Sunday, May 20/2012

Vimy Lake

So pretty and peaceful

Vimy Creek

swirling waters of the creek

A view from the beaver dam

Casey and Tori - Love the pink Tori, it is so "right" for the trails!!

One of the "refreshment" stops

Tori's Beer commercial pose - should send this to Keystone!!

"Jack" Lake  aka Little Mystery Lake

Swans

Love the Marsh Marigolds

Swans are getting closer!!

This was the closest they came.

reflections

Mystery Lake aka Twin Lake

Beaver runs on Mystery Lake

Believe it or not - that is the beaver!!

Damage from last years plow wind, Thousands of trees down

Beverage beside Mooswuk Creek

Wolf Print at Mooswuk

Bear Print at Mooswuk

Not sure what Tori is doing - perhaps we don't really want to know!!

a duck on Little Mystery Lake swimming amongst all the cat tails

turn this picture sideways for more "reflections"

The sun is shining this morning and it looks awesome outside.  The kids were up earlier today and once everyone was fed and watered, we headed out onto the trails.  Casey and Tori took the quad while John, Cameron and I loaded into the jeep.  I decided to take the back seat because if there was going to be any winching today, it was Cameron who was going to be doing all the work.  As it turned out, there was only one place where the winch was needed and it was Casey who actually got the rope and hooked it to the nearest tree for a much needed pull.
We started out heading down the road to Vimy where we stopped for the first of many beverages.  It was quiet and peaceful there and one fish actually jumped out of the water.  Too bad we didn't bring the fishing rods.  We continued on towards Huard Lake and I must say that despite the recent rain, the trails were pretty darn dry.  Too dry in fact as forest fire is a real possibility around here.  There was a few people out at Huard so we continued down the trail until we stopped in a stand of paper birch trees.  There were several small ones that seem to have died and just snapped off about 8 feet above the ground.  I guess there must have been a bit of wind during the winter months that snapped them off.
There was one vehicle at our "old" camping spot at the end of Lac Eau Claire Lake so we continued up the hill and of course stopped at the top for the best view in the area.  Nothing but water and trees.  It was great.  Cameron (one of our many "adopted" sons) has never been on these trails so was enjoying all that Northern Saskatchewan has to offer.  Once we left the hill, we travelled to a small lake in the "back country" called Little Mystery Lake although we commonly call in Jack Lake.  This lake is full of jack fish and it was here many years ago that I took 3 kids in the canoe and caught a few.  That was the day that Christie (a cousin) got a fish hook in her finger and was more worried about landing the fish than getting the hook out of her finger!!  As the fish was brought into the canoe, it slapped Casey in the face so he started crying and the fish hook was starting to hurt so Christie was crying and I kept saying "ok, everything is fine" hoping we would not capsize with all the movement in the canoe!!  We got the fish into the canoe and eventually drove Christie to the hospital for the hook removal and.....we were all FINE!!  The fish was delicious, by the way!!
As we were standing there today, Casey did mention that this was were he got slapped in the face by the fish!!  I guess it was a memorable day for him!!
We continued our travels and headed towards Mystery Hill.  We climbed the back side of it as the face is far too rutted now to attempt a climb that way.  As the summer progresses, I am sure that there will be several attempts to climb the face by the less fearful!!  The view from the top of the hill is always wonderful and although all the leaves are not yet out, there were still various shades of green for as far as your eye could see.  Nothing but forest.  In amongst all this forest though,  are hundreds of little lakes.  What a great province we live it.
We continued along Mystery trail, hoping to hook up to the grid road but found our path blocked by huge trees that had been blown over by last year's plow wind.  We picked our way around the first ones and found even more down further along the trail.  I am afraid that this will be our last trip down this trail until someone (perhaps the snowmobile club) takes a chainsaw and clears the trail.  It will be a big job and take several people to accomplish this task.  We eventually made it to the grid and out of the trail.  If no one cleans this trail, we will have lost one of the best trails in the area.
We continued towards Bug Lake and I was not holding out too much hope for the Bug Lake trail either as this was in the direct path of the plow winds last year.  Casey took Tori down to show her the lake while John, Cameron and I checked out the trail.  We weren't 100 yards down the trail before we encountered the first fallen tree with several more behind it.  This trail too,  is now lost unless someone decided to clear it but I fear that this is an even bigger job than the one on Mystery Trail.    So much destruction in only a matter of a few hours.
We rode the grid for several miles  stopping at Mooswuk Creek.  It was here that we saw the wolf and the bear tracks.  They were embedded in the mud of the trail.  They are always incredible to see and give a stark reminder that we are treading in their territory.  There were all kinds of ducks and geese in the waters surrounding the little road we were on and they were all singing their happy little songs.   It was once again, rather enchanting to stand there and listen,
We continued on our journey until we accessed another trail that would eventually spit us out on the grid road about 8 miles from Leoville.  It was a great trail and a bit wetter than what we had been riding all day.  It was on this trail that we needed the winch to get through a huge wet hole.  It had a steep bank at the end and that is where the winch was needed.  It was an easy out and we continued down the trail stopping from time to time for a beverage.
We made it to the grid and scooted home.  It was a great day spent in the forest,  looking and listening to all that nature has to offer.  Casey said him and Tori saw a black bear today and I am totally jealous of that.  We saw a deer and I love seeing them as they try to scoot out of our way but I would have loved to have seen a black bear instead.  Oh well, maybe next time.
The evening was spent around the campfire chatting and rehashing the days activities.  It was great.  I love sitting and listening to my kids.  I miss that a lot when we are in Arizona.
Supper was ribs (which have been marinating for the past two days) baked potatoes and caesar salad.  As usual, it was scrumptious!! Finally, I think we have managed to get Cameron "full"!!
Bed followed soon after for not only me but everyone else.  What a great day!!  Tomorrow,  the kids have to head home and it will be just John and I until next weekend when Casey is planning on coming up again and hopefully he has his new quad with him,  Oh dear........more fun!!