It rained off and on most of the night but not enough to keep Lorne at home. He was headed out with his gravel truck around 7:00 a.m. It was still fairly dark when he left and I have noticed that since we have been here, that daybreak seems to take a while. Since "the ranch" is nestled in the Elk Valley with mountains on both sides, sunrise does not happen until the sun is above the mountain top!!
The rain continued off and on all day and Lorne did come home early. In fact he made it home before Marilyn who chose to stay in town and watch over their grandson Brodie until his parents came home form their trip into Calgary for Lily's chemo treatment.
I was on supper detail today so it was chili and some left over potatoes from the previous night. It was awesome.
Lorne of course had to go to bed early because of the probability of working again tomorrow so Marilyn, John and I stayed up and partied by ourselves. It was fun but as always, all good things must come to an end and we called it a night and headed to be..
We are not sure what tomorrow may bring so we had best get our beauty rest!!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Wednesday, October 22/2014
We awoke to sunshine this morning and it was lovely to see. It looks like it is going to be another great day here on "The Ranch"!!
Lorne, I see is headed off to work as the big gravel truck is started and running.
Marilyn is headed into town for lunch and Hogan is out checking out the acreage. It is going to be another quiet day around here!!
I managed to get in a few hours of reading and by the time Marilyn got back from town it was late afternoon and almost time for happy hour.
The elk have returned to the air strip and I got to see a few today. Hunting season is now over so they seem to know they are safe once again. I guess they are frequent visitors to the yard. Hopefully they come closer while we are here and I am able to get a few awesome pics of them.
Lily (Lorne and Marilyn's granddaughter) who is currently on the tail end of a very long battle with leukemia has another chemo treatment in Calgary tomorrow so her brother Brodie is going to come and stay for the night. He has school tomorrow and it is far less disruptive for him if he spends the night with Papa and Nana. Marilyn will take him into school tomorrow and if all goes well with Lily, she will be back home tomorrow and only have 2 more treatments left in her regime.
We had the pleasure of meeting Lily's parents Jordan and Sherrie as well as her baby sister Scarlet.
Marilyn had supper ready for this very busy young family and it was nice to meet them and have a chat.
Once again, Lorne is scheduled to work in the morning so it was soon time for him to eat and head to bed. I too was feeling the call of my pillow and I took my leave soon after. John came in shortly there after and the end of the day was upon us all. It was raining out and there is more rain in the future. There is even some suggestion of snow but I choose to disregard such news!!
Lorne, I see is headed off to work as the big gravel truck is started and running.
Marilyn is headed into town for lunch and Hogan is out checking out the acreage. It is going to be another quiet day around here!!
I managed to get in a few hours of reading and by the time Marilyn got back from town it was late afternoon and almost time for happy hour.
The elk have returned to the air strip and I got to see a few today. Hunting season is now over so they seem to know they are safe once again. I guess they are frequent visitors to the yard. Hopefully they come closer while we are here and I am able to get a few awesome pics of them.
Lily (Lorne and Marilyn's granddaughter) who is currently on the tail end of a very long battle with leukemia has another chemo treatment in Calgary tomorrow so her brother Brodie is going to come and stay for the night. He has school tomorrow and it is far less disruptive for him if he spends the night with Papa and Nana. Marilyn will take him into school tomorrow and if all goes well with Lily, she will be back home tomorrow and only have 2 more treatments left in her regime.
We had the pleasure of meeting Lily's parents Jordan and Sherrie as well as her baby sister Scarlet.
Marilyn had supper ready for this very busy young family and it was nice to meet them and have a chat.
Once again, Lorne is scheduled to work in the morning so it was soon time for him to eat and head to bed. I too was feeling the call of my pillow and I took my leave soon after. John came in shortly there after and the end of the day was upon us all. It was raining out and there is more rain in the future. There is even some suggestion of snow but I choose to disregard such news!!
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Tuesday, October 21/2014
It is rather dreary out this morning but it is so nice just to be able to sit and relax for the next few days.
