Northern British Columbia Wilderness Trail Photography

There's a great myth that there's nothing in the wilderness. Trees, flowers, bird, animals and bugs abound with all the wonders of natural life.  In addition there are a surprising number of man made objects that add in their own way to the scenery.  As I'm out walking or driving on the ATV hunting I see 'stuff' and photograph it. There are also views that catch my eye.  I'm looking first for moose and deer but can't help but be captivated by all the other special sites. The scents are truly unbelievable yet to date there's no way of sharing that. The sounds are something else too. There's the rumble of the Polaris ATV engine or the silence of the woods when you first sit down.  A little after the silence the insects start up, then the birds come round and often a chipmunk will let the world know you're there and bothering it.  After a while this gossip shuts up. It's then you listen for the sound of deer and moose and bear. Often I hear animals I know by sound walking through the woods but can't see them.  Stalking through the woods I will also startle birds and animals at the last moment. I startled a couple of sand hill crane in a marsh.  I have a whiskey jack picture I love.  There's Gilbert with a moose antler which he thinks is a very big bone. There's logging pictures, and clear cut and stuff lying about in the woods, old cars and such.  Then there's mushrooms and flowers and terrific scenery. I've literally been quiet enough and fortunate enough to be able to walk up on a deer and watch it wake from sleep. It's really exciting to be quiet in the woods but I also love the distances I can travel by ATV.  These are a mix of pictures I've taken this last hunting trip. They're a conglomerate of images with no where else really to put them.  Most of my pictures are taken with my Nikon Coolpix S9100 because I carry that on my belt in a pouch alongside my knife, ammunition and leatherman. A few are taken with my Nikon D5000 digital SLR. This tends to live in the truck or the boot of the ATV.  I just wanted to share them.

Wilderness Camping in Luxury

Laura, Gilbert and I joined Luke at Tacheeda Lake Recreational Site. Luke had driven up in his Toyota truck carrying the Honda 230 CRF motorcycle on the back with a tent and sleeping bag in his cab. . I'd come up in my Ford F350 Diesel Harley Davidson Edition Truck with a Polaris 500 Sportsman ATV in the back towing a 26 foot Forest River Mini Lite Trailer.
After we set up camp it wasn't long before Luke was hanging out for dinner in the trailer and having showers there as well.  He slept in his 2 man tent and built great fires in the outdoor fire pit.  Sometimes we'd sit about his fire and sometimes he'd hang out in my heated trailer.  Gilbert liked being inside and outside. We were ostensibly on a moose hunt but we had fun doing other things as well.
All that goes with camping and RVing took place. We target practiced with bow and with rifle.  Luke and I swam in the lake and he even got an air mattress out for sun tanning while floating about the lake. I had a Honda 2500 generator going to provide electricity. It served all our needs. It even worked with a sump pump in the lake and hose that ran to our water tank. A switch of a switch and I had the tank refilled in minutes. No hauling water and no trips back to civilization for basics.
We did pick up more fuel at Bear Creek gas station and Convenience store, about an hour drive away on logging road and highway.  It was the closest town. We were about 120 km north of Prince George on the Cuchinka Red Forest Service Road just south of Mackenzie Junction. Since we drove up some mornings to the logging roads by Kennedy Siding we picked up fuel at the Mackenzie Junction gas station and restaurant too. So we did add fresh bread and coffee to our stock. We were using about 5 to 10 gal a day of gasoline for the ATV and Generator.  A couple of gals of fuel ran the generator 8 hours and 5 gals of fuel let me drive the ATV all day.  We used less really, those being max numbers since we were walking and sitting alot as well.  At first we had a couple of really sunny days  and I had the solar panels out charging the battery When the wind came up I put these away and settled for the generator.  I had a 'honey bucket' for emptying grey and black water.  Grey water is the water from washing and I just dragged this on it's wheels   to the nearby sand dump.  The septic tank served us for the whole week only needing emptying on the way home at an outlet.  Partly that was because we were away most of the day using the woods for a toilet. Laura was back at the RV guarding the site and as everyone knows girls don't shit.
I'm always amazed at all the wilderness activities that are encompassed in a hunt.  This time it involved camping, photography, hikin,g, swimming, 4x4 ing, RV'ing, offroad motorcycling, and ATV'ing.  Gilbert, Laura, and Luke were great companions.   The only lack of cooperation was with the bear, moose and deer who outsmarted us.  The grouse on the other hand hung around long enough so that we could bring them back to the barbecue.

Northern Beaver and Muskrat

The Beaver is a symbol of Canada.  Trappers loved beaver hats for their warmth.  Natives say 'beaver tail' soup is the best. I've never shot a beaver. I've known that were I to be in a survival situation they'd be up their on the menu list.  The natives cherished them for the 'fat' supplies since 'fat' was hard to come by, most animals being lean and kentucky fried chicken not being available till the last decades.  Goose is popular for it's fat too.
I come across beaver and muskrat when I'm hunting deer and moose.  The beaver was in the woods by the side of the trail near a swamp and I noted the brush moving and heard him chomping first.  When I came over to take his picture, being shy he left. The muskrat however was swimming and quite happy to watch me.  He didn't like Gilbert and Gilbert didn't like him but he was near his wood house so felt safe with a near by exit. One of true joys of back country hiking is watching wildlife in the wild.  I watched the beaver for a while before I let him know I was near and the muskrat went back to it's business of buidling a damn as if I wasn't there even with Gilbert whining.  The beaver is rounder and bigger than the muskrat.  Beaver are more wary usually.  One road to a guiding area was flooded thanks to these fellows. We came by later in the week when the guides had returned to prepare their lodge for American customers. They'd broken the damn and the road was clear for travel.  These industrious little fellows will just build another damn so I expect the guiding operation has to do this a few times a season to keep it's lodges available to the outside world.