sprung in the Bowron!
To date (April 20, 2010) Bowron Lake is ice free, Kibbee is nearly ice free (still a bit along the edges), Spectacle still has lots of ice on it, Indianpoint and beyond have not been checked but are most probably still frozen. Isaac Lake traditionally clears off 2 weeks after Bowron Lake, so that brings us to the 30th of April. At this point the park personnel (and I) expect that the Lakes will all be clear in plenty of time for the Parks opening on May 15, 2010.
Lots of birds are back; robins, blackbirds, mergansers, canadian geese, eagles, plovers. The ravens are nesting, the starlings are ripping out the wire and nesting under our eves... AGAIN!! and the mosquitos have appeared! (yes I can enter them under birds because they are certainly big enough!) We have seen a few moose on the road, otters and beavers are in the river and squirrels are running rampant everywhere. No bear sitings yet. The water has only risen slightly, 5 cm in the last week (measured at the Bowron River Bridge), but there is still lots of snow in the mountains yet to melt. Tourists and strange cars are beginning to appear driving up and down the road... spring has sprung in the Bowron!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Ice off -- ice on
I know the locals got all excited when on March 29, 2010, during the night of the big wind storm, the ice started to break-up. Then after three days of wind there was hardly any ice left on the north end of Bowron Lake. Many were touting the earliest Bowron Lake ice-off date in history!! BUT... despite the clear blue waves on the lake... it is not offically ice-off yet!
If you read the IceWatch Canada website, offical ice off is when a lake reaches the B4 stage --'completely ice free'. Although Bowron Lake 'looks' ice free when you gaze at it from the north shores... there is still a large free floating ice floe hiding around the point in the bay at the south end. Therefore Bowron Lake is at this date, April 15th, 2010, still considered at the B3 stage... 'ice in movement'. This is the first year that I know of (during my record taking years) that this has happened. Usually at break-up all the ice moves north with the currents and winds, ending up in the northern bays before clogging the river. This little ice floe, approx. 70 acres in size, seems to have hooked itself behind the point and is 'stuck' in the south bay of Bowron Lake.
All pictures taken on April 14, 2010. This picture is of the mountains around the back side of the ice floe.
Yesterday (April 14), Dick and I took the motor boat out to get pictures of it. As we motored by, the edges of the ice undulated with the wake of the boat, but didn't really break up. It only broke up when we tried to 'cut' the boat through a narrow section of the floe. We found the ice to be about 3 to 4 inches thick. On April 13, the ice floe closed in behind some local fisherman who had gone around it to the far end of the lake, and they reported having to get up onto the floe and drag their 12 ft aluminum over a section of the floe to get out. We didn't try this... I'm not that anxious to test the ice!
For the record -- the earliest ice-off date I've recorded occured on April 2, 1992, when over night, a big wind storm took all the lake ice and jammed it solid into the river. Before that, in 1941, the recorded 'opened' date is entered as April 5th. Being that I wasn't here during that year (ha, ha)... I don't know if 'opened' is an offical ice-off term or if they experienced conditions like we are having today.
If you read the IceWatch Canada website, offical ice off is when a lake reaches the B4 stage --'completely ice free'. Although Bowron Lake 'looks' ice free when you gaze at it from the north shores... there is still a large free floating ice floe hiding around the point in the bay at the south end. Therefore Bowron Lake is at this date, April 15th, 2010, still considered at the B3 stage... 'ice in movement'. This is the first year that I know of (during my record taking years) that this has happened. Usually at break-up all the ice moves north with the currents and winds, ending up in the northern bays before clogging the river. This little ice floe, approx. 70 acres in size, seems to have hooked itself behind the point and is 'stuck' in the south bay of Bowron Lake.
All pictures taken on April 14, 2010. This picture is of the mountains around the back side of the ice floe.
Yesterday (April 14), Dick and I took the motor boat out to get pictures of it. As we motored by, the edges of the ice undulated with the wake of the boat, but didn't really break up. It only broke up when we tried to 'cut' the boat through a narrow section of the floe. We found the ice to be about 3 to 4 inches thick. On April 13, the ice floe closed in behind some local fisherman who had gone around it to the far end of the lake, and they reported having to get up onto the floe and drag their 12 ft aluminum over a section of the floe to get out. We didn't try this... I'm not that anxious to test the ice!
For the record -- the earliest ice-off date I've recorded occured on April 2, 1992, when over night, a big wind storm took all the lake ice and jammed it solid into the river. Before that, in 1941, the recorded 'opened' date is entered as April 5th. Being that I wasn't here during that year (ha, ha)... I don't know if 'opened' is an offical ice-off term or if they experienced conditions like we are having today.
Playing Catch-up!
Nicola, a 2010 winter visitor at Bowron Lake, e-mailed me some time ago to find out how fellow winter enthusiasts, Steve and his group, did during their icy ski around the chain. I had hoped that one of Steve's group would send me a report, but to-date none has arrived so I confess that I must play catch-up without them. From memory then... Steve's group which consisted of four men and two dogs -- sort of 'skiied' -- the chain during our exceptionally strange 2010 winter. They left on Feb. 27th, 2010 and were welcomed to Bowron Lake with the seasons first 'downpour'... down right blasphemy in February!! Luckily it hit just as they reached a cabin. They returned 8 days later after completing the full circuit. They reported wonderful winter conditions despite the shortage of snow!? They found bare ice most of the way, only part of Isaac Lake had an actual thin layer of snow where they could kick and glide. They ended up double poling pretty near the whole way and reported ending with arms as big as apes and thigh muscles strained from trying to keep their skiis together. The trails, they said, were bare most of the way, which necessitated pulling their sleds over gravel.
The rivers were open and open leads of water greeted them at McLeary Lake where the Cariboo River joins in. They had to 'beat their way thro the bush' for most of the river. They reported at least 12 inches of ice on most lakes, and thin ice shelves along the edges of the rivers. They heard wolves and saw Ravens on Sandy Lake, a good indication of a 'kill' nearby. The ice 'talked' on most of the West Side, but Bowron Lake by far, took the cake with it's cracking and rumbling, this would be because they came home on a beautiful sunny day and the ice loves to snap and move when the sun hits it! Only one of the four had skins on his skiis which he said helped him even on the smooth ice. All had good backcountry ski gear with sturdy covered polks (sleds). Even the dogs, who carried small packs with their dog food, were frisking and happy on their return.
OK guys... now that I have written this up in such a public place ;-P send that report so I can see how 'correct' my memory is!!
The rivers were open and open leads of water greeted them at McLeary Lake where the Cariboo River joins in. They had to 'beat their way thro the bush' for most of the river. They reported at least 12 inches of ice on most lakes, and thin ice shelves along the edges of the rivers. They heard wolves and saw Ravens on Sandy Lake, a good indication of a 'kill' nearby. The ice 'talked' on most of the West Side, but Bowron Lake by far, took the cake with it's cracking and rumbling, this would be because they came home on a beautiful sunny day and the ice loves to snap and move when the sun hits it! Only one of the four had skins on his skiis which he said helped him even on the smooth ice. All had good backcountry ski gear with sturdy covered polks (sleds). Even the dogs, who carried small packs with their dog food, were frisking and happy on their return.
OK guys... now that I have written this up in such a public place ;-P send that report so I can see how 'correct' my memory is!!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
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!!
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.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
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.
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.
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