We are plugged into power here in the yard and it is so nice just to be able to plug the electric coffeepot in and enjoy a cup of well made coffee. Although I make a mean pot of perked coffee, I prefer the drip-o-later. It is much less messy as well!! No coffee perking over on the burners!!
Hogan is quite content to explore around the yard and with Marilyn's four cats, he will have his work cut out for him. They are half feral so he had better watch his back as I am sure they will not take any grief from him!!
Lorne took off in his plane this morning and it was so cool to see him taxi down the runway, turn the plane around and take off into the wind. Man, the engine is certainly loud. Sometime in these next few days,we will get him to take us for a short flight and see some of the sights from the air. Now, that will be totally cool and I will have to remember to take the camera. John I think is on the fence about taking flight but I am sooo there!!
When Lorne returned (he was on a hunting mission to find some wayward cattle for a local farmer) he had to get into the gravel truck and go to work. No rest for the wicked around here!!
Marilyn and I headed into Fernie to do a bit of shopping then arrived at home just as Lorne was getting off work.
It was time for a short booze cruise and an informative guided tour around some of the back roads and local sights. Lorne is quite knowledgable about the surrounding area and its rich mining history.
Back at the yard, we enjoyed an awesome supper.
Unfortunately, Lorne had to head off the bed as he probably had to work in the morning but Marilyn, John and I stayed up for a few hours more looking at pictures and enjoying the company.
Another great day.
We are plugged into power here in the yard and it is so nice just to be able to plug the electric coffeepot in and enjoy a cup of well made coffee. Although I make a mean pot of perked coffee, I prefer the drip-o-later. It is much less messy as well!! No coffee perking over on the burners!!
Hogan is quite content to explore around the yard and with Marilyn's four cats, he will have his work cut out for him. They are half feral so he had better watch his back as I am sure they will not take any grief from him!!
Lorne took off in his plane this morning and it was so cool to see him taxi down the runway, turn the plane around and take off into the wind. Man, the engine is certainly loud. Sometime in these next few days,we will get him to take us for a short flight and see some of the sights from the air. Now, that will be totally cool and I will have to remember to take the camera. John I think is on the fence about taking flight but I am sooo there!!
When Lorne returned (he was on a hunting mission to find some wayward cattle for a local farmer) he had to get into the gravel truck and go to work. No rest for the wicked around here!!
Marilyn and I headed into Fernie to do a bit of shopping then arrived at home just as Lorne was getting off work.
It was time for a short booze cruise and an informative guided tour around some of the back roads and local sights. Lorne is quite knowledgable about the surrounding area and its rich mining history.
Back at the yard, we enjoyed an awesome supper.
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| Remains of some old Coke Ovens |
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| A tunnel on hiway 3 |
Another great day.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Monday, October 20/2014
Well, the sun is shining and get this......there is NO WIND!! Holy Buckets!! The mountain Gods have finally come through on the day that we are leaving!! Now that is just not right.
Today we are leaving the infamous "hill". Hopefully, with our recent road construction, all goes well with our descent to the road. I have sent out lots of good vibes so anticipate no problems.
As it turned out, the trip down the hill was unremarkable and was managed without any difficulty. Now, we just have to get turned around and get this rig to the staging area where we will load the quads and hopefully be on our way. There is little to no fluid dripping out from the engine so that is a good thing......I think!!
We got everything loaded and headed out.We are hoping to make it to Fernie, B.C. today. This is where our friends Lorne and Marilyn live and we are planning on parking in their yard until it is time for us to cross into the USA.
Also, I am sure their is a repair shop in Fernie that will be able to take a look at the transmission and do whatever repairs are needed.
The cops were out in force with their radar guns today. We passed three of the sneaky buggers and each one had a vehicle stopped.
We stopped in Sparwood and saw the worlds largest truck. Wow, it was huge and was used in the coal mining industry. Actually huge is probably not the correct word....more like massive describes it. Anyway, we took the necessary tourist pics and then John saw an A&W so we had to stop there before carrying on to Fernie.
So far, so good with the truck.
Marilyn text us with the name of a repair shop - Backyard Mechanical, and we pulled in there for a consultation. They were booked up solid but because Lorne is a very good customer, he will somehow squeeze our truck in for a transmission check up. He thinks that the fluid in the transmission was overfull and when we were on that up hill angle, the fluid spewed out of the overflow and that was what we saw. Not sure but it never hurts to get it checked out anyway!! Much easier on my nerves when we know things are fine!!
We arrived at Lorne and Marilyn's "ranch" shortly after leaving Fernie. They are only a few miles away and we arrived in time for "Happy Hour". A perfectly timed arrival!!
After several refreshments and lots of great conversation, it was time to call it a day and head to bed. I was tired and soooo very glad that I would not have to sit on a quad and ride for a while. Perhaps the next time I do, we will be in Arizona!!
Today we are leaving the infamous "hill". Hopefully, with our recent road construction, all goes well with our descent to the road. I have sent out lots of good vibes so anticipate no problems.
As it turned out, the trip down the hill was unremarkable and was managed without any difficulty. Now, we just have to get turned around and get this rig to the staging area where we will load the quads and hopefully be on our way. There is little to no fluid dripping out from the engine so that is a good thing......I think!!
We got everything loaded and headed out.We are hoping to make it to Fernie, B.C. today. This is where our friends Lorne and Marilyn live and we are planning on parking in their yard until it is time for us to cross into the USA.
Also, I am sure their is a repair shop in Fernie that will be able to take a look at the transmission and do whatever repairs are needed.
The cops were out in force with their radar guns today. We passed three of the sneaky buggers and each one had a vehicle stopped.
We stopped in Sparwood and saw the worlds largest truck. Wow, it was huge and was used in the coal mining industry. Actually huge is probably not the correct word....more like massive describes it. Anyway, we took the necessary tourist pics and then John saw an A&W so we had to stop there before carrying on to Fernie.
So far, so good with the truck.
Marilyn text us with the name of a repair shop - Backyard Mechanical, and we pulled in there for a consultation. They were booked up solid but because Lorne is a very good customer, he will somehow squeeze our truck in for a transmission check up. He thinks that the fluid in the transmission was overfull and when we were on that up hill angle, the fluid spewed out of the overflow and that was what we saw. Not sure but it never hurts to get it checked out anyway!! Much easier on my nerves when we know things are fine!!
We arrived at Lorne and Marilyn's "ranch" shortly after leaving Fernie. They are only a few miles away and we arrived in time for "Happy Hour". A perfectly timed arrival!!
After several refreshments and lots of great conversation, it was time to call it a day and head to bed. I was tired and soooo very glad that I would not have to sit on a quad and ride for a while. Perhaps the next time I do, we will be in Arizona!!
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| The hill we have to go down |
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| Coming down |
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| Close |
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| On our way |
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| Hwy 3 west |
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| Worlds larges truck |
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| Coming into Lorne and Marilyn's |
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| Their log house |
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| Our spot at Lorne and Marilyn's |
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| Marie and Marilyn indulging |
Monday, October 20, 2014
Sunday, October 19/2014
I woke up to wind.....no surprise there. I wonder if one actually lived here year round that you would get so used to it blowing that you didn't really notice it anymore. I can't imagine. The constant blowing is really something.
Today, the Riders are playing football so hopefully they are in a winning mood. Time will tell!!
Well, as luck would have it, the Riders played valiantly but lost the game. Kerry Joseph was at the quarterback position and for someone who has not played a game in two years, he played extremely well.
Once that game was over, John mucked around a bit with the truck. He topped off the radiator fluid and let the truck run so that he could check the transmission fluid level. Well needless to say, it was down so he topped that off as well. There does not seem to be any more leaking going on so I am not sure what the issue was a few days ago.
Tomorrow we are heading down the hill and hopefully will continue on with our journey, We may just make Lorne and Marilyn's!! I am sure there is a transmission shop in Fernie to have things inspected.
Of course we had to watch one more football game today and we got to see Payton Manning become the all time leader in touchdown passes. It was awesome to watch.
Supper was delicious - moose steak again with beans and baked potatoes. Mmmm.
Life is Good.
Today, the Riders are playing football so hopefully they are in a winning mood. Time will tell!!
Well, as luck would have it, the Riders played valiantly but lost the game. Kerry Joseph was at the quarterback position and for someone who has not played a game in two years, he played extremely well.
Once that game was over, John mucked around a bit with the truck. He topped off the radiator fluid and let the truck run so that he could check the transmission fluid level. Well needless to say, it was down so he topped that off as well. There does not seem to be any more leaking going on so I am not sure what the issue was a few days ago.
Tomorrow we are heading down the hill and hopefully will continue on with our journey, We may just make Lorne and Marilyn's!! I am sure there is a transmission shop in Fernie to have things inspected.
Of course we had to watch one more football game today and we got to see Payton Manning become the all time leader in touchdown passes. It was awesome to watch.
Supper was delicious - moose steak again with beans and baked potatoes. Mmmm.
Life is Good.
Saturday, October 18/2014
Well the wind is blowing like a banshee today. Man, this crap just will not go away. It is cloudy today and the sun looks to be rather elusive which is not good when the solar panels are in need of it!!
There is football on TV again today and I do not know if we are going to decide to have another camp day and watch them (my shoulders would like that!!) or go for yet another ride on the surrounding trails. There are still a few more we can explore around here.
We chose to ride today although we both agreed that it would be a short ride. The trail that lies behind the trailer will take us north then should point us in a westerly direction and kind on
"skirt" the forest. We accessed the one trail heading south first and ended up on the plane crash trail so ended up redoing some of it until we hit the road and came back to the camper.
Just before we got to the camper there was a short trail leading to what I would describe as some sort of historic water turbine. There appeared to have been at some point in time, a water supply coming down the hill, entering the cement structure and eventually flowing through this huge round turbine thing. It was rather interesting and yet another site to see here in this area. We managed to get a few good pics at the site so that anyone can make a guess at what this structure used to be.
We then headed down the north trail and quickly found ourselves in a huge open field that had obviously been a victim of clear cut as there were stumps and left over logs everywhere. This area had yet to show any regrowth so was probably cut within the last few years. This trail eventually led us into the surrounding forest and we found ourselves on a very tight trail that left very little room to maneuver. It was not a trail for a side by side as the standing healthy forest simply was too dense. There were trees everywhere and it gave off a very gloomy, eerie feeling. I felt like little Red Riding Hood on her way to Grandmother's house and I was always looking for the big bad wolf!!
We eventually got through this forest trail with only a few scratches on the fenders and the box. Of course we found a bit of muskeg here too and I once again required the winch to extricate myself from the sucking abyss of the mud!! Man....I hate that shit!!
We soon popped out into the open, picked our way through more stumps and eventually found a very well used trail and headed towards the camper. It was along this trail that we encountered the biggest group of quadders to date. Five quads passed us headed in the opposite direction. We waved and continued along our way.
We got back to the camper without any trouble just in time to enjoy the last of the sunshine before it slipped below the surrounding hills. Once that was gone, the chill took to the air and we headed into the trailer to watch the second game of the football double header.
Another good day on the trails has come and gone and I think that John and I have done
"The Crowsnest" trails up pretty well for this particular area. There are tons more trails further down the road and I think I heard John say something about coming back here with "the kids". Now that would be fun.
Tomorrow, the Riders play so we have a quiet day planned although there may be some cheering and perhaps some cursing going on if the Riders don't perform as we hope.
There is football on TV again today and I do not know if we are going to decide to have another camp day and watch them (my shoulders would like that!!) or go for yet another ride on the surrounding trails. There are still a few more we can explore around here.
We chose to ride today although we both agreed that it would be a short ride. The trail that lies behind the trailer will take us north then should point us in a westerly direction and kind on
"skirt" the forest. We accessed the one trail heading south first and ended up on the plane crash trail so ended up redoing some of it until we hit the road and came back to the camper.
Just before we got to the camper there was a short trail leading to what I would describe as some sort of historic water turbine. There appeared to have been at some point in time, a water supply coming down the hill, entering the cement structure and eventually flowing through this huge round turbine thing. It was rather interesting and yet another site to see here in this area. We managed to get a few good pics at the site so that anyone can make a guess at what this structure used to be.
We then headed down the north trail and quickly found ourselves in a huge open field that had obviously been a victim of clear cut as there were stumps and left over logs everywhere. This area had yet to show any regrowth so was probably cut within the last few years. This trail eventually led us into the surrounding forest and we found ourselves on a very tight trail that left very little room to maneuver. It was not a trail for a side by side as the standing healthy forest simply was too dense. There were trees everywhere and it gave off a very gloomy, eerie feeling. I felt like little Red Riding Hood on her way to Grandmother's house and I was always looking for the big bad wolf!!
We eventually got through this forest trail with only a few scratches on the fenders and the box. Of course we found a bit of muskeg here too and I once again required the winch to extricate myself from the sucking abyss of the mud!! Man....I hate that shit!!
We soon popped out into the open, picked our way through more stumps and eventually found a very well used trail and headed towards the camper. It was along this trail that we encountered the biggest group of quadders to date. Five quads passed us headed in the opposite direction. We waved and continued along our way.
We got back to the camper without any trouble just in time to enjoy the last of the sunshine before it slipped below the surrounding hills. Once that was gone, the chill took to the air and we headed into the trailer to watch the second game of the football double header.
Another good day on the trails has come and gone and I think that John and I have done
"The Crowsnest" trails up pretty well for this particular area. There are tons more trails further down the road and I think I heard John say something about coming back here with "the kids". Now that would be fun.
Tomorrow, the Riders play so we have a quiet day planned although there may be some cheering and perhaps some cursing going on if the Riders don't perform as we hope.
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| Heading South - into the unknown |
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| I always pack for "just in case"!! |
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| More vistas to enjoy |
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| The water turbine |
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| What once could have been the water supply for this huge turbine. |
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| John exploring the inside of this cement structure. Another piece of the turbine. |
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| Taken from a different angle |
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| A bird's nest inside the structure. |
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| The cement structure that housed the turbine. |
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| The last part of this massive turbine. Looks like some sort of counter balance thing. |
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| The structure was crumbling but I did manage to frame John in this pic, |
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| Heading into what became a very "tight" trail |
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| Yes, we found muskeg and YES, I got stuck again!! |
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| A small body of water near the trail |
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| Another awesome view |
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Friday, October 17/2014
Well, if we do not go from one adventure to another, then I just don't know!!
Today, a truck came up the infamous "hill" (not really anything to get too excited about as there has been several vehicles come up the hill) and stopped. The fellow driving it got out and set up some sort of a placard about 30 feet from the camper. He then got back into his truck, moved it and parked in front of our truck. John went out to see what he was doing and found him loading a rifle. Apparently he was going to do some target shooting. I guess it was a target he had set up and not an innocent "placard".
John told him that he didn't think shooting so close to the camper was appropriate and asked him to take his target practise somewhere else.
I guess the guy was not too happy and was not going to move so John ended up calling 911 and reported the guy. He was angry, cursed at John but picked his target up and left.
Of course the RCMP informed John that we were sitting on Crown property and the fellow was within his legal right to target practise but agreed that him being so darn close to the camper was dangerous and inappropriate.
With the exit of the nefarious "shooter" the drama ended and hopefully that will be the end of it.
We are hoping to go for another ride today so hopefully when we return, our camper is not full of bullet holes!! LOL Well, maybe he could just shoot the truck since it doesn't seem to be cooperating as it should!!
Today we thought we should explore a few of the trails off to the east of us so we accessed #47 and started our adventure. It was awesome trail, offered some varied terrain but spit us out onto a road near the local ski hill. Of course quads and roads are never a good combination so we turned around and did the same trail we had just done, backwards!! It is always different no matter how you do the trail so it was like riding it for the first time!! All those down hill grades became up hill climbs so that was kind of cool!!
We traveled through some pretty incredible country and remarkably we have only seen two mule deer in all the trails we have traveled here in the Crowsnest. Kind of strange if you ask me. On the other hand, we have not had any close encounters with any bears either and in light of the recent grizzly bear mauling near Fernie, B.C. that is a very good thing. So, I will count my blessings!!
We accessed another trail once we got back to the top of the Memorial Trail we had just down twice and found some water lying in small valley. Good thing we are up on the ridge I thought to myself. Well, it wasn't too long before the ridge dropped into the hollow and John and I found ourselves faced with some nasty ass muskeg. There is just no way to go through this stuff and remain unscathed. As it turns out, I needed my winch at least three times while John only required his once. It was on one of my pulls that I damn near re-broke his leg as I had put my quad in reverse and not unhooked the winch cable so when I hit the gas, I dragged John's quad with me and tried running over his leg at the same time. He was not too impressed with the whole situation but Hell, I didn't do it on purpose!! Or.....did I!! He will never know. I did apologize though and used my sad face!!
When we finally got around the muskeg, we were both sweating buckets so it was a most opportune time for a refreshment break. I checked out the surrounding mud for any bear track and found none. I got to enjoy my beer!!
If we were following the map correctly, we would hit the road and then access trail head #39. Low and behold.....there it was. I am so glad that the signage on this side of the highway is much better than on the other side. We found ourselves back in "the burn". Here we traveled through the fire ravaged country side again and I marvelled at all the new growth that was coming up. It was here, when we stopped for another break that the wind came up and we got to hear what can only be described as a "screaming" wind. It was incredibly eerie as the wind came up and made this most incredible screaming sound as it blew through all the standing burnt trees. I looked over at John and said "And when was the last time you heard a "screaming" wind?"
We continued along this 39 trail following the creek and soon came to a sign that said #38. Oh, Oh, we were headed in the wrong direction and had completely driven off our map. There was no 38 on our map so once again, we had to backtrack to find where we had missed the trail that would take us to #41!! It was a good thing that this leg of the trip was only a few kms long so it didn't take us too long to find the proper trail (now how on earth did we miss that one!!).
Finally back on track, we hit #41 and headed for home. It was getting late and the relentless wind was getting a bit of a chill to it. It was most definitely time to get back to the camper and get the heat going.
Back at the camper, it was time for a quick shower to get all the trail dust off then start supper. All in all, it was another good day.
Today, a truck came up the infamous "hill" (not really anything to get too excited about as there has been several vehicles come up the hill) and stopped. The fellow driving it got out and set up some sort of a placard about 30 feet from the camper. He then got back into his truck, moved it and parked in front of our truck. John went out to see what he was doing and found him loading a rifle. Apparently he was going to do some target shooting. I guess it was a target he had set up and not an innocent "placard".
John told him that he didn't think shooting so close to the camper was appropriate and asked him to take his target practise somewhere else.
I guess the guy was not too happy and was not going to move so John ended up calling 911 and reported the guy. He was angry, cursed at John but picked his target up and left.
Of course the RCMP informed John that we were sitting on Crown property and the fellow was within his legal right to target practise but agreed that him being so darn close to the camper was dangerous and inappropriate.
With the exit of the nefarious "shooter" the drama ended and hopefully that will be the end of it.
We are hoping to go for another ride today so hopefully when we return, our camper is not full of bullet holes!! LOL Well, maybe he could just shoot the truck since it doesn't seem to be cooperating as it should!!
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| #47 Trail Head |
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| More beautiful vistas |
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| Add caption |
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| Just fooling around with the camera |
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| Did this trail down and then back up |
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| Now that looks like it could get nasty!! |
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| Muskeg....in the forest!! |
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| Add caption |
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| It was nasty!! |
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| #39 Trail Head - this should lead us back home |
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| Iron Mountain Lookout tower (look close it is on the top of the hill) |
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| Traveling through the "burn" |
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| The bridge over Lynx Creek to #38. Oh, Oh...wrong way!! |
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| Add caption |
Back at the camper, it was time for a quick shower to get all the trail dust off then start supper. All in all, it was another good day.
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| Trail Head #41 - almost home |
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